Grad Nite - 1963

It’s “Grad Nite” week, I hope you are ready for some Grad Nite Madness this week! Originally I was going to present each Grad Nite item on the corresponding date of the actual Grad Nite. That plan just didn’t work, we would be bouncing all over the decades like Sam in Quantum Leap! Therefore the Grad Nites will be presented in chronological order by year, starting today in 1963.

From June 21, 1963, this Grad Nite Program has that fun early 1960’s art work.





The High School names were printed on this “tissue like” paper that’s pretty thick, it reminds me of a wedding invitation. Is your High School on there? Mine isn't, it wasn't build until 1969.





The cute couple that are under the tissue paper.





Lots of super talented entertainment with great “action” drawings.







A blank piece of that same tissue type paper separates the back page. No photo, but there are some details on what attraction they rode, like Autopia Sr.





Come back tomorrow, maybe you can win a 1964 Mustang!

Bonus Sunday and a Trip Report

From Thursdays “America on Parade” post (link), here at the two items that were promised.

First up its Disneyland Vacationland – Summer 1976. This is a 30 page edition with lots of fun stuff. As a bonus, there must be an ad from every Southern California "place to go"; Magic Mountain, Seaworld, San Diego Wild Animal Park, Busch Gardens (Van Nuys!), The NBC Tour, Universal Studios Tour, Queen Mary Tour, Movieland Was Museum, Lion Country Safari and more (Such as; Movie World, Alligator Farm, Knott’s). Oh and Disneyland too!


Disneyland Vacationland Summer 1976 – 68mb








A mint little Disneyland Guidebook from the Spring of 1976. The paper is extra nice on this one, bright white and the colors look super. This guide is effective 2-18-76 to 6-18-76 and is “subject to change without notice”. I actually did post this back in February but I totally forgot about it and I even rescanned it for this post! Oh well, it came out better this time.


Disneyland Guide Book Spring 1976 – 10mb








From my space Mountain Anniversary post back in May (link) here is the complete Walt Disney World Vacationland Spring 1975 magazine. Better late than never…. There are a total of 6 two-page layouts in this edition; therefore I scanned the entire issue as “two pages per scan”. I am not sure if I like this format (other than it does nicely showcase the 6 two-page layouts) let me know what you think.


Walt Disneyworld Vacationland Spring 1975 – 82mb







This is one of the 6 “two-page” layouts from the WDW Vacationland, it just doesn’t seem right to break something this nice into two parts. Will Tomorrowland look like this when I go next month? I hope so….






Now for some current stuff. I was lucky enough to spend a couple of hours at the park on Thursday and boy was it beautiful. I did have an annual pass preview ticket to Toy Story Mania, and I was going to go ride it, but…. I was drawn to Disneyland like a moth to a light. I arrived at 11am and I noticed almost zero lines to get into Disneyland, DCA “CYA”! When Disneyland has no lines in JUNE - I go for it! I'll catch Toy Story another time.

First sight I see after visiting the Welcome Plaque and Flag pole is this; a fun bunch on the fire engine! Alice, I told you not to blink when I take your picture!






The “June Gloom” has just cleared and it was polarizing outside, my camera didn’t know what to do with the beautiful flowers. It was so bright I could barely see them with my sunglass off.






This man driving the fire engine was not the same guy that was driving Alice and her buddies around just a few moments earlier.






Some glassy water on the moat, where is my Jetski when I need it!






Hey lets fan some rumors…. These look like “construction walls” to me and it’s right at the exit to the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walk-thru attraction. I have heard rumors that it might be coming back. Isn’t there a statue of something there also? Maybe they are just cleaning up the area, yeah, that’s it….







Ok, if you haven’t figured out by now, I am obsessed with the little ticket booth at the Casey Jr. Circus Train attraction. First, it’s a TICKET BOOTH, second it’s a 1955 original (although it has been moved about 20 feet) and last, it’s so CUTE! Due to its shady location and the queue line around it, it’s hard to get good photos of it, but I will keep trying. Someday I will get the nerve to ask to take a photo of the inside.






The same someday that I get my nerve up I am also walking right up this pathway to the Skyway Chalet. I am going to do it; it’s just a matter of when. There are NO signs that say “keep out”, I’m tall and can simply walk right over that silly little chain without even touching it. I have no idea what I will do once I get up there besides snap pictures like crazy!






One of my favorite hidden areas of the park.





The mighty and majestic Matterhorn. I rode the “Tomorrowland” side, what fun!






Upon entering the parking lot, I was given this. It’s was going to be a Grad Nite and the park would be closing early.




This is a perfect way to kick off “Grad Nite Week” here on the blog. Yes ladies and gentlemen, starting tomorrow its Grad Nite all week. We’ll cover several different years of tickets and programs, and a few other fun things too.

Donald Duck Goes To Disneyland - 1955

It's Souvenir Saturday with Walt Disney's "Donald Duck Goes To Disneyland" 1955. I love this little book, it's similar to "Disneyland on the Air" (link) but this one is actually much better. It has some outstanding Walt Disney Studio art of early Disneyland. The book itself is somewhat smaller in size, but it makes up for it with fun! Here is the link to the entire book.

Trust me, download this little book, it will put a smile on your face.


Donald Duck goes to Disneyland 1955 - 27mb

Whitman Publishing did a fine job on this book. It's 53 years old and has held up very well. Did I mention I love the art work in this book????





