View source for E ticket

{{Short description|Highest tier of Disneyland admission tickets pre-1982}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{About||electronic tickets|e-ticket|the Disneyland fanzine with a similar name|The "E" Ticket}}
[[File:DisneyETicket wbelf.jpg|thumb|250px|Disneyland E ticket, {{c.|1975–77}}]]

An '''E ticket''' (officially an '''E coupon''') was a type of [[Ticket (admission)|admission ticket]] used at the [[Disneyland]] and [[Magic Kingdom]] 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 Parks|Disney 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.<ref name="Weiss2019">{{cite web|last=Weiss|first=Werner|date=August 2, 2019|title=The Birth of the "E" Ticket at Disneyland|url=http://www.yesterland.com/eticket.html|website=Yesterland|access-date=August 30, 2024}}</ref> In 1956, Disney introduced the "D" designation for the most popular attractions and upgraded several former "C" attractions including [[Jungle Cruise]] 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]], [[Matterhorn Bobsleds]], and [[Disneyland Monorail|Disneyland–Alweg Monorail]] "E" coupon attractions. Additionally, the [[Disneyland Railroad|Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad]], [[Mission to Mars (attraction)|Rocket to the Moon]], Rainbow Ridge Pack Mules, Rainbow Mountain Stage Coaches, [[Disney riverboats|''Mark Twain'' Riverboat]], {{ship|Sailing Ship|Columbia}}, Rafts to [[Tom Sawyer Island]], and Jungle Cruise—all previously "D" rides—were upgraded to "E".<ref name="Weiss2019" /> "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 Magic Kingdom 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]], which, when it opened in 1971, allowed its visitors unlimited use of its attractions after paying the admission fee.<ref>{{cite web|last=Weiss|first=Werner|date=July 9, 2009|title=More About Disneyland Tickets|url=http://www.yesterland.com/abcde2.html|website=Yesterland|access-date=March 3, 2011}}</ref> 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 [[amusement arcade|arcades]].

==Modern usage==
{{ref improve section|date=March 2011}}

From 1997 to 2004,<ref>{{cite web|title=Past E-Ride Nights|url=http://www.intercot.com/themeparks/tickets/enights/pastenites.asp|website=INTERCOT|access-date=August 30, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060317233122/http://www.intercot.com/themeparks/tickets/enights/pastenites.asp|archive-date=March 17, 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Walt Disney World]]'s Magic Kingdom hosted "hard ticket" special events{{efn|The general public and annual pass holders must purchase additional tickets to attend "Specially Ticketed 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]] flew on [[Space Shuttle Challenger|Space Shuttle ''Challenger'']] in 1983, she said to the [[Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center|Mission Control Center]], "Have you ever been to Disneyland? ... Well, this is definitely an E ticket."<ref>{{cite news |last=Mace |first=Ben |date=June 18, 2022 |title=Pages of history: From The News Journal archives, week of June 19 |url=https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2022/06/18/news-journal-archives-communist-hunt-arthur-miller-marilyn-monroe-jaws-sally-ride-first-woman-space/7572899001/ |newspaper=[[The News Journal|Delaware News Journal]] |access-date=December 20, 2022}}</ref> However, the term has become less common over the years since Disney stopped using lettered tickets for its rides.<ref>{{cite news |last=Flinn |first=John |date=August 16, 1998|title=Once-coveted E ticket fading from language |url=https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/Once-coveted-E-ticket-fading-from-language-3075021.php |newspaper=[[San Francisco Examiner]] |access-date=December 20, 2022}}</ref>

[[The Vandals]]' song "Pirate's Life" from their 1982 debut EP ''[[Peace thru Vandalism]]'' tells the story of the narrator riding [[Pirates of the Caribbean (attraction)|Pirates of the Caribbean]] under the influence of [[LSD]], exclaiming the line, "You get something really wicked, when you spend an E-ticket!" In her 1984 song, "[[The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun]]", singer-songwriter [[Julie Brown]] compares the titular homecoming queen to Disneyland's [fictional] [[Cinderella (Disney character)|Cinderella]] ride, describing both as "definitely an E ticket". In his 1993 song "[[Jurassic Park (song)|Jurassic Park]]", [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] complains, "well, this sure ain't no E-ticket".

In the 1984 film ''[[Night of the Comet]]'' during the department store hostage scene, Willy, the gang's leader, refers to the E ticket as he has the gun against Samantha's head.

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.yesterland.com/tickets.html Yesterland's tickets article]
* [http://keeline.com/DLTickets/ History and Pictures of Disneyland Tickets]
* [https://www.parksavers.com/disney-tickets/ Park Savers Disney Tickets History]

{{Disneyland Resort}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:E Ticket}}
[[Category:1950s neologisms]]
[[Category:Disney jargon]]
[[Category:Tickets]]
[[Category:Walt Disney Parks and Resorts]]