'Star Wars' Triple Force Friday Midnight Events Seem More Limited This Year

By Ethan AndertonOct. 2, 2019 5:00 pm EST

This week brings Star Wars Triple Force Friday to shelves across the world. But the debut of the first merchandise from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, The Mandalorian and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order isn't getting quite as big of a launch as the previous iterations have seen.

Lucasfilm has announced the retail locations in the United States and Canada that will be hosting special Triple Force Friday launch events, including the customary midnight openings. However, there are significantly fewer locations participating this year, making this feel like it's far less exciting of an event than it used to be.

As of now, here are all the key locations where you'll be able to participate in Triple Force Friday (via StarWars.com):

Downtown Disney in Anaheim, California, and Disney Springs in Orlando, Florida: Disney Stores will be hosting "Midnight Madness" events at 12:01am on October 4th, AND The Lego Store locations will be hosting LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon Master Build Events throughout the weekend.

The Disney Store in Times Square in New York will also be hosting a "Midnight Madness" event, which will feature a free Lithograph Set celebrating the three upcoming Star Wars releases (with purchases of $20 or more). There will also be photo ops with Stormtroopers. With New York Comic Con also taking place this weekend, this will be the place to be for Star Wars fans in the Empire State.

Walmart: Participating stores across the US will be hosting "Midnight Madness" events. Free lapel pins will be available to fans, plus there will be other in-store activities will be taking place. Find out if a store near you is hosting a Triple Force Friday event here.

Simon Malls in Burlington Mall, Burlington, MA; Del Amo Fashion Center, Torrance, CA; Houston Galleria, Houston, TX; Woodfield Mall, Schaumburg, IL; Roosevelt Field, Garden City, NY, will have a special Force Friday Scavenger activity sheets available at Guest Services.

Fred Meyer locations in Beaverton, OR (x2); Portland, OR; Oregon City, OR; and Tualatin, OR, will have Force Friday events taking place on October 5th (Force Saturday?), which will feature giveaways and photo ops.

Toys R Us Canada will have four "Midnight Madness" events, taking place at locations in Etobicoke, ON; Edmonton, AB; Langley, BC; and Vaughan, ON.

You may have noticed that, unfortunately, no Target stores are participating in the midnight launch of Star Wars merchandise. Target will be launching their new Disney Store pop-up sections in 25 locations in the US, but not until they open on Friday morning.

Furthermore, the Walmart locations taking part are significantly lower than before. However, there may be stores that aren't listed that might put out merchandise at midnight, but it will likely be up to the store manager. So you may want to call your local retailer to see if they'll be stocking shelves with goods at midnight.

It looks like fans aren't turning out as much as they used for merchandise, at least at such a late hour. There will obviously still be plenty of merchandise out on shelves, but it'll just be a race to get to the store first thing in the morning to get your hands on it.

Wherever you go to pick up your Star Wars merchandise, may the Force be with you!