The 1939 New York World’s Fair had a variety of admission options – both presale and ongoing. It is interesting to notice that they had packages much like modern day Disney does. Here are the various admission options that were available at the world’s fair.

Advance options: There were two advanced ticket options for the 1939 Worlds Fair.

The first one was a special Souvenir Book of tickets which contained 5 tranfserable general admission tickets and six concession admission tickets. The retail proce of the Souvenir Book was $5.40 and the advance price was $3.75.

The second option was a non-transferable twenty admission ticket option with the person’s photograph. This option had a value of $15 and was sold for $7.50.

General Options: While the fair was operating, there were several ticket options that one could utilize.

The first was a one time general admission ticket. It cost 75 cents for adults and 25 cents for children between the ages of three and fourteen. And for one day each week, children could get into the fair for 10 cents.

The second option was a season ticket. Season tickets had the owners photograph attached to them and cost an adult $15 and a child $5.00. College students and school teachers could purchase a season ticket for $7.50. Seasonal tickets allowed the ticket holder into the fair as many times as desired.
General admission tickets allowed entry at any one of the ten entry gates and allowed you to walk the grounds and explore the more than 100 general exhibit buildings which housed thousands of exhibits covering the entire spectrum of human achievement.

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One Response to “Admission Prices for the 1939 Worlds Fair”

  • When we learn history solely through text books, we often fail to feel any connection to what we’re reading. We live our present-day lives caught up in details; we look at history as the “big picture.” Historical articles like this that explore small details of day-to-day life are refreshing because they can bridge that gap between our experiences in the present and the lives of people in the past. Most of us know what it’s like to go to an amusement park, and we’re familiar with how tickets work at Disneyworld or Six Flags, so now that person living 72 years ago doesn’t seem so distant and different, when I think of him/her buying amusement park tickets.

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