Back in early March, I was recuperating from knee replacement surgery. For several weeks, my day consisted of rest, physical therapy and more rest, with a healthy dose of ice on my repaired joint thrown in for good measure.

To pass the time, I spent many, many hours glued to our TV; specifically, watching the varied offerings on YouTube. My days were filled with everything from music videos to live airport cams to AllEars.Net presentations to riding aboard a double-decker bus around London. Hey, I got bored …

But mostly, I watched live video streams from folks walking around Disney parks.

I found the experience addicting. Even though my movements in the house were limited and I was reliant on a cane to get around, I could be “in” Walt Disney World or Disneyland without actually being there.

Imagine that: No hour-long car ride to the airport; no hours-long flights to Florida or California; no cab or ride-share to my Disney resort; no ticket costs; no weather concerns, and no standing on a long queue to get on an attraction.

The folks who walk around the parks with their smartphones and a Gimbal attachment [which enhances the quality of the video] do the work for you. Of course, they are hoping to get as many “likes” as possible. And subscriptions are always welcome.

Depending on the time of day, your YouTube “guide” might take you to a store along Main Street to browse the merchandise, or they may set up shop in Frontierland to watch the afternoon parade, giving you an up close and personal view of the colorful characters and floats.

Simple things, such as showing us the Main Street piano player banging out a few classic tunes or the Dapper Dans singing and clanging their way into our hearts can be quite enjoyable from your comfy couch.

The YouTubers may take a boat ride on the Seven Seas Lagoon or around the EPCOT resorts. Riding the WEDway PeopleMover is a favorite experience.

So, too, is the vantage point from above the treetops on the Disney Skyliner or the monorail. Some folks have even shown us the lay of the land as they sit onboard one of the Disney buses as they head back to their resort.

Tagging along with these YouTubers as they walk around any one of the six Disney parks in the United States is a hoot. From my vantage point, I was able to see details that I usually miss while walking around myself.

Plus, if I want to go back to see something I might have missed, I can simply hit rewind; try doing that in person!

For the most part, high-speed rides – Rock ‘n Roller Coaster, Space Mountain, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind or TRON Lightcycle/Run – are tough to stream.

But less extreme attractions, such as “it’s a small world,” Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Spaceship Earth or the Gran Fiesta Tour in Mexico, are a lot easier to stream.

One dark and dreary day in mid-March, the YouTube camera operator sat down at a table in Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland in WDW’s Magic Kingdom and treated us to a performance by the incomparable Sonny Eclipse, written by my friend, the equally incomparable Kevin Rafferty. Needless to say, seeing Sonny’s show brightened my day.

In addition, when a new attraction or refurbished area debuts, the YouTubers are almost always on hand to give us a sneak peek.

There are other Disney-related videos on YouTube that, while not live, I found to be quite intriguing. For instance, Disney Files, the official magazine of the Disney Vacation Club, offers a series of videos under the Disney Files On Demand banner.

You can get close-up tours of just about every on-property Disney resort, as well as trip reports aboard the Disney Cruise Line.

And with a little work on your remote control and the search button, you can find videos of Walt Disney World and Disneyland that were recorded decades ago.

You can experience Main Street way back when Disneyland opened in 1955 and Walt Disney World debuted in 1971. The film may be black and white and often grainy, but viewing them is worth enduring those minors flaws.

Or you can see vintage videos featuring Disney Legend Bob Gurr in his youth, crafting “anything that moves on wheels,” as well as the monorail, Audio-Animatronics figures or the slinking parking lot trams … then fast-forward to today, where the affable now 92-year-old Gurr hosts his own interview show, aptly called “The Bob Gurr Show.”

I love taking trips on attractions that don’t exist anymore. For instance, I went “on” The Great Movie Ride the other day and it dredged up a ton of happy memories. Same thing happened on the Horizons, If You Had Wings and World of Motion attractions.

They may be gone, but thanks the YouTube, they are not forgotten.

Thanks to all these classic videos, it’s amazing to see how much things have changed in both in Disneyland and Walt Disney World … and how so many things have remained the same.

While YouTube can show us what’s going on right now, it can offer a window into Disney’s storied past.

It was almost worth having knee surgery.

Chuck Schmidt is an award-winning journalist and retired Disney cast member who has covered all things Disney since 1984 in both print and on-line. He has authored or co-authored seven books on Disney, including his On the Disney Beat and Disney’s Dream Weavers for Theme Park Press. He has written a regular blog for AllEars.Net, called Still Goofy About Disney, 2015.