Friday, August 01, 2008

Souvenir Friday- Opening Day Participant Pass and Disneyland Guest Tag

A very scarce item from July 17, 1955 is the participant pass for the Disneyland Opening Day Ceremonies. Unlike the press preview tickets with their wonderful graphics, this is a simple pass with just the name and a serial number. However, the person who held this ticket was an integral part of the ceremonies, most likely a participant in the parade.

The next piece is not related, but also just as scarce. The tag would have been worn by a VIP guest in 1955 or 1956. I like that Dumbo was used instead of one of the Fab 5. The story is that the Studio did not want to allow the use of Mickey and his gang, so Disneyland used Dumbo and Tinkerbell as the mascots. That is until Disneyland was a success and then Mickey and friends made their appearance on merchandise and graphics on maps and handouts.

3 comments:

outsidetheberm said...

Wow. Love that Special Participant Pass.
Now maybe Progressland can let us know who Ken Rucson (?) was. Or have you already checked?

Vintage Disneyland Tickets said...

Hey, my exact thoughts "Love that Special Participant Pass" The tag is great too, dumbo sure looks happy!

majordamage said...

I just found your post but had no idea how rare the passes were. My step father gave me the pass he used as a kid. Thanks for the post. http://www.sacbee.com/static/kr/ribbon.jpg