Welcome to the Jedi Training Academy!

I was looking through pictures today, getting ready to upload for the Kodak Gallery print sale when I came across these shots from our trip to Disney World in December:

 

The kids loved Hollywood Studios...so much that we spent two of our five days there. But it wasn't just Toy Story Mania that pulled us back....

 You guessed it....it was Star Wars!!

 The kids loved getting to meet Darth Vader and his Stormtrooper guard, but by far the most memorable part was the Jedi Training Academy.

 We totally lucked out on getting to participate in this amazing event where my kids were on-stage battling Darth Vadar with their lightsabers!

 Now I think I researched a lot before we headed to Disney World, but I was clueless about this...so I'm giving you the scoop...just in case you might need it someday.

 We headed to the Star Wars section of Hollywood Studios early in the morning because, well, my kids are all slightly FANatical about Star Wars.

 While we were standing in line to meet Vader, we saw another line, and having no idea what it was for, we decided to stand in it. Lucky us! It was to sign up to be a Padawan learner in the Jedi Training Academy stage show!

 I read about the show online, but had the impression the participants were picked from the audience...not so! You have to sign up ahead of time, very early in the day. I know I was not the only mom who misunderstood...I'm just glad I wasn't one of the ones left watching the show with kids who were super sad about not being picked.

 When we signed up, the kids were assigned a show time to return to....

 During the show, the kids are trained my a Jedi master in lightsaber techniques.

 The show is for 4-9 year olds...and we might have encouraged Baby Boy to get a little confused and think he was 4 years old instead of 3...maybe. His birthday is next month...but he thinks he's already 4. He may have had a little coaching...maybe.

 Let's just say his inability to  follow simple directions provided much comic relief to the audience and leave it at that, ok?

 After the training lesson, guess who showed up? Yep, Darth Vader himself!!

 Here Baby Boy tried defeating him with his force powers....

 Each child battles the dark lord to resist his powers of temptation. You can see, Baby Boy was forced to resort to his lightsaber when his force powers alone were not enough....

 After all the kids battled and defeated Vader, they were rewarded with overwhelming applause...

 ...and a certificate of completion from the Jedi Training Academy. Hip, hip hooray!

And the cool Star Wars borders on the pics? Courtesy of Disney's Photo Pass service. (All of these photos were taken my their photographer as well.)

May the force be with you!