Jedi Academy - Tips & Highlights

[allimaree]

When we were there, it was only Darth Vader, no Darth Maul. Maybe because is was the low season?

 

[noryglory]

Well, were there on last Monday (Hi Allimaree, again!!) and our little friends who LOVE Star Wars both got to fight and both bad guys were there then.

Thanks to Hound's tips, our friend made a sign "Yoda says PICK ME!" LOL it was so cute and in fact he was the ONLY child with a sign and picked--although almost all the kids who were there got picked, I'm sure he was singled out because of his sign. His little sister was picked also and as many of you say, she fought Darth Vader and her big bro fought Darth Maul. I didn't realize it was a size thing but it makes a lot of sense.

It's such a great show, we walked by and saw a glimspe of it again, and after comparing we really preferred our "Master Jedi"--he was an Asian man and just did a really, really great job with the kids and making great jokes for all the adults watching. Hysterical.

My son, eh, he preferred watching his friends from the Tomorrowland Terrace. I was grateful we didn't have to worry about having all three picked!

 

[avalon451]

I tried to get my girls interested in this, but they just weren't. The older ones don't like to be in the spotlight (although I think they would have changed their minds, on this) and the younger one thought the Darths were too scary. I wanted to make a sign for them: "Pick me, Obi Wan Kenobi-- you're my only hope."

 

[ChasRN]

Anyone have any luck getting kids on the older side picked? I'm taking my nephews who are 10 and 12 to Disneyland in a couple of weeks. They are both Star Wars nuts. They don't know about the Jedi Training yet. Based on the suggestions here, I'm pretty confident I could get my 10 year old nephew picked. But I'm worried about the 12 year old. Sounds like they skew towards picking younger kids. They are good kids, but also two boys who are competitive since they are close in age. I don't want to create friction and problems when there are plenty of other things for us to do. Any ideas?

Chas

 

[december]

I'm really hoping I can get my ds10 picked. He didn't get picked at WDW last year, and he was ok but very disappointed. They picked younger kids. I just finished making a sign for him-I put Jedi ******* and under it "use the force.....pick me" then covered it in quotes from the movies. I did everything in different colors. I also wrote "1st time in DL." The sign is about 3 ft wide, so they can't miss it! I have it rolled up like a scroll and in the back pack already. I told him we'd keep going back until he got picked!

 

[noryglory]

Um, yeah, I think they will pick you guys!!! That's a riot! They do about 5 shows a day so yes, you can try again.

 

[Hound 109]

Hound, thank you SO MUCH for your tips here! We went to the 2nd show last Thursday with my 3 boys. We made signs for them ("Darth Vader Annihilator", "Obi Wan has taught me well" and "Judge me by my size, do you?") but I was worried they wouldn't pick 3 boys from the same family. We spread them out along our side of the floor so they weren't all together, but the signs matched, so I'm sure they knew they were related. They were the only ones with signs at our show. The Jedi master started picking from the other side of the floor first, maybe 5 or 6 kids. When he started picking from our side my boys were 3 of the first 4 chosen!! I was amazed at how well it worked! After the show we went to find their signs so we could keep them for memories but we couldn't find one of them. The CM we talked to said the Jedi Master likes to keep some signs because he hangs them on his wall. So cool! My boys loved the whole experience! Thanks again!

That's a great story....& it's very cool that all three of your boys were chosen.

Which side were they standing on? Was one side "more crowded" than the other?

AlliMaree....if you have pics.....please post them.


hound

 

[Hound 109]

I can totally agree with this, the little guys got Vader, the bigger ones got Darth Maul (he is pretty scary looking). My son is almost 9 and was happy to get DM. We did not have a t-shirt or sign and DS got picked about 17th thankfully with his mommy begging and his 6ft4 daddy pointing like mad. It was truly a highlight for DS...and Dh too!! If DH was just a bit younger and shorter.....!!!LOL

Darth Maul has the double sided light sabre & has Amazing Moves.

Those who enjoy Rock Music & want to see Darth Maul in action might want to go to You Tube & type in "Darth Maul Rocks". It's pretty cool.

hound

 

[Hound 109]

Anyone have any luck getting kids on the older side picked? I'm taking my nephews who are 10 and 12 to Disneyland in a couple of weeks. They are both Star Wars nuts. They don't know about the Jedi Training yet. Based on the suggestions here, I'm pretty confident I could get my 10 year old nephew picked. But I'm worried about the 12 year old. Sounds like they skew towards picking younger kids. They are good kids, but also two boys who are competitive since they are close in age. I don't want to create friction and problems when there are plenty of other things for us to do. Any ideas?

