"Sometimes, the smallest things in life bring the biggest joys" : Celebrating Disneyland ephemera

re: "Sometimes, the smallest things in life bring the biggest joys" : Celebrating Disneyland ephemera

Roger Colton — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 05:22:58 GMT

Hey, I make it a habit of saving at least one unused Fast Pass from my visits ... a great way to remember the date of those past visits. I also remember seeing auction on eBay for a parking stub from 7-17-05 along with other 50th memorabilia.

Besides, I know a lot of NFFC members who collect ephemera ... from receipts and merchandise bags to wet paint signs and restaurant tray liners. I think this craze has actually increased as more people have become interested in scrapbooking and personalizing their photo albums.

re: "Sometimes, the smallest things in life bring the biggest joys" : Celebrating Disneyland ephemera

Roger Colton — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 07:16:49 GMT

Very neat items! I've never been to Disneyland, so I had no idea about what characters you could park at in the parking lot. I'm sure that people keep their ticket stubs and the guide maps, maybe receipts...some people may not mean to, but some may hold onto their ephemera for the memories.

re: "Sometimes, the smallest things in life bring the biggest joys" : Celebrating Disneyland ephemera

Roger Colton — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 09:21:17 GMT

I have collected paper childrens menus, napkins, cups and every other piece of useless paper I cam across. And years later I am so glad I did. It is amazing how much things change and how well these little pieces of paper help me to remember.

re: "Sometimes, the smallest things in life bring the biggest joys" : Celebrating Disneyland ephemera

Roger Colton — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 11:20:52 GMT

My wife scrapbooks, so we hold onto all sorts of odds and ends. It is always fun to look through all the stuff we've collected (ours come from WDW), and remember why we took it. Sometimes its a FastPass to my son's first ride on Big Thunder, or it could be a receipt from the first character breakfast.

One man's junk is another's treasure.

re: "Sometimes, the smallest things in life bring the biggest joys" : Celebrating Disneyland ephemera

Roger Colton — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 11:55:46 GMT

Hmm.. the last time I went I think it was the 25th anniversary. I still have some things from my trips.

I have a button that says my first trip was in 1985 (grade 2 hee hee), 2 tinkerbell entrance tickets and 1 simba one (me, mom, and stepdads tickets), I always keep my park maps cus things always change, I have my fortune teller stubs like you have but it was a longer piece of paper.

I also always get those stupid "squishapenny" things that you put in a penny and it presses some disney picture on it?? I LOVE those things I have NO idea why.

I also got a postcard for Hercules when it was released when I went there it was just coming out to theatres.

Thats all I can really think of right now, but you get what Im saying.. free things are treasured in my world! xoxox Adele

re: "Sometimes, the smallest things in life bring the biggest joys" : Celebrating Disneyland ephemera

Roger Colton — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 12:16:32 GMT

I collect all emphemera from my trips and not only to Disneyland/Disneyworld...they remind me of special times that I will not have again. I even kept a book I made at a class given at the Disney Institute back in the mid-90s.

re: "Sometimes, the smallest things in life bring the biggest joys" : Celebrating Disneyland ephemera

Roger Colton — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 14:23:07 GMT

Thank you so much for the wonderful pictures of your treasures! I nearly screamed when I saw the link on the main page (at work, how embarassing!) My first trip to Disneyland was 1986, when I was 5, and I remember those tickets clearly. I still have the pins that I won (another article that I enjoyed mentioned those first pins) and to see those tickets brought back so many good memories. Thanks for the smiles!

re: "Sometimes, the smallest things in life bring the biggest joys" : Celebrating Disneyland ephemera

Roger Colton — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 15:34:11 GMT

Smilee306 is apparently as much a geek as I. LOL!!

**I nearly screamed when I saw the link on the main page (at work, how embarassing!)**

I feel ya sister.

re: "Sometimes, the smallest things in life bring the biggest joys" : Celebrating Disneyland ephemera

Roger Colton — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 16:00:38 GMT

Ephemera... so THAT's what all that stuff I've collected is called! I have several drawers full of stuff like this, Roger - old guidebooks, maps, and so on, and it's always a treat to find that cool old stuff. It's like holding a little piece of Disney park history in your hand.

As far as whether or not you can still find this sort of stuff today, the answer is "definitely"! I still manage to snag a couple of paper goodies every time I visit a Disney park, or I ask someone to snag something for me when they visit. Heck, when Disney came by to do their dog and pony show at the NFFC, I made sure to grab a couple of the napkins with the new "Disney Parks" logo to add to my collection! Pathetic, innit? ;)

Kudos on another fun article, Roger!

re: "Sometimes, the smallest things in life bring the biggest joys" : Celebrating Disneyland ephemera

Roger Colton — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 16:51:23 GMT

Even when it isn't Disneyland, it's all about the time and place:
Somewhere, in the back of one of my "collection" drawers, I still keep that stamped 4-day ticket (in paper form!) from the pre-Disney Decade 1990 WDW first spring-break trip--
Just for all the associations that one stub brings back: Three parks, not counting River Country...Three bus loops, and Epcot->MGM meant going through Fort Wilderness...Making dinner-reservations by video at Epcot...Star-cement ceremonies at MGM...New Year's Eve celebrations at Pleasure Island...And, a keychain from the "off-property" dinner-theater, that had been thrown in on a package tour, since the only way you could get to Disney back then was through something called a "travel agent" who did the paperwork for you...
One lil' ticket stub. :)

re: "Sometimes, the smallest things in life bring the biggest joys" : Celebrating Disneyland ephemera

Roger Colton — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 18:52:00 GMT

Ah
My dad (who is 51 now) always saved everything we got from Disneyland.
I remember at the 35 Anniv they had that big game in the hub, he kept all of the bags, the reciepts, the parking stubs, the park stubs. Everything.

Glad we're sane now :)

re: "Sometimes, the smallest things in life bring the biggest joys" : Celebrating Disneyland ephemera

Roger Colton — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 20:25:13 GMT

Oh, man, collecting this sort of thing is great. I've always treasured the maps that they hand out at DL...they're gorgeous! If I remember correctly they did used to put characters on the tickets in the nineties...those were the best. Unfortunately several pieces of my epherema have disappeared, and that's because while I'm a pack rat, my mother throws a lot of stuff out. So, wherever our old ticket stubs are, brochures, maps, etc. are, they're probably stuffed at the bottom of a trash barge or at the bottom of a file folder in her closet.

However, this time around I managed to save the beautiful fiftiieth anniversary bags that every purchase came in, and I think from now on I'm going to start a new epherema collection. Although it'll take me quite a few years before they become nearly as magical as your dated ones are, Roger. Great article and excellent pictures! Thanks for sharing.