A while ago, I shared a photo showing the front of the Peter Pan attraction, with a sign that read, "Admission 35¢", without any mention of a ticket (or coupon). I was speculating about the likelihood that attractions accepted cold hard cash as well as tickets, and Mike Cozart affirmed that they did indeed accept real money, at least for a while. To prove it, he send photos from his collection with signage from the Main Street area. Mike said, these images are from 1973 and were taken for use as documentation by the Disneyland sign shop. Here you see that 10 cents is acceptable for payment on Main Street. Do you think this pay meter was in one of the Horse Drawn Streetcars?
In case you were standing on the curb, looking at a Streetcar and wondering how much it cost to ride that dang thing, this sign was there to help!
As you can see in this previously-posted photo, there was a different sign for many years, painted on a square piece of board affixed to the front. In some old Streetcar postcards, this sign was apparently considered so distasteful that it was retouched out.
And now I see that this sign calls the Horse Drawn Streetcars "Horsecars"! 10¢ or one of those crazy "A" coupons that you always have in your arsenal of remaining tickets. I guess this sign must have been where the Horsecars stopped in the Plaza.
I need this sign (complete with its wrought iron support) in my collection. This one must have been from the Town Square stop - it headed up to the Plaza, exchanging passengers right near the entrance to Tomorrowland. Were these signs hand-painted? Or silkscreened?
Here's a sign from the ticket window of Main Street Station. 70¢ to ride the train, no matter how old you are! Of course the trains were among the attractions that were actually owned by Walt Disney's "Retlaw Enterprises, which assigned the rights to his name and likeness to the company, as well as ownership of the Disneyland Railroad, Mark Twain Steamboat, Viewliner Train of Tomorrow (defunct), and Disneyland Monorail attractions in Disneyland.
Mike found two images from The Magic Kingdom in Florida, showing that even that park seemed to accept cold hard cash in lieu of an "A" coupon. Notice two signs, one for the Horseless Carriage, and another for the Jitney.
This sign looks like it has been retired - it could have served just as well at Disneyland.
A big THANK YOU to Mike Cozart for sharing photos from his personal collection, as well as more of his vast knowledge!
Major-
ReplyDeleteThese are the level of details that often set Disneyland apart from all others (parks, that is). I agree - the "Omnibus to Fantasyland" is a real keeper.
Thanks Mike, for sharing these unique beauties.
I know you said these are from 1973, but could the wording, "Omnibus to Fantasyland" have been a holdover from when the Omnibus used to travel up to the area between Alice In Wonderland and the Motorboat Cruise?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mike and Major!
Major; The pay meter box is from the Fire Engine or the Red Horseless Carriage. The Yellow Horseless Carriage had a yellow pay meter box.
ReplyDeleteI’ve seen no images of a pay meter box on the Horse Drawn Street Cars - apparently the conductors wore coin- change maker belts. Thank
Even though these images are dated 1973 and in use , the signs are most likely older hold overs from the 60’s. I think they were partially hand painted with some masking. In the mid 70’s there was a big signage updating program around the park that lasted into the park’s 25th anniversary and ironically had to be completely revised again to remove all nomenclature mentioning coupon media . The vehicle signs from this update were used into the 1990’s and were silkscreened. I have a Omnibus , Horseless Carriage and a Fire Engine from this period sans and ticket information. WDW’s vehicle signs were always screen-printed . In the late 1990’s in conjunction with National Car Rental’s sponsorship renewal - the Main Street vehicles Stop signs were completely redesigned with very elaborate colors and graphics .....( there’s about 3 variations of these signs) these were also screen printed up until about the last 5 years . Now a digital exterior grade print Is applied to a painted aluminum sign blank. However Disney still does a great deal of hand painting and sign screen-printing still.
Thanks, Mike. Riding a Main St. Vehicle (and forcing the driver to accept 10¢) is definitely on my bucket list.
ReplyDeleteI have to be the wise guy who wonders what a "Horsecar" to Town Square via Adventureland or Tomorrowland (instead of Main St.) would have been like.
Probably one of the few places (like some of Lou's photos) you could feast your eyes on these kind of images. Unless you had a Wayback machine, which evidently is on eternal back-order. Thanks Mike!
ReplyDeleteI don't remember the Omnibus ever going that far up that path, Tokyo.
Andrew, that's the Horsecar of a different color you've heard about. Very rare.
Thanks Major and Mike. Good signage pics are a favorite.
"What do you mean, I can't pay for my ride with this Maxwell House coffee coupon? The sign clearly says 'Ten cents or a coupon.' Well, this is a coupon! OK, OK, if you won't take that one, how about a coupon for Grandma Brown's Baked Beans? What? This is a ripoff! False advertising! Your mouse is gonna hear from my lawyer!"
ReplyDeleteNow I've got the old song "Ten Cents a Dance" stuck in my head.
Big thanks to Mike Cozart for sharing his photos and memories, and to the Maj for making it possible!
Most excellent pics Mike and Major!
ReplyDeleteI clearly remember paying a dime to ride a Main Street vehicle when I was roaming the park without tickets.
Nanook, I would be happy with the “Horsecars to Town Square (etc)” too!
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, that is an interesting thought… I don’t really think of the Plaza as “Fantasyland”, though who knows. Maybe technically that curb in front of the castle IS Fantasyland?
