One more stop. No, two more. No...

We may be done with the attractions, but there’s still one more task in the parks: shopping!

Brandon has seen my new Mickey watch and his mom’s new Minnie watch, and he wants to buy his own. So while my parents are heading right to the exit and back to the hotel, Brandon and I detour into the Greetings from California store at the entrance plaza.

It’s a large store, and we have to ask a cast member if they have watches. They do, but not nearly as large a selection as the Emporium in Disneyland. Brandon looks over the options but isn’t thrilled with any of them. He asks if we can go over to Disneyland to look in the Emporium. Okay – I hadn’t planned on any more park hopping, but we’ve got a little time.

Brandon does spot a rack of really cool pins – Soarin’ pilot wings with a wide array of names “pre-personalizing” them. He finds a “Brandon” set of wings and buys it.

Out of California Adventure we go – we get our hands stamped just for this quick jaunt to Disneyland! We cross the plaza and insert our Park Hopper tickets into the gate, and the female cast member working there mentions something about hearing the bird tweet. Hmm, I hadn’t noticed that particular audio cue before. When you first use a park ticket at the beginning of the day, the strummed-harp “magic wand” sound plays, so the CM knows your ticket is good. But when you re-enter that park later in that day, or go to the other park with a Park Hopper, it chirps like a bird, cueing the CM to look for a hand stamp. Cool.

We head into Town Square and the Emporium, going straight for the wall o’ watches. It doesn’t take Brandon long to find a watch he likes – it has a shiny orange face with a multitude of Mickey heads in the pattern. It’s a good watch, though the shiny orange does briefly remind me of the outfits of the Ambassadors of Harmony when they beat us last Friday night. I’m trying to move on with my life.

The purchase made, we head for the exit – but wait! The announcer is saying that the Flag Retreat will begin in just a few minutes. The Flag Retreat, a long-time tradition here at Disneyland, is a patriotic ceremony for the lowering of the flag. I’ve never seen it, but I love the flag-waving patriotic stuff. The announcer calls for veterans or current members of the armed forces to gather near the flagpole to assist in the retreat.

I ask Brandon if he minds staying for this. He does not.

Brandon and I get a spot by a bench right next to the central circle where the flagpole is located. This will be an awesome way to end our time at Disneyland.