THE GREAT GOODY ROAD TRIP DAY 16 (DISNEYLAND AND HEADING HOME)

So while this post is meant to be magical and filled with joy, it is touched with a bit of sadness.

Yup, last day. Womp a Domp.

But eh. ..let’s make the most of it, right?

Also today is the actual day we celebrated Owen’s birthday. Which I know is like…what? On account of all the free desserts. But this meant he got to choose the park, the meals and some other stuff throughout the day.

We woke up nice and early today and started pack…actually nope. Let’s not even mention that just yet. We woke up and…um…birds were singing.

We left the room and walked back over to the Disneyland Hotel again for our 7:00 AM breakfast at Goofy’s Kitchen!

This was a breakfast buffet. Well, sort of. I mean there were eggs. And bacon. And Mickey waffles but there were also chicken fingers and pizza and hot dogs.

Kind of an odd mix but it did give us an opportunity to get chicken and MICKEY waffles. Which is like kinda cool.

And yeah I mentioned pizza. There were your standard cheese and pepperoni. And there were also some more interesting choices like macaroni and cheese pizza.

And then there were pizzas like this

Peanut butter and jelly and s’mores pizza. What?? Good stuff.

And I mean, of course there were characters.

I really really really liked this breakfast. I think it was my favorite one we did at Disneyland. The food was really good and had some unique choices of a buffet. And the character interaction was great. They all came to our table more than once and played games (yeah rock, paper, scissors). Highly recommend.

Then it was back to Disneyland. Since it was so early and empty, we decided to take the monorail into Tomorrowland and we made our way right to Fantasyland and again wanted to ride Peter Pan’s Flight but the wait was once again like 40 minutes. Meh. Off to Dumbo.

Classic.

After Dumbo, we walked over and rode Pinnochio’s Daring Journey again. Again the ride….like the movie….is rather twisted.

We then walked over and walked right on the teacups. You know the drill on this one. Spin spin spin. Vomit vomit vomit.

I will say I do like that this one is all outside, compared to the WDW version, which is under a roof

I felt like we were spinning pretty hard core. Nickie said we were going really fast so that explains the nausea.

Owen really wanted to look for some characters so that’s what we did next. And as I mentioned, finding characters in Disneyland is much different than in Walt Disney World. You kind of just follow characters around for the most part and if you can get them to stop, then you can grab a pic and an autograph.

There are certain places, though, like the Town Square, where they do hang out though the specific spots can change. So we decided to head that way. On the way, I snapped some pics.

We also stopped in the Holiday Store to grab some personalized ornaments for us and some loved ones back home.

We had to put an order in and come back later but here is the one we got for ourselves.

And we stopped in the Penny Arcade for some old-fashioned (and inexpensive like pennies) fun.

We made our way down to Town Square  and all the character handlers informed us they were going in for a few minutes. So we kind of just wandered around while we were waiting for them to come back.

And we wandered right into the Magic Shop in Main St.

I love that Disneyland still has some of the old shops on Main St. The magic shop especially. The guy behind the counter demo’ed a few tricks for us and the boys were so impressed, they each bought a trick. I don’t know. It’s just cool they got something other than a stuffed animal. And this store just makes it feel like we are back in the early days on the Main St. Walt intended.

Also, Steve Martin worked here so.

As the boys and I continued looking around the shop, Nickie came in and said the characters were back in Town Square so we got to see Mickey and Donald. I can’t believe we hadn’t seen these two until our last day.

And then we made our way down Main St with the intent of hitting Tomorrowland and finding the elusive Boba Fett.

We stopped in the theater to check out some old Mickey shorts. Like cartoons. Not shorter version of pants.

Once in Tomorrowland, we decided to tread lightly past these two.

And we entered into Launch Bay, ready to come face to face with the infamous bounty hunter. We searched everywhere.

Not here…

Not there…

Not anywhere…

While at the cantina though, I met this hottie.

But yeah. Still no Boba. We were Fett-less.

Onward and upward. We left Launch Bay and walked over to the other side of the park. And we ran into Tiana on the way. Seriously feel like the paparazzi at this park – “Tiana! Tiana! Can we get a picture?”

But she was very nice and had a cool accent so it’s all good.

We decided to take the raft over to Tom Sawyer Island, which is now Pirate’s Lair, in Frontierland.

It was cool over there. We always like making a stop at Tom Sawyer’s when in The World but I think I prefer the more strict Tom Sawyer theming in WDW to this one.

Oh hey…its lunch time!!

