Ticket Booths and More
I have two very nice photos for you on this fabulous Friday edition of GDB!
Let's start with this lovely undated shot of the old ticket booths, shall we? The colors are vivid, and yet they have a vintage feel to them somehow. According the the clock on the Train Station, it's almost noon (I'd wager that the park opened at 10:00). The sky is a cloudless blue, and a light breeze from the west that makes the flags and pennants flutter. Notice that there are no attraction posters on the fence in front of the train station.
(Here is an added closeup in the hopes that somebody can ID what the woman with the blue skirt is holding in her hands).
(Yet another extra.... upon looking at the closeup, I believe the woman is holding a bag with the following pattern on it. The color looks quite different here, but that's old slides for you).
Zooming in on one ticket booth, we can see that admission was $1.00 for adults, and 50 cents for children - no mention of ticket books. Which makes me wonder if this photo is from 1955? The floral Mickey Portrait looks newly-planted, but it was continually renewed as flowers lost their blooms, so that's not a good indicator.
Next we have this nice image of one of the Main Street Surreys clip-clopping around the hub to head back toward the train station. The slide is undated, but as far as I can tell there is no Carnation Plaza Gardens in the distance - the Plaza Gardens opened in August of 1956. Whatever the date, the park looked tranquil and beautiful on this sunny day.
Have a nice weekend, everybody!
14 comments:
Major-
The $1.00/50¢ admission prices were definitely in effect when The Park opened. And with a total lack of any ticket book availability on-view and the booths lacking in louvered windows, it certainly seems as if that first image was taken prior to November, 1955 - when ticket books were first introduced. But you never know.
Thanks, Major, for these wonderful, tranquil early images.
Major - Great shots! Traveling over to Daveland, it looks like the patriotic bunting was only up on Main Street Station in summer 1955.
These are old. About an hours wages to buy your way in Disneyland. Now it takes about a days wages to do the same.
They keep talking about restricting annual pass sales to curb crowd problems. Just go back to the day one format. Charge $30 to get in and $10 for every single ride ticket. Me thinks the crowds will dwindle then.
Nice pictures, thanks for posting.
Did anyone notice that the horses in the last pic are 5/8th scale? =)
(You may think I'm joking, but I have an old article stating that the horses [at least in Frontierland, pulling the stage coaches], would indeed be miniature horses).
So much sartorial and architectural goodness on display, but my favorite thing it the squirmy baby on the far right in #1. He can't wait to get going - kid knows all the good stuff is inside!
I wonder what the woman facing the camera in the first pic is reading. Would a blow up reveal?
I love this Disneyland! Thank goodness for the GDB time machine. Thanks, Major.
Very nice pictures today. The warmth and newness really comes through. I particularly like the unusual angle of the third picture, and the details it reveals. The log fence near the Frontierland entrance, the short trees and bare earth speak of brand new.
@Steve DeGaetano
Could be true. Isn't everything 5/8 scale? According to Bernie Sanders the mouse house has been paying 5/8 wages all along.
Nanook, it seems hard to believe that Disney could make a go of it charging a mere dollar (or less) for admission - though of course guests would have still had to buy those little individual tickets for each attraction. People complained about the expense at the time!!
Progressland, thanks for the confirmation… this was just a random eBay purchase from a while back.
Alonzo, restricting annual pass sales seems to be the only solution to the overcrowding. The other suggested action is, “Make the park so expensive that fewer people can afford to get in”.
Steve DeGaetano, they definitely used small horses for the Main Street vehicles, or at least for the surreys and the old horse-drawn fire wagon. I seem to remember another article mentioning the acquisition of many “Sardinian donkeys” for Frontierland - wish I could find the exact quote.
Melissa, all of those people have walked right out of a 50’s TV sitcom (“Ozzie and Harriet”, “Leave it to Beaver”). Babies always squirm, don’t they?
K. Martinez, I meant to address the thing that the woman is holding… it almost looks like a paper bag, though I sure don’t recognize the design or color. She even looks like she has something at the tips of her right-hand fingers. I’ll attach a jpeg, maybe you can figure it out.
Tom, I only wish I had a complete set of slides from whoever took that first one! No such luck, though.
Alonzo, it does seem like the company treats their employees rather poorly, these days. I’ve spoken to people who were CMs in the 60’s and 70’s, and they always say it was one of the best times of their lives. I doubt too many employees say that today.
People complained about the expense at the time!!
Yeah, I remember my Dad freaking out at the $15 all-inclusive ticket price at the Magic Kingdom in '83. That's, like, $36 in today's money.
I've often wondered if going back to ride tickets would reduce wait times at headliners in a less complicated manner than FP+, but I don't think that genie's going back in the bottle.
Nifty detail: The bag art is modeled on the opening titles of the "Disneyland" television show, which debuted a year or so before the park opened.
Major-
People complained about the expense at the time!! I think folks always seem to complain about prices - it's just in our nature. The Federal hourly minimum wage in 1955 was a mere 75¢ - around $6.50 today-! However, that "mere" $1.00 adult admission price adjusted for today's buying power, would be around $9.35. Sounds like quite the deal to me - in spite of the fact the "median household income" for 1955 was only around $5,000.00 - about $47,000.00 today. It still feels like a far better deal back then...
Major, I think you're right about it being that souvenir bag. Always loved those early "land" icons like Adventureland's adventures-across-the-globe symbol and Tomorroweland's atomic age symbol. There are so many cool iconic graphics from early Disneyland. Thanks for providing the blow-up and extra pic of the bag. Much appreciated.
I remember paying $7.95 for a "Deluxe 15" ticket book which included admission to Disneyland back in the late 1970's. That kept me fairly busy at Disneyland all day. It was a better value back compared to today even when taking inflation into account.
It's a beautiful day in Mickey's neighborhood. Hard to believe it was that long ago. 50s Fashion is always fun, and very tasteful too. Just think, the baby in the first picture is now in his 60s. Thanks to Major for the awesome shots.
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