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.
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 The park already felt like an outdated buddy by the point he began his streak in 2012.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.
“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.
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.
“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.
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.
“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.’”
