Is it possible to travel with a child that has extreme allergies? I put Disney to the test this winter. My son has Eosinaphilic Esophagitis, which causes a continued narrowing of the esophagus in response to food allergies, making avoidance of the foods the most favorable cure.

We were in the right in the process of addressing this when we had the opportunity to go on Disney Dream’s inaugural voyage.

CB’s Nancy Solomon and Kristi Marcelle are lucky enough to be on the Disney Dream inaugural cruise this week. Talk about media buzz! There’s been a stream of constant chatter. I even saw a tweet yesterday calling the cruise, “The event of the decade.”

We’ll publish official reports from them when they return, but in the meantime, Nancy has sent fun photos for a peek at all the action.

There’s no doubt that Walt Disney World is at its most magical during the holidays. The theme parks and resorts are decorated to their jaw-dropping max, and there’s plenty of extra entertainment in the form of special parades, shows, and themed character greetings.

The downside? Crowds. The week between Christmas and New Year’s is generally the busiest of the year.

My husband and I are not the biggest Disney fans. When it comes to a vacation, there are a lot of other places we’d rather take the family. That said, we understand why it would rank high on our kids’ list of places to go.

Our story goes like this. We were headed to Southwest Florida to visit family. My girls had seen Disney’s “Give a day. Get a Disney Day.” advertisement. Basically, anyone who volunteered for a day, got a free ticket to Walt Disney World or Disneyland.

I shudder to think how many years ago it was that I took my first standardized test, but I recall the first question like it was yesterday: “A zoo without animals is like a library without _____.”

I run this one by my kids every now and then to see if I can divert their attention from the television. After they shout out “Books! Give us another one!” I sometimes wonder how they’d respond if the second half of that question was “like Walt Disney World without _____,” because in my family, at least, “rides” has not always been the knee-jerk answer.

Walt Disney World is a massive theme park and entertainment complex covering 47 acres (roughly the size of San Francisco). For first time visitors, it isn’t surprising that it’s hard to figure out where to start when it comes to planning a vacation.

We felt the same way the first time we ventured to Disney with a 1-year-old and a 4-year-old. Since then, we have become old hands, going almost annually, most recently when the youngest was 12 and the oldest was almost 16.