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| Disneyland
Ticket Booth |
| "The
Disneyland Ticket Plan is a personalized package designed for the maximum enjoyment
of both the individual and the whole family, and we sincerely believe it is the greatest entertainment value ever offered. Be sure to tell your friends and neighbors about this wonderful opportunity..." From a 1955 Disneyland handbill explaining Ticket Plan Books. (see below) |
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Ticket books were in use from 1955 to 1982. They were sold from "Ticket Booths", yet the "Tickets" and "Ticket Books" (or "Ticket Plan Books") were interchangeably referred to as "Coupons" and "Coupon Books." Ticket book photo courtesty of Find Disney |
| The one that started it all... Opening Day Tickets were so easily counterfeited that "ticket"-bearing guests were well in excess of expectations -- or crowd control capacity -- adding to the already chaotic events of that legendary "Black Sunday" afternoon in 1955! |
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Three months after the Park's opening, ticket distribution was more systematic with the Ticket Plan books that remained in use, essentially unchanged, for 27 years. The "Fabulous Eight" eventually evolved into the "Big Ten" and "Deluxe Fifteen" ticket books. The layout of this handbill moves that pesky, limiting "Your choice of any..." text out of your way so that when you start reading the list of rides from which to choose, you keep hitting that big conductive "AND" which makes you end up reading down the entire list of rides. By the time you've read that entire list, you've gotten the impression that it's a darned good value for $2.50! (...and have you forgotten all about that "choice of 8" limit?) Regular
Admission for an Adult: $1.00. One Dollar. |
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(Gosh,
this whole complicated business about how the Ticket Plan books work just leaves
me all bewildered.
The
fine print says: |
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| In
this early 1958 Disneyland Ticket Book, you will notice the wavy-lined paper of
the Globe Ticket Company. Here, we see the top A, B and D coupons of the book;
the C coupons have all been removed, revealing the inner portion of the D coupon
beneath. Note that
in
the early years, the lowest-priced A coupons were shortest; later the highest-value
E coupons become the shortest. Here, the omnipresent Omnibus stops in Tomorrowland
and Fantasyland. In height, these tickets were the same size as U.S. currency.
(And what's up with showing The Omnibus as a Tomorrowland attraction?) |
 Photo Courtesy of Phil-Sears.com |
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This
somewhat later C Coupon indicated that it was for an adult, but did not indicate
what the cash value of the coupon was. (Compare to early ticket book in above
photo.) Of the ten attractions shown on this C coupon, 6 have been updated
(the Mad Tea Party was even relocated). The remaining 4 were either replaced by other venues (Adventure thru Inner Space made room for Star Wars; Fantasyland Autopia was absorbed into the recent renovation of the Tomorrowland Autopia; Mission To Mars yielded its footprint to Redd Rocket's Pizza Port (Why not Toy Story's Pizza Planet?); The Keel Boats were closed due to low ride capacity; one's wrecked on Tom Sawyer's Island, one was sold on eBay. Oust Eisner! |
| Main Entrance Ticket
Booth - February 1972 |
Main
Entrance Ticket Booth - February 1974 |
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| Early
Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad tickets were segmented to allow you to board
once at each station to tour the entire park. Clever Guests would use each segment
to ride the complete trip around the Park. Note that there are Railroad Stations
on Main Street, in Frontierland and in Fantasyland, but not in Tomorrowland.
Note also that the Omnibus is now found only on Main Street. Photo Courtesy of Phil-Sears.com |
| Disneyland Railroad -
February 1976
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| This
special V.I.P. Ticket allowed passage on the Presidential Caboose Salon Car, named
for Walt's wife, Lillian, The Lilly Belle. The ticket was good for Railroad
passage only, and was not good for Park Admission. Note that at this point in
time, there were Railroad Stations on Main Street, in Frontierland and in Tomorrowland
(no longer Fantasyland). Note also that by now there was a Primeval World portion
of the Diorama. Photo Courtesy of Phil-Sears.com |
This
site has gone woefully neglected since March 17, 2008 