In the Summer of 1978, The Family Circus comic strip followed
"the family" as they visited Disneyland, over a period of 27 consecutive
days. I have been posting a "week's worth" of those comics each week, within the month of July. This is "Part 4," the final part to this series. To see "Part 1," click HERE. For "Part 2," click HERE. And for "Part 3," click HERE.
Sunday, August 13, 1978:
Monday, August 14, 1978:
Tuesday, August 15, 1978:
Wednesday, August 16, 1978:
Thursday, August 17, 1978:
Friday, August 18, 1978:
Saturday, August 19, 1978:
I don't have the panel for Sunday, August 20th. I think if there had been a Disneyland-related panel that day, I would have it in my collection. I'm assuming by then, the family had gone back to "normal activities" at home, and that's why I didn't save that one. However, the next day (Monday, August 21, 1978), the family was back at home, and there was a reference made about their Disneyland trip:
I hope everyone enjoyed this series of "The Family Circus" comics, from 1978!
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21 comments:
"We have to ride the trolley to use up our "A" coupons."
That was so spot-on back then, except that I usually chose Sleeping Beauty Castle or King Arthur Carrousel with my "A" coupon.
My favorite for visuals is the Sunday color panel of the Mad Tea Party. The Haunted Mansion panel is nice too.
I loved this series! Thanks for sharing these with us, TM!
Back when benches were a thing!
Ken, my family always came back home with the "A" coupons. I never rode a Main St. vehicle or went through the Sleeping Beauty Castle walk-through, until I started going to DL with friends of mine, and their families. I'm glad that you enjoyed this series!
Melissa, an updated version of that "panel" could have the family searching for a bench to sit on, but to no avail. Of course there would be a friendly cast member telling them, "Sorry, we removed all of the benches and trees because of Wookie World....the plan was called Project Stardust." And then the oldest kid could say, "Sounds more like Project StarCRAP!"
…and then they’d all put on red robes, hold hands, and Carrie Fisher would sing.
My apologies for dredging up that traumatic experience…
35¢ for a popcorn. That translates to $1.59 today. That’s pretty reasonable in my book..super reasonable compared to today’s $5.50.
We always had A coupons left at the end of a visit. We never seemed to remember to bring them on our next trip. I wonder where they are now?
My grandmother used to refer to this strip as The Family Circle about half of the time, mixing up the strip name and the ladies’ magazine, Family Circle, which she had a subscription to. Then she’d catch herself and laugh. I miss her laugh. In fact, I miss everything about her. Both of my grandmothers were wonderful people.
Thanks for bringing back that memory, TM! This has been a great series. I appreciate it.
Yay, the Haunted Mansion comic! The 8/17 one reminds me of the Simpsons going to Duff Gardens: "Oh this looks fun; a bench." That is one well-drawn popcorn wagon. Thanks for posting these, TM!
Major, that is so weird. I was emailed a comment from you for this post, but it's not showing up here in the comment section. I wonder what happened? If you had deleted it after you left it, I think I would get a notice about that deletion. Oh well, here is my response to your comment.
I agree with you about the details in some of the drawings. You had mentioned in an earlier post, that Bil Keane must have used some photos for reference. I think you are right.
As for the "A" tickets, my family always came back with our "A" tickets!
And there were many "Family Circle" books published. As mentioned in the comment section for "Part 1" of this series, "Kathy!" had stated that she had the book with the Disneyland series. She even helped out by sending me scans of two of the panels that I was missing!
Chuck, ha, ha! That's actually a great idea for a new TV special...."The Family Circus Celebrates Life Day In Wookie World At Disneyland. It could star Sandy Duncan, Ruth Buzzi, and Joanne Worley! Ronnie Schell could make a cameo appearance!
That's amazing that .35 cents translates into only $1.59 in today's dollars. The people in charge at Disney, are a bunch of money-grubbers, I tell ya!
I'm glad that these brought back a nice memory of your grandmother! I also have a nice Family Circus/Grandmother connection with these panels! I have "doubles" of about half of the panels in this four-part series. The reason for that is because my grandmother knew how much I loved Disneyland, and she saved me some of the panels from her newspaper, not knowing that I was already collecting them myself. That is why the font at the top of theses panels, is not always the same. I guess each newspaper chose their own font for the comic strip titles. When it came time for me to scan these, I chose the best of the two panels, because in some cases one would have more flaws in the printing, or it was much lighter.
