Last year we went to DLR and when my daughter decided she wanted to be in Jedi Training at around 10:30 am on a CL7 day, we very casually strolled to the sign up booth and got her in a show a couple hours later. The entire process probably took around 20 seconds. There was no one ahead of us or behind us.
Maybe we were very lucky. I don’t think so. Even more, there was a pretty long stand by line during the “pre show” were they suit up the kids and every single kid in stand by got in. Every one of them and they were more than 20 or so.
Now I’m reading all these scary stories of how it takes 40mins+ to sing up for Jedi Training at HS. It sounds almost impossible to do within reasonable time unless you have a PPO ADR. I don’t want to spend so much time just to sign up for a silly show.
So my question is: Is there a standby line like for no-shows and that sort of thing? I will be visiting during EMH while staying offsite so getting there early is out of the question.
They do have a reserve list, I don’t know how often kids get into a show from it though.
If you’re going when TSL is open - I assume you are - you may well find that the crowds head there instead of to signups, so you might not wait long at all.
We roped dropped this past May. We got to HS around 7ish and were near the front. They dropped the gate ropes around 7:30ish. We had no issues. We walked quickly to sign ups and waited maybe 5 minutes. We chose the last show, but it appeared that there were plenty of options. We then waited for them to fully open the park to go to our first attraction.
There is a standby option, and some kids got into our show that way. Your child does have to be present when they call their name, so I’m not sure if you have to show up for each show until their name is called.
Sorry, I just read about you being offsite. It’s still a litttle early here. I’m going to leave my experience up for someone else. But I agree that others may be heading to TSL so it may not be as bad.
And the show really isn’t silly. My kids have a blast and it is fun to watch.
I realize this covers only half of your concern, but let me offer this:
I was there, staying offsite, in late March. I arrived ~20 mins prior to rope drop, and was waiting in the JTA-sign-up line for maybe 10 minutes before signing up DD10 for a midday show - the third of the day, IIRC.
JTA signups are outside of the rope-area at this point. Presuming that they hold the ropes on that side of echo lake at Indy like they did in March, being there pre-RD for signups will get you into the line; EMH people will have far less advantage for signups than they did in the past when the signup area was beyond the rope.
Yes, there is also a no-show list you can get on at sign-up as well; I’d recommend asking about it at the signup desk if you don’t get in. I would not expect them to take kids that show up for a session without being on either the show list or the standby/no-show list.
Thank you @MouseGirl42, this is very helpful. I had misjudged you in the past. This gives me some hope. My TP is very weird since we will be avoiding TSL and DD5 is not tall enough for RnRC. I will RD and hope for the best.
Best of luck to you! Here’s hoping that your DD makes it in. All of my kids have loved the experience in the various years they’ve had the opportunity.
To answer my own question, I went up to the booth at 6:00pm to sign up my daughter for the 6:20pm show on a CL5 day over Labor Day weekend. She got to fight Darth Vader and there were plenty of spaces still available,
So my recommendation to everyone is not to sweat it. Chances are you are able to fit a show with little or no planning.
My own experience at DLR in late March 2017 was the opposite. Got there around noon and they told us they were completely booked since 30 minutes after opening. Got there 1st thing in the morning the following day and we were OK and it took only a few minutes but there were other people signing up too.
Seems like this may be a “post TSL” change? I’ve definitely been hearing it’s no longer a rope drop necessity. I know I’ve heard that people aren’t showing up to sign up until around 9am.
We also went there in the middle of August arrived at 9:30am on a day that had EMH at 8:00am and it was desolate. No line, every show was available and no families in sight signing other kids.
