Nory Report III: In the Third Person! After 3 Years, the Final Update! NEW 2/6

[glennbo123]

I'm so happy to see a Nory update! 20 minutes in and out of a signature restaurant is very unusual, to say the least.

I've never ridden Test Track at night...I need to remedy that soon.

 

[All7OfUs]

YUCK! Who wants all that green on a sandwich that's supposed to be inherently full of cholesterol and fat? Ah well.... like you say, TT in the dark was probably worth the quick turnaround.

 

[norybell]

I guess I can see outside check ins just to deal with the walkups but it does seem like twice as much staff as needed for just checking in. That is completely unacceptable to get anything that fast besides bread in a sit down. I might have said something, that's just crazy!

It does leave me with zero desire to eat there.

I've often wondered that about the wristbands, whether they'd be awkward to get on and off or how sturdy they were. Good info!

Ah well, at least the soup sounded good!

Yeah, I was tempted to say something. But, as usual in such cases, I wimped out.

I'm so happy to see a Nory update! 20 minutes in and out of a signature restaurant is very unusual, to say the least.

I've never ridden Test Track at night...I need to remedy that soon.

I highly recommend it -- it's a totally different experience!

YUCK! Who wants all that green on a sandwich that's supposed to be inherently full of cholesterol and fat? Ah well.... like you say, TT in the dark was probably worth the quick turnaround.

Exactly! Who wants salad on bread when you've ordered a steak sandwich???

 

[KatMark]

Great update. Sorry I'm late in responding but we were in Florida when you updated (I have a TR going if you want to join...it's called: "Uppy, Uppy Mr. Andy."

We were not happy with our meal at LeCellier either and we went for dinner.

The pictures Nory took are gorgeous though.

 

[norybell]

Great update. Sorry I'm late in responding but we were in Florida when you updated (I have a TR going if you want to join...it's called: "Uppy, Uppy Mr. Andy."

We were not happy with our meal at LeCellier either and we went for dinner.

The pictures Nory took are gorgeous though.

Hi Kat! I'm sorry to learn my bad Le Cellier experience wasn't just a random thing. It's really too bad!

I'll have to pop on over to your TR as soon as I get the chance...my DIS time has been, sadly, severely curtailed lately, but I'm hoping life calms down soon and I can get back to my regular DIS schedule!

 

[norybell]

On her way out of the park, Nory stopped at MouseGear. She wasn’t usually much of a Disney shopper—her husband would probably kill her if she started decorating their home in Mickey merchandise—but recently she had started developing a weakness for a few things. Pins, of course. And vintage-inspired T-shirts. She found a bright green one with an appropriately faded, 1970s-style “WDW 1971” on it, and though she was disappointed it didn’t come in women’s sizes, she bought it, anyway.

Then she walked past the fountain, past the sphere, and out of the park, before booking it to the bus stop. No matter how hard she tries, she seems to be physically incapable of not rushing to the bus stops. Because how irritated would she feel, if she missed one by a second just because she was taking her time?

This time, she didn’t have to worry: A Coronado Springs bus pulled up the moment she approached the appropriately-numbered stop, making up for the long twenty minutes she’d waited for a bus on her trip there. And after an uneventful and empty bus ride back to the resort, Nory hopped off at the El Centro stop so she could make some important purchases.

She entered Panchito’s and made a beeline for the refrigerator case, where she selected her second bottle of Pinot Grigio of the trip. The first bottle, sadly, had been left, only half-empty, in the mini-fridge of her Port Orleans room. Of course, she needed a Coronado pin, too.

Essentials in hand, Nory left the main building and decided it was time to make good on her promise to herself that morning: She was going to spend at least one hour just relaxing. Soaking in some sun. Maybe reading her book. Maybe staring into the sky. Maybe sleeping, even.

Just outside the lobby, topiaries of Donald Duck, José Carioca the parrot, and Panchito Pistoles the rooster celebrated her decision with a serenade, and Nory set off on the long stroll back to Casitas 5.

Back in her room, Nory forced herself to do the bedbug check (all clear), then changed into her new swimsuit and doused herself in spray sunscreen. She loved this new suit: A ruched, navy-blue one-piece from J. Crew, it was the first suit she’d owned in years that felt totally comfortable. Sexy, even. She pulled on a skirt for a cover-up and headed straight for the perfect hammock she’d noticed that morning.

A man was in it.

Nory fought back her tears. Then she noticed an identical hammock about thirty feet to the left. Crisis averted.

Is there anything more relaxing than swaying on a hammock in front of a peaceful body of water? Nory doesn’t think so. Her book was in her purse, as was her trip journal, but it remained in the sand, while Nory just lay there, absorbing the sun.

