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Disneyland’s record-breaking regular shares his wisdom from nearly 3,000 park visits in a row | CNN

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Disneyland’s record-breaking regular shares his wisdom from nearly 3,000 park visits in a row | CNN



CNN
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There are Disney Park regulars, after which there’s Jeff Reitz. The 50-year-old California native visited Disneyland day-after-day for two,995 days between 2012 and March 2020, incomes him a shiny new Guinness World Document for many consecutive journeys to the theme park.

Reitz journey began a decade in the past when he discovered himself with a Disneyland annual move and, resulting from being not too long ago unemployed, a bunch of unanticipated free time. One go to was one other, and fairly quickly he was documenting his day by day sojourns to 1000’s of followers underneath the social media deal with Disney366 – a nod to the variety of days in 2012, a intercalary year.

His visits had been curtailed by the pandemic in early 2020, however historical past had already been made. (In any case, one doesn’t simply hang-out the identical place day-after-day for eight years and never turn into one thing of a celeb.) Researchers at Guinness came upon about Reitz’s feat, and not too long ago contacted him in regards to the creation of a brand new file.

Reitz talked to CNN about his favourite moments within the park, and what made the expertise one thing value returning for, day after day.

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Reitz has a historical past with Disneyland. The park already felt like an outdated buddy by the point he began his streak in 2012. “I grew up in Huntington Seashore, and my household used to come back a number of instances a yr,” he tells CNN.

“It’s a pleasant place to stroll round and chat with folks. The park actually is alive. I’ve obtained to see so many issues change.”

Plus, the associated fee was pretty low, particularly by Disney requirements.

“One criticism I get is folks saying, ‘Oh, that should have value a lot cash.’ I reside about 20 minutes away, and with an annual move that additionally covers parking, a yr of day by day visits prices about $1,400. It’s lots, nevertheless it’s not what folks suppose.”

Even when Reitz returned to work, he made a day by day journey from his job to Disneyland, after which house once more.

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“A part of what made it enjoyable was I attempted to combine issues up and do issues otherwise every time,” he says. “The one constant factor was, I’d put up a check-in on social media, and attempt to put up one picture of the park per day.”

Again in 2012, Instagram wasn’t fairly the cultural big it’s now, and smartphones weren’t practically as good. As a substitute, Reitz captured the primary few years of his go to on a BlackBerry Daring 9700.

Reitz’s favourite vacation spot in Disneyland is the Matterhorn Bobsleds, a pair of metal curler coasters twining via an Alpine panorama made to resemble the famously precipitous peak.

“It’s been my favourite attraction since I used to be little,” he says.

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Nevertheless, the 2019 opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, a posh within the park with a number of completely different rides and sights, launched an in depth second.

Any Disney fan will know that an attraction isn’t simply an attraction – it’s an expertise. One may feasibly sit all day with out driving a single trip and nonetheless benefit from the environment.

“There’s an space by the boat docks throughout from the Matterhorn the place I wish to calm down after I go to,” Reitz says. “Generally, I’ll go into Galaxy’s Edge and take heed to the background sounds and the music. Or I’ll climb the Adventureland Treehouse for a pleasant view.”

As for sustenance, Disney Park meals doesn’t come low-cost or simple. Reitz found out a dependable go-to: pasta from the Pizza Port restaurant within the park’s Tomorrowland part.

Whereas thrill rides and carbs can definitely be nice incentives, they weren’t the rationale Reitz returned to the park day after day.

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“It’s all the time been the solid members that make the magic, not the place itself,” he says. As years handed and he turned a bona fide Disneyland common, he collected tales and secrets and techniques from the Disney Parks workers, who’re known as solid members.

Jeff Reitz takes a selfie with Disneyland cast member Dani Decena in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in 2020. It was Reitz's 2,995th consecutive day visiting Disneyland.

One solid member who was once a park set painter informed Reitz about little easter eggs the artists had enjoyable with, like a bin within the park’s “ghost city” of Frontierland that he would often repaint with completely different inhabitants numbers.

In 2013, when Reitz observed a big tree close to the park exit was lacking, a solid member informed him she may inform one in every of two tales about it.

