letter ticket system - what the bleep is it?

[toonaspie]

Okay well this question is probably repetitive but it is a total headscratcher to me as no one seems to understand it. But what is this letter ticket ride system thing all about? You know, rides that are "D" ticket versus "E" ticket. What do they represent? What is the difference? Who invented this crazy system????

[Mr. Tickle]

Re: letter ticket system - what the bleep is it?

This should answer your question; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_ticket

[TDLFAN]

Re: letter ticket system - what the bleep is it?

The ABCDE system was invented by Walt himself I thought. In the good old days before Eisner arrived.. Guests had to pay to ride attractions at DL and at the MK. The ABCDE tickets were designed to specify attractions show quality. A tickets would be things like the Main Street Vehicles, whereas B-tickets would be things like the Main Street Cinema. C-tickets were for the most park the dark ride experiences found in Fantasyland for example... while D-tickets were the better and more unique experiences like circle vision, DL monorail or the Grand Prix. Finally the E-ticket was the designation given to the most popular, biggest rides in the park...such as Space Mt, Big Thunder, Pirates etc etc etc. In those days.. A-tickets were cheaper than the B ones.. etc etc, and the E-ticket rides would cost the most to ride. In order for most guests to be able to enjoy a wide range of rides, ABCDE coupon booklets were sold, along with the general admission ticket. This is the only way I can explain this I am affraid.

[TDLFAN]

Re: letter ticket system - what the bleep is it?

This should answer your question; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_ticket

Oh well.. I wish I had seen that response before all of my typing!

[Opus1guy]

Re: letter ticket system - what the bleep is it?

I'll just paste what I wrote about this in another thread:

Used to be that Disneyland [and later, Florida's Magic Kingdom] attractions were not included in the price of General Admission to Disneyland. Each attraction was priced separately and you either purchased individual tickets at ticket booths located throughout the Park, or you purchased a money-savings "ticket book" that contained a certain amount of tickets.

Each attraction was "rated" and priced accordingly. There were A, B, C, D, and E tickets...with the A ticket being the least expensive and the E ticket being the most expensive.

E-Ticket attractions were generally the biggest and best Disney had to offer. And often the most popular attraction too.

So in the lexicon of U.S. slang..."E-Ticket" means the best, or the most thrilling. It's used in the common vernacular here in the U.S. in all facets of life and commerce. One of the NASA Space Shuttle astronauts described their take-off as "a real E-Ticket!" That sort of thing.

For Disney fans...references to the E-Ticket equate to the top-of-the-line Disney attractions. Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Space Mountain, Submarine Voyage were E-Tickets. Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye would have qualified as one, had the old A-E system not been abandoned in favor of the "One-Price, Unlimited Attractions" policy that was instituted many years ago.

So when someone asks if it's an E-Ticket ride, you'll either hear someone reply, "Yeah!" or "No, I think that one is more like a D ticket."

Incidentally, there was briefly what Disneyland internally called the "F Ticket" that was even higher than an E-Ticket. It was when Enchanted Tiki Room first opened and that required a separately purchased ticket for just that one attraction. Not even an E-Ticket would get you in when that first opened. But no one ever seems to refer to that, probably because it was so short-lived.

For examples of A thru E's see:

http://www.keeline.com/DLTickets/

And for a view of one of the many versions of the "F Ticket" see:

http://members.aol.com/opus1guy/uploads/tikiFticket.jpg

And for examples of Walt Disney World's versions of the A-E's...just scroll way down to the bottom of this page:

http://allearsnet.com/tix/tixpix70.htm

[sir clinksalot]

Re: letter ticket system - what the bleep is it?

There is also an explanation in the MiceChat glossary.

http://www.micechat.com/forums/showthread.php/official_micechat_glossary-54411.html

[lazyboy97O]

Re: letter ticket system - what the bleep is it?

In the good old days before Eisner arrived..

This makes it sound as if Eisner was responsible for dissolving the ticket system.

I can't believe Disney does not teach about the ticket system. It is such a clear example of Disney entering American culture. Even Spider-Man knows about "E-Tickets".

One last thing, there were no tickets, they were coupons.

[mouseinphilly]

Re: letter ticket system - what the bleep is it?

Actually, the system was discontinued before Eisner arrived. In 1982 when Ron Miller was in charge two years before Disneyland got a big boost in the attendence from those attending the 1984 Summer Olympics IIRC.