Eventually, she dozed.

When she woke up, she had to admit that no matter how much she loved the serenity of her hammock, sweat was beginning to pool beneath her back. She allowed herself a few more sways in the breeze, then got up in pursuit of the quiet pool. She followed the signs and realized, happily, that the Casitas pool was near both the hammock and her room.

Nory’s had disappointing experiences with Disney quiet pools in the past: The Port Orleans Riverside quiet pool, for example, had been noisy and busy during her visit there the previous May. So she was thrilled when she found only a half dozen people surrounding the Casitas pool, all quietly relaxing and reading their books. Nory put her things on a shaded beach chair and took off her cover-up. Typically, she’s shy about being in her swimsuit among strangers, but she felt good enough in her new suit that she really didn’t care.

She sat on the edge of the pool, dangling her legs in the wonderfully-cool water, then lowered herself in all at once. It felt amazing. She floated around on her back for a few minutes, enjoying the peace and quiet, then climbed out and returned to her chair.

Nory’s never been much of a swimmer; a quick dip is usually all she needs.

The warm air kept her comfortable in the shade, and she just lay there, relaxing, waiting to dry off. A few women were scattered among the surrounding beach chairs, smoking, with ashtrays beneath them. They were far enough from Nory not to bother her (and as a former smoker, any second-hand smoke probably would have just made her jealous, anyway), but she did wonder if they were breaking any rules. She closed her eyes.

SPLASH! a chubby little boy had jumped into the pool.

Uh-oh, thought Nory. There goes the quiet.

But no: Within seconds, the boy’s father had walked over and was quietly reprimanding his son for splashing. Nory smiled. This was everything a quiet pool was supposed to be.

***

 

[teekathepony]

Catching up on the past two posts here!
Sad that your lunch at Le Cellier was unsatisfactory I know when we ate there last year we had a fantastic meal and a general great time. I sure hope they're not slipping! But your pictures of the gardens are beautiful! I actually enjoy Test Track during the day just as much I think, because I try to look around at everything, lol!

My house is slowly being taken over by Mickey merchandise... I try every trip to keep a lid on it but it's hard! My kitchen is red, black and white... Mickey colours!
My MIL runs for every bus stop. I am a meander-er, if I miss this one I'll get the next one kind of attitude. I think it drove MIL crazy actually, haha.
Glad you had a backup hammock!
The pool looks lovely

 

[KatMark]

Ahhhhhh, Nory, such beautiful pictures of my "home away from home." I sure missed that quiet pool this trip, as well as my hammock.

I'm glad you found a true "quiet pool" and that the little boy was not disruptive to your peace and quiet.

 

[glennbo123]

Ahh yes, I know that pool. That was the very pool where my daughters regaled me with their American Idol audition stories.

 

[eandesmom]

Sigh. That sounds so lovely I almost felt I was in the hammock with you. Only thing missing was a glass of that pinot grigio!

Nice that you had a sign in your room to warn you about the towels, we did not at POR this past may and everyone would hike over to grab one at the main pool. It worked but a sign would have been nice (instead of asking random strangers).

for swimsuits one feels good in!

 

[MEK]

Lovely pictures from your perch on the hammock.

I,too, remember that pool from my stay at CSR. Such a pretty area of the resort.

Fun update, as always!

 

[norybell]

Catching up on the past two posts here!
Sad that your lunch at Le Cellier was unsatisfactory I know when we ate there last year we had a fantastic meal and a general great time. I sure hope they're not slipping! But your pictures of the gardens are beautiful! I actually enjoy Test Track during the day just as much I think, because I try to look around at everything, lol!

My house is slowly being taken over by Mickey merchandise... I try every trip to keep a lid on it but it's hard! My kitchen is red, black and white... Mickey colours!
My MIL runs for every bus stop. I am a meander-er, if I miss this one I'll get the next one kind of attitude. I think it drove MIL crazy actually, haha.
Glad you had a backup hammock!
The pool looks lovely

My mom's also a rush-for-the-bus type, as is my dad...I guess that's where I got it from!

The Disney merch I really love is all the toys. It's going to be dangerous once we have a kid! When we took my niece in April, it seemed like I was buying her some sort of fun surprise every fifteen minutes!

Ahhhhhh, Nory, such beautiful pictures of my "home away from home." I sure missed that quiet pool this trip, as well as my hammock.

I'm glad you found a true "quiet pool" and that the little boy was not disruptive to your peace and quiet.

I felt pretty lucky with that afternoon! Sometimes I feel like everyone should stop calling the quiet pools "quiet" pools, so no one will have the expectation of quiet and have to be disappointed when it's not.

