I went to Disney in Tokyo during COVID, when they let only 5000 people a day in. That was about the level at which I thought it was fun, but it still felt kinda busy (fastpass rides still sold out).
I have a hard time imagining anyone could enjoy it in a normal situation.
Using a fast pass is a must at Disney. Little to no wait at every ride. Additionally staying at a Disney resort let’s you stay an hour after everyone else and then even without the fast pass you cruise thru every line.
I remember doing multiple rides on the same roller coaster without giving up my seat as a teen at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg. At peak times they had 20+ minute lines, but I never considered that as worthwhile.
Disney lines are horrific by comparison. It’s nice they add some theming while you wait, but you will have a far better time just skipping the rides unless you want to run to something at park open or schedule your day around fast pass.
Horror stories about the lines these days, unless you buy the extremely expensive passes that let you skip them, are why I'd hesitate to go even for free. I don't get why people pay for it. 55 minutes in a line for every 5 minutes of fun is a shit deal even if it's free, IMO. Sounds like hell.
Knott's Berry Farm on Thanksgiving used to be one of my family's best kept secrets. People have since caught on but you you used to be able to walk up to a ride and ride it within minutes.
It's been a hot minute (like 20 years), but the Maryland Six Flags used to stay open until 8 or 9 PM in the summer and I could ride the coasters with basically no wait (waterpark was closed, though).
I've been to a number of parks where it seemed like average wait times were closer to 15 minutes rather than 1-3 hours. In fact, other than Disney or Universal Studios that's generally been the norm, and for a while I would go to theme parks multiple times a year.
I got extremely lucky going to Disneyland during a massive off-peak week, right at the beginning of September but just after the Labor Day holiday. Every ride was practically walk up. The only real wait was for the new Star Wars ride which had only recently opened. My wife and I managed to see everything in both parks in a day and a half at a pretty leisurely pace.
One of the points in the article was that there are a lot more rides at Disney now. But my thought was, "yeah, but you can still only ride 5 of them in a day!"
My single thought was "?!", followed by wanting to leave.