First Disney Ticket

The first-ever Disneyland ticket that was sold on the opening day of July 17th, 1955. The lucky man who bought it was Roy O. Disney for just $1. This special ticket was discovered on his desk after he passed away.

Oh how times have changed. Disneyland has been hiking up prices due to inflation and demand, with tickets now being sold for $96 for a day pass.

So what’s the story on the first-ever ticket sold? According to the LA Times, Disney hired a person to look through Walt and Roy’s desks and offices after they died.

When Walt Disney passed away in 1966, the staff closed his office suite in Burbank. The future wasn’t so bright, even though the company was working on continuing production of The Jungle Book. The worries heightened as the executives were reaching retirement, including Walt’s older brother, Roy O. Disney. In 1970, former UCLA research librarian Dave Smith received the key to Walt’s sealed office, who was sent to the Disney Archives for a little history lesson.

“I didn’t expect this to become my life’s work, but it did,” Smith, 69, said on a recent afternoon as he gave a tour of the Disney Archives.

It started off with finding items on Walt’s desk.

“It was an eerie thing to sit … in his chair and count the paper clips in the drawer,”

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