How hard is it to get into Jedi Training?

[disneygrandma]

Thanks for the info.

 

[KelleyK75]

Jedi Training is what my son (6) wants to do more then anything I have told him about at Disney. I have read that you need to be there at rope drop and head back to it right away to sign up. If I am there at rope drop, is it pretty likely he will get signed up? We will be there is November, if that makes any kind of difference. I am so anxious that it will be full and he will be so disappointed.

Thanks for the help!

After doing this last week I will tell you don't stress out about it. I was stressed that we wouldn't make it into a time slot, and everything worked out perfectly.

There are I believe 12 kids in each training session. Someone posted the time slots and I counted 15 of them. That is 180 kids, give or take if they change up the number of shows, etc. So as long as you are there at rope drop and head right to the sign-ups, you should be fine. If it's raining, they will cancel, so just be mindful of that. It was drizzling when we came out of Hollywood and Vine, and the first 9:20 training did get cancelled. We luckily were in the 10:10 training, so we were the first of the day.

Here is a play by play of our experience. We had a 8:00 Hollywood and Vine ADR. We got right in, the characters came to our table right away, and we were done with everything by about 8:40. We saw it was raining outside, and hung out for a few minutes, as I didn't see people passing by, so I wasn't worried that the park was opened yet. We went outside about 8:50, and I realized the park had opened already, so we walked over to the sign-ups (which was about a 2 minute walk, if that). I was a little worried, because I wasn't sure how many had already signed up, but we got in line, and waited for a few minutes before it was our turn. When we got up there they asked my nephew his first name and last initial (to put on the little slip they give you as your "ticket" to come back to the training) and asked how old he was. He told them 6, then she just said something along the lines of "are you ready for Jedi Training" and he said Yes. She asked if the 10:10 show was ok, and I said yes. She printed out the slip and told us to be back at 9:40. It was around 9:10 then, so we didn't want to go far. It was still sprinkling, so we just hung out around the building and then got in line.

They lined us up at the Sounds Dangerous building, and then to kill a little time the guy started asking some Star Wars questions. Some of the kids were answering, some weren't. Not a big deal, just something to kill the time. They then handed out robes and lead us over to the stage.

Once at the stage the Jedi Master came out and all of the kids took their spots. They gave them instruction on how to use the light sabers, how to do their battle, then practiced it a few times. Then the door opened and Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers came out. Each kid took a turn and if any of the kids were having trouble the Jedi Master helped them out. After they all battled, Darth Vader left, then they did the little bit with the Storm Troopers not being able to leave. Once they left, the kids all were told they did a good job then received their diplomas.

The photographer took pictures of all of the kids throughout the Training, and gave each adult the photopass cards. The cards have all of the kids in training on it, and if you take it to "Cover Story" at the front of the park they will go through them with you and put just your childs pictures on your Magic Band/Memory Maker.

Any questions you might have please let me know.

 

[KelleyK75]

There used to be an attraction inside that building called "Sounds Dangerous." That's why people refer to it as the old Sounds Dangerous building. It's one of those things like you see in a small town when you're getting directions and the locals who have lived there for 100 years tell you to turn left at the road where the old sawmill used to be.

Haha, gotcha! I was looking for a sign that said Sounds Dangerous but never saw it.

 

[buggy2727]

After doing this last week I will tell you don't stress out about it. I was stressed that we wouldn't make it into a time slot, and everything worked out perfectly.

There are I believe 12 kids in each training session. Someone posted the time slots and I counted 15 of them. That is 180 kids, give or take if they change up the number of shows, etc. So as long as you are there at rope drop and head right to the sign-ups, you should be fine. If it's raining, they will cancel, so just be mindful of that. It was drizzling when we came out of Hollywood and Vine, and the first 9:20 training did get cancelled. We luckily were in the 10:10 training, so we were the first of the day.

Here is a play by play of our experience. We had a 8:00 Hollywood and Vine ADR. We got right in, the characters came to our table right away, and we were done with everything by about 8:40. We saw it was raining outside, and hung out for a few minutes, as I didn't see people passing by, so I wasn't worried that the park was opened yet. We went outside about 8:50, and I realized the park had opened already, so we walked over to the sign-ups (which was about a 2 minute walk, if that). I was a little worried, because I wasn't sure how many had already signed up, but we got in line, and waited for a few minutes before it was our turn. When we got up there they asked my nephew his first name and last initial (to put on the little slip they give you as your "ticket" to come back to the training) and asked how old he was. He told them 6, then she just said something along the lines of "are you ready for Jedi Training" and he said Yes. She asked if the 10:10 show was ok, and I said yes. She printed out the slip and told us to be back at 9:40. It was around 9:10 then, so we didn't want to go far. It was still sprinkling, so we just hung out around the building and then got in line.

