The arrival of the Jedi Training Academy to Disneyland Paris has been long rumoured, it merely hadn’t been officially confirmed by Disneyland Paris. Perhaps they were just waiting for the opportune moment to announce it though, and that came via Twitter on Star Wars Day, May the 4th…
As we had previously rumoured, the Jedi Training Academy will open in the Videopolis Theatre in Discoveryland on 11 July 2015. Currently the Videopolis Theatre and Hyperion Cafe are in a state of refurbishment, and it is likely that they both will not open until this date.
The Jedi Training Academy show currently runs at both Disney’s Hollywood Studios park in Florida and Disneyland in Anaheim, and is a show which is centred on audience involvement. A number of children are chosen to take to the stage as Jedi Younglings and are provided with lightsabers and Jedi robes, they are then taught a combination of lightsaber swordfighting moves by a Jedi Master. At the end of the show, the younglings fight off the Sith and are rewarded by being made Jedi Padawans. It is expected that the show in Paris will follow this format, and perhaps have different shows for English and French language, though such details are yet to be confirmed.
Disneyland Paris are also yet to confirm how many times per day the show will run, and what they stage will look like. Before Videopolis entered its refurbishment the stage still contained the African rock set from the Lion King show, though this is expected to be replaced or adapted to suit the new Star Wars theme.
In good timings for the new Star Wars trilogy of films beginning with Episode VII this December, Disneyland Paris is certainly taking its commitment to Star Wars seriously with both this Jedi Academy show and also an upgraded Star Tours: The Adventures Continues confirmed to be opening in early 2017.
In related Discoveryland news, Space Mountain has been confirmed to re-open from its half-year long refresh on 25 July 2015.
