This is not to imply that you would get a parking ticket while visiting the Vacation Kingdom. But only that if you wanted to park at one of the Theme Parks, you would have to purchase a ticket. This ticket would then be left on the dashboard of your car, and you’d be ready to enjoy the magic! Until the day was over and you forgot where you parked.

I picked up this collection of stubs from a fellow Disney collector.

Today, it costs over $20 US to leave your car at any of the Disney Parks. But back in the early days, it was a lot cheaper:

So in 1977 you paid only 48 cents (plus 2 cents tax) to park but in 1982 it went up to a whopping 96 cents (plus 4 cents tax). I can’t make out the exact date for the blue ticket except that the day was the 4th, but the orange ticket was issued for February 8th (a Monday, if you’re curious). Note that the ticket has a nice collage of Walt Disney World icons at the bottom. This would change in later years.

But time and prices march on and by 1984, we saw another increase:

Now you had to pay $1.90 (plus 10 cents tax). The blue ticket was for January 27th (a Friday) and the green ticket was for February 2nd (a Thursday). Now we see a more stylized version of the Castle and a nice little car motif added along the top.

In order not to forget where we park in this modern age, we simply use our Smart Phones and take a picture of the signage next to our vehicle. But back in the dark ages, people may not have had a camera, and if they did, it contained film that would need to be developed. That would take days! Google that, it’s quite interesting! But impractical if you’re lost in a car parking lot.

So these tickets had a nice diagram of the parking lot which you could use to mark your spot. Then, you’d carry the ticket with you for later reference. It would also help you to orientate yourself in relation to the Theme Park. Follow that arrow!

Doc (of the Seven Dwarfs family) got no love in the Magic Kingdom parking lot. And surprisingly, neither did Mickey!

Now we go back in time just two years, again to 1982, but jump over to a different Park:

Remember the Magic Kingdom 1982 price, in February, was a total of $1.00 US. But now at EPCOT Center in the same year, in both January and February, it is now $1.90 (plus 10 cents tax) for a total of $2.00 US. So for a time it was more expensive to park at the one Park over the other. The yellow EPCOT ticket was issued on January 29th (a Friday) and the white ticket was issued on February 2nd (a Tuesday). And as you can see from the image above, the white ticket was ‘complimentary’, for whatever reason.

The EPCOT Center tickets use the same stylized icon idea for the Park logo with the same car motif as the Magic Kingdom tickets.

Now let’s have a look at the back of these tickets:

The white ticket, pictured above, doesn’t have any markings to show where the guest parked, but the yellow one did show that they parked in Communications, spot 45.

This parking lot had six themed areas: Energy, Communications, Mobility (?), Space, Harvest (likely indicating the Land), and Imagination. Apparently you could also get medical attention before entering the Park or just after getting off the bus. Was riding the bus a wilder experience back in 1982?

If you wanted to get into the Park itself, the arrow tells you to head North. But to see more ticket-type ephemera, check out my personal collection of FastPass stubs. Remember those?