Welcome to Extinct Attractions. This week, I’ll be starting a short series about one of the quintessential experiences for children at the Disney Parks.
This past Tuesday, Disney dropped the trailer for The Acolyte, the newest Star Wars television series. Granted, I am a huge Star Wars fan, but I am very much looking forward to this series, especially since it takes place about 100 years before The Phantom Menace. Thus far, all live-action Star Wars media has exclusively taken place within the confines of Episodes 1 through 9 (unless you count E.T. like I do), so I am very intrigued to see how they approach this different task.
Amazingly, The Acolyte will be the sixth Star Wars show to be released on Disney+, with all but The Mandolorian debuting since the last movie. Disney has been very consistent in releasing Star Wars content nearly every year since it purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, but Star Wars has been associated with the Disney Parks since 1987 when Star Tours first opened at Disneyland.
Star Tours found its way into three more parks over the next few years before things fell stagnant for a bit on the theme park front, especially with the gap from Return of the Jedi growing longer and longer. But after The Phantom Menace rocked the box office in 1999, Disney-MGM Studios decided to introduce Star Wars Weekends, celebrating all things Star Wars. Beginning on May 5, 2000 (what a missed opportunity to not do it on May 4th), the Jedi Training Academy made its debut, specifically for guests aged 4-12 as everyone else just served as observers because you can’t be older than that and become a Padawan, of course.
For its first several years, the Jedi Training Academy was exclusive to Star Wars Weekends, calling the stage in Echo Lake near Star Tours home. But Disney eventually realized that it could be a fun idea for kids at any time of the year, so the show made its full-time debut at Disneyland’s Tomorrowland Terrace on October 1, 2006, a full year before Disney-MGM Studios got their permanent version on October 9, 2007. Disneyland Paris ultimately followed suit on July 11, 2015 replacing CineDisney with their own version in Discoveryland’s Videopolis.
The Jedi Training Academy began when a Jedi Master named Endo Valaris and his former Padawan hopped on stage with the immediate goal of recruiting new Padawans to the cause. And I meant immediate because basically as soon as he was on stage, he started pointing out kids in the audience to come up and put on their own set of Padawan robes. Once everyone was garbed, Valaris pulled out a training lightsaber to demonstrate his skills before beginning the process of training these kids, along with a lot of funny jokes that poked some fun at them.
The master and apprentice then taught the kids some choreography that they would be able to use if ever confronted with real danger. You could tell that they were all having a great time, even if most of them looked like they had zero idea what they were doing.
Via YouTube
Just as the kiddos finished learning their new lightsaber ways, some stormtroopers showed up to cause trouble, culminating with the entire stage rising up to the tune of “The Imperial March” to reveal Darth Vader himself. He did his best to get the kids to join the Dark Side, but when his efforts hit a dead end, Darth Maul appeared to “Duel of the Fates.” (Just ignore the fact that Maul didn’t have his robot legs yet and it’ll all make sense canonically.
Each of the kids then got the chance to use their just developed lightsaber skills to face off with the villains with Endo and his apprentice providing helpful feedback on what to do as well as some really funny commentary that was still razzing the kids, but in a very playful way. About halfway through, one lucky kid got the chance to use a force push to move back some of those encroaching stormtroopers. But most of the fun really came from watching these kids try their best, but really have simply no clue how to swing a lightsaber, especially the ones under six. I mean, the lightsaber was almost their height, so one can hardly blame them.
Once they all had a chance to face off with a villain, the voice of Yoda came over the speakers to scare the villains away and congratulate the newly-minted Padawans on a job well done, bringing the show to a quick close.
The whole show featured some wholesome family fun, with the chance to enter the Star Wars universe for the kids, some fun antics for the parents, and some resentment from me. Though I desperately wanted to be chosen for the show, I aged out before I had the chance, but one time when I went, my friend was chosen over me and I still haven’t gotten over it. Don’t worry, I quickly unfriended him after that for the betrayal.
The beauty of the idea was its simplicity and it allowed the Jedi Training Academy to have a life outside of the Disney Parks, popping up consistently at Disney events like D23 and Star Wars Celebration, but also places not affiliated with Disney like Istanbul and Osaka for multi-week appearances.
Ultimately, it was time to revamp the experience, with the attraction closing first at now Disney’s Hollywood Studios on October 5, 2015, then Disneyland on November 15, 2015 and Paris (much later) on September 3, 2017. But don’t worry because it did not take long to find a replacement, but you’ll have to come back in a couple of weeks for that story.
As always, don’t forget to check out my interactive maps of the Disney Parks throughout the years where you can watch or learn more about all the attractions from every Disney park around the world.
Thanks for reading and have a magical day!