As an annual passholder and a journalist who covers theme parks, I spend a lot of time at Disney World.

My whole family used to have annual passes as well, but as my two teens have gotten older, they're not as excited about long days in theme parks.

Still, my husband and I love going together. I recently paid over $1,000 for us to spend a full day (from park-open to park-close) at Disney World.

My family has never cared much for chain restaurants, but in the past year, my husband and I have visited more with our teenagers.

By dining at steak houses such as Ruth's Chris and iconic breakfast spots including IHOP, we've learned to appreciate what chains have to offer, from reasonable prices to a consistent experience.

But we'd yet to try a Brazilian churrasco meal like the one offered at Fogo de Chão.

I love shopping at Aldi and Trader Joe's for my family's groceries.

Both chains carry unique specialty items, and the holidays always bring seasonal items that everyone in my house looks forward to.

Recently, I went to Aldi and Trader Joe's to compare each grocery store's seasonal and holiday offerings. I was surprised by which of the two felt more festive in early/mid-November.

Green-bean casserole is a nonnegotiable Thanksgiving side for me.

My go-to is the standard recipe made with canned green beans, condensed cream-of-mushroom soup, and French's fried onions.

But to make sure I'm not missing out on something better, I followed recipes from three celebrity chefs: Alton Brown, Ree Drummond, and Alex Guarnaschelli.

It's been seven years since my husband and I chose to relocate our family from Maryland to Florida. It's a decision I've never regretted once, but living in the Sunshine State is very different from life in the Northeast.

Aside from the obvious things like no snow and exponentially more humidity, there's a different political vibe down South and a lot more Southern hospitality. Plus, Disney World is here, which makes me — a journalist who covers theme parks — very happy.

As someone who's been visiting Disney World for more than a decade, I know that Epcot reigns supreme when it comes to dining.

The park offers both sit-down and quick-service dining options. Plus, there are four festivals every year, each of which brings new kiosks with special food and beverage offerings.

Here are my 10 favorite places to eat at Epcot.

I've been visiting Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival for a decade. This year, the festival features 25 "global marketplaces" — kiosks offering food and drinks inspired by cuisines around the world — as well as nightly concerts, themed merchandise, and fun scavenger hunts.

The event is included in normal Epcot admission, and since most menu items cost between $5 and $10, it's one of my favorite inexpensive ways to get the most bang for my buck at Disney World.

I'm a major Disney Parks fan who lives close to Walt Disney World Resort and writes about theme parks for a living. I'm also a mom who has been taking her kids to Disney for over a decade. This means when people I know — from family members to random Facebook acquaintances — plan a Disney World trip, they usually reach out to me for tips to make it run smoothly.

Often, they want to know whether Genie+ is worth the expense (it is) or how to get their most coveted dining reservations (use a third-party reservation-tracking website, such as Touringplans.com). I'm always happy to share these tips and more, but there's one piece of advice I always impart, unsolicited: Visit one Disney World theme park in the morning, return to your hotel for some pool time and a nap in the afternoon, and then go back to the parks in the evening.

I'm a 42-year-old mother of two, and one of my favorite places to go when I need some time alone is Walt Disney World Resort. I visit the park regularly with my husband and teenagers, but there's something special to me about strolling through EPCOT's World Showcase alone or renting a pool cabana at a Disney hotel and spending the day reading. Even if I'm not inside a Disney theme park, it brings me joy to know I'm hanging out on Mickey's turf.

Moms are no strangers to the idea that self-care is important, but sometimes we question how far we're allowed to go with it. A face mask seems fine, for example, but judgment starts to creep in when we consider taking a couple of hours — or days — to ourselves to lounge by a pool. Barbara Greenberg, a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in families and adolescents, says this shouldn't be the case for a few reasons.

As a mom of two and a journalist who covers theme parks, my kids are no strangers to exploring theme parks together as a family. When my travels take me out of town during the work and school week, my family often stays behind. But recently, as I planned a three-day, weekday visit to Legoland Florida and Peppa Pig Theme Park, I was surprised when my 15-year-old son said he wanted to tag along.

