An E ticket (officially an E coupon) was a type of

admission ticket A ticket is a voucher that indicates that an individual is entitled to admission to an event or establishment such as a theatre, amusement park, or tourist attraction, or has a right to travel on a vehicle, such as with an airline ticket, ...

used at the

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...

and

Magic Kingdom Magic Kingdom Park, previously known as Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom (1971–1994) and The Magic Kingdom (1994–2017), is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando, Florida. Owned and operated by The W ...

theme parks before 1982, where it admitted the bearer to the newest, most advanced, or popular rides and attractions. It is now commonly used to describe a category of top tier and cutting edge theme park attractions. The term is especially common in describing

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

attractions of such a tier.

Origin

When Disneyland opened in 1955, visitors purchased an admission ticket to the park at the main gate booths and then purchased separate admission inside for each attraction. Less than three months after opening, Disney began selling "Value Books", each of which contained several of each coupon labeled "A" through "C", to supplement the pay-per-ride system. Attractions were then designated as "A", "B", or "C" attractions, and visitors needed to either purchase a specified coupon from a nearby booth or present the discount coupon book with the correct coupon attached. As determined by Disney, "A" attractions were the smallest or least popular, "B" attractions were more popular and/or more advanced, and "C" attractions were the most popular and/or most advanced. In 1956, Disney introduced the "D" designation for the most popular attractions and upgraded several former "C" attractions including

Jungle Cruise Jungle Cruise, formally named Jungle River Cruise, is a riverboat amusement ride located in the Adventureland themed section at various Disney theme parks worldwide. The attraction is a simulated riverboat cruise that travels along a waterway ...

to "D". In June 1959, amid the completion of Disneyland's first major expansion, Disney introduced the "E" designation for the park's most popular attractions and made the new

Submarine Voyage The Submarine Voyage was an attraction at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. The attraction features vehicles designed to resemble submarines. It first opened on June 14, 1959, as one of the first rides to require an E ticket. It was part of a ma ...

Matterhorn Bobsleds Matterhorn Bobsleds are a pair of intertwined steel roller coasters at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It is modeled after the Matterhorn, a mountain in the Alps on the border between Switzerland and Italy. It is the first known tubular steel ...

, and Disneyland–Alweg Monorail "E" coupon attractions. Additionally, the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad, Rocket to the Moon, Rainbow Ridge Pack Mules, Rainbow Mountain Stage Coaches,

Mark Twain Riverboat The Disney riverboats are paddle steamer watercraft attraction ride vehicles operating on a track on a series of attractions located at Disney theme parks around the world. The first was the ''Mark Twain'' Riverboat, located at the Disneyland t ...

Sailing Ship Columbia The Sailing Ship ''Columbia'', located at the Disneyland park in Anaheim, California, is a full-scale replica of ''Columbia Rediviva'', the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe. The ''Columbia'' has operated in the park for more than f ...

, Rafts to

Tom Sawyer Island Tom Sawyer Island is an artificial island surrounded by the Rivers of America at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland. It contains structures and caves with references to Mark Twain characters from the novel ''The Adventures of Tom Sa ...

, and Jungle Cruise – all previously "D" rides – were upgraded to "E". "E" remained the highest attraction/coupon designation for over 20 years. Several "E" attractions were added throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In 1971 the coupon system was duplicated at the

when it opened. The coupons had a face value for use on rides, with an "A" ticket worth $0.10, "B" $0.15, "C" $0.25, "D" $0.50, and "E", $0.85. This meant one could ride any ride if the ticket or a combination of tickets met or exceeded the value of that ride, so one could overpay an "A" ticket ride with a "B" ticket or higher, or present an "A", "C", and "D" ticket together instead of an "E" ticket. The coupon system was gradually phased out with the introduction of "passports" (unlimited use tickets) beginning in the late 1970s. This was largely due to competition from

Six Flags Magic Mountain Six Flags Magic Mountain, formerly known and colloquially referred to as simply Magic Mountain, is a amusement park located in Valencia, California, northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It opened on May 29, 1971, as a development of the Newha ...

, which, when it opened in 1971, allowed its visitors unlimited use of its attractions after paying the admission fee. By June 1982 coupons vanished entirely and were replaced by the present-day system where main gate admission entitles visitors to all rides and attractions, excluding coin-operated arcades.

Modern usage

From 1997 to 2004,Walt Disney World - Disney World Vacation Information Guide - INTERCOT - Walt Disney World Inside & Out - Theme Parks
/ref> Walt Disney World's

hosted "hard ticket" special events called ''E-Ride Nights'', where a limited number of resort room guests (usually 5,000) were allowed to purchase special tickets that allowed them to stay in the park and ride some of the rides (typically those that had been, or would have been, E ticket rides) for an extra three hours after the park had closed to other guests. The term "E ticket" was for some time used to describe cutting edge or top tier amusement park attractions, especially Disney attractions of this caliber, and “E-ticket ride” is a colloquial term for an exhilarating experience. For example, a ride in the back of a fighter jet is an E-ticket ride. When

Sally Ride Sally Kristen Ride (May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012) was an American astronaut and physicist. Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman and the third woman to fly in space, after cosmonauts V ...

flew on the ''Challenger'' space shuttle in 1983, she said to Mission Control, "Have you ever been to Disneyland? ... Well, this is definitely an E ticket." However, the term has become less common over the years since Disney stopped using lettered tickets for its rides.

References

External links

Yesterland's tickets article

History and Pictures of Disneyland Tickets

Park Savers Disney Tickets History

Discount Disneyland E Tickets
{{DEFAULTSORT:E Ticket Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Disney jargon Tickets