<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" I&amp;#039;ve never been a Disney fan. Of course I saw all the classic movies as a kid, and I once dressed as Cinderella for Halloween sometime in the late 1970s. But I wasn&amp;#039;t one of those people who got caught up \u2014 and stayed caught up \u2014 in the magic of Disney. Quite the opposite: I was baffled by childless adults who wanted to spend their vacations with Mickey Mouse. I mocked people who dreamed of getting married at Cinderella Castle. I vowed to keep all those princesses out of my daughter&amp;#039;s life as long as humanly possible. I can admit it now: I was a Disney snob. And (cue confessional whisper) I had never even been to Disney World. So when my husband, Adam, suggested that we go there last March, I thought he was crazy. Our daughter, Rose, then barely 2, was much too young to appreciate it, and I certainly wasn&amp;#039;t excited by the idea of fighting crowds to ride Dumbo the Flying Elephant.  But Adam and I were both desperate for a vacation. It had been a long and terrible winter: I was laid off from my job, a casualty of the Great Recession. My mother-in-law passed away after a nine-year battle with cancer, and our whole family was rubbed raw with grief. Rose and I spent the better part of a month flattened by sinus infections, and our apartment was falling down around us. (Literally \u2014 a chunk of the bathroom ceiling tumbled onto my head while I was taking a shower one morning.) Disney World wasn&amp;#039;t my first choice for a getaway, but at least it was sunny and kid-friendly. So we cashed in a few years&amp;#039; worth of credit card points and booked a long weekend in Florida.  I prepared for the trip with the grim determination of someone planning a military operation. To be honest, I did not expect to enjoy myself. The most I hoped for was a respite from the gaping hole in my bathroom ceiling, and a couple of hours by the pool.  After weeks of anticipation (Rose&amp;#039;s) and dread (mine), we finally boarded the ferry that would take us to the Magic Kingdom. And when I saw the awe in my daughter&amp;#039;s face as Cinderella Castle came into view, my curmudgeon&amp;#039;s heart grew about a million sizes. Rose wasn&amp;#039;t too young to enjoy the park \u2014 she loved every minute of it. I found myself actually having a good time, not just for Rose&amp;#039;s sake, but for my own. We all loved seeing hippos and lions and giraffes up close at Animal Kingdom. I shed my cynicism and cheered at the glitzy spectacle of Finding Nemo: The Musical. And I defy anyone not to ooh and aah at the incredible evening fireworks at Magic Kingdom.  It wasn&amp;#039;t a flawless vacation by any means. I could have done without the crowds and the lines, and I&amp;#039;ve gotta say that I will always find animatronic characters corny at best, creepy at worst (I&amp;#039;m looking at you, &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a Small World&amp;quot;). But at a time when life wasn&amp;#039;t exactly wonderful, there was something incredibly healing in letting myself bask in the promise of Disney: that everyone can be happy, magic is real, and dreams really do come true.  Within days of our return, I was already plotting our next trip back. (With Rose pleading every day, &amp;quot;Let&amp;#039;s go back to Disney World!&amp;quot; how could I not?) So somehow, I went from an anti-Disney grump to the crazy lady who took a 2-year-old to Disney World twice in one year. What we learned from our repeat visit can help you make yours more magical: Have a plan. There are tons of books (I like The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World) and websites (see &amp;quot;Plan Your Adventure Online,&amp;quot; right) that can help you map out each day you spend at the parks, practically down to the minute. Because Adam is more of a seat-of-the-pants guy, that level of detailed planning doesn&amp;#039;t work well for our family. On the first trip we tried just winging it, but we spent too much time standing in line and arguing over the map.  The second time around, we decided before we even set foot in the parks that we absolutely had to ride the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Cinderella&amp;#039;s Golden Carrousel; another must was the Kilimanjaro Safari Tour at Animal Kingdom. Adam wanted to ride the major roller coasters, and I wanted to buy a Christmas ornament. Knowing all that (and having a few reservations at sit-down restaurants along the way) helped us structure our days: We hit the most popular attractions at each park first, before the lines got too long, and skipped the ones that weren&amp;#039;t really to our taste (but that we might have accidently wandered into if we hadn&amp;#039;t known any better).  