Friday 17 May 2013

Disneyland Archives

An overlooked pocket of Main Street sits plain-as-day, to the right just as you cross under the Disneyland Ltd. railroad bridge and enter Disneyland. It's a sort of archive for Disney Park history. They have many fantastic scale models of attractions, and even a large model of Disneyland as it appeared on July 17th, 1955. It also has some relics from the Griffith Park Observatory that gave Walt Disney the inspiration behind Disneyland. And of course, this old piece of history:


That's the bench Walt was sitting on when he first dreamed of Disneyland. The spot where Disneyland was born.

Another amazing bit of Disneyland's legacy is the collection of tickets they have. There's a very large bulletproof case containing countless tickets, including ride ticket books and admission passes. But there's one particular silver slip of paper that makes this exhibit particularly interesting.

It's the greenish one at the top left
That ticket was one of the very first Disneyland tickets ever made. It was donated to the park by someone who was personally invited to attend opening day. After consulting a cast member, I learned that the case was recently insured for over $22,000,000. TWENTY-TWO MILLION DOLLARS. But I'm sure that the ticket itself is priceless.

So stop by, and enjoy the amazing details of Disneyland's past. I hope this exhibit will stay forever, because it truly is an amazing and informative museum documenting the beloved amusement park.

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