In a galaxy far, far, away….. 

 Your Jedi Younglings will LOVE this special activity! Parents, if you grew up with Star Wars, you may be equally excited and perhaps a bit jealous when you learn your child can train to be a Jedi at Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World.

Just the Facts: 
  • Ages: 4 to 12
  • Cost: Free with park admission
  • Location: Sign-up area by Indiana Jones Adventure Outpost
  • Stage area next to Star Tours – The Adventure Continues

Step One: Get there early! I really mean this! Sign-ups for Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple open about a half hour before the park. Check Hollywood Studios hours on your MDT Itinerary (What? You don’t have one?!? If you use one of our agents, you get this and SO MUCH MORE!) or use the My Disney Experience app to check park opening times. If there are Extra Magic Morning Hours, you’ll need to be there at least one half hour before opening. (If opening at 8 a.m. with Morning Magic Hours, then yes, we’re talking 7:30 a.m..) Sometimes you have to make sacrifices to fight off the Dark Side! If you are staying off Disney property, don’t plan this activity for a day that has Extra Magic Morning Hours because you won’t be able to enter Hollywood Studios to sign-up. Your agent can’t book this for you in advance, even if you use the Force. This is a first come, first served activity and space is limited. If they do all 15 shows and there are 30 kids in every class, that’s a max of 450 kids that can sign-up each day and it fills up quickly.

Step Two: Parents and Jedi Younglings must attend sign-ups together! There is nothing more disappointing than the parent that got up early and thought they had this, only to learn their kids needed to be there, too – but since you are reading the MDT blog, that won’t be you! ;-) After entering the park, keep an eye out for signs to help you stay on the right path. Head towards the Indiana Jones Adventure Outpost with the rest of the crowd. The Cast Member at sign-ups is going to ask your child some questions to see if they are eligible for the activity. For example: How old are you? Are you a good listener? Are you safe with other kids? Are you good at following instructions? Are you afraid of getting on stage? Are you afraid of the Dark Side? Next, you’ll select a show time. They will give you a time to report back to the Outpost (about one half hour before the show). The Cast Member will remind you that it is weather permitting. They will print off a paper reminder with your times. For an extra dose of pixie dust, sometimes they hand out a Fastpass+ for the Jedi Younglings and their families! Speaking of Fastpasses, remember when I said they may let you into the park early to sign-up? Cast Members are going to keep you in the Jedi Training sign-up area until park opening, then you can proceed to your first ride. (Tip: Pick the rides that you didn’t get a Fastpass+ for that develop long lines. If you booked with this agent, and now blogger, rides prone to lengthy lines are on your Fastpass+ sheet in green!)

 

Step Three: Report on time! I had a teacher that always told us, “Early is on time and on time is late”. This is an excellent occasion to embrace that life lesson! I saw latecomers arrive at their show time (not their report time) and miss out on the experience. I also saw a mom make a mad dash for a bathroom break right before the report time and they barely made it back in time. Make sure your Jedi youngling doesn’t miss their chance to fight off the Dark Side for a bathroom break and take care of business beforehand. The stage is open to the Florida sun, so your Jedi Younglings may need a fresh coat of sunscreen and/or sunglasses. The Cast Members will arrange the kids by height and fit them with a Jedi robe. Sorry, you’re going to have to give the Jedi robes back. An adult will be required to stay there with their child, while everyone is being dressed and arranged. If your travel party has more than one adult – as my family says, this would be a great time to “divide and conquer”. Send an adult over to the stage area to claim your family’s square of concrete to watch the show. (Did you catch that? No seating.) Then, the Cast Members will move the Jedi Younglings to the stage area for their training. Each child is assigned a dot to stand on and training will take place as a group conducted by the Jedi trainers. One of these trainers will take on Kylo Ren and will need a little extra force from the new recruits. Each child will get to take on a member of the Dark Side solo. (Don’t worry their Jedi trainer is with them.)

 

 

Step Four: Did you get Photopass? (What is Photopass? Ask your MDT agent!) There are going to be two Photopass photographers taking hundreds of pictures. They will do an excellent job capturing this magical moment and then add these pictures to your account. Meanwhile, you can enjoy watching your Jedi Younglings learn the ways of the Force, master the light saber, and take on Darth Vader or the Seventh Sister.

Step Five: Celebrate your Padawans successful training (perhaps with your own victory dab?) and enjoy the rest of your day at Hollywood Studios in the safe company of your Jedi. After our Jedi training we had a celebratory breakfast of these amazing cupcakes. For our family, cupcakes are breakfast foods when in Disney. (Do you have the Disney Dining Plan? This is 1 snack credit!) You can check out the current pastry selection at the Trolley Car Café or Sweet Spells inside Beverly’s Sunset Shop.