Gawrsh! Goofy’s Right on the Money! : Disneyland to Print Pastel-Colored ‘Dollars’ for Use as Park Currency

In a promotional maneuver that can fill Disneyland’s coffer with cash and lend the theme park the authenticity of visiting another country, Disneyland is introducing pastel-colored “Disney Dollars,” which visitors can use as currency at the park or keep as souvenirs.

Disneyland visitors will be able to convert U.S. dollars to “Disney Dollars” of the same value in a three-month pilot program beginning on May 5. The colorful $1 and $5 bills feature Mickey Mouse and Goofy instead of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, said Bob Roth, a spokesman for the Anaheim theme park. If the currency is successful with visitors, the program will be expanded to Disney World in Florida.

Visitors can exchange their money when they go to the ticket booths or any cash register in the theme park, where an estimated 10 million people tour yearly. At the end of the day, visitors can convert the Disney dollars back to real cash, save them for future use at the park or keep them as souvenirs, Roth said.

Disney is printing $2 million in “Disney Dollars” and will increase the volume if they prove to be popular, Roth said. The first batch of dollars would be considered the 1987 series and will have the year printed on them like regular currency, Roth said.

The Disney currency is a way for visitors to think that “Disneyland is a world apart from the rest of the theme parks,” Roth said. “By having our own currency, we create a Disneyland environment that takes you out of reality.”

But Roth acknowledged that the Disney corporation can earn extra cash if visitors do not convert the Disney currency back to cash.

“If people do keep it, we would make money from it,” Roth said. Visitors have the option of exchanging the currency at the theme park at any time, he added. The company does not have profit estimates for the “Disney Dollars.”

Research analysts think “Disney Dollars” is going to be a successful money-making and marketing tool for the entertainment corporation.

“There’s going to be no risk at all for Disney,” said Elizabeth A. Toth, a research analyst at Provident National Bank in Philadelphia. “Many people are going to keep the ‘dollars’ as souvenirs. And when tourists bring them home, it’s also going to remind them that they should return to Disneyland to redeem them,” she said.

The Disney currency is similar to the alphabet tickets which provided admission to the theme park’s attractions several years ago, said David J. Londoner, a research analyst at Wertheim & Co. in New York. The tickets brought back visitors who usually were not able to use all of them in one day.

Disney can earn interest and make use of any money that is not redeemed immediately, Londoner said.

And collectors believe people are likely to keep the “Disney Dollars” as memorabilia.

“Anything with Disney on it is very popular,” said Kelly Killinger, manager of the Little Depot at Hobby City in Anaheim. “Disney is likely to change colors on their items, keeping them different from time to time so the collectible value goes up. People are likely to keep them.”