Photo: VIAVAL/Depositphotos
Disney World is a dream destination for many children and families around the world. In its 52-year history, it has witnessed many advancements, not only in its rides and entertainment, but even in its ticketing system. When TikToker Matthew Ables came across a vintage set of paper tickets that had been in his family home for decades, he noticed they didn’t have an expiration date. This inspired him to travel to Orlando to try to enter the world famous park with a 46-year-old pass.
Ables chronicled his experience in a video. “It’s been collecting dust since before I was born and I always assumed that it was just an old family keepsake till I realized that it’s never been used,” said the man about the ticket which was originally worth $8–compared to the current $164 admission fee to Magic Kingdom for ages 10+. “This means I’ve either found the golden ticket here or I’m delusional thinking that the mouse is going to let me use it to get inside nearly half a century later.”
Once in the park, he approached the Guest Relations ticket booth, confessing to his viewers that he was a little nervous. After telling the employee at the booth that he had a ticket from 1978, Ables reported that it was taken by the worker, who stamped “Void” all over the ticket booklet and then left. The employee then came back and gave him a modern yellow pass that was good for entering the park. However, the vintage tickets were not returned to the TikToker.
As to why a whole booklet was equivalent to a regular park ticket, Ables explained in the comments that back then the rides used individual tickets, so he got the equivalent of that. Others wondered if the ticket may have had more value as a collectible rather than redeeming it for a park ticket.
Still, many were impressed that the ticket was honored. Disney World employees shared that they do receive training on how to deal with vintage tickets. “I was a ticket seller (vacation planner) at Disney World. It was almost a full day of training on how to exchange and void legacy tickets. But they are not something everyone sees in the booth. It would have been the highlight of my day to finally use that training,” wrote user @afilmfatale. Another commenter named @beckkims added that the staff would deal with this kind of situation a few times a week.
Ultimately, it speaks to the legacy of Disney World that all these decades later, it continues to hold such an important place in the public’s imagination—just think of all the places that stood 50 years ago and are now long gone.
When TikToker Matthew Ables came across a vintage Disney World ticket, he traveled to Orlando to try to enter the world famous park with the 46-year-old pass. Watch what happened.
@matthewables I tried getting into Disney World using a 46 year old ticket #disneyworld #disney #themepark #funny #fyp ♬ original sound – Matthew Ables
h/t: [Upworthy]
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