Man gains entry into Disneyland with a ticket that was half a century old

In a viral Tiktok video, that has been viewed nearly 10 million times and liked by over 1.2 million people, a man named Mathew Ables attempted to use a 46-year-old ticket to get entry into Florida-based Disneyland. Quite unusually, he succeeded in his attempt and people the world over, congratulated him for his magical discovery. Mathew starts off the video by saying, “I tried getting into Disney World with a 46-year-old ticket originally worth $8.” The trendy video then begins with Mathew showcasing an old yellow ticket booklet that reads, “10 Adventures in Walt Disney World The Magic Kingdom” alongside a popping vintage design of Mickey Mouse and the Disney castle. The back of the ticket booklet read, “Admit one entry to The Magic Kingdom,” with a transportation voucher accompanying the same. He said that the ticket had been collecting dust since before he was born.

“I always assumed that it was just an old family keepsake till I realized that it’s never been used and there’s no expiration date here, which means that I’ve either found a golden ticket or I am delusional, thinking that the mouse is gonna let me use it to get inside nearly half a century later. So, I flew to Orlando to find out,” he said in the video.

He then took a flight to Orlando and walked towards the Guest Relations office, explaining that although he had an entry ticket but it was old. “Hi, I have a ticket for a day at the Magic Kingdom, but it’s from 1978.” A few moments later, he described, “I was getting nervous there because she was aggressively stamping void all over the ticket booklet and then left. But she did come back with this yellow pass which supposedly is good to get into the park.” He shows a brand new entry pass featuring a Mickey Mouse doodle on a bright yellow background. “I can’t believe this actually worked!” He exclaimed after having received the new ticket.

Thereupon, the video displays Mathew pressing his thumb on the entry biometric machine and stepping into the magical wonderland of dreams at the entrance of the majestic Disney castle. The video then recorded a banner with the current prices of the entry tickets. the banner reads $159 for ages 3 to 9 years and $164 for ages over 10 years. “Now today that same ticket would cost more than 20 times its original value,” he elaborated.

The video received a torrent of comments from his fellow Tiktokers. @boukenred wrote, “Glad that Disney honored it for you!”

Many people also said that these old ticket booklets are meant to be treasured as souvenirs and relics. One of them asked Mathew if he received the old ticket back, to which he replied no. Although he had asked for the same, the Disney staff had kept it for themselves.

Allison said that she used to work at the Magic Kingdom Guest Relations, and she often witnessed a similar kind of scenario happening there many times a week.

Several people also mentioned that they too have old Disney tickets with them, the ones that feature no expiration date. The current price of the entry pass is $164 when compared to the $8 mentioned in the ticket. Mathew, it appears, literally won a golden ticket to the magical land. And Disneyland indeed lived up to its magical reputation, honoring Mathew's old ticket.