As I alluded to here I just survived my first tax season, complete with 10-12 hour days and dropping off the face of the earth for the last 2-3 weeks and that was just before the income tax deadline, never mind the quarterly payroll tax deadline that we also contend with. So, after every tax season, my father always takes a much needed and deserved vacation. Now, I understand why. My turn for the time off finally came last week, so I decided to head down to Disneyland.

As we all know, Disney and Star Wars have long been partners. I remember seeing Pixar's Monsters, Inc. early on to catch the Episode II "Breathing" trailer. The Incredibles thrilled me with the Episode III trailer and the omnidroid. Last year a family vacation to Disney World missed Star Wars Weekends by just a couple of weeks, but that was the only time we could schedule it. Nonetheless, I did manage to pick up a Jedi Mickey pin. I even had multiple people try to pick up the Darth Goofy plush last year, but they were sold out quickly, and I didn't want to go the ebay route for Goofy as I had done earlier for Jedi Mickey and Vader Mickey.

While I had entertained thoughts of going to Star Wars Weekends this year, it didn't work out this year, but there's always next year, right? So it is that I packed up my car and headed down to Disneyland with my 21 year old brother. We're both annual passholders, so when we arrived at Disneyland Wednesday afternoon, we headed straight into the park. Many a time when we were standing in line, people were laughing and chuckling at my Darth Vader "Who's Your Daddy?" t-shirt from Hot Topic. It's one reason why I think Star Wars will continue to be around for a very long time.

I always make it a point to go on Star Tours at least once per trip so I can pay homage to the droids and make the Death Star trench run. When Disneyland opened Star Tours, it marked the first time that R2-D2 and C-3PO were realized as robots. The other droids are fun to watch and of course once R2 is lowered into his slot on the Starspeeder 3000, you know that the ride may be bumpy, but you'll somehow escape in the end because R2 always saves the day. I love exiting that ride to the throne room music from A New Hope.

This time around as we walked past Star Tours, I found a pleasant surprise. I knew that Disneyland would have Star Wars pins featuring Disney characters, but I did not know that Disney had made Darth Goofy plushes available outside of Star Wars Weekends. Now, my Disney/Star Wars plush collection is complete.

Star Wars Mickey

Darth Goofy

Disney Star Wars pins

Once we got off Star Tours, there were more Star Wars surprises for me ahead. Once in the Star Wars gift shop outside the attraction, I discovered a t-shirt that made me laugh even harder than the Vader "Who's Your Daddy?" shirt. I can't even begin to describe it, so here are pictures.

The front of the shirt

The all important back of the shirt

In case you can't tell from the picture, the crossed out images on the back of the shirt are a lightsaber, a droid, and a blaster.

The next day, I decided to check out the Jedi Training Academy. This is similar to the JTA that Star Wars Weekends has run for a while, but Disneyland has done something really cool. It's hosted at the Tomorrowland Terrace stage, which will come into play later. A Jedi Master comes out onto the stage and selects young padawans for training. He even refers to the ever present mouse ears as satellite receptors. After the younglings are selected, they are each given a Jedi robe, and a training lightsaber. The Master than instructs the younglings in how to ignite their lightsaber and turn off their lightsaber, nothing that the it is unwise to touch a real lightsaber blade, though okay to do so with a Hasbro provided training lightsaber. Each padawan recites the Jedi oath, "A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack," and is then instructed in lightsaber fighting technique. With the training complete, a great disturbance is felt in the Force, followed shortly thereafter by two stormtroopers that run onto the stage, preparing the way for the cause of the disturbance.

Stormtrooper arrives

With the stormtroopers standing guard, an ominous sound is heard as the Imperial March blares over the loudspeakers. At this point, the stage of the Tomorrowland Terrace begins to rise, with fog billowing out to reveal Darth Vader.

Darth Vader Arrives

Vader than speaks to the Jedi Master and padawans, saying that he has come to teach them the power of the dark side and that it is pointless to resist. The Jedi Master responds that the padawans will never fall to the dark side and shortly thereafter Vader is joined on stage by Darth Maul in all his double bladed lightsaber glory.

Join Me

The power of the Dark Side

Darth Maul

Every padawan then fights either Darth Vader or Darth Maul, with the Sith Lords slowing down and giving the padawans the thrill of holding their own against the power of the dark side. After the padawans have fought off the Sith, a familiar voice that even Vader has heard before speaks to him. Yoda informs the padawans that the light is victorious and that the Force will be with them always. Vader and Maul retreat into their entrance stage, and the Stormtroopers are left to have their minds influenced by the Jedi Master who has already gotten the audience to laugh at the occasional Jedi jests that he makes using the same technique.

With that, the younglings return their robes and lightsabers, and everyone then exits, with a gift shop that sells the very robes, lightsabers, and even Jedi Training Academy t-shirts just a few feet away.

For me, the Star Wars thrills weren't done yet. For quite some time, I've been wrestling with whether or not to acquire one big Star Wars collectible. I've always wondered just where I would put it, but finally on this trip, the Force was with me and I was shown a vision of just the place where I could place it. Storing the box is another matter, but I can figure that out later. I already figured out the important thing.

Jedi Mickey

And so ends the Star Wars related portion of my Disneyland visit. Maybe next year, I will finally head to Star Wars Weekends. Of course, I'll have to find more space, especially if Disney releases the X-Wing Pilot Mickey big fig to the general public like they did with Jedi Mickey.