- Although Disneyland called them coupons, guests called
them tickets. Why?
Because the coupons were sold in ticket books.
- The type of ticket required for an attraction could change over the years.
For example,
America Sings and the Mine Train were both
bumped from E down to D before being closed.
- Guests typically came home with unused tickets, especially A and B
coupons. They could be used during future visits.
- In Southern California slang, the expression “E ticket” came to
mean any activity or event that was especially worthwhile or exciting.
- Astronaut Sally Ride, describing her first Space Shuttle voyage, said, “This is
definitely an E ticket!”
- The beginning of the end for A-through-E tickets was the 1971 opening of
Magic Mountain (now Six Flags Magic Mountain), northwest of Los Angeles.
Magic Mountain sold all-inclusive admission tickets for $5.00.
- Tickets were phased out in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. First, Magic
Kingdom Club members could buy unlimited passports. Then the option was
extended to other guests.
- Tickets were eliminated in June 1982, when
all-inclusive passports became the only form of Disneyland admission.
- After ride tickets were eliminated, guests could apply unused tickets towards
the cost of passports.
- Disneyland still allows guests to apply old, unused A through E tickets and old, unused
gate admission tickets toward current passports. But it’s hardly
worth the trouble to save a dollar or two.
- Collectors pay good money for completely unused ticket books, but they don’t pay much
for partially used books because these are fairly common.
- The best thing to do with old tickets is to hold onto them as keepsakes of the past.
© 2007 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks
Updated September 22, 2006.
Scanned Disneyland coupon images courtesy of Dennis Caswell.
The coupons are Copyright Disney, and are included here for historical illustration.
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