[Radiobarry]

Re: letter ticket system - what the bleep is it?

It used to be that there wasn't a house in Southern California that didn't have a drawer somewhere filled with unused Blue Chip and/or S&H Green trading stamps and the books to put them in...along with a good supply of unused Disneyland ride tickets and partially unused ticket books.

All a part of Yesterland now.

PS...in those days, it seemed they were much more in competition with the other area attractions for the entertainment dollar...and Magic Mountain and Knott's had alread gone to the "hard ticket" concept.

[Opus1guy]

Re: letter ticket system - what the bleep is it?

It used to be that there wasn't a house in Southern California that didn't have a drawer somewhere filled with unused Blue Chip and/or S&H Green trading stamps and the books to put them in...along with a good supply of unused Disneyland ride tickets and partially unused ticket books.

Not only that...but a Disneyland ticket book was actually one of the premiums/gifts offered in the S&H Green Stamp catalog! Many adults, kids, and entire families made their first trips to Disneyland thanks to saving S&H Green Stamps.

I recall one time back in the early 60's when our entire neighborhood got together to all go to Disneyland on the same day...and there was this one family on the block that was going through some tough times financially and couldn't afford to purchase ticketbooks and come along. We neighbors all got together and donated pages and books of S&H Green Stamps so that they could redeem them for ticketbooks and come along. Their kids were so thrilled to be going to Disneyland! And afterwords...they couldn't stop talking about their visit for months!

[Radiobarry]

Re: letter ticket system - what the bleep is it?

I recall one time back in the early 60's when our entire neighborhood got together to all go to Disneyland on the same day...and there was this one family on the block that was going through some tough times financially and couldn't afford to purchase ticketbooks and come along. We neighbors all got together and donated pages and books of S&H Green Stamps so that they could redeem them for ticketbooks and come along. Their kids were so thrilled to be going to Disneyland! And afterwords...they couldn't stop talking about their visit for months!

That's a great story, Opus1. Got tears welling up in my eyes.

OFF TOPIC - Did Blue Chip, which seemed to be the stamps given out in most supermarkets, drug stores and the like, have a Disneyland deal too?

And what percentage of people on this site would even have any idea what we're talking about.

[Opus1guy]

Re: letter ticket system - what the bleep is it?

OFF TOPIC - Did Blue Chip, which seemed to be the stamps given out in most supermarkets, drug stores and the like, have a Disneyland deal too?

I'm almost positive they did too...but I don't know if it was at the same time.

And what percentage of people on this site would even have any idea what we're talking about.

What percentage do you and I make up?

[jane2073]

Re: letter ticket system - what the bleep is it?

We went to the MK in December of '81. At the time they had an all inclusive pass-ride any ride with just one pass. It was a tag with an elastic cord. We hung it off the button on our shirt. We looked like tagged luggage.

[EvilQueenRocks]

Re: letter ticket system - what the bleep is it?

And what percentage of people on this site would even have any idea what we're talking about.

What percentage do you and I make up?

Heh...add me to that percentage. I remember going to the S&H Green stamp store with my mother when I was young. And I remember the madhouse it was the week they decided to end the program and you had to use or lose all the stamps you had saved.

Are we dating ourselves here guys?

We went to the MK in December of '81. At the time they had an all inclusive pass-ride any ride with just one pass. It was a tag with an elastic cord. We hung it off the button on our shirt. We looked like tagged luggage.

I have a photo somewhere with my ride pass pinned to my shirt with a Fox and the Hound button standing in line with my father and sister for BTM! )

[Ward]

Re: letter ticket system - what the bleep is it?

We neighbors all got together and donated pages and books of S&H Green Stamps so that they could redeem them for ticketbooks and come along. Their kids were so thrilled to be going to Disneyland! And afterwords...they couldn't stop talking about their visit for months!

what the Magic is all about :thumbup:

[SummerInFL]

Re: letter ticket system - what the bleep is it?

Does anyone know where I could purchase a replica of the ticket books? I'd like one for scrapbooking purposes.

[sir clinksalot]

Re: letter ticket system - what the bleep is it?

^ I'm sure if you did a google search for Disneyland/WDW Ticket books, you could pull up some images.

I also know that Kristi bought some scrap-book stuff that had replica tickets. I can find out which one they were in, but I would imagine they are from WDW or Disneyland.