Ahh yes, I know that pool. That was the very pool where my daughters regaled me with their American Idol audition stories.

It's so weird, that you can say that and I can think -- Oh, I remember that, too!

Sigh. That sounds so lovely I almost felt I was in the hammock with you. Only thing missing was a glass of that pinot grigio!

Nice that you had a sign in your room to warn you about the towels, we did not at POR this past may and everyone would hike over to grab one at the main pool. It worked but a sign would have been nice (instead of asking random strangers).

for swimsuits one feels good in!

I still love that suit (even though, with over a year gone since my wedding, I'm now 10 pounds heavier in it).

I think that might be the only time I've seen a warning sign about the towel situation. It was nice!

 

[norybell]

After thirty minutes or so poolside—she was so relaxed, she lost track of time—Nory forced herself up off her chair. She felt completely revitalized. She returned to her room to get dressed, and by five o’clock was back at the bus stop.

An Epcot bus arrived almost immediately, and within a half-hour, Nory was once again entering the park.

No dilly-dallying this time. Rather, she headed straight for Epcot’s undeniably best ride: Soarin’.

Now, Nory isn’t as Soarin-obsessed as some people. It’s far from her favorite ride at Disney World: She’d pick Tower of Terror, or Splash Mountain, or Expedition Everest, or even one of the Magic Kingdom classics like It’s a Small World or Pirates of the Caribbean over it. But she considers it an amazing ride, nonetheless. And after handing over her first fastpass to the CM, her anticipation rose as she walked down the long, dull, neon-accented path to the loading areas.

She was directed to the back row of Section A. Why am I always seated here? she wondered, knowing it meant she’d be to the far right, with legs dangling in front of her. She’s always tempted to request Section B1—giving her a front-row, center view—but she hates to interrupt the CM’s loading efficiency. Maybe someday she’ll just get lucky.

As she carefully placed her camera and purse in the storage area beneath her seat and buckled her seat belt, she noticed that the woman to her left was very, very nervous.

Nory leaned over. “Don’t worry,” she said. “It’s truly a very gentle ride.”

“Really?” said the woman, “But it goes really high, right?”

The woman’s friend, sitting at the end of the row, tried to reassure her: “Oh, no, it doesn’t go very high at all, don’t you worry.”

Nory wasn’t sure what to say to that. She was fairly sure the seats raised pretty high off the ground, though she’d never paid attention to how high. “Well, if you feel yourself getting queasy, just focus on the people’s feet in front of you. I hear that helps. But you probably won’t have any problems, really.”

Now the woman to Nory’s right got involved, leaning over Nory slightly. “Oh, it’s your first time? You’re going to love it!”

The nervous woman looked skeptical. “Well, I guess I don’t have no choice about it now.” Then she yelped slightly as their seats swooped up into the air.

Nory immediately forgot about her as she stared at the immense screen, feeling as if she actually were flying along a river, through the mountains, and over the scratch-and-sniff-orange of the citrus groves. She’s always a bit sad when the ride leaves her favorite part—the ocean—to travel to her least favorite part—the city. But seeing Tinkerbell and the fireworks makes up for it, every time.

After the ride landed, Nory, exhilarated, turned back to the woman on her left. “See?” she said, “Wasn’t it great?”

“NO!” The woman took a deep, shaky breath. “Never again.”

The woman’s friend started laughing, and Nory did, too. “Well, at least you survived it!” Then she told them to have a good day, and wove through the crowds and out of The Land building.

Even with her fastpass, it had still taken over a half hour to ride Soarin’, and Nory was beginning to feel a bit hungry. So she decided to stroll to Mexico in the hopes of being seated early for her 7:00 dinner reservation.

La Hacienda de San Angel was Epcot’s newest restaurant, having opened only a few weeks earlier. Nory considers Mexican to be one of her favorite foods, and her hopes weren’t particularly high: She assumed Epcot-style Mexican would suffer in comparison to the delicious Mexican restaurant next door to her apartment in New York, or to the very authentic flavors of the quick-service Mexican spots she’d lived with in Chicago. But it had been one of the few places to have an available reservation last-minute during the Food & Wine Festival, so she’d figured it would be worth a try.

Like Le Cellier, they had a check-in podium outside the restaurant. When Nory stepped up to it, there was a thirty-something man ahead of her, messily eating a heavily-sugared snack from one of the Food & Wine booths.

“Hi, we have a dinner reservation,” the man said, powdered sugar falling all over his shirt. He gave the CM his last name, and she looked him up in the computer. No one else from his party was in sight.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t see a reservation for you. We could make one for you now, if you like. The wait time is about a half hour.”

