Okay, you’ve all seen this kind of question. If you were stranded on a deserted island, what single item would you want to have with you?
Now imagine if you were in a similar quandary, but the challenge was to pick only one item from your vast collection of Disney memorabilia. No pressure, right? Well, let me provide some. What if fate had decided that you had to dispose of everything in the collection to pay the bills and can only keep one item? Or what if some catastrophic event gave you time to save only one piece? What is that item going to be and why?
Tick, tock, tick, tock…
Ooohhh. I can hear the wheels turning. The choices run the gamut from Big Figs to pins to plush to artwork to DVD’s to something as simple as an autograph. Now I smell smoke coming from who knows where! This isn’t an easy decision, is it?
We all have a particular reason as to what this item might be. Memories associated with a treasured moment from a Disneyland visit might be one. A magical movie moment with that special someone might be another. All kinds of things that make it personal would effect your decision. But you still have to make a choice, don’t you?
Tick, tock, tick, tock…
I know. This isn’t getting any easier with me standing here looking at my watch. But that’s the idea. You need to reach a decision.
But I’ll offer a reprieve. You can post your choice to our Message Boards over the next week. I’ll have a truly special reward for both the best item chosen and the best reason why. Something magical. So magical in fact, that I can’t share it here. But something the winners will treasure for a long time to come…
To start off, I’ll give you an example with my snap decision:
Out of all my Disney memorabilia, the one item I would choose is a relatively small and (at one time) common item. It’s a complete Adult Disneyland ticket book, with the main gate Admission coupon still attached, and the full compliment of A through E tickets. In fact, you can still use it to get into Disneyland today, if you wanted to. (I got it purely by chance as a family was doing just that about ten years ago. I traded it for the price of a then current one-day passport.)
When I first visited Disneyland in the summer of 1965, those small pieces of paper were the keys to excitement that is hard to imagine today. Just looking at everything described on each coupon told of how magical that day would be. Didn’t matter if it was an A or an E, every adventure that awaited was it’s own reward. This was something we had never done before.
It wasn’t uncommon that if we came back to the Park later in the day that guests exiting the park would offer us their unused coupons still in the books. Remember, they weren’t valid if the coupons were removed! And if we still had any left, they made great souvenirs to take home as proof you actually were there. Talk about an easy way to make someone jealous…
Even though I’ve been lucky enough to have returned and visited Disneyland hundreds of times (well, it sure seems like it!) since 1965 that first visit will always remain magical in my memories. Things like seeing the “back side of water,” viewing of the “Fantasy In The Sky” fireworks, hearing the Disneyland Band from the deck of the Mark Twain or riding the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad for the first time make memories that I can draw upon. And that complete ticket book is a direct link to those days.
So, there you have it. What will you choose? We’re all curious to know…
If you were expecting Roger’s promised feature on the Disneyland Character Celebrations to appear in this space today, well… so was he! Technical difficulties prevented it’s appearance, but we hope that we can share it with you soon!