Kathy!, I agree with you about the popcorn wagon drawing. I also thought the Haunted Mansion one was pretty detailed, as well as the Jungle Cruise and Matterhorn panels, from "Part 2" of this series of posts.
And I LOVE that "Simpson's" episode, where the Aunt Selma takes Lisa and Bart to Duff Gardens! "Duff Beer for me! Duff Beer for you! I'll have a Duff, you have one too!"
I never knew there were so many comics, I've only seen a few. I was 17 when these came out and I do remember our trials and tribulations with the ticket books. Thank you for compiling them.
MRaymond, in my online searches for the two panels that I was missing, I never came across more than just a few of them. I guess not many of these survived, or else nobody else was posting them online.
The generations that came along after the tickets were eliminated, have had it easy! They don't know what it's like having to plan out which tickets you are going to use for which attractions.
TokyoMagic, you got that right. I remember being so wound up the days before a trip to Disneyland, and we only lived 13 miles away. I planned which rides and tickets to use, in what order, where and when to eat, etc. The family only went twice a year (three if lucky) since there was no season passes back then. And all those plans would be thrown out the minute anyone else wanted to ride something I didn't like, like the Mad Tea Cup, or Storybook Land Canal boats (my sisters favorite). Good times.
Thanks TM. Really nifty posts. I had forgotten that Family Circus did the Disneyland thing until I read your part 1. So much fun to read them. A lot of people back then shunned the Family Circus as being too corny or "wholesome". For me, I find corny and wholesome an OK place to be. More as I get older it seems.
I think most of us have some unused A or B coupons. I actually managed to keep an E ticket from about 1969. It will get used when the time comes.
Thanks again!
MRaymond, I remember my brother and I looking at our giant DL wall map prior to a trip to the park, and discussing what we wanted to do. I don't know if we ever knew in advance which ticket book our parents would be buying and how many of each ticket we would end up with. The best thing of course, was when you could buy an "unlimited pass" (which was offered in the off-season through the Magic Kingdom Club), and you wouldn't have to worry about individual tickets and how you were going to use them. The next best thing to that was the Magic Kingdom Club's book of "Magic Key" tickets, which was like having a book full of "E" tickets, since those could be used on any attraction.
I remember my brother and I took turns deciding how we were going to use certain tickets. One example I remember is with the "C" tickets and the Fantasyland dark rides. His favorite dark ride was "Mr. Toad" and mine was "Alice," so we always ended up going on those two. As a result, we never went on "Snow White" or "Peter Pan." I did not end up going on those rides until I went with a friend and his family. It seems like when I went with my family, we tended to go on the same attractions we had visited during prior visits. But at the time, I was perfectly happy doing that.
DrGoat, I don't have any problem with corny or wholesome. But I also like "funny." I remember when these originally came out, I found some of these to not be funny at all. I appreciate them more now, and realize that they weren't all intended to be "knee-slappers!"
How are you going to "use" that saved "E" ticket in the future? Are you going to "cash it in" for credit at the ticket booths? I believe they still do that when people bring in old tickets, although I'm sure they get fewer and fewer people doing that with each passing year.
Mickey's Startacular Life Day Party in Wookie World is OK, but have you seen the lines for the meet and greet with Lumpy? They stretch all the way to the next galaxy. You know, the one far, far, far away. (Past the parking garage.)
Melissa, ha, ha! Lumpy! Now that would be a "meet and greet" with a very obscure character! Personally, I'd be over at the Cantina, waiting in line to meet "Bea Arthur, the Bartender." Even though I've actually met her before, many years ago!
"I believe they still do that when people bring in old tickets, although I'm sure they get fewer and fewer people doing that with each passing year."
Well, that's a poor exchange. You'd make a lot more money selling them on eBay.
Ken, I was thinking the same thing, about how someone would probably get more money selling the ticket to a collector, rather than letting Disney give them "credit" for it.
I wonder if this was around the time Glen Keane became a Disney animator?
Jennifer, apparently, it was. These comics are from the Summer of 1978. I just checked on Glen Keane, and it looks like he started working for Disney in 1974 and his contract ended in 1983. However, he continued to do a lot of freelance work for them, all the way up until "Wreck It Ralph" in 2012.
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