Tomorrowland Ticket Booth in the Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom History
Cast Members chat at a Disney Vacation Club stand next to the former Tomorrowland Ticket Booth in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, as seen during the 2019 Band and Chorus Disney Trip.
Back in the old days, guests at Disney theme parks had to have a ticket for each attraction. Some of the “lesser” attractions were A tickets, then B tickets, and right on up to E tickets for the most popular attractions. Did you use up all of your tickets? No problem, just go to one of the ticket booths around the park and buy some more. That all changed in 1982 with the opening of EPCOT Center. Since that time, your park admission also includes entrance to all of the rides and attractions. No separate ticket needed for each one.
Over the course of time, most of the old ticket booths in the Magic Kingdom have eventually been removed. But this one still stands in Tomorrowland. Of course, you can’t buy tickets at it any more, because they do not sell those. But you can get some information about joining the Disney Vacation Club.
Although my first visit to Walt Disney World came after the days of the attraction tickets, I believe that this ticket booth still looks a good bit like it did in the old days. It has had some colorful paint added, and sometime around the 1994 Tomorrowland renovations, a flying saucer was added to the top of the booth. But at least they left a little bit of history around instead of just tearing it down completely. It is sometimes nice to discover a little bit of history like that, even if you were not around to experience it originally.
About the Past
I have learned over the years that some people are more interested in history than others are. Many people today pass by the building in the above photo without ever knowing or caring about its original purpose. But it is pretty interesting to those who know.
In our family, Jaylin often gets history lessons about what we did at a certain place, or what the building used to be before it is what it is now, or who lived somewhere before they tore down the house and built a new building there. But he puts up with it. Mainly because if he is a captive audience in the car he really does not have any other choice.
Those old memories really don’t mean much to him at all. But they mean something to me, and that is why I tell him. It is more for my benefit than for his. I know that, and I try not to bore him too much with it. Some, maybe, but not too much.
However, as I get older, I enjoy more and more hearing my Dad talk about how things were back in what were to him the old days. I like hearing about what stores were where, or where they bought their groceries, or what store was giving away gift boxes for their grand opening. I probably did not care for that all that much when I was 16 years old, either. But now that my history is becoming more important to me, the history of others is as well.
History is even better if we can learn something from it, too. I try more and more to listen to the stories that people tell and see what they learned, and what I might be able to learn. Sometimes it might just be that Elvis sang on a rooftop at a shopping center opening. But sometimes it might be something meaningful that I can apply to my life. It never hurts to listen sometimes.
Bible Verse
You shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. - Deuteronomy 8:2
About the Photo
As with another evening photo from Tomorrowland, this one was a handheld shot with a prime lens opened wide to let in all of the light it could get. With the aperture set to f/1.8 and an ISO setting of 400, this photo was accomplished with a shutter speed of 1/45 second, which is fast enough for a handheld photo. The cast members weren’t moving all that much, so that they do not appear to be blurry from motion, although that would have been cool if they had moved a little more.
Processing was done in Luminar to bring out the evening blue tones in the sky, along with some more saturation in the colors on the walls. But nothing extravagant here, because the night shot was pretty good on its own, I think.
Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Luminar. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II
Lens: Sony FE 50mm f/1.8 Lens
Date: March 6, 2019
Location: Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Florida
