Happy 60th anniversary to the first ‘E-Ticket” Disneyland attractions

In 1959, Disneyland completed its first major expansion of Tomorrowland with three new attractions.

The park had been opened for just about four years and on June 14, 1959, Walt Disney adding a monorail, the Matterhorn Bobsleds and the Submarine Voyage (now Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage).

The trio of attractions also brought something else to Disneyland and to Disney Parks history – the “E-Ticket” designation.

The rides were revolutionary when they opened. The Matterhorn Bobsleds was the first roller coaster at Disneyland the first tubular steel coaster in the world. The Disneyland Monorail was the first daily operating monorail in the Western Hemisphere.

To Submarine Voyage was a costly venture for Disneyland. Each of the eight submarine vehicles cost $80,000 at the time.

Soon after Disneyland’s opening, guests would purchase admission tickets and then a separate booklet of tickets for each attraction. The “Value Books” contained several coupons with different labels “A,” “B,” “C” and later “D.”

Each coupon had designated attractions associated with it and costs for each ticket. “A” attractions were the smaller, least popular with a cost of 10 cents a coupon, “B” attractions were more popular and advanced at a cost of 15 cents a coupon, “C” attractions were even more popular at 25 cents a coupon and “D” attractions were the most popular at a cost of 50 cents a coupon.

When these three new attractions opened they were designated “E” ticket rides, at a cost of 85 cents a coupon.

In addition to the three attractions, the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad, Rocket to the Moon, Rainbow Ridge Pack Mules, Rainbow Mountain Stage Coaches, Mark Twain Riverboat, Sailing Ship Columbia, Rafts to Tom Sawyer Island, and Jungle Cruise were upgraded from “D” rides to “E” rides.

While Disney eliminated the individual tickets in the early 1980s, the term “E-Ticket” ride remains to describe the marquee attractions in Disney Parks.