Looking Back at a Vintage Walt Disney World Ticket Book from 1972
I enjoy cruising through the aisles of antique stores when I’m out and about, although I’m usually not looking for anything in particular. I do keep my eyes peeled for certain gumball machines, vintage Universal Monsters items, old guitars and amplifiers, and vintage Disney items. That brings me to this post as I recently came across a near complete book of Walt Disney World park tickets. For the $8 asking price, it was worth buying to scan and show my son who was never alive in the “ticket” era of the Disney parks. The adult ticket book cost $5.85 in 1972. Using an inflation calculator, that is the equivalent to $45.88 in 2026 dollars. Just this past week it was announced that a 2027 Magic Kingdom ticket prices would top over $200 per day!
Prior to 1982 Walt Disney World and Disneyland actually used paper tickets for rides, sort of like one might use at county and traveling fairs. The tickets were packaged in small booklets with tear off pages as they were used, and were “lettered” denoting the type of attraction one could use with that said ticket. You may have heard the term “E Ticket Ride” when seeing or reading about Disney rides at the parks, and this stems from these ticket books. As you look at the photos below, you will see the E, D, C, B, and A printed on the pages. As the letter increased, the attractions became a larger, more involved, or often more technologically advanced that it could be used for. The “E” ticket was used for the premier rides at the time – which for this particular booklet (September 1972) was the following: It’s A Small World, 20,0000 Leagues Under the Sea, Country Bear Jamboree, Jungle Cruise, Hall of Presidents, & The Haunted Mansion.
Some might scoff at some of those rides being the premier attraction at the park… but remember at the time of this ticket book Walt Disney World was not even one year old yet (it opened on October 1, 1971)! And there was only ONE park – Magic Kingdom. We are years away from Epcot, and decades from Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom! Back at Magic Kingdom there is no Pirates of the Caribbean yet. No Space Mountain. But as the “tickets per ride” were phased out over time, the term “E Ticket Ride” persisted as a way to recognize the top tier flagship attractions for the time. Since the ticket system doesn’t exist any longer, any ride letter ranking today is purely speculative and open for debate. A quick Google search overview shows current E Ticket Rides at the time of this writing are:
- TRON Lightcycle / Run
- Tiana's Bayou Adventure
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- Space Mountain
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- Jungle Cruise
- Peter Pan's Flight
- Haunted Mansion
- Pirates of the Caribbean
It’s interesting to me that Peter Pan is making the cut at being considered an E attraction today, however, judging by the wait times for this classic dark ride it is surely STILL in high demand all of these years later! Notice how in this ticket book below, Peter Pan is a C ticket! Peter has moved (flown?) up! Heck, it really is one of my favorites on the above list, but Haunted Mansion and Pirates does edge it out in the dark ride category, for me at least!
Anyhow… enough talk and let’s get to the photos! I have scanned each ticket below from this book. The top ticket IS missing, and that was this person’s “Transportation Ticket” which let the patron ride the Monorail and Train. So this particular person visited in September of 1972 (we can tell this by a number on the tiny fine print on the cover, as 729 stands for 72 = 1972 and 9 = September). They apparently only used the transportation ticket and did not ride any other rides or see any other attractions that a ticket was needed! It looks like they just visited and walked around. Wild to me! But we all do Disney different. You can also see a complete attraction checklist on the last image. Thoughts, Comments? Email me at [email protected]
So, below are the pics:
