Walt Disney World

A History in Postcards

Walt Disney World tickets

Walt Disney World has had a variety of ticket types over the years and I have ideas for a few of my "sidebar articles" here at Walt Disney World: A History in Postcards on them. I have some of them but could use scans of others I don't have. The early tickets are nice enough , but what I'd really like to make the main focus of the first few articles are the beautiful credit card size tickets in use from some time in the mid 1990's. I don't know exactly when this type of ticket first started being used, or exactly how many cards were in each series, though I'm pretty sure most series had four cards. The cards that don't have links to larger scans are the ones I do not actually have in my collection myself. I could use scans and for that matter just good information on these tickets. I'll be glad to give credit for both!

1996 issues

There were at least four tickets in this series I only have one (the other two are scans from other sites.

1997 A series issues

These were the first tickets of the 25th anniversary celebration

1997 B series issues

These tickets also commemorate Walt Disney Worlds twenty-fifth anniversary celebration. I have four of them though I suspect the silver card Mickey was only used for annual passes, if that is the case then there would almost certainly be another image in this series as well.

I suspect that the last view, the silver Mickey, I have in this series might actually be a "fifth" ticket in this series since it was used for an annual pass and has the monochrome silver color scheme.

These tickets will get you into Disney's nighttime entertainment complex...

At your Pleasure

As this first ticket from 1997 shows, some WDW celebrations feature special commemorative ticket designs...

On the other hand this 2001 ticket is one dedicated simply to the Pleasure Island Logo.

1998 issues

In order to promote the opening of animal kingdom in 1998 a series of four tickets were issued with pictures of characters from the Lion King. I only have one scan of a ticket that I don't have (Pumba), and one of the original tickets (Timon) in my collection, I think the other views may have been Zazu and Simba, but I'm not sure.

Room Key Tickets

Although I love the designs that come on the tickets that Disney issues for the parks at thier ticket booths, I don't always end up getting that kind of ticket for my trip, sometimes if book your trip through Disney, including both your room and tickets, you will end up with another type of ticket, one that functions as a room key card, resort ticket, and if you desire even a charge card to use on WDW property all rolled into one! These ticket also have thier own wonderful art designs, here are a few exapmles of those designs:

1998

2000

2003

1999 issues

After Animal Kingdom Opened WDW broke its usual pattern of issuing four image series of tickets by releasing this ticket which was used for most park tickets during this period.

But the following image was used far Annual Passes.

2000 issues

Disney Kept things simple in 2000 as well with this design for the Millennium celebration. (Thanks to Robert Ashburn for offering me a scan of this ticket).

2001 issues 100 years of Magic

In 2001 Walt Disney World returned to it's previous pattern of having at least four basic chatacter designs on it's tickets, it was also marked the return of the Mickey and Friends characters to the ticket designs.

2002 issues... Let's Go!

Special Issues

Some times the parks issues special designs for special uses, the back of this card reads "cast member and three guests", so this particular use of this card is a CM ticket? (thanks to Jack Marshall for clarification on this point)

2002

2004 Everyone's neat and Pretty.

Special Thanks to Kristen Miller for some of these scans.

2005 The Happiest Celebration on Earth

The 2005 series of ticket designs is one of my favorites, in honor of the opening of the first Disney theme park , Disneyland in July 1955, a special celebration was planned that included the Walt Disney World resort. As Walt Disney Worlds part of the celebration new attractions were brought into the parks from other Disney parks around the world, there may have been another Animal Kingdom ticket design before this one since in the first part of 2005 Lucky the dinosaur visited the Animal Kingdom theme park before heading to Hong Kong Disneyland for it's opening.