EPHEMERA : Throwaway paper from every day life (eg: advertising, ticket stubs, programs, some booklets and pamphlets, etc.) From the Greek work ephemeron, meaning something that disappears quickly
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Last week, I spent some time in the garage doing some work to our gas dryer. No big deal, but it led me to open a few boxes in search of some items I needed to complete the task. Okay, maybe more than a few boxes…
But among the assorted ephemera, I found a few treasures. At least, they are treasures to me. Treasures associated with memories of great visits to Disneyland with family and friends from a fair number of years, to be precise. But the neat thing is that these items were not all that expensive. Heck, many of them had been (shockingly) free.
Let me share a few with you.
From what I remember, this was one of, if not the first, Disneyland passports I ever used.
As a Magic Kingdom Club member (How many families saved more than a few bucks on Disney admissions over the years with this great corporate program?), this was a real treat. The expressions from other guests as we just waved these passes and did not have to hand over tickets for attractions was priceless. But looking back now, yes, I miss those ticket books …
Or how about this? A tag from the very first Disneyland Guided Tour I ever took.
Sure, it’s a bit worn. Flailed around all day in the Anahiem breeze on the string and I caught one of the ears on something so it is torn. But it was a lot of fun following that Disneyland Tour Guide around the Park learning some of the “secrets.”
Okay, anyone remember where we parked …
And how about having to pay two dollars to park in that big lot! If memory serves, that spot should be just about where the ticket kiosks are on the east side of Esplanade today.
Ah, the Giftgiver Extraordinare! And look at that prize I won…
Now that was a thrill. I saw a several people be the big winners after pulling the handle on the machine that took up most of the Hub. One person even told how winning the Geo Metro was how he was getting home that day, as his own car had died on the way to Disneyland that morning.
Okay, this really brings back a memory. When was the last time that you remember that a dinner at the Blue Bayou cost only that much?
Must have been a pair of Monte Cristo sandwiches, two Disneyland Mint Juleps, and even a shared dessert of Fantasia cheesecake. All that and great atmosphere, too!
Finally, an item that was a Disneyland tradition with me.
Starting back on our second trip to Anaheim, I always made a point to stop in and get one of these cards from Fortune Red, in the Pieces of Eight shop, just outside the exit from Pirates. For only twenty-five cents, I was always taken back to that first time I heard that music and watched as the mechanized finger traced its way across the treasure map.
But now, Red seems to have been retired to make way for more retail space. Or at least that’s how it seemed on my last visit in July. Too bad as some other guest won’t be able to carry on in the same tradition I did.
So, here’s today’s big question: Can these sorts of ephemera, these free tiny treasures still be found by guests visiting Disneyland today?
Sometimes, the smallest things in life can bring the biggest joys. For me, those joys are memories, family and friends and happy times together. Just doing the kind of things that Walt Disney intended when he opened the doors to us on July 18, 1955.
Sure, these things don’t have a lot of physical value. Between them? Maybe a few bucks on eBay. And they spend their days now in boxes, stored away. Maybe another five or ten years will pass before I look at them again. But that won’t make them any less special for me.
So what do you think? Does the Disneyland of today still have the sort of free ephemera that will cause guests to look back fondly on their visit to that park in the future? Or in our hand-held, wireless, “Please recycle” age, is this sort of souvenir disappearing?
To use Jim’s phrase: “Your thoughts?”