? about Star Wars Weekend Jedi Training

[kalamazoo]

I was considering making a special trip during Star Wars Weekend for my ds to participate in the Jedi Training. I just read, however, that they randomly select participants for this. For those of you who have been there - how many people do they pick per session? What age groups do they seem to pick the most?

This was a big selling point for me. A lot of the other events for that weekend will not, I think, be of much interest to my ds - he would like to interact with the SW characters rather than the actors and would be only semi-interested in how they did all the special effects.

I'm thinking now that this event is not for us but I would like any input and answers to my questions.

Thanks.

 

[Belle5]

When I was there mostly 5-7 year olds were being chosen. They chose groups of maybe 8-10 kids (I think) several times a day. My 5 year old is a little shy so he wasn't chosen. The kids who were chosen from our group were real "hams" and were aggressive about getting chosen.

 

[FloraFauna]

When we were there this past June, my 11-year old son did the "Padawan Mind Challenge" trivia game. We signed up first thing in the morning. They had openings for 20 kids, we were number 20. He just made it. It was a lot of fun. They asked Star Wars trivia questions and the 20 kids on the stage would raise either a yellow flag or a black flag to answer the questions. Some of the questions were hard, some were easy.

 

[jetsetter90]

We were there this past May. They choose approx 5-10 kids from the audience. They do this a couple of times a day. If your son really wants to do this have him standing in the front closer to the stairs and making alot of noise, that's how my son got chosen.

TTFN

Jetsetter90

 

[zulaya]

They choose 10 kids per session and there are 6-7 sessions per day. We got there first thing inthe AM and had my son at the front of the first 3 sessions. It took him till the 3rd time to get chosen.

It really is random and depends on the Jedi Master. The only thing that everyone had in common is that they were in front right near the stage. My son was waving his hands in the air the 2nd and 3rd times.

 

[Synonymous]

kalamazoo- We haven't been to SW weekends, but they ran the same event at Star Wars Celebration last year, and my daughter did it. I have to say, I don't believe this event is worth building a whole trip around. If you think it is the only thing that would interest your son, you might want to just skip it.

It only lasts a few minutes, and consists of the kids being given robes and plastic light sabers (like the ones most kids have at home), then being taught a series of moves to do on the "master's" command, ie. "block high, cut low, cut high." The whole time, the "master" runs through a scripted patter, consisting of Yoda's lines from the various movies. At the end, Darth Vader comes out and the master calls out the commands, in order, and the kid does the pre-planned moves in a "fight" with Vader.

Don't get me wrong, she had a lot of fun and I got some cool pictures, but it was merely an interesting diversion during our weekend activities.

 

[NotUrsula]

If your child wants SW characters, you will be in luck; they are all over the place doing autographs and photo ops. If you want to meet the actors, you have to get in line for wristbands and then wait in lines for the autograph opportunity, it takes a LONG time. The character lines are much shorter, and you can get some really good photos.

My DS (6) is obsessed with SW, but he is afraid of characters of all types. He liked watching other kids get autographs and do the Jedi training, but did not want to participate himself. He did insist that we get photos of all of the characters, but did not want to be IN the photos.

The motorcade is late in the morning, and last time there were "Jedi children" walking in it, in costume. It appeared that the children chosen for the first round of the training in the morning were given the opportunity to walk in the motorcade, too.

 

[QuickGold]

This page ought to answer many of the questions related to Jedi Training: http://www.mgmstudios.org/obi.html