Jedi training

We found out that Disneyland now has Jedi Training, in which they pick random kids out of the audience to participate. Our hope was that if we went to the first one on Tuesday morning that it would be less crowded and up our chances of being picked. No luck. Dang-o.

So, we planned to go back but never made it back on Tuesday. On Wednesday about midday, we went back to try again. This time we coached the boys on jumping up and down, waving their arms, yelling, "Pick me," and doing just about anything they could to look excited.

So, the Master Jedi came out and the boys got to yelling and jumping. It worked -- he looked in our direction and picked two people on our left, two people on our right, and two more people on our left. I was thinking, "Are you kidding me?!?" Then he went to the other side of the audience to pick people.

At this point I was thinking, "How many times are we going to have to try this to get picked?" I then noticed he was heading back our way, so I encouraged the boys to keep their jumping and yelling. Zachary kept yelling, "Over here!" Sure enough, Zachary was picked. I was so happy. And then Tyler was picked. I was SO GIDDY!!! Seriously, I nearly bawled. (It's a mom thing, as you other moms know.)

This seriously was enough to make my vacation a success. I was hoping for one to be chosen and never dreamed they'd both get to participate. It was like a little miracle, as funny as that sounds. Paul grabbed the camcorder and I took the camera and we got to work snapping pics of our boys training from a Jedi Master. Here's Zachary receiving his training Light Saber. (They couldn't give them real ones, of course, because they were just in training.)


And here's Tyler getting his:


Here they are practicing before they have to deal with anyone from the dark side:


In our first time sitting through the program they only had Darth Vader come out. However, during this show that my boys participated in, they had Darth Vader AND Darth Mal:


Although my boys said they would have liked to have fought Darth Mal, they both were chosen to fight Darth Vader. How cool is that?!? I mean, how many little boys have actually fought Darth Vader? Here's Tyler:


I wish Tyler didn't have his hood on, because I couldn't see his face very well. (Good news is that Paul was at a better angle than I was to get Tyler's face.) Anyway, the Master Jedi, when Tyler was done, said, "Good work. I believe your smile threw him off!" What a happy boy:


I wondered if Zachary would get shy and nervous, but he performed like a true Jedi:




Not only was I happy that my boys got chosen, but I was happy that they got to see Darth Mal, that they got picked together, and that we no longer had to try to be picked. (By the way, for anyone going -- a unique-colored shirt definitely helps!)

May the Force be with you!