You’ve rushed through Hollywood Studios to the Indiana Jones Outpost so your young Jedi can participate in the Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple show. They are so excited, because who wouldn’t want to be a Jedi? I’d do it in a heartbeat, but unfortunately you have to be between the ages of 4-12. You pick your time and off you go to enjoy your day, your kiddo chattering away about their awesome new experience that they can’t wait for.
Now picture about five minutes before you’re due back to the Outpost, it starts to rain.
This was the exact scenario we found ourselves in recently. Miss Bongo didn’t want to do Jedi Training until she saw one of the shows on stage, and suddenly she was all about it! We took off like a rocket to get her signed up (and note, you do have to have your child with you when you register). Because of fastpasses, full shows and an appointment at Droid Depot, we had to wait until a late afternoon showing.
Sure enough, it started raining that afternoon as we were heading to the Outpost to meet up with the rest of the class. Because of course it did. We continued on anyway and checked in, the cast members at the podium telling us that as of right now, they were proceeding like normal. Miss Bongo received her robe, the children “force pushed” all the hovering parents back to the other side of the path and we all stood in the increasingly heavy rain watching our kiddos tell jokes.
A few minutes before our scheduled showtime, a parent representative was called forward and we were issued umbrellas and instructions- we would be processing with our children to the stage, covering them with umbrellas.
I was a little baffled. This is an outdoor show, subject to cancellation. It was pouring and had been for nearly thirty minutes at this point. There was no way the show was going on.
We set out towards the stage, passerbys applauding the young Jedi and their dedication. When we arrived at the stage, we got the news I had been expecting. There would be no training. However, we were ushered into a special entrance of Star Tours to “meet someone special”.
There each young trainee was given an opportunity, still in robe, to cross lightsabers with Darth Vader, the moment captured by a photopass photographer (y’all know I was snapping away with my camera too!). Please note, they didn’t actually get to fight, because they weren’t able to be trained. Instead they were positioned by a cast member as you can see in my picture and the lightsabers were gently placed together for the perfect photo! They were then given a Jedi Training button as they were ushered through the line to make room for the next child. We were all given the option to ride Star Tours, which we happily accepted. One of the cast members warned us to avoid 1401 (which ride fans will recognize as the tour that carries a rebel spy), which was a fun touch- it’s almost like he knew there would be a rebel spy on board! Hmmm, perhaps he was part of the rebel alliance!
We immediately boarded the ride with no wait and Miss Bongo was thrilled that she was identified as the spy. We safely carried out our mission with C3P0 and R2D2 at the helm, though it was touch and go for a while!
Overall, the cast members did a great job making sure the kids (and parents) wouldn’t be disappointed. I hate she didn’t get the opportunity to actually go through the training show, but as one of the youngest participants there was always the chance that she would freeze up and get scared, no matter how excited she was initially. As it was, she talks about being the rebel spy and getting to see Darth Vader and in her mind, she is a Jedi now. So rest assured, even if it rains or is threatening to rain, it’s still worth it to show up to your Jedi Training time slot.
Our little hero.