America Sings Complimentary Admission Ticket - September 1974

America Sings is seriously one of my favorite vintage Disneyland attractions. I've seen it in person at least 50 times, one day in the early 80's I had an "all you ride" passport ticket and saw this attraction about 10 times that day. (ok, yes it was 100+ outside so I was motivated, but also captivated).  

Here's a neat Complimentary Admission Ticket to America Sings, good September 2 through September 15, 1974.  The attraction had only been open a few months at this point so I'm guessing this was a promotional item of some kind. 

Beautiful Globe Safety paper on this one, you can can feel that pattern with your fingers.

Interestingly, my America Sings tragedy post from 2010, reposted below and linked here:  (Remembering Deborah - July 8, 1974), has over the years consistently been one of my most visited.  I traced it back to Wikipedia where my blog is referenced and linked (Wiki page on America Sings). Ironically, I tried for years to get Wikipedia to update its low res E-ticket with no success and its still there! (Wiki E-Ticket) 

These are today's view counts from my blog. Even though its pretty dormant I guess folks still look.

------------- Repost from July 8, 2010 ---------------

Remembering Deborah - July 8, 1974

It was 36 year ago today that Deborah Gail Stone lost her life while working on America Sings. This seems like such a senseless death, didn't anyone anticipate this could happen? Thanks Jim for sending us this article and making sure we remember Deborah. Please note this article incorrectly states the date Deborah died as July 9, 1974, it occurred on July 8th, 1974.

"Happy Birthday from Disneyland" Ticket - 1995

Is 1995 Vintage? Depends who you ask I suppose. Well, 30 years ago passes the Vintage test for me so here we go.

It appears this "Happy Birthday from Disneyland" ticket from 1995 did not have to be used on your actual birthday.  This ticket was used on March 19, 1995. $34.95 seems a bit high, regular prices were around $31 in 1994 (Tokyo Magic Rocks!)

Those first two paragraphs are standard ticket stuff, but the middle section mentions restaurant seating and to present the ticket to the server before ordering.  Maybe this "Birthday Party" ticket includes a free meal or cake or maybe just a free Coke?  That would justify the slightly higher price. 

May 1961 5 Adventures Ticket Book - Autographed

About a dozen years ago I had the honor of spending time at a cocktail party with Bob Gurr (the man knows how to mix a cocktail, trust me, ever heard of a Gurrtini?).

He was so kind and amused me by answering some fanboy questions and signing this October 1961 special "in park only" ticket with his Monorail across the front.  This man is a living ledged and does amazing podcasts!!! (https://www.youtube.com/@FandomProductionsStudios/videos).

Walt's stylized signature goes nicely with Bob's 

These ticket books could only be purchased inside the park and of course did not include admission to the park itself.  Most of these books are empty now as someone who bough these had immediate plans for more attractions, this book has just the one ticket left. 

What a stellar attraction lineup. Tinkerbell and those stars give me happy place feelings...

Helicopter Ride to Disneyland

Here's a nice unused ticket for Disneyland's Helicopter service, LAX to Disneyland via Los Angeles Airways. While not dated I would place this near 1960 based on the bargain price of $7.

             

I'm liking that purple ink, looks the same ink as Walt's stylized signature on the welcome page of the ticket books (link). 

Odd this ticket was never used. Based on the Disneyland Helicopters "checkered" history maybe it's best some tickets were left unused. 

Some might say the back is plain and boring, I see the "Backside of Globe Safety paper" and I get happy. 

Check out my previous post of a used 1960 Disneyland Helicopter Ticket below:

(https://vintagedisneylandtickets.blogspot.com/2008/01/helicopter-to-disneyland-ticket.html)

1974 Ticket Books and Park Guide

Following up on the last post, our visiting family to Disneyland on July 1st 1974 used all but one "A" ticket which was left in each book. They each managed to get 12 ticketed attractions done in one day, it was a Monday but peak season.

I hear there's a new Walt Disney Story in the Opera House, I very much want to see it in person.

The Globe safety paper looks, feels and smells just like 1974.

What an amazing set of attractions. I wonder if they got to see America Sings, it had opened on June 29th, 1974, just two days before their visit. 