They lined us up at the Sounds Dangerous building, and then to kill a little time the guy started asking some Star Wars questions. Some of the kids were answering, some weren't. Not a big deal, just something to kill the time. They then handed out robes and lead us over to the stage.

Once at the stage the Jedi Master came out and all of the kids took their spots. They gave them instruction on how to use the light sabers, how to do their battle, then practiced it a few times. Then the door opened and Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers came out. Each kid took a turn and if any of the kids were having trouble the Jedi Master helped them out. After they all battled, Darth Vader left, then they did the little bit with the Storm Troopers not being able to leave. Once they left, the kids all were told they did a good job then received their diplomas.

The photographer took pictures of all of the kids throughout the Training, and gave each adult the photopass cards. The cards have all of the kids in training on it, and if you take it to "Cover Story" at the front of the park they will go through them with you and put just your childs pictures on your Magic Band/Memory Maker.

Any questions you might have please let me know.

Thanks for all the detail - this is one of our must do items! I have a question, I've seen many posts where people talk about making signs and having Star Wars shirts on so you will get "picked". Do all the kids get to battle Darth Vader (or Darth Maul)? Or do they only pick a few from those that signed up for training? If DS and DD don't get to battle, they will be very disappointed - and if one battles and the other doesn't, that's even worse!

 

[KelleyK75]

Thanks for all the detail - this is one of our must do items! I have a question, I've seen many posts where people talk about making signs and having Star Wars shirts on so you will get "picked". Do all the kids get to battle Darth Vader (or Darth Maul)? Or do they only pick a few from those that signed up for training? If DS and DD don't get to battle, they will be very disappointed - and if one battles and the other doesn't, that's even worse!

You're welcome! Every kid that signs up gets to do the battle. I am not sure what they might have been getting "picked" for? Maybe something during Star Wars weekends? The kids in my nephews group all just lined up after Darth Vader came out and each took a turn with Darth Vader (except the poor little kid that was crying and left the stage.) The Jedi Master made comments to the kids that had Darth Vader shirts on, but never had anyone not doing the battle.

 

[Itinkso]

You're welcome! Every kid that signs up gets to do the battle. I am not sure what they might have been getting "picked" for? Maybe something during Star Wars weekends? The kids in my nephews group all just lined up after Darth Vader came out and each took a turn with Darth Vader (except the poor little kid that was crying and left the stage.) The Jedi Master made comments to the kids that had Darth Vader shirts on, but never had anyone not doing the battle.

Kids hold signs at Disneyland. The Younglings are chosen from the crowd... they don't have a rope drop scenario in DL.

 

[disneygrandma]

At WDW, they use to pick kids from the crowd. But that's been quite a while back now.

 

[Indecisive]

KelleyK75, I just wanted to thank you for your detailed description above! It is very helpful. I have never seen this explained so thoroughly. I have been agonizing and agonizing about whether or not to keep our 8am ADR at H&V. There are 6 of us (4 adults and 2 kids), so it is a lot of money to spend, given that we don't care (much) about the characters, yet it seems like it would be helpful to already be in the park at sign up time, especially since now DHS has a second breakfast going on in the park on our date! (The Sci-Fi Star Wars breakfast). I am leaning toward keeping the ADR so we won't have to spend as long in the JTA sign-up line and we can head over to TSMM after getting signed up. Anyway, thanks so much for all the great info.

 

[JVP1]

Tell me if you think this plan will work - We have 8:05am breakfast reservations at Sci Fi.

Do you think my husband will be able to take my 4 year over to sign up for Jedi Training even if they aren't finished eating?

Since the breakfast is so early, I was hoping the service would be quick and they would atleast have gotten to eat their meal, then I can stay behind and pay while they get signed up.

Please let me know if you think this will work.

 

[Itinkso]

Tell me if you think this plan will work - We have 8:05am breakfast reservations at Sci Fi. Do you think my husband will be able to take my 4 year over to sign up for Jedi Training even if they aren't finished eating? Since the breakfast is so early, I was hoping the service would be quick and they would atleast have gotten to eat their meal, then I can stay behind and pay while they get signed up. Please let me know if you think this will work.

Yes, they can leave to sign-up and then return to Sci-Fi. You can always ask to pay as soon as you are seated because it is a price fixe meal. Sci-Fi is just around the corner from the sign-up location. I believe you will have your photos taken with Vader before you are seated so that will speed things up.

 

[buggy2727]

Kids hold signs at Disneyland. The Younglings are chosen from the crowd... they don't have a rope drop scenario in DL.

