Santa Fe & Disneyland R.R. Tickets - Part 2

Taking a look back to my "D" Ticket post (link), here is a 1956 "D" Ticket showing the two trains and there two related stations. Main Street's "SF&D Passenger Train" and Frontierland's "SF&D Freight Train" (scan courtesy of www. keeline.com).

This "D" Ticket is from Late 1957 and shows three stations now, but the trains are all called "SF & D Railroad Trains". No more Freight Trains and no more "round trip only". Now you can exit or enter at any station, that makes a lot more sense.







The next three images were most graciously donated by Major over at "Gorilla's Don't Blog" THESE ARE INCREDIBLE - THANK YOU MAJOR!

I believe these are from 1957. These are the Individual tickets you would purchase at the Train Stations. Could you use these until the stubs where gone? Thereby letting you board at all three stations. Does that seem right? It's the same price as one "D" ticket. On Monday's post, that long ticket was only good once. But these do say "Good for one Stop Over at".

What is this one all about? Fantastyland to Main Street 25 cents? This has to be VERY rare, I didn't even know such a thing existed. How did they enforce this? Did they used to check everyone's ticket on board? Did everyone exit at the Main Street Station? Thanks again for the scan Major, these are great!

Back to my "Conductor's checkless" collection, here is a Child's Train ticket.

When the conductor took his "check" he would stamp the back like this.

This Late 1958 "D" Ticket now has the new Tomorrowland Station. (scan courtesy of www. keeline.com).

By late 1958 they stopped the large stylized individual tickets shown above. The little tickets seem to have taken there place. Shown below are samples of the "stub" style tickets. These are individualize for each of the four stations, and allowing you one stop-over at any other station. What do they mean by "stop over"? These are also the same price as the "D" ticket and that's only good once, so where these only good once also? This hurts my brain!

This just in. Sent to me by a reader (actually the seller of the Green Press Ticket, it sold for $1000 by the way, congratulations to the seller!) This is the same 1955 Yellow ticket I posted Monday, except this one has the Conductors Check! Thanks for donating this scan.

Tomorrow we head east to Knott Avenue, but it wont be to the Berry Farm, we're heading to the Village (and Park).

Sears Family Fun Party - February 26, 1977

Warm up the time machine and set it for February 26, 1977 because we are going to "A Private Party at Disneyland"! Yes it's the Sears Family Fun Party - Saturday Nite 8:30pm to 1:30am!

What, you don't work at Sears? Well it just so happens I did! Yup, Sears was my first real job, employee number 2519 (why do I still remember that?) Anyway, we'll pretend you're part of my family and therefore part of the Sears Family, so you can come along.

Free Parking too! I'll drive my 67' Olds Toronado, it seats six no problem!

I am sure you are wondering what I did at Sears? (probably not, but I'm gonna tell ya anyway). I was hired at the "Customer Convenience Center" but I quickly got promoted to work the Ticketron Machine. That was a blast, and it made me suddenly VERY popular in High School (psssst, need Journey or Styx Tickets?).

I still have a couple of "Voids" I saved. These are from when you loaded the tickets backwards or misaligned them. Snow Summit all day for $6.50! Ah the Laserium for $3.50. Starship, hey I went that one!

And for some reason (my ticket obsession started earlier than I thought?) I saved a big stack of these "Blanks" from June of 1980...

And from my donated copies of a ticket binder that I believe still remains at Disneyland, here is a printed Ticketron Disneyland ticket from December 31, 1981.

It's 1:30am, the party is over..... I'll drive home, the Toronado rides nice so sit back and take a nap...

Santa Fe & Disneyland R.R. Tickets - Part 1

In today’s post we take our first look at Disneyland’s Railroad Tickets. As you may know, for the first couple of years Disneyland had two separate train attractions, one at each of its two stations.

Main Street Station had what was once called the “Santa Fe and Disneyland Limited”. You boarded windowed, indoor style cars “for one first class passage” and you took a round trip circle tour with no stops. If the “Freight” train was stopped at the Frontierland Station, the Limited used a parallel set of tracks as a “passing siding” and passed right on by. Same deal at the Main Street Station. How cool would that have been to see in person!

Here is one of those early tickets for the “First Class Passage”. It’s not dated but I would put these at 1955-56 and early 1957, does anyone know for sure? All the stubs for each realm are just for show, alias this train did not stop in Holidayland or Adventureland or anywhere but Main Street. There is a conductor’s portion that is missing. Jed the “ticket with stub” king over at Vintage Disneyland Goodies may have one. Post it if you got it - Pretty please....

Here is the same type of ticket but in grey. The print is the same as the yellow one so I have no idea why there was a different color? Maybe it represents “child” or “adult” or maybe they just ran out of the other color? I posted this one vertical so you can read the little stubs, they are so cute! This ticket is 11” long; Knott’s had huge train tickets too! Did real train tickets used to be a foot long?

