Sailing the Skyliner: Life is the Bubbles on Spring Break - A March 2024 Trip Report

[jrmint427]

We took a rest every day and I think DD swam every day too! So frustrating about the room check or housekeeping. We never had an issue like that they always came back hours later if we were in the room at all!!

I'm sure your DD loved that! The kids always love hotel swimming pools best. I'm glad you never had an issue!

But argh on the room check! With my (hopefully?) napping child I hope they stick by my request to do our room checks in the morning/noon time. We plan to take daily afternoon breaks and I’d hate every nap to be interrupted by a room check. I would’ve been so frustrated with so many interruptions while trying to rest. Thank you for the reminder to throw the dead bolt!

I didn't even think about putting in a request! That is smart and I hope they honor your request. I'll definitely put in a request in advance next time if we plan any afternoon rest time. I should have had the dead bolt on too. It just never crossed my mind someone would actually just enter!

I don’t mind the fact that they check rooms - just don’t wake my sleeping child (or me!).

Exactly!

I keep hearing from people about the interrupting room checks. I guess I have just been lucky that they have never interrupted me. I did hear that you can talk to the front desk and schedule the room checks so maybe next time???

I didn't even think about doing that! But now that we know, we will definitely put in a request in the future for our room check to be in the morning.

Ive stayed at s bunch of different resorts at WDW, and the only time ive ever noticed or been around when they room checked was at AoA Lion King Suite and then it was twice in 1 week they caught me and we always do things basically the same, stopping back for refreshing/pool afternoons. Must be they didnt clean as often??

They didn't clean very often for us either, it wasn't every day but I couldn't figure out a pattern either.

Terrible luck with the room check. I've never been in the room when this was done but just because I said that I bet it happens to us.

I hope it doesn't! Other people had a good suggestion to talk to the front desk next time and schedule room checks for the morning for any days we plan to take a break. I will definitely do that next time.

What a frustrating experience with housekeeping/room checks! That would’ve irritated me, too. It shouldn’t require multiple times to understand “come back later.”

But yeah, I can definitely see how the Skyliner would make afternoon breaks easier! My family and I will definitely have to plan on another Skyliner resort the next time we go back!

Yes, it was the multiple times so close together that really got me! We will stay on a Skyliner resort next time too.

 

[jrmint427]

Real Life Update - Trip to Washington, D.C.

I don't do a ton of "real life" updates, but I'm realizing this trip report will take me awhile to get through (not just the writing, but the time spent editing photos!). So, I thought it would be fun to add this side trip in. I had a quick trip to Washington, D.C. this past week for work. We were in full day meetings for most of the time, but we got a little tourism in too as most of us were traveling from out of town.

This was as close as I got to the White House.




On our last day, we wrapped up a little early, so I went to the National Portrait Gallery with a couple of coworkers. I forgot that the museums in D.C. are free! It was really neat, we only had about an hour until dinner, but could have spent a lot more time there.



This portrait was intended to be viewed through the flash of a camera.



Dinner that night was right across the street at Zatinya, a José Andrés restaurant (who also created Jaleo). I felt the Disney connection and was excited when I realized where we were going! It felt very similar to Jaleo, except that it was Mediterranean tapas. Instead of the red vibe at Jaleo, everything was blue and white. I was thankful that almost all of the tapas ordered were vegetarian, so I was able to try a lot of different things.



After dinner we did a walking tour of the National Mall. We started at the Lincoln Memorial. It was under construction as they're building a museum underneath it.





Next, we went to the WWII Memorial.



This was the view of the Lincoln Memorial from the WWII Memorial:



We wrapped up at the Washington Monument.



It was a fun trip, but I missed my family and am glad to be home! Back to Disney content soon.

 

[jrmint427]

Hollywood Studios PhotoPass Pictures​

We were back in the park at 4:26pm and the Beauty & the Beast show we had come back for wasn’t starting until 5:00pm. I realized we hadn’t done the classic Hollywood Boulevard pictures yet that day, so we stopped for a photo shoot.



Grammas wore a Toy Story shirt with us in the morning, but had switched into her 1998 Mickey Fantasia shirt, which she got on a trip to WDW in 1998. We agreed this was a great option for our Fantasmic show that night. I had also put on my Maleficent earrings for the occasion. My parents were not into the themed shirts with the rest of us, but more or less agreed to color schemes each day.

We got a magic shot with our friend Olaf, who is one of DD9’s favorites, so she was really excited to see this one later on. DD7 looks so serious and was the only one not following our photographer’s instructions.



Our family of four was up next.



I loved some of the hugging pics a lot of the photographers suggested on this trip.



My favorite pictures are always the ones of just the girls.



We wrapped up and headed down Sunset Boulevard. It was 4:39pm, and we saw a PhotoPass photographer with no line, so I figured we had time for pictures with the Tower of Terror too.





I also asked for a picture with just me, Pat and his mom, since the three of us would be riding ToT together on our next HS park day. We have this same pic of the three of us from past trips, so I wanted to continue the tradition.



After torturing my family with too many pictures, it was time to head to the Beauty & the Beast show.