They Don't Make Pencils in Pennsylvania? A Feb/Mar 2013 Trip Report

[pld5]

As the children get to the stage, their parents come to the left of the stage to watch the show. They provide a nice shaded area for the padawans to wait.

Of course, when they are brought on stage, Edward chose the furthest possible spot away from where we were standing.

My iphone also chose to run out of space at exactly that moment so my intentions of recording the show were somewhat delayed while I switched to my camera. I'm not sure how to share videos here but hopefully will figure that one out before my trip report is over.

We were very glad to have this Jedi Master because he is the one we watched last year and my entire family laughed through the show.

After seeing the show twice now, I realize he has his standard lines ("Duck!" said to a small child, followed by "Completely unnecessary.") but he says them in a deadpan manner that is just hilarious to us.

Edward had some trouble with his light sabre opening but thankfully did not get too frustrated.

Edward gave our Jedi master the opportunity to use his line "Are you wearing a Darth Vader tshirt? To Jedi Training"? Completely unintentional on my part to dress my kid in Darth Vader. I always thought of that shirt as an ensemble of characters. But the line was still entertaining. He really enjoyed battling Vader.

And our Vader was very cheeky. He kept coming to the edge of the stage to stare down the parents. I just nodded at him and then he moved on and tried to pick Paul up with his death grip and Paul played along.

Final gathering.

Mine is looking the other way but it is a lovely picture of the back of his head/robe.

Getting ready to hand over their robes and sabres.

After this they were handed a certificate of completion.

This was a great experience but I'm not sure we need to do it again. So much stress involved in getting there early enough to sign up, having the weather factor into the day, and so on and so forth. That being said, if Edward tells us on our next trip that we must do this, we'll be at DHS pre rope drop once again.

 

[Terkina]

Sounds like you had a lot of fun in Jedi Training.

 

[pld5]

Great trip report so far

Welcome! Thank you!

Sounds like you had a lot of fun in Jedi Training.

We did have a lot of fun in Jedi training. Edward really enjoyed it and so did we.

 

[pld5]

You've just completed Jedi training, what are you going to do now?

Why, build your own light sabre, of course.

And try on an R2D2 hat.

This gift shop is always insanely crowded and we must have gotten the slowest cast member to ring up our order EVER. Then she told us that she had been working there for too many years and it was not a very magical experience talking to her.

Since we couldn't ride Star Tours, and it was about 2pm now and getting hot, we decided to leave the park for a rest since we had been going nonstop since yesterday morning at 4am.

But we still had to get some photopass pictures along the way.

This is what I love about Disney. One minute you can be fighting Darth Vader and the next one, you can flirt with Minnie Mouse.

We went back to the lodge and after a snack, decided we should take a nap.

Or the nap decided it for one of us. Yes, he fell asleep this way.

When we came back to our room, mousekeeping had left us some friends and they were watching TV. As you can see, it is about 318 now.

It started to rain outside, and thankfully Edward moved into a more comfortable napping position.

We canceled our reservation that night at Restaurant Marrakesh in Epcot because we kind of hit a wall. And the Club Lounge had Sheperds Pie and BBQ skewers which we felt would be enough for dinner. And it was!

Then we went to try on a hat and look in the Mercantile.

Then we went swimming and came back to watch Wishes from our room.

After Wishes, we went for a brownie or two for dessert and gave our boy some last hugs as a 6 year old.

Up next, Edward turns 7!

 

[Terkina]

What a great view you had of the fireworks from your room

 

[LucyBC80]

Subscribed to read your TR Patricia! Your Edward is a cutie pie!

 

[pld5]

What a great view you had of the fireworks from your room

It was a lovely way to enjoy them after a full two days!

 

[pld5]

Subscribed to read your TR Patricia! Your Edward is a cutie pie!

Welcome Lucy! Thank you! We think Edward is pretty cute, too. ;-)

 

[serene56]

A
This was a great experience but I'm not sure we need to do it again. So much stress involved in getting there early enough to sign up, having the weather factor into the day, and so on and so forth. That being said, if Edward tells us on our next trip that we must do this, we'll be at DHS pre rope drop once again.

I have been wavering back and forth. 7 year old GD does not even know star wars so i think it might be lost on her. I think i'd be better off without the stress factor. thank you

 

[Z28KatCar]

Love the trip report so far!!! We are considering changing from CL AKL to CL at WL, Can you tell me what room number you were staying in? I want to request a room that you can see Wishes from but I know nothing about the room set up at WL. This will be are first time staying there.

