In the early days of Disneyland, you had to have a separate “ticket to ride” the attractions. In other words, guests would pay a small fee to enter the park ($1.00 in 1955), and that would allow them to stroll through all the lands, walk into free exhibits and see free shows. But to ride on one of the attractions, you had to purchase a separate ticket from a cast member in a ticket booth.
You could buy individual tickets or you could opt for a “value book,” which contained coupons or tickets for A, B and C level attractions. Then in 1959, Disney added D and E level tickets with the famous “E” ticket required for the most desirable and thrilling attractions like Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion.
This was the policy from the opening of Disneyland in 1955 until 1982.
And so to accommodate guests who wanted to ride a specific attraction, there had to be tickets booths spread throughout the park, where cast members would dispense tickets to nearby rides.
Almost all of these old ticket booths have since disappeared after Disney adopted a new “Passport” system in June of 1982, which gave guests unlimited access to everything Disney had to offer inside the park.
However, there are a handful of former tickets booths still prominently displayed in Disneyland even today.
Here are three – all located in Fantasyland.
The first vintage ticket booth is the lighthouse at Storybook Land Canal Boats, where guests could purchase a “D” level ticket to ride this attraction.
The second former ticket booth is the mushroom booth in front of the Alice in Wonderland queue. Next time you walk by, look closely and you might see that the Caterpillar left his shoes on top of the mushroom. (Alice in Wonderland was a B-level ticket in the ticket book pictured above.)
The ticket booth for Casey Jr Circus Train is also original from the time the park first opened. Cast members sold B-level tickets out of this booth for the Circus Train ride.