Day 5...In a Far Off Galaxy
As we people watched and explored our way through DHS, we stopped and enjoyed the Great Movie Ride. I love that ride/show/experience. It makes me chuckle and I journey back through some of my favorite movies (I am a Tarzan, Indiana Jones, Mary Poppins, Fantasia, Casablanca, Wizard of Oz fan).
After our ride through movie memory lane we strolled over toward Star Tours.
When we saw the posted wait time was five minutes we hurried over and ended up having no wait at all (other than the wait once we were lined up in front of the doors waiting for the riders in front of us to finish up there journey before ours could begin). We really had lucked out on low crowds that day!
As we walked out we were talking about riding again when I heard an announcement for the Jedi Training Academy that would be starting in fifteen minutes. To my great surprise,
Goofy said he wanted to try to do that. I wasn't surprised because he doesn't like Star Wars but more because
Goofy is my shy guy. He is not my volunteer to be in the show son. I was happy to see him stepping out of his comfort zone a little bit to even suggest trying to be picked.
Goofy is a crack up with those he knows well, he almost never stops talking once he starts but he is the most reserved of my boys with those he doesn't know well.
As we walked over we found ourselves able to find a front spot smack dab in the center of the stage. As we waited, I cautioned him that they might be looking for younger kids to take part in the show...or at least younger looking kids. He might have been not quite ten years old but he looked as if the birthday he was there to celebrate was his 13th or 14th. He's just that stinkin' tall! I also warned him that he was going to have to volunteer to take part in the show (everything I had read about Jedi Training told me that they were looking for enthusiastic volunteers). Lastly, I reminded him that lots of kids wanted to train to be a Jedi and that not all of them could be picked. I just wanted him to understand that it wasn't just something you could opt into of your own accord. Despite those cautions, he was still interested in seeing the show even if he didn't end up in it. As we waited, we chatted with the photopass photographer who was there staging really neat pictures (you vs. Darth Vader once the Disney computers added him in). I love this picture, you can see just how much
Goofy was enjoying our time WAITING! Yep, we were having a blast waiting. Go figure.
If you are a Star Wars (or even just a Star Tours) fan, don't miss out on this photo pass photo op.
As we continued to visit with the photographer she gave
Goofy a few tips on getting picked to be in the show. Her tips were as follows:
1. Smile lots
2. Jump up and down
3. Wave your hands around
4. Yell out when they ask you if anyone wants to take part in Jedi training
Other than the first one (to smile), the rest were not what I would call
Goofy moves. He's not the kind of kid that jumps around, waves his hands and hollers to draw attention to himself. That made it all the sweeter for me to watch when just a few minutes later he took that advice to heart.
Please prepare yourselves for photo overload.
The Training Academy started off when a Jedi burst out on to stage.
The master Jedi put on a short display of his 'moves'.
And then he started to pick Padawan (is that how you spell it?) to train from the audience. As the photographer had clued us in, all of the children started to jump, smile, wave their arms and holler when he asked for volunteers.
Goofy even joined in (in a much more subdued fashion than all of the kids near us). To his VERY GREAT delight, he was among those chosen to train. Each child that was picked was shown on to the stage and given a Jedi robe (???they had bigger and smaller robes but handed Goofy one of the smallest robes
, it was a 'tad' small).
After preparing the future Jedi, the kids were each given a light saber to train with.
Then he began to instruct them on the finer points of using a light saber.
As the young Jedi-to-be were being trained, Darth Vader made his presence known.
He even brought two of his storm troopers with him.
Darth Vader offered the young Jedi-in-training a chance to join him. **I wonder what would have happened if one of those kids had said yes.
**
When none of them took him up on his offer, he warned them that they had better reconsider.
The Jedi master told Darth Vader that none of these hearts/minds would be drawn to the dark side.
Once Darth Vader was unable to convince the newest Jedi to join him, he was ready to do battle with them.
He issued a challenge and one by one, the young Jedi-to-be put there new training to the test.
It is so much fun to see someone who is a bit hestiant to come out of their comfort zone and do well... good job!
SO, if you are the sweet DISer who I spoke to today, please jump in and say hello. Way to go on your finish in the race! 
I'm sure he couln't wait to tell his brothers about training. SO NEAT!