Owen wanted to eat at the Jolly Holiday Bakery. Counter service. Slummin it.

Kidding…you know I love you counter service.

The boys both got the combo, which is a toasted cheese and tomato soup. I got the toasted cheese sans soup. On account of it was the hottest place on Earth.

Nickie got the Artisan BLT.

And we got LUNCH DESSERT.

The boys both got Mickey cookies of different sorts. Myles went for the face type while Owen got the sugar cookie.

I tried them both (for research purposes….I’d do anything for my readers) and they were both yumtown

Nickie got the pineapple upside-down cake and I got the Matterhorn macaroon. I didn’t try the pineapple upside-down cake but the macaroon was very good. Super moist (ew) and why yes, that is white chocolate on the top.

I liked Jolly Holiday overall. I mean I prefer a grilled cheese over a toasted but the macaroon could make up for anything. And the location just off Main St (kind of weird not seeing Crystal Palace here) is really conducive to relaxing and people-watching. And while we were sitting there, this marched by.

Oh also, while at lunch, this guy came up to us to compliment us on our Goodreau Vacation shirts and even asked if he could take a picture of them. So I posted with him. I guess he’s a media guy in for D23 so maybe I’ll end up on the youtubes.

After lunch, we wanted to catch the Mickey and the Magical Map show. But first, a quick pic in front of the castle

I lurved this Mickey and the Magical Map show. Lots of costumed characters and singing and dancing (all Disney songs of course). And some neat effects as well. Plus, covered, so see ya Mr. Sun.

Loved it. Also, free ice waters right when you walk in so a nice way to get out of the heat. Which was oppressive by the way.

We then walked back over to the Holiday shop to pick up our ornaments. Remember? This?

And we heard somebody shouting outside about how great he was. Since Myles was right next to me, I had no idea who could be out there…

Oh. It’s Gaston.

He is funny. And full of himself. Like Myles.

Owen wanted to continue his character hunting so we decided to head to Critter Country in search of some Pooh characters. And Myles wanted a Dole Whip so we went via Adventureland.

While on the way there, I mentioned that I really was bummed about no Boba Fett and no Moana. Boba Fett was a lost cause but I said how cool it would be if we could just stumble on her while walking in Adventureland.

Two minutes later, as we are walking, I turn my head. And there she is. I got a little too excited and may have trampled a toddler. But I mean. Moana.

So Pooh characters do have a specific spot to meet them (unlike many characters at Disneyland) right in Critter Country. So we went and lined up.

When we lined up, it was Eeyore, Tigger and Piglet taking pics and signing autographs but just as we were about to start meeting them, they announced that Eeyore and Piglet were going to take breaks. Bah. Eeyore is in top 2 for me (just behind Pluto) and we already just missed him at the Plaza Inn. But eh, I met Moana so.

So we were told we would now be meeting Tigger, Pooh and RABBIT!! Nickie loves Rabbit. Rabbit is her Disney spirit animal so. And he never comes out. Again. Too excited.

Right before we saw the characters, I snagged a fastpass for the boys and I to ride Splash Mountain one more time. So…sniff…last ride.

Now it’s time to say goodbye to all our company.

Yep, it was time to say goodbye. Well I mean of course we stopped in the gift shop. Owen had to get his magic trick and his Stitch “I don’t do mornings” mug. Lol. That kid.

We left the park, said our final goodbyes and headed to the hotel to grab our bags from the front desk. Oh and Nickie and I grabbed two tall boy Bud Lights to drink in the lobby while our phones charged. Why yes, we ARE awesome.

Once we finished our beers I mean charged our phones, I ordered an Uber and it was there within minutes. And within minutes of getting in the Uber?

That picture pretty much says it all. We were all wiped. Exhausted. Literally from too much fun. Two and a half weeks of epicness. I’ve already said it but how lucky am I to have these three?

Boys, thank you so much for the past couple weeks. I love that we got to do something like this together. I have heard so many people say something like this is on their bucket list and we have done it! You both were so funny and appreciative and present this whole trip. Your happiness is the greatest reward.

And Nickie, thank you so much for all the planning you put into this one. I love that we are a couple that can spend over two weeks in a car together and walk out of it so happy and in love. We did it…and it was even better than I expected.

And to everyone that followed along on our adventure either through this blog or on Facebook or Instagram. Or met us along the way. While I loved that the four of us did this together, it really did feel like we had so many others with us as we made our way across the country. Having all of you follow along added to the epicness.

I hate that it’s over but I love that we have created memories that I don’t think will ever fade.