Legoland Florida is designed for kids ages 2 to 12, and Peppa Pig Theme Park is for preschool-aged children, so I wondered if he'd actually enjoy himself. Still, I welcomed him along for the ride. If nothing else, I figured it would be a nice opportunity to spend some quality time alone together.

We really love burgers in my house — and by we, I mostly mean my teenage son, who'd order a plain cheeseburger at a fancy steakhouse.

We hold a weekly burger night as faithfully as we honor Taco Tuesday, but we like to switch it up when it comes to recipes and cooking methods.

I recently put my air fryer, stove, oven, and grill to the test to see which one makes the best burger.

As a frequent Disney World visitor, there's nothing I dread more than the painful logistics of getting from point A to point B.

In 2017, I started traveling by Minnie Van, Disney's network of polka-dotted Lyft rideshares. It's not cheap, often averaging about $40 a ride, but for me, it's worth it.

Minnie Vans can be scheduled through the Lyft app and will transport guests to all Disney World resorts, theme parks, Disney Springs, and anywhere else across the property from 6:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. daily.

The first time I told my daughter I was considering bariatric surgery, my family was enjoying dinner at a sports bar during a weekend getaway. It was December 2020, and I had already been to a consultation with the doctor who would later perform the procedure. But I was terrified to move forward; the process seemed overwhelming.

In tears, I looked into my then-10-year-old daughter's eyes and said, "If I do this, I want you to know it's because my body hurts and I feel unhealthy, not because I think there's anything wrong with having fat on your body." At the time, I was 5-foot-4 and weighed over 220 pounds, but I would gain another 15 before I decided to have the surgery nearly two years later.

I've been an avid Costco shopper for most of my adult life but when my family relocated from the Northeast to Central Florida seven years ago, I was disappointed to learn the closest Costco to my beach town was a 90-minute drive away.

The trip seemed just a bit too far so my family and I looked for other warehouse-store alternatives. Sam's Club and BJ's Wholesale Club were only about 15 to 20 minutes away so, over the course of six years, I shopped at the two stores. However, I was never completely happy.

Disney World is known for its four theme parks, but the Central Florida property also offers two water parks — Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach.

At Typhoon Lagoon, Disney World's tropical-themed water park, there are 11 water attractions ranging from waterslides to a wave pool. Typhoon Lagoon closes at 8 p.m. most days, but on select nights, it holds H2O Glow Nights, a special after-hours ticketed event that runs from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.

While my family spent years avoiding chain restaurants, we recently started visiting them with our teenagers.

We've been pleasantly surprised by chains we've visited so far — from the Caribbean-themed Bahama Breeze to steak-house chains such as LongHorn Steakhouse — so I was excited to up the ante and head to Ruth's Chris Steak House.

My first visits to Disney World were long ago — before I moved from Maryland to Florida — and always with my family in tow.

When my husband, kids, and I relocated to Central Florida seven years ago, it was a no-brainer that we'd purchase annual passes. For years, we made memories in the theme parks, but, as my kids turned into teenagers, they weren't as interested in visiting anymore.

I decided to keep my own annual pass because I love visiting Disney alone. Even when my husband and kids held passes, I still loved nothing more than escaping alone for the day to visit a Disney park or shop at Disney Springs.

The first time my family sailed aboard a Disney Cruise Line ship, my kids were 8 and 10. Nearly five years later, we've taken several Disney cruises as a family. But when my husband and I recently started discussing a Disney cruise to Europe, my now 13- and 15-year-olds were totally uninterested. They both had plans and commitments that fell during the seven-night trip and asked to stay at home, leaving us questioning whether we should take a Disney cruise without our kids.

In the days when I could say my family never ate at chain restaurants, I'd drive past Bahama Breeze locations and feel curious.

With its sweeping, open-air patios and tropical signage, I imagined diners sipping mai tais and feasting on jerk chicken. It turns out that my perception of the chain was pretty close to the truth, though it's in a strip-mall parking lot instead of a tropical cruise port.

I've held an annual pass at Disney World for the last seven years and visit several times a month with friends, family, and sometimes even solo.

No matter how often I visit the parks, I never feel like I'm experiencing the same thing repeatedly, probably because I'm constantly stumbling upon events and experiences I never knew existed. One such unique experience, Sangria University, takes place at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort.