disney day datin'

it had been well over a year since the hub's last visit to the happiest place on earth, so he'd never been on rise of the resistance before.  we didn't even bother to try for boarding passes when we were at disney world this spring, so i made sure to wake up nice and early to hop onto the disneyland app just before 7am on the day of our disney date.

except that the damn thing glitched right as i was clicking through, so by the time i finally got to the right screen all of the passes had already been distributed.  d-oh!

when we got to the parking structure, we inquired about parking in one of the spots with the electric vehicle charging.  turns out that there are charging stations in several spots in both sides of the structure - and they're just as close as the preferred parking spots that are $40 vs. $25 for regular parking.  sweet!

we'd arrived about an hour after the parks opened, so getting through security was a breeze.

there are still no trams running between the structure and the main gates, so we set off on foot to walk the 3/4 mile.  it was the first time i'd parked in the structure since before covid, so this was new for me.  and to be honest, it really wasn't all that bad.

as we got closer to the esplanade, we passed the "cruella" display (which i haven't seen yet, so i'm just assuming this is her car from the movie).

the line to get in wasn't too bad.

and mickey was there to greet us as we made our way into the park.

with just a ten-minute wait in the standby line for space mountain, that was our first ride of the day.  i was already hot and sweaty from the walk, so my little fan came in very handy as we stood in line.

sure enough, the line moved quickly and we were on and then off the ride before we knew it.

requisite castle selfie!

we strolled through galaxy's edge, stopping to grab a vegan ronto wrap for the hub from the ronto roasters stand.  plant-based sausage, kimchee slaw, pickled cucumber and a spicy sauce wrapped in pita.

he'd already been on the millennium falcon ride and it already had a 45-minute wait, so we just kept on walking.  after exiting on the far end of galaxy's edge, we got in line for the haunted mansion and then made our way through new orleans square - throwing a longing glance at the entrance to club 33 along the way.

this is the hub's all-time favorite attraction at disneyland.

and while we were in line, our second chance for a ROTR boarding pass came - and this time, i was successful:

after bidding farewell to captain jack sparrow, we headed over to rancho del zocalo for some lunch.

it was opening weekend for the jungle cruise movie, and fantasyland theater was being set up for the red carpet premiere happening the next day.  this was the closest i was gonna get to the rock:

and since we were right there and there was just a 5-minute wait for it, i dragged the hub into "small world."  

it was hot and he didn't protest because we both know this is the best place to go when you need to cool off...or take a nap.  or both.  it's a good 15-minute ride, so if you can stand the earworm you get a nice long rest.

and then i remembered something - the rock had posted on instagram that the teremana mobile, his newly-built truck for promoting his tequila, was going to debut at downtown disney that day.  we decided to take a break from the screaming kids and dodging strollers and headed out there to see what we could find.  and as we strolled along towards the disneyland hotel, we found it:

we checked in with the cast member who was standing at the entrance to the blocked-off area, who seemed less than enthused about it all when we asked him what was happening there.

"well, dwayne was supposed to get here at 1 and stay till 3, but he hasn't shown up yet and apparently we're all living according to the rock's schedule today."  eek.  it was already 2:45, and there was a sizable crowd waiting in the sun while the bartenders sat in the truck and waved happily at everyone.  after showing our ID to prove that we were over 21, we were given wristbands and handed tickets that we were instructed to hold on to.

our timing was pretty good, because we really only stood there for maybe ten minutes before the rock himself finally made his grand entrance.  and as usual, i suffered from short people syndrome and couldn't see a damn thing.

i could hear him, though, and he greeted everyone and thanked us for being there.  and then he brought out emily blunt so that they could get their movie plug in there and a little witty banter, during which they took shots of tequila and then announced that everyone was going to get a serving of the rock's famous cheat meal french toast, along with couple of sample sized drinks to wash it down with.  we'd managed to slide our way through the crowd a little and ended up about four rows from the front.  and so after he and emily waved goodbye, we didn't wait too long to get up there, hand in our tickets and accept our freebies.

we decided to head into tortilla jo's just a few steps away and grab seats at the bar to enjoy some cold beverages.

by the time we left to head back into the park, there was pretty much no one left at the teremana mobile.  they were still handing out french toast, but i think the cocktails were all gone.

our boarding group for ROTR had been called, so we went back into disneyland where there was a parade going on.

once we scanned our boarding passes and entered the queue, it was maybe another ten minutes before we actually began our rebel adventure.  and i was pretty pleased when the hub declared it his new favorite ride in the park.  i knew it lived up to the hype, but he isn't as easy to impress as me.

walking through adventureland, i jokingly mentioned how cool it would be if we happened to have a special guest skipper on the jungle cruise - and so we got in line.

of course, we had no such luck.

but we did have the rear of the boat all to ourselves, which was nice.  and we had great seats for checking out the new additions to the ride and "the back side of water!!"

we had dinner reservations over in california adventure, so we headed through the esplanade and entered the other park.  after a little haggling over our table - they were trying to seat us behind a pillar - we ended up right in the middle of the dining area.

it had been a pretty long, hot, sweaty day and i knew we'd hit the hub's limit for disney fun.  we'd done a lot and had a ton of fun, and so after we walked through avengers campus we stopped for a couple of drinks at the pym tasting lab.

we did walk through the grand californian hotel to stop in their gift shop for some fun new gear, and then started the trek back to the parking structure.

if you've never done an adult disney day, you really should.  it's so much fun!  i highly recommend it.  you can thank me later.