Talk to me about your experiences with the 18 month sleep regression, Bees. I'm going nuts.

Until last weekend, we had a rockstar sleeper. C would ask to go to bed at night, happily walk in to her crib and fall asleep alone, getting up 12 hours later.
Last week, we saw some glimpses of sleep issues when she woke up a couple of hours after going to bed, just crying and screaming and standing up. She'd go back to sleep eventually, usually only after I went in to check on her. This happened several nights in a row. Then, on Saturday, she went to bed ok (later than normal) but woke up around 2 and just would not calm down. She shrieked whenever I put her in the crib. She ended up in bed with us.

Every night since, she has slept in our bed. Not only has she slept in our bed, she has insisted she be nearly on top of me, or at least touching me, all night long. Throughout the night, she'll cry out for "mama" and have to move even closer to me. The snuggles are sweet but I'm about to lose it. I don't want to go to bed at 7:30!

She's napping regularly at daycare but recently has been more hesitant at drop off than she was. Two weeks ago we could hardly get to daycare fast enough, she was so excited to see the other kids. Now she's fine being left but definitely sadder to watch us leave her. Over the weekend, she refused all naps at home in her crib, passing out on our bed in the afternoon.

Things we've tried:
Driving around until she falls asleep and transferring to her crib.
Letting her cry for 20 minutes.
Spending more time in her room.
Leaving a night light on in her room.

Always the same result. I really don't want to create bad habits but I am at a loss. Do we just gut it out and see if it improves on its own? Do I keep putting her in her crib each night and letting her cry for awhile? We had to do that at the 11 month mark when she was waking up each night and we were forced to bring her to our bed. One day it just stopped. I'm honestly open to any suggestion.

TL;DR My formerly excellent sleeper has started boycotting her crib and ending up in our bed, insisting I sleep as close to her as possible. No one is getting the sleep they need. What can I do?