Ahhhh! Thanks for the clarification! That makes me breathe a sigh of relief!!! Guess I can return DD's boys star wars shirt (only one I could find)! I have to be more careful when searching the boards and reading old posts!

 

[KelleyK75]

KelleyK75, I just wanted to thank you for your detailed description above! It is very helpful. I have never seen this explained so thoroughly. I have been agonizing and agonizing about whether or not to keep our 8am ADR at H&V. There are 6 of us (4 adults and 2 kids), so it is a lot of money to spend, given that we don't care (much) about the characters, yet it seems like it would be helpful to already be in the park at sign up time, especially since now DHS has a second breakfast going on in the park on our date! (The Sci-Fi Star Wars breakfast). I am leaning toward keeping the ADR so we won't have to spend as long in the JTA sign-up line and we can head over to TSMM after getting signed up. Anyway, thanks so much for all the great info.

You are very welcome! I agonized over it a lot too, because I knew how much my nephew wanted to do it, so I spent a lot of time doing research and trying to make the best decisions to get him into the training. I hoped that giving my experience with it would help someone out.

Personally, I would still keep the 8am ADR. We got in right away with our 8am reservation, the characters started coming right away, and we were done with everything at 8:40. The characters are all really cute, and the breakfast was good. If there is also a Star Wars breakfast at that time, I would imagine that all of the Star Wars fans are going to be heading over to Training once they are done with breakfast, too. So being in the park early would be an advantage. Just make sure it's not an Extra Magic Hour day for HS, because then your breakfast wouldn't be an advantage as while you are eating, everyone else would be signing up. If it turns out that it's EMH, you would always leave with your child, go sign up, then come back to the breakfast. The sign-ups are super close to H&V. You can see it from the front of H&V, and just have to walk around a fountain and down a little to get to the sign-ups. You could pick your training time for a little later so you have time to finish breakfast and then go to training. Just remember you have to be back at training 30 minutes before your time.

 

[KelleyK75]

Tell me if you think this plan will work - We have 8:05am breakfast reservations at Sci Fi.

Do you think my husband will be able to take my 4 year over to sign up for Jedi Training even if they aren't finished eating?

Since the breakfast is so early, I was hoping the service would be quick and they would atleast have gotten to eat their meal, then I can stay behind and pay while they get signed up.

Please let me know if you think this will work.

I think that would work. Just arrive a little early so you get seated right away, and like Itinkso said, ask for the bill when you are seated. I did this at Akershus and it worked well, as we were already paid for when I had to leave. Even if you aren't finished and your husband takes your 4 year old over to sign up, he could come back and finish after signing up. Just tell him to ask for a little later time for training since you have to arrive 30 minutes prior to your training time.

 

[ForeverAlice]

Hi everyone.... Just wanted to be sure I understand if the park is open at 8 emh then you can sign up then before gates open to non resort guests? Thanks.

 

[sbrost13]

Yes, you can sign up at 8:00. We just did that this past Saturday. Kids had a blast and we got great pictures!

 

[ForeverAlice]

Awesome thank you!

 

[sbrost13]

Just an FYI, we were the 3rd group to register for Jedi Training and were able to then go directly to Toy Story and rode that with only a 15 minute wait. It was awesome!

 

[Zeebs]

Where's Robo with one of his handy, this is where you go maps, when you need him.

If you are there during May but don't go on the weekend, which place to you go to sign up?

the Star Wars weekend detail tells me to go to Epic Theatre, I can't find it on the map (might be for too much looking).

Many thanks
Kirsten

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Where's Robo with one of his handy, this is where you go maps, when you need him.

If you are there during May but don't go on the weekend, which place to you go to sign up?

the Star Wars weekend detail tells me to go to Epic Theatre, I can't find it on the map (might be for too much looking).

Many thanks
Kirsten

The signups during SWWs are in front of the Indiana Jones show (Epic Theatre is maybe its official name?). That's on SWW days only. All other days the signups are in the Sound Studio/former Sounds Dangerous Building, which is across from Indiana Jones and in front of Star Tours. If you get to Star Tours you've gone too far.

 

[OtherScott]

This might be a dumb question but I don't want to screw this up for our HS day. We're going on an EMH morning in April and we were planning on signing the kids up for Jedi Training. Do you get to choose the time of the show the kids participate in? Or are you stuck with the next available time slot? Main reason I'm asking is that we wanted to sign up for the 11:00 or 11:50 show (don't want an earlier time slot). Thanks for the help!

You will be offered any of remaining time slots to choose from. I could have chosen morning or afternoon, but we took evening since it fit our schedule.