Go early and go late. We like to sleep late. No, we loooove to sleep late. On our first trip, we never made it to the parks before 11. But this time around, we dragged ourselves out of our hotel room to get to Magic Kingdom soon after it opened at 9. (True diehards get to the front gates half an hour or more before opening.) We were rewarded by thinner crowds and shorter lines. Another day, we didn&amp;#039;t arrive at Magic Kingdom until after 7 p.m. We walked on to every ride and had plenty of energy left to stay up for the fireworks, which go on sometime after 8 p.m. On that note... Ditch bedtime. Yes, we kept Rose up hours past her bedtime so we could see the evening parade and fireworks. Twice. Three times if you count our first trip. I know some kids really don&amp;#039;t deal well with disruptions to their routine, and a lot of moms will disagree with me big time on this one. But for us, it was worth it to mess with Rose&amp;#039;s sleep schedule a little, because no matter how many times we go to Disney World, the fireworks will always be one of our must-sees. And for Rose, seeing Tinkerbell fly out of Cinderella Castle (a highlight of the show) was even more memorable than meeting her in person. We just made sure to schedule an extra-long nap on the days we wanted to be up late, and planned for sleeping in and taking it easier the day after. Tip: Since Rose had never seen fireworks before, we prepped her by watching other people&amp;#039;s home videos of the show online on YouTube. Don&amp;#039;t try to do it all. The first time around, we hit three parks (Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot) in two days. It was way too much. This time, we did just two parks (Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom) in four days. Even with all that time, we covered only about half of each park, but it was more important to us to take lots of breaks and really savor the things we did than to try to see everything. And hey, we had to save something for next time, right?  Go on a date! On our second trip, we were lucky enough to have my sister-in-law traveling with us, and one night she babysat while Adam and I escaped for a rare date \u2014 dinner at Citricos, an upscale restaurant at Disney&amp;#039;s Grand Floridian Resort &amp;amp;amp; Spa with a view of the fireworks, and drinks afterward. It was a treat to get some special couple time in the middle of a very family-oriented vacation. P.S. If you don&amp;#039;t have an awesome sister-in-law handy, you can arrange in-room babysitting with a service called Kid&amp;#039;s Nite Out through your hotel.  Savor the little moments. As much as we all loved the big attractions, some of my favorite memories were the tiny moments you just can&amp;#039;t plan: the three of us sharing a giant smoked turkey leg, feeding bits of it to the birds (and yes, I know that feeding turkey to birds is all kinds of wrong). Boogying with Cinderella&amp;#039;s stepsisters at a little dance pavilion set up for Mickey&amp;#039;s Very Merry Christmas Party. Hanging out at the dinosaur-themed playground in Animal Kingdom and watching Rose go down the slides over and over and over. Even in the rush to see all our favorite attractions, we made sure to slow down enough to leave space and time for those magic moments to happen. But no matter how much you slow down and take it easy, a Disney vacation is exhausting. So when we got back home, we vowed that we wouldn&amp;#039;t return for five years. Then, days later, Adam discovered a documentary about the building of Disney World. We all sat watching it, caught up in the behind-the-scenes story of this place we&amp;#039;d just started to get to know. &amp;quot;I kind of want to go back,&amp;quot; Adam said. &amp;quot;Me too!&amp;quot; I replied with a smile. And Rose, of course, squealed &amp;quot;Yay! Let&amp;#039;s go to Disney!&amp;quot; I wonder how long it will take us to save up for our next trip... Plan your adventure online I&amp;#039;m no Disney expert, so I relied on the experience of others to help plot out our trips. Whether you&amp;#039;re going to Disney World for the first time or the 21st time, these sites \u2014 all created by longtime Disney fans \u2014 will give you the real scoop on how best to capture the magic. TouringPlans.com The companion site to the indispensable book The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. With a free subscription, you can create your own custom park-touring plan, use the online trip planner to keep track of all your travel details, and get access to Lines (m.touringplans.com), a mobile site with up-to-the-minute wait times for all the Disney attractions. AllEars.net Can&amp;#039;t decide where to make hotel or dinner reservations? This site has literally thousands of reviews, photos of nearly every inch of every hotel, and menus for all Disney restaurants.  MouseSavers.com Tons of money-saving tips for all things Disney, including how to get the lowest price on park admission at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, discounts on hotels and Disney Cruises, special deals on shows like Disney on Ice, and more. Everything Walt Disney World (everythingwdw.blogspot.com) The Disney-loving mom who writes this blog mixes news for hard-core fans and helpful information for newbies, along with funny posts on the dirtiest bathroom in Disney World and the phenomenon of &amp;quot;Disnesia&amp;quot; (which causes you to forget all the bad experiences of your Disney vacation and remember only the magical parts). The Disney Food Blog (disneyfoodblog.com) You don&amp;#039;t have to settle for a turkey leg or a burger on the run. Almost every kind of food imaginable is available somewhere at Disney, and this blog covers it all. Take the Monorail (takethemonorail.com) With info organized by age ranges, this blog is packed with great tips for a family vacation to Disney, from what to pack to special extra experiences that even some Disney vets don&amp;#039;t know about. (One we considered but didn&amp;#039;t try: &amp;quot;Waking up Tinkerbell,&amp;quot; a ceremony that allows the first morning visitors to the Tinkerbell&amp;#039;s Treasures shop to wake up the fairy.) "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.redbookmag.com/life/mom-kids/advice/a5886/go-to-disney-without-going-crazy/>