Star Wars Weekend @ Disney Hollywood Studios

We had tickets leftover from Disney Park Hopper Passes we received for Ty's first birthday so we thought it was fitting to take him to Disney's Hollywood Studios for Star Wars Weekend for his 8th birthday! We experienced the entire realm of Star Wars, rode Star Tours, saw all the characters, saw so many of the actors, and went to some wonderful interviews and classes.

The best party is Ty was chosen out of the crowd with a handful of other kids to participate in the Jedi Training Academy up on stage. We were warned by the staff that only the most excited and enthusiastic kids might get chosen. Ty took it to heart and jumped up and down smiling with everything he had and was chosen. He trained with a Jedi Master for about 30 minutes and then he fought Darth Vader himself and then Ty alone got to use The Force to fight off the Storm Troopers on stage! The Jedi Master noted that Ty must be worthy since he already had the battle scars to prove his bravery. (I teared up of course) Ty was pretty impressive on stage, if I do say so myself. Ty graduated to Padawan and received a diploma and a Star Wars Tooth Tunes for participating! As a souvenir for the day we let Ty build a lightsaber - he made one like Darth Mauls'. BTW, can I say just how freaky it is when Darth Maul stares you in the face with those crazy eyes?!

Besides meeting all the characters from Star Wars (and I got scared by a Tuscan Raider that got in my face making noises!) we got to see Warwick Davis (Wicket), Ray Park (Darth Maul), Jay Laga'aia (Captain Typho), James Arnold Taylor (Obi-Wan Kenobi and Plo Koon), and Ashley Eckstein (Ashoka)!

More about Star Wars Weekends:

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/hollywood-studios/special-events/star-wars-weekend/