Disneyland Permanently Replacing Rainforest Café Location With Star Wars Trading Post Store at Downtown Disney
Disney is converting a former Rainforest Café restaurant at the Downtown Disney shopping center in Anaheim, California into a Star Wars Trading Post store, allowing fans access to Star Wars merchandise all year round – including Galaxy’s Edge merchandise – without having to take a transport to Batuu.
The Disney Parks Blog has confirmed a closed-down Rainforest Café and will be updated and converted into a Star Wars Trading Post Galaxy’s Edge merchandise store, a Resistance base that offers visitors from across the galaxy access to merchandise outside of the theme park.
“The Star Wars Trading Post, which we first told you about in September, will soon be moving to an exciting new spot at the west end of the Downtown Disney District, becoming a destination for all things Star Wars. Walt Disney Imagineers have created a design inspired by a hidden jungle Resistance base, and it even includes Rey’s iconic speeder prominently displayed at the entrance.”
The original store is reportedly being converted into a store selling merchandise based on classic Disney characters, as it used to be before Star Wars temporarily took over.
The use of the Resistance base as the basis for the shop indicates that Disney will continue to use sequel trilogy content to promote Galaxy’s Edge going forward. While there are rumors that the Galaxy’s Edge parks themselves will be refit with new content to reflect Disney’s new shows and movies in the years to come, it can be expected that the adventures of Rey, Finn, Poe, BB-8, and Kylo Ren will take precedence for the foreseeable future, even if they add content from present and future works like The Mandalorian or Rogue Squadron to the mix.
Legacy Passholders will get a shot to preview the store from February 16 to 18, with it opening to all visitors a day later on February 19.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