“She stated the lifelike one was that the tree, which was very outdated, had turn into diseased and needed to be taken down. The texture-good story, she stated, was that there have been some bushes that had been planted when Walt [Disney] first opened the park, they usually had been merely moved to a different location.”

A while later, whereas passing a nook of the Soarin’ attraction at Disney’s California Journey (the neighboring park to Disneyland, which Reitz typically additionally visited), he spied a tree he hadn’t seen earlier than. It appeared suspiciously acquainted.

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“Was it the identical tree? Who is aware of if it’s true. Nevertheless it’s that sort of magic they will spin.”

Instances have modified, and swanning out and in of Disneyland isn’t as simple because it was once. Because of the pandemic, Disneyland now operates on an admission reservation system that successfully limits when friends can come to the park. Whereas it makes frequent visits troublesome, it additionally ensures Reitz’s file gained’t be challenged – at the very least not for some time.

Till then, there are scads of recent sights for Reitz to find, just like the park’s new Avengers campus.

“After being out of the park for 3 years, going again is an opportunity for me to have an eye-opening expertise,” Reitz says. “It’s nearly going to be like beginning over, and that’s thrilling. (Walt) Disney himself as soon as stated, ‘Disneyland won’t ever be accomplished. It’ll proceed to develop so long as there may be creativeness left on the earth.’”

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India’s former prime minister Manmohan Singh dies

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India’s former prime minister Manmohan Singh dies

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India’s former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who liberalised the economy and then led the country through a period of strong economic growth, has died.

Singh, 92, was being treated for age-related medical conditions, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi said, as it announced his death on Thursday.

The Oxford university-educated economist set India on a path to becoming a fast-growing economy as finance minister from 1991 to 1996, when he opened up the country to more foreign trade and private investment.

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Considered a political lightweight by some in India at that time, Singh was a surprise choice by the Congress party to be prime minister after it won parliamentary elections in 2004.

Alongside a growth rate of almost 7 per cent, Singh’s decade as premier was marred by allegations of widespread corruption against his party’s leaders, although his personal integrity was rarely questioned.

Singh was accused of inaction and opposition parties claimed he was subservient to Congress’s chief at that time, Sonia Gandhi.

Shortly before Congress lost elections to Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party in 2014, Singh said in a speech to parliament that “history would be kinder to me than the contemporary media, or for that matter opposition parties”.

Prime Minister Modi on Thursday described Singh as one of India’s most distinguished leaders, saying he left a “strong imprint on our economic policy over the years” and had “made extensive efforts to improve people’s lives” as premier.

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Rahul Gandhi, a senior member of the Congress party, paid tribute to Singh, saying he had lost a “mentor and guide” whose “humility and deep understanding of economics inspired the nation”.

A member of parliament for more than three decades, Singh retired from active politics earlier this year.

The mild-mannered Singh, who belonged to India’s minority Sikh community, was born to a humble family in 1932 in a village in India’s Punjab prior to the country’s independence, which is now part of Pakistan.

Singh rose to become one of India’s most successful economists, serving the government in various capacities, including as head of the country’s central bank in the 1980s.

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Border czar Tom Homan says children of illegal immigrants could be put in halfway homes

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Border czar Tom Homan says children of illegal immigrants could be put in halfway homes

Tom Homan, President-elect Trump’s “border czar,” floated the idea of putting the children of illegal immigrants in halfway homes as part of the incoming administration’s mass deportation plan. 

“As far as U.S. children — children, that’s going to be a difficult situation, because we’re not going to detain your U.S. citizen children, which means, you know, they’re going to be put in a halfway house,” Homan told NewsNation on Thursday, The Hill reported

.CALIFORNIA GOV. NEWSOM’S TEAM CONSIDERING WAYS TO HELP ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AHEAD OF SECOND TRUMP ADMIN: REPORT

Incoming Trump ‘border czar’ Tom Homan speaks with Fox News. (Fox News)

“They can — or they can stay at home and wait for the officers to get the travel arrangements and come back to get the family,” he added.

