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Most folks return home from a Disney vacation with a pair of Mickey Mouse ears.
Madalyn Monaghan came home to death threats leveled by virtual vultures who were outraged that the mom of two visited the Florida-based oasis sans her brood.
“I had people messaging me on Instagram saying really dark and nasty things,” Monaghan, 30, a married mother to an 11-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son, told The Post. “Threatening my life.”
But doing Disney child-free isn’t a capital crime against the kiddos.
Instead, it’s a vacationing trend amongst moms and dads who don’t mind leaving their little rascals behind for some “me-time” around Cinderella’s castle.
Taking a brief sabbatical from parenthood, whether in the Caribbean or on the “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride, can be a worthwhile measure towards warding off burnout.
It’s that overwhelming feeling of stress, anxiety and fatigue that plagues a whopping 57% of mothers and fathers nationwide, per a May study from Ohio State University.
But the spirit-crushing condition doesn’t just affect overtaxed adults.
Researchers also found that children are likely to experience emotional and behavioral damages due to mommy and daddy’s grumpy disposition.
So parents, near and far, are doing their best to dodge the chaos.
While some New York City mamas delegate some of their more distressing duties to a team of hired house managers to avoid burnout, other mothers in the Big Apple and beyond micro-dose psychedelics, or “magic” mushrooms, for mini mental health trips.
Monaghan, however, prefers taking actual trips to Magic Kingdom.
“It’s freeing to go to Disney World without the kids, have a good time and let loose,” the millennial, a travel influencer from Charleston, South Carolina, told The Post.
She took her first unencumbered trip to the enchanted grounds in August. The mom shared clips of herself drinking and dancing to the beat of her own tot-free drum on social media. But her seemingly innocuous Instagram post made Monaghan the object of the internet’s ire.
Disapproving detractors labeled her “unhinged,” and deemed her “the worst mother in the world.”
But Monaghan’s four-day getaway — a vacay she does not regret taking, despite the backlash — came just after she and her hubby treated their brood to a two-week tour of Europe, where the little ones enjoyed EuroDisney.
“My kids get to go to Disney quite a bit,” she said with a laugh. “As a mom, you’re almost always focusing on everyone else and leaving yourself last.”
“It’s nice to be like, ‘You know what? I’m putting me first this time.’”
Andy and Liz Sutherland, both 41, agree.
The Tennessee couple says their romantic “we time” at Disney does wonders for the whole family.
“We’re not dealing with strollers, there’s no one asking you to buy anything, we’re just connecting as husband and wife,” said Liz, a mom of two tween daughters and a toddler foster son.
“Taking care of our marriage benefits our children so much,” added the Nashvillian. Alone at Disney together, she and Andy, both travel agents, often do swanky dinners and snuggle up side-by-side on the Guardians of the Galaxy ride. “It’s like an extended date night.”
But in September, when the couple shared a Facebook video of themselves living it up at Mickey Mouse’s house while their brood was back at home, a volcano of flak erupted.
“Someone suggested our girls slit our throats in our sleep,” Liz recalled. “They said the kids should grow up to hate us.”
The savage sneers, however, aren’t deterring the twosome from doing Disney as a duo again.
“Going to Disney gives you the feeling of being a kid again,” said Andy. “It’s totally worth it.”
Ashely Aiello, 41, tells The Post child-free trips to Disneyland with her husband Chris keep her marriage hot.
“I never get to ride with him when we take our kids to Disney,” said the mom of two pre-teens, groaning over the lack of one-on-one time she shares with Chris when they vacation as a family.
“Getting to experience that magic — the sounds, the smells, the rides, the bars — with your significant other is really amazing,” she continued.
All four Aiellos, a quartet based in Indianapolis, Indiana, hit Tokyo Disney earlier this year. But Ashley, a lifestyle content creator, and Chris took a lovers-only leave of absence to Disney in Anaheim, California, last July.
The couple roamed the grounds footloose and fancy-free, whizzing around on the Incredicoaster, chowing down at the Blue Bayou restaurant and sipping spirits at the Enchanted Rose lounge.
“We got a lot of hate online for going to Disney without our kids,” said Ashely. “But [trips like this are] important for a healthy happy marriage.
“The haters can’t dim our sparkle.”
