Special Event Mini-Posters
After a bit of much-needed organizing, I realized that I had a dozen or so mini-posters advertising various special events. None of today's examples mention the Magic Kingdom Club, although the first poster mentions Magic Key ticket books, so there (makes a raspberry noise). I'll share the posters in two installments because that's just my wacky way.
First up, it's Marine Corps Day, October 18 1964. Hooah! Guests would have VIP Travel Passports, in which one could ride whatever one wanted, as many times as one wanted. So... why the need for Magic Key ticket books? Unless people wanted to stock up for future visits, which is not a bad idea. Notice that the Tiki Room is an additional charge. $5.00 for adults - adjusted for inflation that is around $50, which seems nuts (even though I love the Tiki Room). Would you pay that much? Maybe some of those free prizes will help ease the pain, especially that Royal Weekend at the Disneyland Hotel.
Chip and Dale, don't you have anything better to do? Donald Duck is probably working in his garden or building something that you can mess up for him. This poster is for an event for Garrett Airesearch Manufacturing Division. The general public is not admitted to Disneyland on the evening of this event! It looks like the Tiki Room is included with the price of admission this time. And dancing? I can finally bust out all of my new moves! You have to see them to believe them.
Next is this poster for the May 5, 1967 Southern California Gas Company Family Night (fools, they could have said "Family Nite" and passed the savings on to us). Sorcerer Mickey promises that everything will be free (except for shooting galleries, and food and drink). This event only runs from 8:00 PM to 1:00 AM, but I'll bet an enterprising person could easily do all of their favorite rides.
March 1, 1968 was Public Employees Night for San Bernardino County workers. Regular people, get outta here! I like the mention of some new-ish features, such as New Orleans Square and Pirates of the Caribbean, and the "All New Tomorrowland". No Haunted Mansion yet, sadly.
And finally, it's November 21, 1969 - Telephone Family Fun Night, for the Mission Chapter Pioneers (no idea). The logo at the top says "Telephone Pioneers of America", and I have been to America several times. Six days before Thanksgiving, those nutty Pioneers could have fun fun fun, even on the Breathtaking Haunted Mansion, which had only been open for about three months! Let's just ride that 15 times in a row.
I hope you have enjoyed these mini-posters. Stay tuned for PART TWO!
10 comments:
Major-
Private parties could often be the best time to visit Disneyland. I attended several, beginning in the late 1970's thru the 1980's - and as mentioned before, I attended one such party where only about 5,000 attendees showed-up-!! It was heaven.
It certainly was interesting to learn the Marine Corps Headquarters was located in Plaza Gardens, of all places-!
Thanks, Major.
I don't like to be picky (all right, I DO like to be picky), but "Hooah!" is what Army guys say. "Oorah!" is what Marines say. I don't know how or why I know this factoid; something truly important, like my Social Security number, probably got kicked out of my brain to make room for "Oorah!".
I like the Enchanted Tiki Room, but 50 bucks?!?! To see fake birds and flowers "warble like nightingales"? I DON'T THINK SO! I'm glad they did away with the extra charge for the Tiki Room, or I probably never would have experienced it. I kinda think that attendance for the Tiki Room was considerably less than what they were hoping for, at $5.00 a pop. It probably didn't take Disney long to figure that out and eliminate the surcharge.
That must be Dale on the left, with Chip on the right. IIRC, Dale is the one with the bulbous (red) nose?
Wow, the Mickey posters look a lot nicer than the earlier Chip & Dale posters. The Sorcerer Mickey poster looks great! I don't like to body shame, but the Golden Horseshoe can-can girls look a little chubby here. I like the totally disinterested giraffe.
Thanks for the not-so-mini post of the mini posters, Major. Oh, BTW, what is the size of these posters? (Just curious.)
I knew about the extra charge for the Tiki Room when it opened, but I had no idea that it was $5.00! That seems awfully steep for the time.
JB, those chubby can-can dancers might be the ones from It's A Small World, rather than the Golden Horseshoe.
I love the artwork on all of these. I have a few mini posters from the 1970s and 1980s, from the California Teacher's Association (my mom was a teacher). We went to the park a lot, but for some reason, we never went during one of those CTA events.
Thanks for sharing these, Major!
5 bucks for the TIKI ROOM. ???? Gosh that’s almost a million dollars !!! I think TOKYO MAGIC is correct ; those are It’s A Small World can-can dancers. I love these private party - special event mini posters . I have about 35-40 different ones … mostly from the 1967 period Thru the 1980’s. I do have a spectacular one announcing the opening Matterhorn -monorail - sub voyage . Most however have similar illustration and clip art and letra-set lettering like the Mickey & sorcerer posters . But then there are some really nice ones almost like attraction poster for 1967 new Tomorrowland , haunted mansion , Bear country , America Sings and Space Mountain.