Mike Cozart, OK, duly noted! It was just a guess on my part, obviously. And we have definitely seen those coin change things on the belts of Streetcar CMs. It makes sense that they finally just made a screen so that they could quickly and easily make new signs - maybe they made a bunch at once and stored them for when they were needed. That’s what I would do! Very cool that you have those signs in your collection.
Andrew, try giving them a Canadian dime, and see what happens! Town Square via Adventureland sounds like fun, though a Main Street vehicle would look mighty out of place.
DrGoat, I am lucky that my readers have access to such cool stuff! If you look, you can see photos of the Omnibus going past the “Alice in Wonderland” ride, or circling the Matterhorn. I’m not sure how long they did that. My guess is that it wasn’t much past 1959 or 1960.
Melissa, yes, I would try your strategy, and if they had any objections, I would stand up and make a scene worthy of the Internet! “Ten Cents a Dance”, not one I know.
Grant, the funny thing is that even now we still have a drawer full of old “A” and “B” tickets, we could have used them for the main street vehicles. I’ve never been on ANY of them!!
Awesome signs! Thanks Mike for sharing. I was always so impressed and fascinated with what the sign shop/ paint shop could do- I first saw the place on my first day of orientation when they used to show you absolutely everything- we were all carted around on a vintage Disneyland Tram- very clunky with the seats facing out rather than forward. It was better than the "Glamour Tram" at Universal (also a Bob Gurr production.) Anyway, signs and coins- I never paid a coin for a ride...but one time I didn't have an A ticket, or a dime, and the guy let me ride for free. Must of thought "poor kid doesn't even have a dime..." I recall there always being multiple signs for sale at the yearly (or was it bi-yearly?) surplus sale held back in the bone yard. I should have been a bit more forward thinking. There were all sorts of goodies for sale, and for pennies. This was before online auctions and the John Stamos's of the world wanting the Disneyland sign in his backyard...I digress. The Omnibus going to Fantasyland? Hmmm...would be interesting to see the sign in Fantasyland "Fantasyland to Town Square via Main St." I knew they shipped the busses to EPCOT where they apparently rotted away..what a shame. I love that Osmonds Haunted Mansion special where they are rocking out on the top level...without instruments, but with a magical full orchestra! So corny and wonderful. Not related, but also corny: I just saw a show with Sandy Duncan playing a Disneyland Tour Guide singing and dancing and riding the fire engine all over the park- have to admit it was weird seeing that car tooling through New Orleans Square. She did have a Guide pin on her costume but no "Sandy" name tag. Not wearing a name tag was a very defiant act and was treated as such. "I lost it" did not fly - go pay the dollar and get another one.
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ReplyDeleteMajor-
ReplyDelete"Ten Cents a Dance" is a Rodgers and Hart song, written in 1930 - and first popularized by Ruth Etting. Her recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. And in 2012, it was added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry list of "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important" American sound recordings.
In the 1955 biopic about Etting, Love Me or Leave Me - the song is sung by Doris Day. Michelle Pfeiffer can be heard crooning it in 1989's The Fabulous Baker Boys. And, just to bring it full circle... in the cartoon DuckTales, the story of how Scrooge McDuck met personal pilot Launchpad McQuack involves them dickering over McQuack's rate of pay, with McQuack confusingly suggesting "ten cents a dance" instead of "ten cents a mile."
Yeah... that little 'ol song.
By the 80’s I don’t think any of the Omnibus Bus via Fantasyland signs existed. But in the 1990’s Walt Disney World’s Main Street vehicle stop signs replaced “to Plaza” with “to Cinderella Castle “
ReplyDeleteTokyo Disneyland’s World Bazaar ( Main Street ) vehicles have always gone the route of a “dog bone” from Central Plaza to Westernland and Fantasyland . Today Tokyo Disneyland uses the Omnibus and Fire Engine only as about a decade ago their Horseless Carriage was sent over to American Waterfront and joined the services of The Big City Vehicles. This attraction allows guests to travel about 5 different routes around the c 1910 themed New York , into the New England Harbor and the Jules Verne- esque /Art Deco Port Discovery. guests can ride in touring cars , cabriolets, Jitneys , limousines , excursion buses , auto cabs , and even trucks! Each is styled around 1910 type vehicles but they have a little “ 1910 futuristic character to them so they may enter into Port Discovery. I think this crossover detail shouldn’t have been done and the vehicle just be more 1910 realistic. And Bob Gurr agrees . It gives the vintage autos that “Europeans trying to make vehicles look like American automobiles ..... and it comes off “spaghetti western like effect” its kinda ok .... but nothing in America ever looked like that .
Incidentally the Big City Vehicles of American Waterfront were made in England - the same company who built the trains for Hong Kiong Disneyland.
Interesting post today, thanks Mike & Major (and all)!
ReplyDeleteIn the 2nd to the last picture (which IS a pretty picture, BTW), those clouds really jumped out at me. They don't look real. It looks like they're trying to spell-out something...
I love Andrew's idea of riding the "Horsecar" to Town Square via Adventureland. Not only would that be a fun adventure, but it would give the JC skippers more spiel material to work with. "The backside of horses!!"
Hey, TokyoMagic! Now that I've taken another look at those clouds, doesn't it look like they're trying to spell-out: I L L
ReplyDeleteSue, I definitely see the L and L. Maybe the heavens were trying to spell-out, "Life with Luigi"? ;-)
ReplyDeleteThis post is some of the best of GDB; Disney park minutiae, old songs and cultural references, and fine photography.
ReplyDeleteThanks Major and Junior Gorillas.
JG