Disney Is Staffing a Character Warehouse at Tampa Premium Outlets, and Its Only Public Word Is Two Job Postings

Disney has not put out a press release, a rendering, or an opening date. What it has put out is two job listings, and they both say the same thing in the same place: "Location: Disney Character Warehouse, Tampa Premium Outlets in Tampa, FL."

That line, repeated word for word in both postings on Disney's careers site, is currently everything Disney itself has said in public about a third Character Warehouse outlet store.

The two postings. One is for a Merchandise HOH (Heart of House) Lead Cast Member, posted Aug. 09, 2026 under job ID 1366549BR, with a listed starting rate of $21.10 per hour. The other is a Merchandise Inventory Specialist, posted Aug. 06, 2026 under job ID 1366551BR, starting at $20.10 per hour. Both are full time and both carry Disney's "Bench" designation.

Both listings name Walt Disney World Resort as the business, and both include Disney's standard line that the role "is with Disney Destinations, LLC, which is part of a business we call Walt Disney World Resort." In other words, this is a Walt Disney World retail operation being staffed about 75 miles from the resort.

What the lead role involves. Opening, closing and securing the location, running point of sale, and leading cast members day to day. The posting also lists operating electric pallet jacks, forklifts, balers and high reach tools among the duties, with training provided, which tells you plenty about what a Character Warehouse stockroom is actually like. The inventory job works inside Disney's store inventory system and coordinates with Walt Disney World's data maintenance cast members and with the distribution center.

The count. WDWMagic, which reported the new store on Tuesday evening, says that this "will be the third Disney Character Warehouse location" and that "the other two stores operate in Orlando, Florida." It also notes that Disney "has not announced an opening date yet or an exact location within the outlet mall."

We are not printing a unit number for the store, because Disney has not named one. The outlet center sits north of Tampa where Interstate 75 meets State Road 56, and it carries a Lutz mailing address even though it is commonly described as Wesley Chapel, so anyone planning a trip on this news is planning it early.

What these stores actually sell. Discounted overstock and retired merchandise pulled from Walt Disney World. WDWMagic lists apparel, toys, collectibles, home goods and seasonal holiday items, and says shoppers can find things that "once sold at full price in the parks, now heavily marked down."

Why Tampa is interesting. Both Character Warehouses operating today sit in the Orlando tourist corridor, one on International Drive and one on Vineland Avenue, within easy reach of a park day. Disney has not always stopped there. It ran a third Florida store at the Sawgrass Mills mall in Sunrise, near Fort Lauderdale, which Disney Tourist Blog reported in February was closing, citing cast member chatter about an unrenewed lease. It is gone now, which is why the count stands at two.

Tampa Premium Outlets is a different setting again. It sits about 14 miles from Busch Gardens and about 75 from Magic Kingdom, which puts it closer to the Tampa Bay market than to anyone's park itinerary.

Disney staffing a clearance store for that audience, and doing it quietly through hiring rather than announcement, is the kind of thing that turns up on a careers page before it turns up anywhere else.

Sources

• Disney Careers, "Merchandise HOH Lead Cast Member (Tampa, FL) - Full-Time, Bench" (job ID 1366549BR, posted Aug. 09, 2026)
• Disney Careers, "Merchandise Inventory Specialist (Tampa, FL) - Full-Time, Bench" (job ID 1366551BR, posted Aug. 06, 2026)
• WDWMagic, "New Disney Character Warehouse Opening in Tampa, Florida" (August 11, 2026)
• Disney Tourist Blog, "Disney Character Warehouse Outlet Sunrise Store Permanently Closing Soon!" (reporting on the Sawgrass Mills location)

Image credits: Photos by Tom Bricker / Disney Tourist Blog, showing Character Warehouse stores rather than the planned Tampa location.