I know you will want to read this book, so I wont give away the whole story, but here's a sneak peak at how Donald's expression changes at the end.







Thank's one Happy Duck, read the book to find out why.

I hope you enjoy this little book, I sure did.

200th Post - Castle and Star Paper Madness

Today marks the 200th post on this blog. Wow, it’s been a blast so far. I have learned a great deal about tickets and all kind of great things that are “Disneyland”. My stated reason for starting the blog was to share all the tickets and learn more about the Disneyland Ticket history and it’s all going along great! A big thank you goes out to everyone who has shared all their wonderful memories and facts with me.

The best part about starting this blog was totally unexpected however and that was meeting the nicest bunch of people I have ever had the privilege to deal with. All of my linked bloggers and everyone who has ever contacted me regarding this blog has been nothing but warm, friendly and kind, bless you all.

Now with that out of the way, let’s get to this post! Since it feels like a birthday, let’s do something I really like, Castle and Star Paper! I love Globe paper, it will always be my #1, but I have this “mistress” so to speak, I don’t see her much since she is so rare having only been minted for a short time. I don’t have exact dates, but I have seen this paper from mid 1966 thru 1968, although the 1968 ones are mixed in books with mostly Globe tickets.

This first Castle and Star jewel is from a 5 Adventure Courtesy Guest book dated October 1966. Not many open attractions in Tomorrowland, and no Pirates, not just yet.

This is one of my favorites of the Castle and Star Tickets; again from October 1966 this “Magic Key Coupon” is from a 10 Adventure “Magic Key Book” for Magic Kingdom Club members. My “Upcoming” Magic Kingdom Club post series has been “upcoming” for a while now, consider it the Haunted Mansion of promised posts, it will come, just not in 1963!






This is the welcome message in the booklet from the Magic Key Coupon above, since this is from October 1966, this “winter” batch of tickets would be the last to have Walt Disney’s stylized signature on the little blue welcome message. On the summer of 1967 tickets it was replaced by “Walt Disney Productions” in a basic font, they should have left it alone.






An “A” ticket from a “Magic-Pak” ticket book. These were a fun promotional series for kids and juniors. I have a bunch more and it will be a future post. This “A” ticket however, is the only Castle and Star Magic-Pak ticket I have. I believe the series ran from the early 1960’s thru the early 1970’s, maybe not that long.






Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, about ½ the ticket books that that I have collected from books of these years still have the Mr. Lincoln Ticket in them, most are Globe paper however.






How about a Guided Tour? This is just the middle part of the ticket, it's missing the admission ticket on the right and an extra attraction ticket on the left. Still fun to look at and imagine what the tour in 1967 was like…






A great Adventure thru Inner Space ticket. I finally read somewhere (Nickel Tour?) about the reason for these tickets. It was designed so that kids (teens really) would not ride this free attraction (or Tunnel of love) endlessly all day! By 1968, kids and juniors were free for one ride only. I guess adults could ride endlessly all day, sweet!






Now, last up is a mint May 1967 Complete and unused Castle and Star paper ticket book. I was able to scan the front which has this great Main Gate admission ticket.






I am apprehensive about folding back the tickets to scan them since this book is 41 years old, so you are going to get photos of each ticket. Sorry about the weird angle, it was the only way to get the flash to work correctly. These are just beautiful.










Four dollars and 50 cents got you a grand day at Disneyland in 1967. Today, one gallon of regular unleaded.





Thanks again to everyone for your support and interest in this blog. There’s lots more still in the vault. I do hope you enjoy all the “filler” between the ticket posts, you can never have too many Vacationlands or Guide Books or Magazine article or who knows what! The blog kind of expanded on it own, I think it was a way of prolonging its lifespan.

America on Parade - A Special Preview Performance

Are you ready for a Special Preview Performance of “America on Parade”? This June 13, 1975 ticket was good for entry to the park, unlimited attractions and reserved seating for the parade. I wonder how you got one of these? Of course, with the parade at 8:30 and the ticket is only good from 6pm to 10 pm, you better hustle to get in as many attractions as you can!

A couple of pages from the Summer 1976 Vacationland Magazine. Check back on Bonus Sunday for the complete magazine scan.




Who's idea was it for the BIG heads???





A few pages from the Spring 1976 Guide Book, I had posted this entire guide a few months ago, but that was before I combined the pages into one file, so check back this Bonus Sunday for the complete guide scan.






Did they update the parade floats at one point? This is from the Spring 1976 Guide book. Compare it to my scan of the souvenir slides lower in this post, it’s the same "train/boat/plane" theme, but totally different?







From the back cover of the 1975 annual Souvenir Guide Book, the Parade does not make it into the 1975 or 1976 guide itself (something for the encyclopedia? – LOL!).






Now for the GAF Pana-vue Slides of America on Parade at Night.






These had gone completely magenta/pink/ugly. My scanner does documents great, but I don’t think it's in the right league for high res scans of slides. I set it at 4800dpi (supposedly its optical maximum) then I went and put a new roof on my house while waiting for it to scan! I used Daveland’s recommended “one step quick-try” method to remove the pink and add some color and it seemed to work out pretty good, thanks for the tip Dave!





Is this a giant sandwich????






Please visit these blogs that have scans of slides that make you say “oh and ah” not “huh & hmm” like mine do.


Daveland

Gorilla's Don't Blog

Stuff From the Park


Tomorrow: Major was right!