It’s Throwback Thursday! For today’s feature I wanted to show you some photos that I took at Disneyland, more specifically, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

This is my first time ever at Disneyland—that I remember at least. I went to Disneyworld when I was about 3 or 4, and don’t really remember any of it. And apparently I was at Disneyland in 1987 before I was even born.

Why Disneyland of all places for vacation as a single, almost 32-year-old? Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge of course! I grew up watching the films. The original trilogy is a part of my being. All it does is bring good memories back to me—whether it’s watching them on an old VHS while I was sick at home from school, or huddled in my on-campus apartment with my friends marathoning all three of the movies for May the Fourth during my senior year.

I had already decided on visiting Disneyland late last year, but the opening of Star Wars: The Rise of the Resistance ride at both parks became the reason I had to go.

If you guys haven’t heard about Rise of the Resistance, it’s an elaborate ride that debuted at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando late last year and at Disneyland in January. ROTR is an 18-minute adventure that features characters from the new trilogy and aims to immerse you into the world as a member of the Resistance.

The catch for being a new, elaborate ride is that it breaks down, constantly, so supply is low while demand is incredibly high. Disney employs a Boarding Pass system where park-goers have to log-in to an app and reserve a Boarding Group to have a chance to ride it. This system activates at park opening, and you need to be scanned in and in the gates by that time.

I had flown into Los Angeles the day before. After driving out of LAX, I visited San Gabriel to check out Bopomofo, a cafe run by one of Wong Fu Productions founders. Then I made a pitstop at Grand Central Market in Downtown. To beat the traffic, I drove down to my hotel in Santa Ana early and decided to call it an early night. Alarms set for 530AM.

For being on vacation, the 6am hotel breakfast run didn’t seem like something in my normal plans, but I had to get inside Disneyland before the park opened at 8. From Santa Ana to Anaheim, I felt an excitement that I can only say happens before I make the pilgrimage to EDC each year.

Ten miles on the highway later came the scarily efficient trip through the Pixar Parking Garage. From there, a tram shuttles you to the park gates. At 715, throngs of people were already lined up to enter Disneyland or Disney California Adventure. Being a little OCD, I thought very adult language (“Fuck, fuck, fuck”) when I saw those masses, not knowing where each line began or end.

Eventually I just settled on a spot, hoping someone wouldn’t yell at me for cutting in line and waited. And waited. And waited. The time seemed to move so much quicker than the line. But at 745, there seemed to be a breakthrough. The lined started to move with scary efficiency, much like the line for the parking garage. And by 755, I was inside Disneyland.

I’m a sneaker head, so the closest comparison I have to obtaining a Boarding Group for Star Wars: ROTR is like trying to nab a coveted pair of Jordans on the SNKRS app. You get logged in, make sure your information is all correct and wait until the 9AM drop.

So I opened the Disney App, made sure I was logged in and that my ticket was scanned. After that, I stared at my watch with military precision.

7:59:15 — Let’s make sure I’m logged in again

7:59:30 — Let’s close the app and re-open it, just in case

7:59:45 — Too late to do anything now. Just have to wait

7:59:59 — Time to hit the button!

By 8:00:10 and a tense spell of a spinning wheel on my iPhone, I had secured a Boarding Group! And at the same time, you hear the pockets of people inside Main Street USA roar in unison—all of us were going to ride Rise of the Resistance…barring any technical fuck-ups!

All in all, I spent over 14 hours in Disneyland that Friday in February and I enjoyed every single moment. My watch logged over over 27,000 steps that day. From New Orleans Square to Frontierland to Tomorrowland, I was everywhere. But the memories I’ll cherish most are my time in Batuu.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t really review the map of Disneyland. After I secured my boarding group, I decided to just walk through the Disney Castle and just keep walking. I saw a sign for Frontierland and decided to go the opposite direction indicated, but a few moments later I found myself in a Galaxy Far, Far Away.

I was there.

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is a must for any Star Wars fan, child or adult. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I walked through the archways and was greeted by droids, moving and shaking as park-goers pass by. Then through another archway, Kylo Ren’s shuttle. And another one, a life-size Millennium Fucking Falcon. As I wandered, Storm Troopers moved in packs and would stop random folks asking for their credentials. And now and then you could catch a glimpse of Rey and Chewbacca hiding to avoid the First Order.

The immersion of the Black Spire Outpost on Batuu was incredible. There’s stalls hawking blue milk, another one selling Coca-Cola products that look like thermal detonators. Then you’ll decide to wander through the automatic doors of an unmarked building. You’ve stepped into Dok Ondar’s Den of Antiquities. There you can find the walls lined with the helmets of Rebel and Imperial troops, the Mandalorian’s rifle, and lightsabers! All priced in “Credits" not Dollars. My favorite experience of all of it was constructing a Lightsaber inside Savi’s—a “junk and scrap” dealer.

And then there’s the rides. I’m usually the first person to tell you that I hate rides at theme parks. For someone that likes to drive fairly fast and loves motorsports, I don’t love the thrill of rides. But the Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run put you in the cockpit of the famous ship. And the Rise of the Resistance, which I got to ride at about 2’o clock that afternoon was incredible. The ride did break down before it was our turn, but it was worth all the hoops and whistles to get access to it. For 18-minutes, it all moves by so quickly. You’re briefed, shuttled around the galaxy, interrogated by First Order officers and face off with Kylo Ren. The next time I’m at a Disney park, riding it again is still going to be my number one goal

I just hope the next time I go, I can get a buddy or two to go with me to experience everything the same way I did. I had so much fun with no agenda, but now that I’m a little more familiar with the park I want to show someone else!

And it’s safe to say, my photography setup loved the whole adventure too. Like I mentioned the other day, my last vacation was the first time I trekked around with a completely non-Canon setup. I used a mirrorless Fujifilm X-T2 with two prime lenses, and my iPhone when I was in a hurry. Going from a full-frame camera to an APC-C mirrorless rig took some adjustment, but man did my back love the lighter load. I love Canon and my 5D, but the smaller footprint of the Fuji is much less intimidating—to me or a potential subject.

TL:DR — Disneyland and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is amazing. Even for a single adult.