Old Tickets!
Digging through one of my boxes of old Disneyland junk, I found a few vintage tickets that you might enjoy looking at.
Like this first one! It's unusual, a strip of four perforated tickets sold as a unit. At the top you have an admission ticket - kids could get in for a mere 75 cents! The 2nd ticket got you into "Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln", while the 3rd ticket admitted you to "Adventure Thru Inner Space". My favorite! I personally don't think that low serial numbers have much significance, but some collectors do - and this one is #000010!
This "Special Child Guest" ticket seems to have included admission to the park AND to all the rides - much like the single day passes that guests can purchase today. The "To" and "From" aren't filled out, but I wonder if (for instance) a grandparent could buy one of these for their grandchild and give it as a gift? Perhaps the date was stamped on to the ticket when the recipient used it at the gate. By the way, $4 in 1957 is the equivalent of about $33 in today's currency.
I wish I knew what year this "Special Complimentary Main Gate Admission" was from. The 1950's? Even admission to the park (no ride tickets) would have been a great treat for me; I still remember my mom spontaneously driving us to the park one afternoon. She just bought admission tickets, and then we paid for a few individual rides (like the Disneyland Railroad at dusk). It was so great just being there, with the music and the train bells and the balloon vendors. It's one of my best childhood memories because it was so unexpected!
11 comments:
Major-
My best guess for the date of the Complimentary Main Gate Admission Ticket is around 1970.
Great tickets, Major. Thanks.
The comp ticket looks very similar to those given to us employees during the Christmas season (early to mid '70s) to entice our friends and relatives to visit, shop, and generally spend their holiday money at the park. I think they dreamt this plan up after realizing casuals couldn't sign people in. I don't recall if there was a limit to how many comp tickets each employee could get. Of course, this was back when the park sold all kinds of fantastic stuff not just the same cheap plush toys in every shop, so Disneyland actually was a great place to shop for Christmas presents!
Being surprised with a spontaneous trip to the Park - what a great memory!
We managed to surprise our kids with a trip to WDW's Magic Kingdom when they were 4 and 6. The Monorail beamway almost blew it (from the 4-year-old - "Daddy - that looks like a monorail track") until I hastily redirected them to the trees on the opposite side of the road ("Can you see any deer?"). Complete shock when we told them where we were in the parking lot.
I thought there was no way we could top that, but two years later we managed to surprise them with a Disneyland trip, too. A trash can just before we turned the corner into the plaza between the parks was the clue, and the then-8-year-old still wouldn't believe we were there until he saw the train station.
The first ticket is cool. To think there was a time when you could purchase a lower priced admission ticket (rides not included) just to hang out and enjoy the atmosphere of Disneyland and take advantage of the free entertainment available at the Park.
"It was so great just being there, with the music and the train bells and the balloon vendors. It's one of my best childhood memories because it was so unexpected!"
Beautiful. Thanks for sharing Major.
Thanks Nanook, given the price of admission, that sounds more likely.
Anon, it's amazing that there was a time when Disney needed to entice people visit the park, considering how crazy-crowded it seems to be all the time.
Chuck, I would think that a surprise trip to WDW would be WAY harder to do. Don't you pass under a ginormous entry sign? Or maybe that was added more recently. Plus the property is just so darn huge. Still, I'll bet your kids remember it vividly all these years later!
K. Martinez, I was so happy to get that first ticket… a few had popped up on ebay, and I was always outbid. I finally got this one (pretty reasonably, too), and I haven't seen one since.
Snow White Archive, I can still remember that day so well. Esepecially when we left the park; it was just after sunset, and I was disappointed to be leaving, but knew that I had never dreamed that I would be there AT ALL that day.
I brought them in the back way, from the NE corner of the property, past Fort Wilderness, so there weren't any splashy signs from the main entrances. It didn't hurt that I had the DVD player on in the back of the minivan to distract them (they were watching Disneyland's Tencennial) or that neither could read. They did notice the big archway going into the parking lot, and the little one said "Daddy - it looks like the Disneyland castle!" but neither made the connection that they might actually be in a Disney park.
Even if they don't remember it, I will...and that makes it worthwhile.
cool tickets and great stories :-)
The simple things can be the best!
Chuck, I had no idea there was more than one way into WDW. Live and learn! Did your kids even know that there was another Disney park besides the one in California?
Nancy, you speak the truth!
What wonderful stories here. Thank you everyone.
JG
Obviously I LOVE THESE!! I've got a coupe of those "Special Complimentary Main Gate Admission" tickets that has "Courtesy of Upjohn Pharmacy" on the back - for some reason those fetch huge $$$ on eBay!
FYI - The one you have is still good for admission to the park, I know because I've had friends use them!
Post a Comment