Store Wars



Part of the magic of a studio backlot is that a change of setting can be made as simply as moving the camera to a different angle. Interior scenes for Star Tours are being shot inside Stage 12 at Disney's Hollywood Studios, but just outside are two unique sets recreating diverse locales from the Star Wars universe: the Ewok village on the forest moon of Endor and Anakin Skywalker's homestead in Mos Espa on the planet Tatooine.


The Mos Espa facade was added in 1999, upon the release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Anticipating a surge in demand for Star Wars-related merchandise, the shop at the exit of the Star Tours attraction was nearly doubled in size and renamed Tatooine Traders, bringing a bit of the prequels into the park.

The original store in this location was known as Endor Vendors, housed in a replica of the Imperial bunker seen in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (Photos from the Walt Dated World site). Hints of the bunker can still be seen, if you look back between the trees where the Tatooine set meets the soundstage.


Today, the Imperial bunker has found a new home on the other side of the attraction, as a backdrop for the Jedi Training Academy.

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