Chas

I would go to the first showing & have both kids with signs & very easy to pick out shirts. (Lime Green....Bright Orange.....something that the Master Jedi can easily spot & say...."the kid with the sign & the orange shirt" for example).

FWIW our successful "signs" were just manilla folders folded out with Sharpie Letters....if you or the kids don't want to do an elaborate sign.

Good Luck.

 

[disneyfan4ever54]

Anyone have any luck getting kids on the older side picked? I'm taking my nephews who are 10 and 12 to Disneyland in a couple of weeks. They are both Star Wars nuts. They don't know about the Jedi Training yet. Based on the suggestions here, I'm pretty confident I could get my 10 year old nephew picked. But I'm worried about the 12 year old. Sounds like they skew towards picking younger kids. They are good kids, but also two boys who are competitive since they are close in age. I don't want to create friction and problems when there are plenty of other things for us to do. Any ideas?

Chas

My DS was chosen when we were there for his 12th birthday. Our family is petite though, so he does appear to be younger than he is. There were about 5 kids the same size as him that seemed to be around 10 or 11 and the rest were younger. I would think it would depend on whether the kids were petite or very tall for their age and what age they appeared to be.

 

[ChasRN]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll talk it over with their parents and see what they think. However, I was mulling over the idea that if we made a sign that said "we are brothers and we want to fight the dark side together", maybe there would be a better chance of getting them both chosen.

Chas

 

[december]

I love that idea!

 

[Hound 109]

I came across this hilarious & detailed experience of the Jedi Training Academy in recent trip report.

Lots of good information & a very funny read from diser jjames:

And finally, FINALLY, it was time for the event we'd all been waiting for: the Jedi Training Academy. The signs were made, #s 3 & 4 had been coached in the proper jumping and yelling technique, and we were ready to kick some Sith behinds. We were also 30 minutes early. Tomorrowland Terrace was a ghost town. Not to be deterred, the kids parked themselves front and center behind the line, signs at the ready. I headed off to pick up some BTMRR fastpasses, having neglected to read that BTMRR wasn't offering fastpasses on that day. It turns out that the Times guide really does have some valuable information printed in it.

I returned to JTA to see that the crowds had begun to gather. More waiting...waiting...and then the music began playing, the announcer's voice came on, and the Jedi Master took the stage. He immediately began choosing children to participate – beginning with ours!! Unfortunately, we were all a little slow on the uptake, and by the time we realized they'd been called, the Jedi Master had moved on to the other side of the stage. We didn't know what to do. Should we still send them? What if we were wrong? What if it was too late? Oh, the pressure! Luckily, the Jedi Master took pity on the two pathetic creatures still jumping up and down with their signs and called them up again. Whew! (Editors note: The Jedi Master is HILARIOUS! He also speaks very quickly and with a lower tone, so he can be a little bit hard to understand at first. Pay close attention when he begins speaking, so that you won't feel like the village idiot when he has to call your children up to the stage twice.)

With light sabers in hand, it was time for the young padawans to begin their training. The Jedi Master first instructed them in the proper activation technique: push the button and swoosh. Twenty nine lightsabers swooshed out. #4's light saber was stuck. #4 scratched his head, shook his handle up and down, and...nothing. The Jedi assistant came over to help. She activated the lightsaber. #4 then couldn't figure out how to deactivate it. She gave him a new lightsaber.

Meanwhile, the rest of the young padawans had moved on to the fighting routine. #4 took the new saber, gave it a shake, and...nothing. The Jedi assistant came back and once again helped him with the activation. He swung it around a few times, deactivated it, and...once again couldn't get it to reactivate. Meanwhile, jokes were flying through the air at light speed as the Jedi master continued to coach his young trainees. Between the Jedi Master and our own little padawan flunkee, we were laughing hysterically the whole time. #4 finally managed to successfully deploy his weapon – one time.

