Jedis, anyone?

[motherofautumn]

Has anyone had a child who was a part of the Jedi Training Academy? What was it like? DS6 would LOVE to do this!

 

[carj]

My 7 year old son ot do do this in June! It was great.
Get there in advance of the show. Once the music starts and the CMs come out, it gets crowded. As you are facing the stage, sit to the right, that seemed to be where the show was aimed.
We got there early and I laid a towel on the ground for my DS, DD and I to sit on. We sat right behind the line that is on the ground, (you have to stay behind the line.)
I told DS that he might or might not get picked BUT if he wanted to get picked here is what I told him that he needed to do.

"As soon as the CM comes out everyone stood up. When they ask for volunteers, you need to raise your hand right away, don't look like you are unsure or like you are too cool to be in the show. Smile and look excited, but don't act crazy, like you don't know how to follow directions."

The Jedi instructor trains them and they all use a light saber and put on a robe. I think that they picked about 12 kids. Then, the music changes and there is smoke. Darth Vader comes out and the Jedi instructor herds the kids to the right side of the stage.

Each kid battles Darth Vader and he says something to each one.

My 7 year old said that when he had to fight Darth Vader, that even his legs were scared! There was a photopass photographer there and she got 2 awesome pictures! We even bought one that day to show dad who was working at a conference.

It was intimidating for the kids I think. I noticed that they had one of the older kids fight Darth Vader first. Probably so that the others could watch and see what happened.

Your son is the perfect age. The youngest kid that was picked the day we were there was probably 5, maybe 6 and the oldest was maybe 10. If your son seems at all unsure, let him watch a show and then come back for a later one.

This turned out to be his most memorable moment at Disney.

 

[CindyCharming]

My 6yo got to do this on our last trip. I was shocked that he wanted to do it; the characters freak him out and he won't go near them. We were eating and my husband took him over just to watch the show. After I finished eating I went over to join them and couldn't believe he was up there, I never would have expected it. When Darth Vader came out I thought, Oh here we go, he is going to trip out. But he didn't. He fought him and did it with a smile on his face!

Personally, Darth Vader creeped me out a bit and I wasn't on stage. I think I would be terrified if I were a small kid on stage!

We had a female instructor and she was great with the kids, she stayed near them when they were fighting Darth Vader and lightened up the mood if one of the kids seemed scared.

It ended up being one of the highlights of the trip. It still makes me tear up a little thinking of my son doing it. He was so darn excited to be up there and so proud of himself for "fighting" Darth Vader. It's the first thing he talks about if anyone brings up Disney.

 

[RF536]

Your DS is the perfect age, my DS is 7 and just did it on this trip and had a blast. We were there for the last weekend of the Star Wars weekends so he actually got to battle Darth Maul. Like others have said your son needs to look excited like he really wants to do it. When we were there the 1st show we tried to get him into he didn't get picked for, by the time the 1st show ended there was about 1/2 hour before the 2nd show was going to start so we just stayed where we were. Luckily the same Jedi trainer came out for the second show and seemed to recognize DS because he was picked pretty quickly.

This is still one of the main this DS talks about regarding our trip.

 

[may06orbust]

DS did this when he 11, he's now 13 and too cool for such things. But he loved it! First he made some friends with some 2 other boys around his age that had done it the day before and they encouraged him to stand right up, raise his hand and look eager. All three of them were chosen, but it wasn't all that busy that day.

My DS was so pumped because when he got to fight Darth Vader he was so good that the Stormtroopers had to "step in"!

 

[Chipmunk89]

DS8 did it this past June. He was so excited. He wore one of his SW shirts, and was up front. When the Jedi Master asked for volunteers, DS jumped up & down, waved his arms and yelled "Me!!Me!!". And they picked him. Then when they leave the stage they were given a diploma and gift bag. He volunteered to fight Darth Vader first. When we were there, some kids were on stage & fought Vader, Some kids were in front of the stage and they fought Darth Maul.