Everything You Need to Know about Jedi Training Academy

Jedi Training Disney World Edition:  Are you taking your little Star Wars lovers to Disney World?  Then you need to sign your kids up for Jedi Training Academy!

*Update: As of April 2023 Jedi Training has yet to return to Disney World.  I’ll update if it does come back!

So what’s Jedi Training Academy?  Jedi Training at Disney World is a fun, immersive experience where kids ages 4-12 get to train to be a jedi and fight someone from the Dark Side.  Basically it’s every Star Wars fan’s dream.  But there’s a limited number of spots for jedi training each day so you need to know how to score one!

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Get to Hollywood Studios before the park opens.  Give yourself enough time to get through the security checks and get through ticketing quickly.  And Disney is funny.  Sometimes park opening is supposed to be 9 and they might let you in to the front part of the park at 8:30.  So you never really know, but it pays to be early just in case.

2. Once you actually get into the park you walk straight up Hollywood Boulevard and then take the first left.  Head along Echo Lake toward the Indiana Jones Adventure Outpost.

3. Get into the line to sign your kid up.  Kids must be with you when you sign up.  The line is over to the left just past the Indiana Jones Adventure Outpost.

4. Once you are to the front of the line a cast member will call you over to pick your time.  If you go right when the park opens you will likely get your pick of times.  BUT you need to go right over there like I described earlier.  We ended up signing up for the first time slot of the day so our kids only had to wait 5-10 minutes with their group before heading over to the Jedi Temple stage area.  When we headed back past the line at that time, the line was HUGE.  So this isn’t something that you can just show up to sign up for in the afternoon because there may not be any spots left.

5. So, when your kids report for their time slot they are then given a Jedi robe to borrow.  My boys LOVED this.

6. Prior to your kid’s time slot you report to an area near the Indiana Jones Outpost to get ready.  This is when they get their robes.  We were in the first time slot of the day so we went straight over there and only had to wait 5-10 minutes but I have heard that if you have one of the time slots later in the day then you have to be there 30 minutes early.  They will tell you when you sign up.

7. When it’s time to head over to the stage area a cast member or two will lead the kids over in one big group organized into two lines.  They chant and fuss over the kids and the kids just eat up all the attention.

8. The stage is over by the Star Tours ride.  Each kid gets a spot on the stage (the little circles on the floor show them where to stand).  During the show they are taught a few fun moves to do with light sabers that they borrow for the show.

9. While training they do a bunch of things as a group but then a few villains come out and each jedi gets to “fight” one of them.  Both my sons fought Darth Vader.  I’ve watched a few videos on Youtube and in some of them the villains are different so who you get may vary.  In our show some of the kids fought Darth Vader and some fought Kylo Ren.

10. There is a photopass photographer who takes pictures of the kids during the show and he or she will hand out cards so that you can access the photos through Disney Photo pass.

11. Each kid gets a pin!  My boys proudly wore theirs all day.

Overall, it was an amazing experience for my Star Wars-loving boys.  All the cast members in the show were amazing and made sure the kids had a great experience.  If you have a child who loves Star Wars then by all means make this a priority for your trip.

Now, if I had it to do over again I might do one thing differently… We took the first time slot because we were so excited for them to do it.  However, if we did it again (and the boys have declared they want to) then I might sign up for a later time slot.  That way you could sign up, run off to do some rides and then come back.  That would give you some time to get to some of the other rides before they are too crowded.  NOW… if there is rain in the forecast then I would try to avoid that.  From what I have read they will cancel in the event of bad weather (which makes sense considering as the stage is outdoors) so you may not want to do this if the weather is iffy.

So, any questions?  If you have had kids do Jedi training Disney World please feel free to share any tips you think others might find helpful in the comments below!

Want some more Disney World recommendations?  Check out my posts on the best moderate Disney resort,  whether or not you need a stroller and how to save money on your trip to Disney World.