 

[pld5]

I have been wavering back and forth. 7 year old GD does not even know star wars so i think it might be lost on her. I think i'd be better off without the stress factor. thank you

If you have a chance, watch the show while you are there. The times are published in the Times guide. It is very enjoyable to watch, and you and your GD can decide if she wants to do it on your next trip.

Edward was terrified of Darth Vader on our 1st trip in 2010 and would not have even wanted to watch. But in Jan 2012, he really enjoyed watching it, despite still having a healthy fear of Darth Vader. He couldn't wait to do it this year but I planned it on our first full day so we would get another chance if we couldn't get a spot.

 

[pld5]

Love the trip report so far!!! We are considering changing from CL AKL to CL at WL, Can you tell me what room number you were staying in? I want to request a room that you can see Wishes from but I know nothing about the room set up at WL. This will be are first time staying there.

We were in room 7044. There is a great thread on the Resorts board that gives lots of good information on the Wilderness Lodge. Some say to not limit yourself when requesting a room by giving the exact number. In fact, we requested courtyard and lake view and were given this one but certainly did not complain!

I think we were in the North wing but could be wrong on that.

 

[ntink]

Great trip report so far! I am trying to read a few to get motivated to write mine. I love the dark chocolate sea salt caramel squares at that shop in Germany and ate 4 over the course of our trip. Thanks for the tip about the sea bands and motion sickness. I am the only one in our family that gets it so I either suffer or skip. I will have to try those next time.

 

[pld5]

Great trip report so far! I am trying to read a few to get motivated to write mine. I love the dark chocolate sea salt caramel squares at that shop in Germany and ate 4 over the course of our trip. Thanks for the tip about the sea bands and motion sickness. I am the only one in our family that gets it so I either suffer or skip. I will have to try those next time.

Welcome! I'm kicking myself for not getting more of those caramel squares, and I just got the plain ones. I wish I could trust that they would make it home, but I know I'd just end up with a mess in my carryon or suitcase.

The seabands really helped Edward and we try to use them for long car rides now, too.

 

[pld5]

We woke up early enough for our dining reservation at Whispering Canyon at 8:45, if memory serves. But before breakfast, we had birthday presents to attend to!

I think its safe to say this one was his favorite. He picked it out at the Mercantile the night before and I went to buy it while he was swimming with Paul. The rest I had ordered at Christmastime on the Disney store website and got most on clearance and brought them with me.

Then we went on our way to breakfast.

I'll be honest here and don't recall if I took this picture on Monday night or on Tuesday morning.

Waiting for our breakfast.

We had the same breakfast waitress as the previous year and while she is certainly friendly enough, she is not very quick to make sure you have silverware, coffee, etc. Paul and I thought it was amusing this year, but my Dad was very irritated last year, especially because it was our first ADR of the trip.

Edward spontaneously lifted his arms in the air.

Our server from lunch last year recognized us and offered to take a picture.

And our server from this year did bring a cupcake and a card to Edward during breakfast.

We love breakfast and there is very little you can do to completely mess it up, so we had a good time.

After breakfast we went back to our room to get ready for Magic Kingdom and we found this waiting there.

I ordered this with the help of the Itinerary Planning Office and was quite pleased with the results. There is entire thread devoted to cake ordering here on the DIS and the IPO certainly helped me since I wanted something relatively plain, but go check out that thread if you desire something more ornate!

After having a little bit of cake and putting our cupcake in the fridge, we headed off to catch the boat to Magic Kingdom. We had an 11am reservation to keep at the Pirates League!

 

[missangelalexis]

When are you thinking for a next trip? I'm thinking of one too but not sure I can make it work financially this year. If I had unlimited funds, I would go back this year in October and in December, but that is not the case.

I'm pushing to go in October because I'm dying to go to MNSSHP (and also F&W festival)! But same here, it depends on money as well as if we could all get the time off. I hope you are able to swing it and go again!

I'm so glad everything worked out with Jedi Training! And yay for Edward's birthday Looks like it's off to a great start, i love all the stuffed animals you picked out for him!

 

[Marsheliz]

Great Report so far! I am really enjoying it!

 

[pld5]

I'm pushing to go in October because I'm dying to go to MNSSHP (and also F&W festival)! But same here, it depends on money as well as if we could all get the time off. I hope you are able to swing it and go again!

I'm so glad everything worked out with Jedi Training! And yay for Edward's birthday Looks like it's off to a great start, i love all the stuffed animals you picked out for him!

F&W looks like so much fun. I really hope I can make that work someday. Might have to leave Edward at home though...... ;-)

 

[pld5]

Great Report so far! I am really enjoying it!

Thank you! And welcome!

 

[Terkina]

What a great start on day 3