This image is borrowed from Miceage, this ticket is for the “Western Route”. “Frontierland Freight good for freight or cattle passage”. This was for the train from Frontierland Station which originally had true “standing room only” cattle cars. These were soon converted to open side cars with bench seating. (I think they still have these cars and they drag them out every once in a while). The stub does more or less indicate this is a round trip with no stops.

In the next installment of this series we will take a look at the tickets that followed these as a third station was added and the “Passing Siding” was eliminated. Check for part two on Wednesday, tomorrow we are having a “Private Party” at Disneyland!

Fall/Winter 1968 Full Guide Post - plus a Bonus

This weekends full guide post is the Fall/Winter 1968 edition. It covers November 1, 1968 thru January 15, 1969. This and a few other same era editions of the guide book have each land without a map, just text and a couple pictures. This didn't last long and the individual realm maps with there attraction locations returned in 1970 and stayed for two decades.

Be sure to check out the back sections too, lots of nice photos and information back there. The full guide in PDF format can be downloaded here:


* Disneyland Guide Book - Fall/Winter 1968 (11.4 mb)

I love this artwork!!!! Look for it starting on page 5.

**** SUNDAY BONUS ****

Today’s bonus is an odd piece. Dated September 1957 “All aboard for Disneyland” This measures 8 ½ by 11 inches, four pages (just front, insides and back), it’s thick paper and is very much like the 1957 Souvenir Guide book cover in its feel and smell (yeah, it smells like 1957!)

“How selection of families to attend the Conference on Family Security and Family Happiness will be made”. It appears to be for INA insurance agents, sell a few policies go to Disneyland! Fun reading! A chance to stay at the "New Disneyland Hotel".

See you on the next post!

*** Magic Mountain Update ***

A little update on today's Magic Mountain post. Major, yes I rode it backwards, that was nutty and forwards before they "fixed" it was crazy fun as well. I still ride Goldrusher at least once each visit and it still gives me the biggest smile. Good MM ephemera is scarce. I do have a decent collection however, you haven't seen it all yet!

Viewliner, I'm glad these bring back memories, they sure do for me.

Jed asked a good question "Where are the cars". The following three photo's come from David Michael or "Darkbeer" as he is known to Disneyland fans. Check out his great theme park pictures at: http://darkbeer.smugmug.com/

Here are the cars at the maintenance building with Flashback shown for reference. The main Metro station is in the lower left hand side of the photo.

Here is a close up of the cars. They sure look fine to me, I believe they are fiberglass. They used to be solid colors, I'm not sure when they changed. The People Mover did a similar color change in the 1980's.

And this is the exit cue for the Main Metro Station, just waiting to be used.

From everything I have read the reason the Metro is currently not running is the company that made the Metro is out of business and no parts are available. This is true, BUT....

Six Flags Over Georgia has the exact same Monorail system (actually a few years older than Magic Mountains, but the same thing) and it's still running! I imagine they fabricate the parts they need. These systems are not that complicated. They don't have any side "banking" to worry about and they were fully automatic in 1971 (a new car every two minutes) so how complex of a ride system is needed?

Can you tell I am passionate about the Metro? I once rode it once for 2 hours straight, round and round the park. I'd do it again in a heart beat!

The ABC's of Magic Mountain

“Our ABC’s” From Magic Mountain. This undated brochure from Magic Mountain is from the early 1970’s. I believe the “ABC’s” comment is a direct poke at Disneyland’s ticket book plan. Disneyland even had the little handouts about the tickets that were titled “The ABC’s of ticket books”. This was Magic Mountains way of saying “look what one price gets you” (“o” is for one price).

First up of course you must park you car (“p” is for parking”). So here is your parking ticket, 75 cents! Hey it’s only $15 to park there now, WHAT?





And here is the entire little brochure. I love the trolls and they are sprinkled throughout. Wow, someone likes lime green!

And since there is not much color in this brochure, here are a few post cards from the early days, boy do I remember it like this.

The Grand Prix (autopia with a smaller track) and my beloved Metro. Don’t even get me started on the Metro Monorail. It’s all still there, the stations, the tracks, the cars. REOPEN IT Six Flags!

Ah Eagles Fright, I mean Flight. That thing scared the living daylights out of me. My friends would try to rock the cage at 200+ feet in the air. This was the only time I actually threatened to strangle someone, they stopped – I never rode it again.

And the Mountain Express. Currently Flashback is on this same site. Having ridden both, I can attest that the Mountain Express was a much better ride. I believe Flashback is still there, rotting and rusting away. I read somewhere that the Mountain Express was sold and is still in use, but I don't know where.



I hope you enjoyed a retro look at the Mountain!

The New Fantasyland - Part 4

A big thank you goes out to Christopher who donated today’s images. Christopher worked at Disneyland during the 1983's “New Fantasyland” opening.