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As part of his plan to address the border crisis, Trump has said he plans to deport large numbers of illegal immigrants.

One of the administration’s priorities will be to find the hundreds of thousands of migrant children unaccounted for in the United States.  

MIGRANT CRIME WAVE DURING BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN UNDER SCRUTINY AMID SERIES OF ASSAULTS, MURDERS: A TIMELINE

“We’re going to ask the American people to take notice: see something, say something and contact us,” Holman told Kellyanne Conway on “Hannity.” “If one phone call out of a thousand saves a child from sex trafficking or forced labor, then that’s one life saved.”

Homan acknowledged it would be a “daunting task,” but “we’re going to give it everything we’ve got.”

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During his interview with NewsNation, Homan said giving birth to children born in the U.S. won’t spare illegal immigrants from being deported. 

“Having a U.S. citizen child does not make you immune to our laws, and that’s not the message we want to send to the whole world, that you can have a child and you’re immune to the laws of this country,” Homan said. 

Migrants line up outside a migrant re-ticketing center

Migrants line up outside a migrant re-ticketing center at St. Brigid School on E. 7th St. Friday, Jan. 5, 2024, in Manhattan, New York City. (Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) (Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

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In addition to mass deportations, Trump has threatened to go after birthright citizenship, which automatically grants American citizenship to those born in the country. 

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Finland probes Russian shadow fleet oil tanker after cable-cutting incident

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Finland probes Russian shadow fleet oil tanker after cable-cutting incident

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Finnish authorities are investigating an oil tanker that is part of Russia’s shadow fleet over whether it cut an electricity cable between Finland and Estonia.

The Eagle S was stopped by Finnish authorities after the Estlink 2 subsea electricity cable in the Gulf of Finland was disconnected on Wednesday. The tanker, which is registered in the Cook Islands and is carrying oil from Russia to Egypt according to ship tracking data, was seen passing over the cable at the time of the incident.

The aged tanker is part of Russia’s shadow fleet and is the focus of Finland’s investigation, according to people familiar with the probe. The Eagle S is also under investigation over whether it cut three communications cables in the Gulf of Finland, the people added.

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The shadow fleet is a group of old and often poorly maintained ships used by Russia to circumvent international sanctions on its oil exports.

The Christmas Day incident appears to be the latest in a series of pipelines and cables being targeted in the Baltic Sea by foreign vessels, sparking fears of deliberate attacks on critical infrastructure between Nato countries.

“We must be able to prevent the risks posed by ships belonging to the Russian shadow fleet,” said Finland’s President Alexander Stubb in a post on X after a meeting with security chiefs on Thursday.

Last year a Chinese container ship, the Newnew Polar Bear, cut a gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia but was not stopped by authorities as it was in international waters.

A Chinese bulk carrier, the Yi Peng 3, last month passed over two data cables between Finland and Germany and Sweden and Lithuania about the times they were severed. It stopped for a month in international waters between Denmark and Sweden.

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Chinese investigators finally boarded the ship last week, with Swedish, Danish, German and Finnish representatives present as observers. But Sweden’s foreign minister criticised Beijing for not allowing the lead Swedish investigator to board or to inspect the vessel, which has now left the region.

The Eagle S case is different as the ship voluntarily stopped inside Finnish waters, according to people familiar with the investigation, leaving no question as to jurisdiction. Ownership of the Eagle S is murky but it appears to be the only vessel owned by a Dubai company. Attempts to reach the owner on Thursday were unsuccessful. 

Authorities have not determined the cause of the disconnection of the Estlink 2 cable. Estonia has also said it will not affect its electricity supply. The cable is used to export electricity from Finland, which recently brought its latest nuclear power plant online, to Estonia.

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said the country’s electricity supply would not be affected.

Finnish authorities are keeping an open mind on the latest incident, not least because dozens of poorly maintained vessels in the shadow fleet sail in the Baltic Sea.

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Environmental campaigners have issued repeated warnings about the dangers in the region and elsewhere of the dilapidated vessels.

In the Mediterranean, a Russian cargo ship under US sanctions for working with the Russian military sank between Spain and Algeria on Tuesday.

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