{"id":8535,"date":"2023-04-08T09:09:43","date_gmt":"2023-04-08T16:09:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=8535"},"modified":"2023-04-08T09:09:43","modified_gmt":"2023-04-08T16:09:43","slug":"going-to-disney-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=8535","title":{"rendered":"Going to Disney – from Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Covid has changed things. Even in 2023, international travel still muted and people have been doing more domestic travel. That means open US attractions are somewhat overrun. There’s been a lot of bad press that Disney theme parks are terribly overcrowded<\/a>, dropping the annual pass and switching to a much maligned Genie Pass system<\/a> (dropping a functional but much mutated Fastpass<\/a>) and have gigantic wait times<\/a> (with averages for some rides over 130 minutes). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this has caused lawsuits<\/a> and the ousting of previous Disney president Bob Chapek who is largely seen as badly handling most of these problems. It appears that the new\/returning Disney president Bob Iger is restoring annual passes<\/a> and seen as righting the struggling Disney ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now what about avoiding those 2 hour wait lines? Filming is still allowed in the parks and Youtube channels like Attractions 360<\/a>, DocumentDisney<\/a>, WDW<\/a> and others have created amazing 4k ride videos of just about every ride at every single Disney park – in the world. Many even have multiple copies that include seasonal theming. So now only can visit and ride your favorite ride whenever you want – and each of the other versions in other countries. Though some of those other countries have modified the rides in interesting cultural ways<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a good example. The Haunted Mansion (a personal favorite) is in 4 different locations: California Disneyland, Florida Disneyworld, Tokyo Disneyland, and Paris Disneyland. I prefer these because there is no commentary or cheesy music. You hear everything including everyone is saying – which is just about the same experience as being there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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