I think my 2nd or 3rd trip to Disneyland was a GENERAL DYNAMICS employee party night . I remember leaving San Diego and sleeping with a pillow and blankets in the back seat of our Chevy Malibu and getting to Disneyland at dusk. This was about 1971 or 1972 … I was about 5 . I remember getting a clear plastic box with about 5 rubber Disney characters … I think they were called “Disney-Ettes” … they are long gone now but I remember them like yesterday . There was an orange Goofy , a pink Mickey , a Yellow Dumbo , a Green Donald and a blue pluto. During Walt Disney World’s 50th there was a historical merchandise display for Florida’s Magic Kingdom and they had displayed one of these rubber figure sets in different. Olirscthsn I had and marked for WDW. But seeing them brought back a flood of memories of that very early GD employee Disneyland party nite!!
Can’t wait to see the rest of your mini posters !!
“ Olirscthsn” = colors
Mike, I have four of those "Disney-Ettes"......Mickey, Pluto, Donald & Dumbo. I remember seeing sets of them in those clear boxes in the Character Shop at DL, but I received mine separately, from two different elementary school friends. I always thought that the rubber figures were "erasers," but I don't think I ever tried using them as that. I just did a search for that name on ebay, and the only ones that come up are listed as erasers. But they are just unpainted "heads" of the characters, with a hole in the bottom for sticking them on a pencil. Mine have some painted features, are the full figures of the characters, and do not have the hole. Thanks for the info on their name. I didn't remember what they were called!
I wonder if the steep admission to the Tiki Room was for some kind of benefit, like a $100 a plate (or $1,000, or $10,000 etc,) dinner affair. The Marines were involved with Toys For Tots, and it isn't Christmas without hearing Peggy Lee's TFT song with Alvin and the Chipmunks.
My introduction to Disneyland was at a nighttime private event for swimming pool salesmen -- seriously-- in January 1970. I can recall that evening, and the day leading up to it, in vivid detail these 55 years later. Factor in the visit to Knott's the next day, with both parks at their absolute zenith, and see the result for an impressionable mind.
Thanks Major, these are the Happiest Ads on Earth.
I had some little figurines....many many different characters...they were sold to me as "Disney-kins". They were more plastic-y than rubbery, so perhaps they were different things. I bought them as an adult from an antique show.. with a bunch of other stuff...that being said: Private Parties and Mini Posters! Gotta love em. If I ever got my hands on one of these, it would have been put in the secret box never to be touched by human hands. My friends dad worked at Garrett....and I KIND of remember going to the private party....but not sure....maybe I just remember the flyer (?)....all of the graphics look fairly modern really. I like the Marine one the best as it looks most "vintage". These are a great peek into how things were really like...like a $5.00 Tiki Room. Which, kind of astounds me, but back then I suppose it was quite astounding, and since Walt footed the bill...he wanted his investment back. I'd like to see the actual Tiki Room ticket....with the $5 mark on it....it still is a little hard to swallow. 3.95 for 10 attractions and 5.00 for one (?) Sounds kind of like today's "schemes". Since people have to live on their phones these days and pre-plan everything: just go back to a general admission and buy all your rides. I think in the end, they would make more money: with E ticket rides being $35.00 or something like that. At the end of the day, how many rides can you ACTUALLY get into? And why must going on a busy day make you actually pay more for a ride? Here's my math: Busy day: maybe 10 rides....$200.00: $20.00 per ride (stand-by only). Light day: maybe 18 rides....$160.00: about $9.00 a ride. Sooo.....busy days, you get to pay more, and do less...just want to be logical here....Happy Monday! Thanks Major!
Major, For Marine Corp Day I'm pretty sure that the $5 charge is for admission to the park *plus* 15 attractions *plus* admission to the Tiki Room. That's 16 attractions for 5 cents more than the $4.95 they charged for the Jumbo 15 ticket book & admission. I guess that's a deal since one could go on all the top attractions.
I went to one special admission evening at Disneyland in the late 70's and it was very uncrowded. We were with the teachers association but it seemed that there were other groups there. It was a lot of fun!
We also actually visited Disneyland a second day (imagine that!) by just paying the minimal admission charge and using whatever attraction tickets we had left over. It was actually very nice to just enjoy the park itself and not feel rushed to see everything.
Major, I’m more than willing to acknowledge you as the foremost expert on Disney ephemera, but I think Omnispace has it right about the Marines flyer.
The $5.00 charge is for the “full boat” INCLUDING the Tiki Room, not $5.00 additional for that attraction alone. The flyer is poorly worded IMHO.
I remember the separate admission for the Tiki Room at the beginning because it was separately owned directly by Walt (and maybe some other partners) but this flyer is showing it as part of an all-inclusive admission as it is today. Just my 0.02.
These are fun little scraps, it’s interesting to see the prices evolving over time, not like the giant leaps we see today, and the graphics are fun too. Thank you.
JG
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