Ronald Reagan Library to Offer Advance Tickets for First Time in Honor of Disney Archives Exhibit

Disney D23, the official fan club of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), is pleased to announce that it has joined forces with the Ronald Reagan Foundation and Library to offer museum tickets in advance for the first time ever. Available beginning June 26 at 8 am PT, tickets can be purchased online at http://www.reaganfoundation.org/tickets for dates beginning July 6 to visit the museum and the Disney Archives exhibition.

Purchasing tickets online will guarantee access to the museum when desired as they are entry time constricted to keep the flow of guests at an enjoyable pace. A limited number of same-day tickets will be available at the museum for those who do not wish to take advantage of the new system.

When purchasing tickets online, guests will also have the opportunity to reserve the museum’s GuideCam audio-tour system ($7) that doubles as a video and still camera, pre-purchase a meal, pre-purchase the ‘D23 Presents Treasures from the Walt Disney Archives’ exhibit catalog and pre-purchase a Presidential Library Passport, the perfect keepsake of your visit to the Reagan Library.

Ticket prices range from $6 for children through $21 for adults with a small discount for active D23 members. Active military personnel are allowed free admission for themselves with ID (other guests in the party are advised to purchase tickets in advance online).

In addition, D23 Members are still able to purchase tickets to an advance preview of the ‘D23 Presents Treasures from the Walt Disney Archives’ being held on June 30 whose attendees include Archives Director Becky Cline and Disney Legends Dave Smith and Bob Gurr.

Showcasing the boundless creativity and unbridled imagination that helped define 20th century entertainment, the 12,000-square-foot exhibit — for which the Reagan Library has constructed an entirely new exhibition space — opens July 6 and continues through April 2013.

More than 500 items have already been transported from the Walt Disney Archives in Burbank, Calif., to the Reagan Library by the exhibit’s Official Logistics Sponsor, UPS, which is ‘moving the magic’ for the planned nine-month run of ‘D23 Presents Treasures from the Walt Disney Archives.’

Many of the items have never left the Walt Disney Archives and are being publicly displayed for the very first time. Artifacts on exhibit will include:

• An early drawing of Walt Disney’s first major cartoon character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
• The actual 9½-foot tall head of the Maleficent dragon from Disneyland’s Fantasmic! nighttime spectacular
• The fully rigged, 23-foot model of the Black Pearl pirate ship from the Pirates of the Caribbean films
• Meticulously restored, handmade books used in the opening shots of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty
• The very first ticket ever issued to Disneyland – No. 000001, with a face value of $1
• Miniatures hand-built by Walt Disney, which helped lead to the development of Disneyland and Audio-Animatronic figures
• The very first piece of Disney merchandise ever created: a child’s school writing tablet
• Walt’s own Disneyland name tag – as Cast Member No. 1
• A complete re-creation of Walt Disney’s formal office from the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, Calif.
• Original Audio-Animatronic figures from Haunted Mansion, Country Bear Jamboree and Pirates of the Caribbean
• A letter to Walt Disney from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
• Costumes worn by Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins, Glenn Close in 101 Dalmatians and Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean
• Props and costumes used in the production of recent Disney blockbuster films, including National Treasure, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, TRON: Legacy and Marvel’s The Avengers

Additionally, ‘D23 Presents Treasures from the Walt Disney Archives’ features an entire section devoted to items that celebrate the connection between Walt Disney and Ronald Reagan. Photos, letters — including a hand-written draft of a letter from Reagan to the U.S. Postmaster General urging the creation of a special Walt Disney stamp — and an assortment of archival items underscore the close personal and professional relationship between the two men, and Reagan’s commitment to honoring Walt Disney’s legacy.

UPDATE #1 – 6/18/12 – Disney D23 members will be able to purchase tickets online at a discount beginning June 25. In addition, D23 members will get access to the exhibit as early as 9:30 am, even though the museum opens at 10 am daily.