At this point we did a little family huddle
to decide on our next course of action. After looking at the show schedules and a little deliberation we decided to go to see “Voyage of the Little Mermaid”. We started walking in that direction but as we neared the hub of the park James said, “But Dad, what about my Jedi training?” I said, “You have to get picked out of the audience for that, which isn’t very likely. Don’t you want to see the Little Mermaid?” He said “Nooo!” (Basically, a “heck no!” from a 5 year old.) “I don’t want to see the Little Mermaid. I want Jedi Training!” Secretly, I was glad to hear that my son preferred “boy” things to “girly” things (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but it meant baking in the sun, and it was risky -- how likely would it be that he would get picked to go up onstage? Anyway, to accommodate everybody we split up. Judy went with the girls to rest her legs while seated in the air conditioned Little Mermaid theater, and I went with James to stand in the Florida sun and try to get him picked for Jedi training.
On our way to the Jedi training stage we ran across this Ewok
who was trying to get to that door behind James to take a break. Fortunately, he let us get a picture first.
We got to the Jedi training area and joined the crowd behind the rope. After a short wait another training session started. I think they ran every 45 minutes or so. If you’ve never seen this show, here’s what happens. A Jedi “Master” comes out and shows off some fancy swordwork with his plastic light saber, to which the kids “ooooh” and “ahhhh”. Then he picks about 10 kids to come up onstage, and another 10 kids to assemble in front of the stage (inside the rope). All of these kids put on a jedi robe and get a plastic light saber. He teaches them a series of swings with the light saber -- block right, block left, block right again, duck, big swing. Then Darth Vader’s music plays, and out walks Darth Vader and Darth Maul. The kids on the stage each get to battle Darth Vader (one at a time, ganging up on him wouldn’t be fair, even though he does use “the Force”) and the kids in front of the stage each battle Darth Maul.
Here’s a shot of Darth Maul that I took during one of the sessions. He was pretty scary looking. I think Darth Vader is calling a time-out behind him.
For this first session after we got there for “James’ Jedi Training” we were probably about 5 or 6 people away from the rope. When the trainer started picking kids I held James up as high as I could and told him to wave his hands and go nuts. No luck. I noticed that they pretty much picked kids along the rope, which makes sense from a “first-come, first-served” standpoint, and we were just too far back. So we watched and waited. When the show ended and most people cleared out, we moved up. I don’t think we were right at the rope, but about 1 person back. When the selection time started, again I held James up and tried to get their attention, but he didn’t get picked again. The last person picked was a girl right beside us. Bummer. We watched and waited again. This time I noticed that in addition to selecting kids along the rope, they seemed to concentrate on kids who were to the left of the stage, near where the trainer and Darth and Darth make their entrance. So, when that show ended and most people cleared out, we moved over there, right at the rope.
There was a cast member in that area, for crowd control I guess. I tried to drop some major hints that we had a kid here who reeeaaaaaly wanted to get picked, like “this is our 3rd show in a row here in this hot Florida sun, since this boy reeeaaaaaly wants to receive Jedi training”. But he said that he had no influence over who got picked. While we were waiting for the next training session to start, Judy and the girls arrived. (I guess “The Little Mermaid” was good. I don’t remember what they said about it.) “Did James get picked?” they asked. “Nope. Not yet.” So we devised a plan. A really good plan. I said to the girls, “Now girls, you know how James wants to get his Jedi training, and that we’ve stood here through several shows already today.” “Yep.” “Good. So here’s an idea. You all stand here and raise your hands to get picked. If any of you get picked, you let James go up.” They agreed. Yay, our odds just went up.
Here’s a picture of the “crowd control” cast member and an Ewok. The crowd control guy is in the yellow shirt.
See, we’re finally in the primo rope spot.
Closeup of an Ewok.
When the show started an amazing thing happened. As the trainer came out he walked right past us and I was able to catch his eye. With both hands I was pointing down at James, who was standing in front of me, and I was telepathically imploring this guy to pick him. Okay, I’ll tell you right out -- I finally resorted to using the Force. But seriously, even Judy noticed the trainer guy and I make eye contact. She said, “he saw you!”
Of course we watched yet another session of the trainer showing off his Steven Seagal-like martial-arts moves with his plastic, yet lethal light saber. Then, when he picked kids for the training, he started off by saying, “Okay. You three over here” and pointed to my kids! All three of them got to go up!
Getting their Jedi training.
The trainer came up to James and said, “I sense a high Midi-chlorian count in this one.” If you don’t understand that Star Wars reference,
click here
Continued in next post
It induces elbow jabs from my wife.
No - it's a lunch ADR! We usually head out of the park by about lunchtime on EMH days, so lunch made more sense.
sstanaford!!!
Great that the girls go to go up, too. And my husband would be getting close to the rope to try to get Darth Maul's autograph...yes, he's kinda odd. 
Darth Maul is one of his favorites. He has a shirt with DM's face on it...he got it out about two months ago. Jack (DS - 6) took one look at it and said, "Daddy...he's kinda scary. Maybe you should put on another shirt." He's a Star Wars fan, but he's still 6!!
Oh well... I'm sure the experience will live forever in your minds.