The man took another bite. “No, I’m sure we have a reservation.” He was slurring a little bit; Nory could only assume he’d enjoyed quite a few drinks at the Festival.

“Is it possible you have a reservation at the other Mexican restaurant, the Cantina?” the CM asked, very politely.

“Oh, there’s another Mexican restaurant here?” the man said, still chewing. By now, his mouth, too, was covered in sugar. Then he noticed Nory. “Why don’t you go ahead? No need for you to wait while I figure this out.”

“Thanks!” Nory said, and stepped up to the podium. They located her name, and another CM ushered her inside a small waiting area decorated with bright Mexican art.

After a little while spent sitting on a bench and watching larger parties be seated before her, Nory’s name was finally called. She was led to a small table toward the center of a room, far from the wall of windows that looked over the lagoon; she was a bit disappointed not to have a view, but she didn’t see any tables for two over there at all, anyway. Her waiter was very friendly and eager to please, and within moments Nory had ordered a margarita and two appetizers. And when her cocktail came, she took one sip and was immediately happy: It was the perfect blend of sweet juices and spicy jalapeno, with chili powder dusting the glass’s rim. Yum.

She sipped her cocktail and watched her neighboring diners for a few moments before her waiter brought some free chips with two varieties of salsa, and, right after that, her first appetizer, a traditional black bean soup. He poured the steaming broth over a base of cactus leaves and queso franco. And at her first taste, Nory was in heaven. This was the perfect soup: rich, restorative, with the perfect amount of spiciness. Just the soup and the cocktail, in of themselves, had made La Hacienda a good choice.

Unfortunately, the ridiculously quick service she’d experienced at Le Cellier earlier was repeating itself: Only a minute after she began eating her soup, a different waiter brought out her second appetizer (which she had ordered as an entrée), a trio of tacos, each holding a different meat. Nory would have preferred some more time to enjoy her soup first; by the time she finished it and started in on the tacos, they were a little cold. They were still good, but not as good as the soup.

She can’t wait to get back there, just for the soup.

Her food finished, Nory took her time with her delicious margarita. On her last solo trip, Nory had spent all of her meals reading or taking notes. This time, she felt utterly content just sitting there, doing nothing. She didn’t leave until every perfect sip of spicy-sweet alcohol was safely in her stomach.

***

 

[KatMark]

Great update. I LOVE Soarin' (but I agree, it is not my favorite of all the attractions). We are not Mexican food eaters, but I must say that soup does look yummy.

 

[onelilspark]

2 updates in a row! Woah.

Anytime I'm still working on my app and they bring out my entree (even if it's another app) I always tell them to take it back to the kitchen. Annoys me to no end.

 

[teekathepony]

I admit, I'm a Soarin' lover. It's my favourite Disney ride! lol.
Those tacos look yummy!
I've never had my entree brought out while I was still working on an app but I can imagine how frustrating that would be! Especially for it to happen twice.

 

[norybell]

Great update. I LOVE Soarin' (but I agree, it is not my favorite of all the attractions). We are not Mexican food eaters, but I must say that soup does look yummy.

The soup is really, really yummy. I've been back to La Hacienda twice since then, and I think it's maybe become my favorite Epcot TS.

2 updates in a row! Woah.

Anytime I'm still working on my app and they bring out my entree (even if it's another app) I always tell them to take it back to the kitchen. Annoys me to no end.

I know, two updates, it's shocking! I'm taking advantage of the fact that I decided I wasn't doing any work this weekend. No matter what.

I admit, I'm a Soarin' lover. It's my favourite Disney ride! lol.
Those tacos look yummy!
I've never had my entree brought out while I was still working on an app but I can imagine how frustrating that would be! Especially for it to happen twice.

I've forgiven La Hacienda, since they had literally just opened -- maybe two weeks before? -- and I've gotten excellent service there every time I've been since. And my waiter was super, super nice, so I didn't hold it against him too much!

 

[tinacaplan]

I too, know just that spot at CSR. My husband and I stayed in Casitas 4 on our anniversary trip back in February 2010. It was our first Disney trip together. Beautiful location at a beautiful resort.

Love Soarin' and your meal at Hacienda looks so good. I want to try it eventually.

More great updates.

 

[laura74]

I need to try that margarita. Looks delicious!

Great update. This may sound strange but I like the font you chose. It's very readable.

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

Ohh, too bad that woman didn't like Soarin'. I can only imagine how horrible that ride is if you are afraid of heights. I love soarin' too, but I think you're going a little far calling it the best ride in Epcot. You clearly are forgetting Universe of Energy (on second thought... you're totally right )

mmmm... you had me at chili powder rimmed margarita. I may have to put the hacienda on my list for next trip.