It’s almost time to rock in 2022, but we’re all still trying to forget 2020—so we’re going to Disney World! Like pretty much every other aspect of our lives, Walt Disney World resort changed to a new normal. Even for regular Disney vacationers, post-2020 Walt Disney World is a whole new world.

Walt Disney World may be the most magical place on earth, but it’s also one of the busiest. All four parks — Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom — rank among the top 10 theme parks worldwide for attendance. And Magic Kingdom tops the list with more than 20 million visitors per year. We’re here to help you avoid the intense Disney crowds.

Why? Because if you’re an introvert or you’re just trying to enjoy their Hei Hei ice cream cone in peace, that may sound like a nightmare — especially during the peak summer months and holidays, when you’re elbow-to-elbow with tens of thousands of fellow tourists. (And let’s not even talk about the lines at Slinky Dog Dash.)

Naps are absolutely essential to a successful day at Walt Disney World. Human bodies are not designed to survive the high temperatures and treacherous treks through a Disney park. Unfortunately, whether it’s the timing of a reservation or the location of your hotel, it may not be possible to leave the park for your break. Lucky for you, I’ve done the strenuous research to discover the single best attraction in each park for a nap.

It’s hard to truly grasp the scope of the lost and found operation at Walt Disney World resort. Tens of thousands of guests lose thousands of items every day. Working at Magic Kingdom Guest Relations, I became part of the system that tries to reunite guests with their lost items. Seeing the items guests lose every day, I saw some patterns I hope will help you keep all of your belongings.

If you’re reading this blog, you probably like to plan ahead. The introduction of My Disney Experience has provided us with so many ways to fine-tune your vacation before you even arrive. But if you’re not careful, My Disney Experience can cause problems for your vacation before it even starts. Pay close attention to these tips so you’re well prepared for your Walt Disney World vacation.

Philosophers of the age ask: If there are no pictures, did it really happen? Photos are an integral part of preserving your Disney moments and sharing the memories with family and friends. To that end, Disney offers the Memory Maker for purchase. The Memory Maker is a way to get digital copies of all of the PhotoPass photos and videos from your Walt Disney World vacation. Like any major Disney purchase, you should look at the pros and cons before you decide to drop the cash. I recently had the opportunity to use a Memory Maker as a Guest and participated in the One-day Memory Maker pilot program as a Cast Member. Here are the questions I heard from Guests—and had myself—about the Memory Maker.

I haven't posted about my College Program at all since my training. My program ended on January 5th and now I'm on a short break before I start my Professional Internship (more on that later). Now that I've finished with the role, I figured I'd give any new VPCPs (that's vacation planner college program-ers) some info and tips about their new role.

My most exciting moment becoming a Cast Member was receiving my Walt Disney World name tag. I had been taught since I was little to seek out those white ovals for help and I was proud to wear one myself. You will probably see hundreds of these name tags during your vacation and it turns out there’s a lot you can learn from pausing to take a look.

Even spell-check does not know what a pescetarian is, so allow me to explain: a pescetarian diet is similar to a vegetarian diet, with the addition of fish. Reasons for eating pescetarian range from the health conscious to the animal loving. My family and I have been pescetarians for the past eight years–minus one stubbornly carnivorous brother. We have traveled throughout the Walt Disney World theme parks finding counter service restaurants that offer a variety of pescetarian, vegetarian, and vegan options. So whether you’re a pescetarian yourself or you ride The Seas with Nemo and Friends and think “them’s good eatins,” this pescetarian guide to Disney World is for you.

Though now I’m (supposedly) a real adult—I just graduated in May–it wasn’t long ago that I was a teen taking my first Disney trip without parents. My first winter break in college, I went to Walt Disney World with my boyfriend and two other friends. Two years later, I went for my 21st birthday with my three younger siblings. So for any teens or young adults out there planning your first parent-free trip, here’s a quick guide into your first clumsy steps into Disney adulthood.

Over the next couple of days, I had my operations orientation and Magic Kingdom orientation. The operations orientation--"Welcome to Operations"--was a lot of learning at Disney University, including a lot of safety information and details about the different roles involved in operations.

This morning was Traditions, essentially a working-for-Disney-101 class that all new employees take. After a quick struggle to figure out how to zip up my dress (apologies to my sleeping roommate who was awoken for the cause), I arrived at Disney University at 7:50am for my 8:00am Traditions class. I would recommend not arriving any later than that if you're driving from off-site, because they started checking people in as soon as I got there.

I'm usually on top of deadlines. Every semester of college, I logged onto course registration the second it opened with my perfect schedule already planned. However, I decided last-minute to try out a course through the College Program.