First up is this neat key. I’ve saw one of these on EBay years ago and I thought it was plastic so I passed on it, mistake!! They are not plastic and they are kind of rare. Walt was a “Wizard”? Here is what Christopher has to say about it.

“This key was created based on the graphics of the event. The text/graphics on the mounting board were exact duplications of the event tickets (All tickets & announcements for the events -Cast Previews, Press Events, Open Ceremonies, etc- used the same proclamation graphics that included the key graphic) and I suspect this was supposed to be some sort of special give-away, but rather it ended up being available to cast members who participated in the ceremony.”

Next we have a Family pass. “1983 New Fantasyland Family Pass: An extra Cast Member Passport handed out that year (basically an extra cast member ticket issued to Disneyland cast members and not WDW cast members)” I wonder how large of a family you could bring?

And what post would be complete with out some guide book scans! These are also from Christopher, this was the guide given our during the New Fantasyland’s construction. I wonder how many thousands of kids were disappointed when most of the land was closed.

This weekend: Tomorrow we’re heading to the Mountain, Magic Mountain! Sunday; full guide post plus a bonus!

VIP Party - February 21, 1982

Set your time machine back exactly 26 years from today and you can join Mickey and the gang for a VIP Party! February 21, 1982 – 12 noon to 10:00 pm, “See you there”!

Did this VIP occasion have a more specific purpose? I guess if you had gotten this ticket in 1982, you would know why you are a VIP, so the mystery remains…

A friend of mine looked at the picture of Mickey and friends on this ticket and commented that the characters don’t look like that anymore, they are all “glitzy” and “over plus’d” now. I hadn’t really noticed it, but come to think it, Mickey & Minnie have not looked “right” since the 50th and the endless “dream” promotion.

Tomorrow, can you believe it; The New Fantasyland – PART 4!

Knott's Annual Pass & A Trio of Complementary Tickets

Well, well, well, looks like Knott’s Berry Farm had the term “Annual Pass” a few years ahead of the Mouse. I’m not sure when Disneyland started the “Annual Pass”, but I think it was way after 1971. Disneyland did have a “Main Gate Pass” (link), but they seemed more exclusive than these Knott’s passes or at least they looked more exclusive.

“Norma Lane” had two years of free admission to Knott’s. Apparently Jeanne only got one year, I wonder what she did to Norma to get left off the 1972 pass?





Here a nice Trio of “Complementary Gate Admission” tickets. The first one here is pretty old, 1969 would be my guess.

The second one is from the late 70’s with the Roaring 20’s dancing lady. OK, yes, I have posted this image before (Rides-a-plenty post) but hey, I did re-scan it for this post….

And from 1982, it's a "Guest" admission. I like the train image on this one. This is globe paper but it’s thick like cereal box cardboard. This pass includes unlimited rides and attractions. I believe that just as Disneyland had done in 1982, Knott’s also was phasing out the lettered tickets.

Speaking of Knott’s lettered tickets, I’ve got tons of them (are you surprised?). I was thinking of doing a detailed A thru D Knott’s ticket series like I did for Disneyland. I’ll start it in march and do a series post each week, that sounds fun.

Tigger's Ticket Tuesday

Who doesn’t love Tigger? He is “the only one” you know! Voiced by Paul Winchell (thru 1990) Tigger seems to make children and adults happy. “He is cheerful, outgoing, competitive in a friendly way, and completely confident in himself” (Wikipedia Link).

From May 1980 it’s “Tigger’s Ticket Book”. This is a complete and unused book filled with fun and value. First lets look at the Main Gate Admission ticket. Tigger looks ready to “bounce”, poor Eeyore looks sad, well, I guess he always looks that way. “Good for adult on day of event only” This “Child/Junior” ticket book must have been sold on special days that also allowed adults to use it, that’s weird!

A $15.80 value for only $6.00, now that is a deal!

Free prize entry coupon. I wonder what the free prizes were???

This “early-bird” coupon is so special that Tigger is doing a dance for us! Currently you can get “early entry” with a multi-day pass, I did it in October and it was kind of cool sliding by all the “regular” guests. But in 1980, this little ticket not only got you in the park early, but during the early-bird “Free play period” you got unlimited use of the attractions! And even after the free play period ended, you could use this ticket for one more ride!

The rest of the book has twelve of these little “Any A thru E Attraction” coupons, two to a page.

Unrelated side post: While attempting to clean my “Blogger Desk” this weekend (Hey, I found a wood surface under all that stuff, who knew!) I found this old newspaper promo from 1955 for Disneyland. Not sure where I got it, I know I’ve seen parts of it before, but of course the front page is missing!

I have two questions if anyone knows, (1) what newspaper is this from and (2) What’s with the “StratoSnak”? Did this become the “Space Bar”? Did the Space Bar have “fully-automatic food service with push button piping hot meals” (that sounds like a vending machine to me)? Neat art work. Was there really an “aluminum pig” also? It’s shown on one of the other pages.

That’s it for today’s Post. T.T.F.N.