Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Entrance, May 1964

It looks like May 1964 would have been a good time to go to Disneyland, judging from the lack of people at the ticket booths. Although Jason's Disneyland Almanac does tell me that May 28th had an attendance of over 28,000 guests, while May 24th only had a recorded attendance of 3,962 (and it was a warm, beautiful day on May 24). What a difference 4 days makes! See what you can learn from Jason's book? Notice the helpful tour guide chatting up the visitors out front.


How much would you have had to shell out for your day at the park? Well, parking was probably somewhere around 25 cents. And adults could get the "Deluxe 15 Ticket Book" for a $4.95 - which seems so cheap, but that would be around $36.00 today, adjusting for inflation. I guess that would seem rather pricey to a dad paying for his family of four!


I think this photo was taken on May 24th. Look at the lonely cast member to the right!


I will be out of town for a few days, so it might take me a while to be able to respond to any comments. But there will be new posts, and I look forward to hearing from you!

12 comments:

  1. So, adjusting for inflation...why isn't admission to DL $36.00 today? Or anywhere near that price?

    I hope you have a great holiday weekend, Major!

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  2. Orange Co Native7:54 AM

    Tokyo Magic,

    I know. it is $80.00 and probably will be $100.00 by 2017. I remember talking with my dad a couple of years ago about the prices of Disneyland back in the 1950's and 1960's. He said back then it was not considered expensive to get into Disneyland and he was not saying that because we were wealthy. We weren't. Just average middle class. Parking was .25 cents and then went to .50 cents where it stayed for many years right up until the late 1980's. I seem to remember I paid .50 cents for parking in 1987.
    If Disneyland is not careful, they may price themselves out of the market where they will see a drop in attendance due to the expense. No everyone who has a family of 4 can lay out a $1000 with admission, parking and hotel costs.

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  3. Yes 4 days can make a huge difference.. Last week the park was fairly low in crowds, today, oh boy, gotta be packed to the gills!

    When Disneyland raised it prices recently, I read a comment from Disney that more or less said "we are raising the price because we can"... Its as if they know people will still flock to the original Magic Kingdom regardless of the price... It Magical but not worth 80 bucks!

    Great pics by the way!

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  4. Anonymous9:30 AM

    Major, have a good time, and thank you again for your blog.

    Re: Disney pricing. I noticed in the financial news last week(?) that Disney posted a huge increase in income from the theme park division and acknowledged that ALL of it came from fee and price increases (for food, souvenirs, etc), not from increased attendance.

    So there you go. Disneyland is a drug and Disney is the pusher. We're addicted and will pay whatever they ask to get it. It's true of me, that's for sure. I don't mind for four days every three years...

    Best to all.

    JG

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  5. Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays Major!

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  6. Major, have a great turkey day! Thanks for all the wonderful posts and for making me LAUGH!

    This is a great post and makes me wish I could jump into the photos, LOL.

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  7. SundayNight11:32 AM

    Wonderful photo of the ticket booths today. Notice how the photographer centered the Disneyland sign between the booths. The tour guide adds a real plus to the shot. Notice the large photo bag the gentlemen is carrying. He’s the kind of guy who shot beautiful Kodacrome slides - the very kind we enjoy today on this site. Thanks mister!

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  8. Yes, Major and to all of his readers....have a Happy Thanksgiving.

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  9. That cast member in the second shot looks so peaceful. I honestly wouldn't mind being in his spot him right now, I don't think he's lonely just enjoying a beautiful day in the Park.
    Just want to wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving! I am thankful for all of you lovely bloggers and followers who let me live vicariously through your posts and comments :)

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  10. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and hope you all have a wonderful holiday! Special thanks to David on this day of thanks for keeping us happy all the year thru.

    sad about those ticket prices. even tho it is just Rachel and I who visit the parks, for the past 4 years we have only been able to go twice instead of each year as we had been since 1994. we were very lucky that in several of those years we went twice! i realize it must cost a small fortune to run these places, esp WDW with so many cast members, but it really seems to be getting out of hand :(

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  11. Douglas McEwan4:05 PM

    May 24, 1964? Well then, I was there six days later, because I know I paid a visit to the park on May 30, 1964.

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  12. TM!, it IS a bit odd that we have to pay nearly 3 times that $36. But Disney has made no secret of the fact that they charge more basically because they can. Have a great Thanksgiving!

    OC Native, a few years ago my mom decided to take her 4 grown kids and their families to Disneyland for 2 days. It cost thousands and thousands of dollars!!

    VDT, maybe someday they'll make it so expensive that you annual passholders will have the park all to yourselves!

    JG, Disneyland may be a drug, but it is one I could kick. I wouldn't even mind price increases if it meant an increase in quality as well, but it DOESN'T.

    SundayNight, every time I see a big camera case in an old photo, I wonder where his photos wound up.

    Viewliner, Connie, Thufer, Hannahx2, and Nancy, THANKS!

    HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone!

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