EndorExpress

Disneyland California has sent out an interesting Casting Call, calling out for people who want to be a Disney Jedi! We have the full casting call for you to read! Is this your dream job, or are you just wondering what all the fuss is about? Then read on!

[P.S. Don't you love the fact that the auditions take place in a studio named after Carrie Fisher's mother?]

Want to be a Disney Jedi? [casting call] – Jedi Training Academy – Open Call
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Category: Theme Park
Format: Live
Union Status: AGVA
Rate: AGVA Featured/Principal rate

Audition Dates
Thursday, 8/31, 10:00 am

Audition Location
Debbie Reynolds Studios
6514 Lankershim Blvd.
N. Hollywood CA 91606

Synopsis
Disney Entertainment Productions is seeking actors for Jedi Training Academy, an all new interactive experience performed outdoors in Disneyland® Park. Actors will portray a Jedi Master, who with the help of his young Jedi “trainees”, battles a real live Star Wars™ villain!

Audition Note
Sign-in will begin at 9:30 am. Sides will be provided. Dress appropriately for a possible movement evaluation. Bring a current headshot and resume. Performers must be at least 18 years of age to audition.

Roles
submit JEDI MASTER / Featured / Male / All Ethnicities / 18-45
Male, 5’8″+. Athletic build, good physical shape, moves well, sword work a plus. Strong actor with comedic timing and improv skills. Ability to interact and connect with young guests.

No submissions necessary, please attend Open Call.

From a recent Al Lutz (www.miceage.com) article:

“Where the real action will be for the boys in the family is over at Tomorrowland Terrace, where the Jedi Training Academy will be located. Notice how we didn’t say “Club Buzz.” Finally, mercifully, they’ve given up on the silly Club Buzz name no one ever really used and will be returning to the old Tomorrowland Terrace name instead.

The facility is set for a remodel and the garish Buzz Lightyear color scheme and decor will be replaced. (Currently there’s a holdup with the very touchy George Lucas organization over these plans, but they still should meet the October deadline.)

The Jedi Training Academy is the testosterone-laden version of the Princess Fantasy Faire, with little boys given the opportunity to train with an official Jedi on the fine art of lightsaber fights and generally brave behavior against an evil enemy. The highlight for this event is when the Tomorrowland Terrace stage (gosh, that’s nice to say, isn’t it?) rises up out of the ground and Darth Vader and Darth Maul both emerge from a cloud of fog to test the mettle of the newly trained Jedi’s. You can imagine who will win every single battle, and sales of plastic lightsabers will certainly soar. Imagine the thrills (and walloped ankles) thousands of visitors will then experience as the little Jedi darlings get set loose to roam Disneyland with lightsabers in hand, as parents ignore their rambunctious, if not just plain hooligan-like behavior.

Both of these concepts are already in use out at Walt Disney World, and Disneyland is simply late to the party. But they’ll be wrapped up in slick marketing jargon and launched as part of the Year of a Million Dreams. Will it drive new attendance this fall? Probably not, although the Annual Passholders with young children will likely go crazy over it and both locations will meet their sales targets.”

http://www.micechat.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32949

I recently made a fun discovery while surfing the web… in one scene of the 1990 TV special “The Muppets at Walt Disney World”, Beauregard the janitor (played by Dave Goelz) and Miss Piggy (Frank Oz) ride several attractions, including Star Tours. So, in a weird way, Yoda was riding Star Tours!

If you’re a fan of Disney and the Muppets and Star Wars like I am– and like Kris is– you can understand why I was excited to discover this clip. I was very happy to find the special, broken into five segments, posted on a popular upload site, even though the picture ans sound quality were somewhat lacking.

This was the last project which Jim Henson finished before his death in 1990. In fact, he passed away less than two weeks after it originally aired. (Although his scenes for Muppet*Vision 3-D were already filmed, he did not live to see that production finished.)

Charles Grodin, the villain from the motion picture The Great Muppet Caper, guest-stars here as a bumbling Magic Kingdom security guard. At one point, he must enlist the Seven Dwarves to help him find the Muppet gang, who have inadvertently crashed the gates without paying.

The show is a little slow to get started, and dry in places. But it really coalesces nicely in the climax, when Kermit ‘volunteers’ at the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. So that’s where they got the idea for the Adventure Kermit action figure!

Henson is hilarious as Kermit, assuring the viewers that he does not believe violence is a solution to conflict, even as he blasts the Nazis. (He then of course asks if they are all right, and the stunt men all stand up and wave that they’re okay.)

Best of all, at the end, the original Kermit interacts with an animated Mickey Mouse, voiced by Wayne Allwine. Talk about an iconic image.

• YouTube – The Muppets at Walt Disney World (Part 1)
• YouTube – The Muppets at Walt Disney World (Part 2)
• YouTube – The Muppets at Walt Disney World (Part 3)
• YouTube – The Muppets at Walt Disney World (Part 4)
• YouTube – The Muppets at Walt Disney World (Part 5)