#disnephemera

Here's a collection I have of postcards with this "Mickey Unlimited" logo in the top left corner of them all. Some are perforated on the edge as if they were torn out of a postcard book, but others don't! They all have the same back (which will be at the end one singular time instead of repeatedly added!) I couldn't find any information about when they were published, but based on the character designs I'm thinking late 80s/early 90s ish... correct me if I'm wrong on that! I also think they look predominantly photographed in Walt Disney World but again I can't be certain on that either.

I have a few of these Disneyland booklets to share with you. Let's dive back into the 70s!

Here's the cover of the guidebook:

Fab shot of the Matterhorn Bobsleds

Here's a blurb about the Insurance Company of North America's 'Carefree Corner' on Main Street, and the table of contents:

I am finding it interesting that they always put the full park map right in the middle of the book rather than in the front? I guess it naturally opened up to that point where the staples are but seems unintuitive to me.

More General Information about the park:

Pretty standard park info that mostly applies today.

Here's what's different from today: the Ticket Books! (For those who don't know, this is where the phrase E-ticket attraction came from! Those were the best and/or most popular rides at the time, and therefore the most expensive ticket in the booklets!)

A lot of these attractions are still around in some form today, but you can see many that are long gone!

Here's what Main Street, U.S.A. had to offer in spring '73:

Lots of shopping opportunities!

Here's Adventureland:

A fairly large yet sparse part of the map due to the expanse of the Jungle Cruise. Also interesting to me there's a shooting gallery here? I always thought the shooting galleries were a Frontierland thing.

The lovely New Orleans Square:

I think only Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion are still the same today lol.

Bear Country:

LOVE that Teddi Barra had her own arcade omg!

The full park map:

I never realized just how small New Orleans Square was in comparison to the other sections!

The bustling Frontierland:

Both familiar and defunct attractions and food offerings here! Also "Gun Collection" is something I can't imagine Disneyland having on exhibit today.

The whimsical Fantasyland:

SO much kinetic energy going on in this area of the park; everything is moving around in this section of the park! Again, some familiar and some defunct offerings but I imagine it does look similar today.

Yesterday's perception of the future in the '73 Tomorrowland:

The most changed by far; I think almost all of these attractions are closed!

Here's the Food & Refreshments repeated with more detail about what they actually offer:

Which places would you want to try? Or if you went to these places, what do you miss from them?

Here's the stores repeated, also with more detail about what they offer:

A glassblower, hurricane lamp shop, and perfumer are the most interesting offerings to me! Can you imagine taking home a whole lamp like that???

More stores:

I definitely wish I could visit Merlin's Magic Shop. So fun!

Here's the Entertainment Calendar (or I guess Calender as they spelled it at that time?? odd), from April 11 1973 to June 15 1973:

So much amazing music!

More entertainment, and free shows & exhibits:

Lots of special parades for the spring. Interesting to me that Carousel of Progress is free and not considered an attraction! I didn't even realize that when looking at Tomorrowland earlier. Also funny to read that Circle-Vision has "the futuristic Picturephone, where you can see the person you are calling."

Finally, here's the back cover of the guide:

Here's a handful of photos I got, that I think are around late 80s/early 90s but I can't be sure.

Some snapshots of the Backlot Tour:

I LOVED this ride as a kid! I wish they would bring something like it back because it's so cool to see practical effects and the awesome movie props they had on display.

And the beautiful Great Movie Ride:

More thrifted photos! Here's these cool shots of the Future Corps performing:

via Wikipedia: "Future Corps first performed on December 1, 1982 and began an almost 18-year run as a full-time atmosphere group (7 shows per day, 5 days per week) until May 2000..."

Unfortunately I don't know when these were taken as I didn't take them and they didn't arrive to me dated or with other dated ephemera.

If you'd like to see and hear them in action, I found a youtube channel with a bunch of archived videos of them performing! I think they are so cool!

A lot of the things I have collected, I've gotten through estate sales. This weekend is no exception & I wanted to share some cool things I found to perhaps inspire you to search & save for stuff!

One house had literally all of their personal photos left behind, which is sad, but I knew there were likely Disney photos in there, and I was right! I found both prints & slides (I'll have to figure out how to digitize slides correctly). Another house had some relatively clean-looking fast food ephemera, some of which was Disney!

(Trust I would notttt have picked up the fast food items if they looked at all used or greasy but it seems like someone saved unused bags!)

What's most interesting to me besides the hidden gems in the photos I haven't gone through yet, is I actually have the full set of Hunchback of Notre Dame puppets advertised on the bag! I thought there were more than four of them (Phoebus, Quasimodo, Esmeralda, & Hugo) but they only made one of the three gargoyles into a puppet! I think I also have the Buzz Lightyear on the Toy Story puppets bags too!

(Not pictured are also two Muppets vinyl I got at a stealllll. The album art and sleeve are cool, and if I can figure out in the future how to frankenstein stitch together small scanned segments of a photo into one big one, I will definitely try to share that!)

What’s Disnephemera? Simply put: Disney ephemera. For those who don't know, ephemera is used to describe items that were intended for one-time use, or are often discarded, but were collected & preserved (often paper items!). Think things like tickets, maps, advertising papers, etc.

This is a searchable archive.

Well, hopefully soon it will be. It's currently 'under construction'. The eventual goal is to scan & upload everything I have, using keyword tags on each item so if you're researching something specific, you can easily find it! It'll take quite some time for me to work on all of this so please bear with me as I work on this page & setting everything up!​​ In the meantime, you're welcome to start your search here.

This is not an official page affiliated with Disney, its company, its products, employees, or any other entity. I'm just a collector of stuff! I have amassed quite a collection of paper items through auctions, estate sales, and other places that I want to digitize & preserve for all to enjoy! The views and opinions expressed on this blog do not represent or reflect those of The Walt Disney Company or other affiliated subsidiaries.