Once we heard that Hollywood Studios does Jedi Training, we knew Ian had to do it. This would be such an amazing experience for him and the highlight of his summer. There were many rumors swirling around online about how one gets selected for the Jedi Training. One of the things we heard is that you show up and get randomly selected out of the line up of kids wanting to participate. Another thing we read is that one of the best ways to get picked is to be wearing Star Wars clothing gear. My sister Lori ran out and bought Ian a Star Wars shirt to wear (he had a few at home, but I didn't pack them). We also read that if the guy picking out the kids in line said, "Hey you, in the blue shirt" and your kid was wearing a blue shirt too, to just push him out front. He wouldn't get rejected. This sounded quite exciting and I was gearing up for the challenge. Ian was going to get picked!
I did find out the night before that Hollywood Studios no longer picks the kids randomly and it is now a first come, first serve basis. We just now needed to make sure we got there first. The park opened at 9:00am and we planned to get there by 8:30am. When we arrived, there was already a line waiting to get in. We went to the far right where Disney employees and their guests go and slowly made our way to about 2/3rds up the line before I didn't feel ok sneaking in front of unsuspecting people who really weren't in an organized line and were all over the place. They opened the gates at 8:45am and Jim, Ian and I made our way to the waiting area for the ropes to drop and the park to officially open. We took a guess that we were in the right area. A sizeable group had already formed and I wedged our way up front to ask the guy on the other side of the rope if we were where we wanted to be and what we should expect once the rope officially dropped. Everyone who was already waiting, looked at me and said thank you for asking these questions. There was no signage and no one knew what was going on. We were all in the dark and once the park officially opened, we knew every second counted.
Juan explained to us that once they open the park, to follow him and he will take us to the building where the kids sign up for the Jedi Training Academy. They pick 11 kids for each of the shows and there are about 10 shows throughout the day. Jim and I really wanted to get Ian in the first show and not be hanging around the park all day long. Plus, as each hour passed, it was only going to get hotter and hotter.
I told Ian once the crowd got moving to get as close to Juan as possible and not worry about me. I'll keep up and be right behind him. There was no organized line behind Juan and the kids and obsessed moms who want their kids to participate in this were having to do a slow run to keep up. It was like a sort of "Running of the bulls", but with moms and kids instead of bulls. The excitement was building and the lack of line and organization behind Juan was adding to the moment. We were thisclose to making the Jedi Training Academy a reality!
While in the waiting area, I had made friends with some of the moms whose kids rightfully should've been in the first 3 positions and we were all excited that it looked like our kids would get to be in the first show. But this one mom and kid came out of the blue and started elbowing and pushing a few moms to get behind her. It was crazy and I was a little shocked watching it happen. The mom in front of me started pushing back and then the yelling between the two of them started. This was all while we were still trailing Juan. Whoa! I said, "Ladies, really. We are far up enough that all of our kids will be in the first show. There is no need to get ugly about it." The instigator stopped pushing and took her place before me. I went with the flow and kept moving to keep up with Ian. We finally made our way to the building to officially sign up and this is where the line got organized and snaked around the ropes. It was pretty impressive how we managed to get in front of all the families that were in the same spot we were. Not sure there will be enough spaces to accommodate all these kids, but it didn't matter. Ian was #5 in line and we were golden. There would be no wait and Ian was going to be in the first show. I am not sure who was more excited, me or Ian.
Because they arranged the kids by height, Ian was placed front and center. Seriously, I was jumping up and down at this point and couldn't stop texting Jeff and Heather with the news, while simultaneously also updating Facebook and taking video and pictures. This was such a HUGE moment in Ian's life.
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| Ian getting dressed in Jedi clothing |
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| Ian learning the offical Jedi moves |
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| Ian is in the front, right-hand side. |
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| Ian practicing his moves and fighting Darth Vader |
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| The group graduating the Jedi Training Academy |
The kids were given a certificate for graduating. Ian immediately said when he gets back home, he was going to give Jedi lessons to his friends. The whole thing lasted 20 minutes and except for the initial confusion at the beginning on where to go, it was incredibly well done and so much fun. Mission completed.
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