And now it was time for Darth Vader to take the stage. He rose from the stage in a display of very dramatic mist and music, and tried to persuade the padawans to join him. Nice try, Vader, they'll never join you! But alas, Vader had brought back-ups. A very scary, very skillful Darth Maul joined him. (Editors note: Darth Maul fans should sit on the left hand side of the stage, as this is were he does all of his stalking and glaring.) The padawans were ready to fight!! #4 was put in Vader's line, while #3 was selected to take on Darth Maul, which she did in a very business-like and slightly terrified manner. It was #4's turn to take on Darth Vader. He bravely walked up to the Dark Lord, held out his lightsaber, and....nothing! He still couldn't activate it. He shook it, tried again, and...still nothing. The Jedi Master stepped in. “Dude, he's standing right there – we don't have time for this! Take mine!”

Take mine!”

With the Jedi Master's lightsaber in hand, #4 became a blur of motion as he ducked, posed, whirled, and completely disregarded all of the training he had received. He was a little Jedi fighting machine!

He also got the biggest cheers from the crowd (Mommy blushes with pride). Thank you, Jedi Master, for rescuing my poor clueless padawan and letting him have his moment of glory.

The fighting was over, the Sith lords retreated, and the padawans were presented with their diplomas. For all of us, the Jedi Training Academy was the highlight of our trip. We would definitely go to see it again, even if we didn't have any kids!

& fyi...her entire report is a feel good, funny & well written recap of a nice family who are visiting our little park for the first time.

It can be read here (& has lots of great pics, too):

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1817885


hound <---- loves reading reports about families (with kids) experiencing Walt's park for the first time.

 

[quiltymom]

DS did this during our trip. I must admit that I had no idea what to expect, but it was great! Even if you don't have kids who want to participate, it would be a fun way to take a food break and watch the action. The Jedi Master was just fantastic.

 

[TheAXIOM]

The Jedi Training Academy was SUCH a fun event to see.
Seeing all the little ones battle Darth Vader and use the force to stop the Storm Troopers...

Very entertaining.
Wish I was young enough to fight :/

 

[Grim_Grinning_Girl]

I went to Disneyland about 2 weeks ago, and we had 3 younger kids in our party ages: 3, 5, and 8. All 3 of them were chosen to participate in the Jedi Training academy in the same performance. Of course I planned ahead and made signs for them to hold up, the signs where of: an image of Darth Vader, image of a Stormtrooper, and an image of the Rebel Alliance symbol. I figured a simple & direct visual would work the best, rather than reading material for the Jedi since the selection process needs to be done quickly. And fortunately it worked . The Jedi called the kids based on the images on the signs, and in succession too, 1-2-3 .

Our group went nuts . We were hoping at least one of them would get picked, so we lost it when all 3 were selected, and in a row !

 

[carj]

We went to WDW last summer and this was absolutely the highlight of the trip for my then 7 year old son.
We are going to DLR this summer and I will definitely make a sign! Thanks!

 

[toni1227]

Thanks HOUND!!! We went last week and my DS got picked! He had a bright blue shirt with a big number 73 on it and he jumped up and down and was at the rope. The guy called out #73!!!
We did make him a sign but he did not hold it up!!! I asked him why and he said that no one else was (but I told him well that was the point to get picked if he saw you waving a sign he would see you and pick you). But luckily he still was picked. That was his favorite thing at Disneyland. Glad I read your thread or I would not have not had a clue on how to get him picked.

 

[mrwinky]

My youngest got picked when we were there in OCT.. What I had done was made an iron transfer of the picture of Mikey as Luke from the original Starwars (1977) movie poster... I then put text on it that said "I wanna be a Jedi in Training"... We put the shirt in our backpack and happened to be getting off nemo 15min before it started, so we sat down, front row, and my 5 y/o son was picked about 4 or 5th. I didnt notice anyone with signs. I think the key is to be at the front of the line in the ground they have .... I got some amazing shots of Darth maul point me out when he was walking down the aisle ( I was there taking photos there) he pointed at me and snarled... Quite an Amazing picture... And it was my sons Highlight of the whole trip... Infact that night he had to call grandma and Grandpa to tell them all about it


Winky

 

[caldisneyfan]

Our DS has been picked everytime so far. Twice in 2007 and last year we only did it once. Last year he dressed as Anakin Skywalker and was picked in the first couple of Padawan learner's.