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April 03, 2025

This Is Our Disney Page

disney at night

My first trip to Disney World was October 9, 1971. Some of this is from memory and some from Mom and Dad telling the story of our first time going to the Magic Kingdom. Our father loaded Mom my Sister and Me into the car really early on the morning of October 9 th 1971. We headed out in the dark from Merritt Island, FL and got on the Bee-Line and headed west to Orlando. I was so excited and I think this was the first time my sister and I didn’t squabble in the backseat of the car. We were both excited about going to the Magic Kingdom even my Sister who was to cool to let it show. The ride over to Orlando I guess was pretty routine. In the 70’s there was nothing between Cocoa Beach and Orlando, and we had no cell phones or video games to keep us occupied. So it seemed to take forever. According to my dad we drove him crazy because my Sister and I wouldn’t shut up. I am sure I asked him a number of times if we were there yet. I remember him telling me that there was very little traffic out on the road at 6:30 in the morning. By the time we got to the road that leads to the park, there was a lot of traffic. I remember stopping on the main road and it seemed like forever before we started moving again. We crawled our way to the entrance to the park, well the entrance to where we parked for 50 cents, but that meant we were in. We got a tram from the parking lot to the Ticket and Transportation Center and bought our Park Admission Tickets. This was where Disney made their money. You needed tickets for everything even the train.
My dad was, well frugal and got what he thought was the best deal.
He bought the 11 Adventure Book - contained 1 A, 1 B, 2 C, 3 D, 4 E tickets it also included a transportation ticket and an admission ticket. Mom and Dad paid $5.75 for each book and my Sisters ticket book cost $5.25 and my ticket book cost $4.75.

Ticket Books were the Bane of my life. The ticket book system for a kid was a nightmare. You never had enough of the good tickets and to many of the wimpy tickets. Of course you could buy extra tickets.
"A" Tickets $.10  "B" Tickets $.25 "C" Tickets $.50 "D" Tickets $.75 "E" Tickets $.80-$.90
Now when the park opened it was just the Magic Kingdom and it didn’t have all the rides that it has today. This is a list of the rides and the ticket values you needed to ride them.
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MAIN STREET U.S.A
Walt Disney World Railroad - "D" ticket Main Street Cinema - "B" ticker or $.25
Penny Arcade – free Omnibus - "A" Horse Cars - "A" ticket or $.10
Jitney - "A" ticket Fire Engine - "A" ticket

ADVENTURELAND
Jungle Cruise - "E" ticket Safari Club – free Swiss Family Island Treehouse - "B" ticket
Tropical Serenade - "E" ticket

FRONTIERLAND
Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes - "C" ticket Mike Fink Keel Boats - "B" ticket
Frontierland Shooting Gallery - "B" ticket Country Bear Jamboree - "E" ticket

LIBERTY SQUARE
The Haunted Mansion - "E" ticket The Hall of Presidents - "E" ticket
Admiral Joe Fowler - "D" ticket The Diamond Horseshoe - free

FANTASYLAND
It's a Small World - "E" ticket Skyway to Tomorrowland - "D"
Dumbo, the Flying Elephant - "C" ticket Peter Pan's Flight - "C" ticket or $.50
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - "E" Cinderella's Golden Carousel - "A" ticket
The Mickey Mouse Revue - "E" ticket Snow White's Adventures - "C" ticket
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride - "C" ticket Mad Tea Party - "C" ticket
Cinderella Castle – free Pinocchio Village - free

TOMORROWLAND
Grand Prix Raceway - "C" ticket Skyway to Fantasyland - "D" ticket

I can remember the first time seeing the Monorails I thought they were the coolest things I had seen and couldn’t wait to get on them. The entrance to the park was full of Disney characters Mickey and Minnie, Donald Duck and Goofy. It seemed like all of the characters where there. As an almost 8 year old boy, the one thing that sticks in my head was the horses pulling the trolleys and the Poop on the ground, with people going behind the horses cleaning it up. I also remember that I liked Snow white. My sister liked 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea which was really cool, but my favorite was the Haunted House. I also remember almost getting sick on the Tea Cups. I blame it on my sister because she wouldn’t slow the spinning torture cups down. My Sister and I couldn’t stand the Small World which my Mom loved and my Dad liked the Hall of Presidents. We went twice a year once in the summer and once for Christmas every year until 1981. In 1973 Pirates of the Caribbean opened and in 1975 Space Mountain opened. We went to Disney on Sunday July 4, 1976 for the Nation’s 200th Independence Day which was celebrated with the biggest fireworks show I had ever seen and it was freakin crowded.

My family and I have season passes and go as often as we can. Before we had kids my wife and I went 2 – 3 times a month for almost four years. We always went for the food and wine weekends. Now with kids it isn’t as often but we go whenever we can. My wife and I love to stay on property and my wifes favorite hotel is the Disney's Boardwalk Inn Resort, my wife loves the really big chair in the foyer. I like the Disney's Contemporary Resort and the Polynesian. We both like the Disney's Port Orleans French Quarter and Fort Wilderness too. Lately we have been staying at the all Star and Pop Century Resorts because they are priced better.
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