Our family were members of the Magic Kingdom Club, getting extra tickets for extra value. If this was the off season the book would be full of "Magic Key" tickets, good for ANY attraction, basically all E tickets!.

Here's the in-park guide for the Summer of 1974. I love these little gems. America Sings was my happy place...

New download link -------> Disneyland Guide Summer 1974 - 10MB (Link)

 

1974 Airline & Motel Trip to Disneyland

Let's fly to Disneyland on July 1st 1974.  Flying from Oakland (OAK) to Santa Ana (SNA) on Air California which had a seriously cool logo, so cool they had it emblazed on the tail section of their planes (Link).  Do airline tickets even come in these cool jackets anymore? 

Classic luggage claim tags, I do miss those.  None of these number work as Air California was bought by American Airlines in 1987.

The Camaro is tempting, but being 1974 I'll take the Monte Carlo.  Looks like our family was interested in Rite Way rental, Google AI has never heard of them but gives a reasonable explanation: "There is no information available about a company specifically named "Rite Way Car Rental" in 1974. It is possible that "Rite Way Car Rental" was a smaller, regional car rental company not mentioned in broader historical summaries of the industry in 1974."  - Erased from existence... 

I loved the red carbon paper the old airlines tickets used, dare I call it "iconic"

The Fantasy Motor Inn appears to be gone, the Castle Inn & Suites stands there now.  Here's how it used to look (Postcard link from MiceChat) $20.75 is equivalent to about $125 today so that seems about right. The motels cash register thinks its 1973.   What's the note about the Fun bus mean?

$54.72 to fly 3 people, round-trip Oakland to Santa Ana.  Interesting breakdown of the taxes, then each ticket with the tax added then totaled. Old school cross-checking!

Best Of Bonus Sunday - New upload

**The downloadable links have gone stale in my old posts, I am updating them one by one and the ones below are now available for download and housed on Google Drive.**

Originally posted September 19, 2010:

Welcome back to Bonus Sunday. Things have been rather busy here as summer winds down, but expect 

From the summer of 1967, this issue (Vol. 2 No.2) of Disney News is seriously "Disneyland" heavy with over half of the issue devoted to Disneyland. You may recognize the cover (which is pretty darn incredible huh?) its the same exact cover used on the summer 1967 issue of Vacationland (New Link) but ironically, this issue of Disney News is even better than the Vacationland.







Below are the pages that are about Disneyland, you can also get the entire issue here:


Disney News Summer 1967 - 81mb    <---New link










The Tomorrowland Terrance must have had its name finalized at the very last moment before the New Tomorrowland opened. Once again it's referred to as "Refreshment Gardens". Climate Controlled yet devoid of walls, it could only happen at Disneyland.

New Orleans Restaurants Lunch Authorization Slip & 1967 Ticket Book

Here's a rare vintage slip. Printed on Disneyland's "Star and Castle" safety paper, that dates this from mid 1966 to possibly early 1968. 

This looks like it might be one of those comp type tickets for PR purposes or for employees maybe? I bet the restaurants in early New Orleans Square were awesome. 

Interesting that its not New Orleans "Square"? did they run out of room or maybe this was early and "square" wasn't common yet? 

Here's a nice gently used ticket book from October 1967 featuring a Star and Castle paper ticket.  What a magical time to to be at the park, hence there is only one ticket left, but its still beautiful.

I'm all over the Swiss Family Tree House.  Now if only Tarzan would move out, oh wait...  Yes I pulled this ticket from the book where its been bound since 1967, it feels remarkably satisfying. 

In case you didn't know, this is a "coupon" and its good at any time during Disneyland's regular operating hours when ticket books are on sale.  Translation = It wasn't valid during special events.   

What a great line up of attractions, Tomorrowland '67 is calling me... 

This is a "Junior" admission ticket book, a price point that faded away many decades ago. $4 in 1967 adjusted for inflation is $38.50 in 2025. Hmmmm.

 

This never gets old...

In case you missed my post from 6,259 days ago, here's a whole lot a Star and Castle tickets (200th Post - Castle and Star Paper Madness)

Come back Sunday for: The Best of Bonus Sunday.