Last time on Spring Break 2016, we wrapped up a magical day at Disneyland with a fancy dinner, the World of Color light show, and some tiki fun at Trader Sam’s. The parks finally closed, and we were finally able to rest our noggins before our last few hours in California. It was time to go back home…
I was dreading waking up a bit, because it meant leaving Disney, leaving California, leaving vacation… and going back to a world where I had to work without hidden Mickeys.
The previous day had really taken a toll on me. I could baaaaarely drag myself out of bed, and I was simply, thoroughly POOPED. We washed up and checked out of the hotel before spending our morning wandering around Downtown Disney a bit, with the intention of maybe buying some souvenirs, since we hadn’t purchased any non-food items in the park.
For breakfast, more beignets! I forced my feet to go one before the other to Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen (Express), where I got myself another order of beignets. (Non-Mickey-shaped but still very delicious.)
Tip: The Jazz Kitchen is a sit-down New Orleans-style restaurant, but you can pick up mint juleps, beignets, and more little treats at the Express Stop.
Honestly, though, we were truly struggling so much to stay awake and to stay upright. We walked through the entire, gigantic World of Disney store, where I felt completely overwhelmed by merchandise and too tired to give any of it enough consideration to buy any. One of the things I like a lot about the outside-of-Disney entertainment districts is the specialty Disney shops. Little boutiques where you can buy merchandise that isn’t parks-type fare is great for folks who feel like maybe they aren’t the target demographic of those shops.
Tip: If you are concerned about time inside the parks, I’d recommend doing Downtown Disney afterwards so that you can shop for souvenirs and goodies at a more leisurely pace. However, be forewarned that some merchandise can only be found inside the parks. And then, some merchandise can only be found at the boutiques in Downtown Disney.
After just a little bit more walking, we schlepped on back to our rental car for the drive out of Anaheim back to LA. Originally, we were going to check out the Anaheim Packing District, but we spent so long just moving around Downtown Disney that we didn’t have the time. (And to be honest, we really didn’t have the energy.)
To my shame, I passed out completely during the drive, leaving Ben to drive, navigate, and stay entertained by his lonesome. (Sorry!!!) Before returning our rental car, we stopped by In-n-Out one last time. I was way too out of it to even think about consuming food, so Ben filled up his belly as I kept my mind focused on the singular thought that was sleeping on the plane.
Next thing we knew, it was LAX, on the plane, and off to the East Coast. I gave Ben explicit instructions not to allow anyone to wake me if I was asleep (as I was so ired when the flight attendant woke me to give me my water on the flight over…) and we made it back to chilly Washington D.C. around 1AM, still wobbly from exhaustion. After spending about 20 minutes trying to find our car (and then realizing that I had saved our parking location on my phone but didn’t think I was responsible enough to do that…), we were home in our beds, bracing ourselves to go to work the next day.
That concludes my spring break recaps! I was a little bit more timely with them this year than last year, right? (I think considering I didn’t finish my Spring Break 2015 recaps until a little bit before I left for Spring Break 2016, I did pretty well!)
What did you think were the best parts of my trip?
What were some must-visits that I completely missed?
What should I do next year?
(P.S. The photo at the top is the only photo I got of palm trees against a blue sky in California because our weather was so terrible!)
Sip of Starrshine 