Park Mercahndise. T-shirts and Stuff

I came home yesterday from my Memorial Day weekend camping trip, and my Mom surprised me some t-shirts that we purchased from Deer Park Funland in the 1970s. (Now MI Adventure)

These were T-shirts that I wore when I was a kid. One is a white ringer T-with an image of the Corkscrew on it, and the other is an orange t-shirt, that says. "I Rode The Mutley's Putt Putts At Deer Park Funland. Both are in kinda sad shape, and can't believe how small they are! LOL!! I'm thinking of cutting the shirts, and making it into a throw pillow. Would be pretty cool, since they can't be worn.

I have all kinds of amusement park shirts, Caps and Mugs, but these two items are probably the oldest. Though I do have some Cedar Point shirts from the 80's, and a Beast and Vortex t-shirt from 1991.

So, what is the oldest park memento you have? The Deer Park T-shirts date back to 1978-79. Seeing them made me laugh...so cute.

My overactive imagination wanted the title to look like this:

I have a 1978 Kings Dominion souvenir map from my first visit that's still in really good shape, and it's the oldest piece of memorabilia I've owned since it was new.

But the oldest is a souvenir folder of Coney Island dated 1929 that my wife got from ebay for me on my birthday a few years ago:

Front Back Insert

The oldest park memento I have (that I know of) is a black Millennium Force t-shirt from 2003. I was only 13 when I got it and, despite the fact it was a small, it didn't fit me. I'm presently 23, and despite the fact I've grown some, it still doesn't fit me. Haven't bothered buying a theme park t-shirt since. They're all made in China and none of them fit a small guy like me.

Vater said:

But the oldest is a souvenir folder of Coney Island dated 1929 that my wife got from ebay for me on my birthday a few years ago]

That is seriously cool. I love old pictures and drawings of parks like that. Did you see it on eBay and pick it out, or did your wife find it on her own and think it would be a good gift? Either way, nice wife. :)

For the longest time, I had a Dorney and Wildwater felt pennant from 1984 or 1985. I got rid of it when I went to college, and I kind of want to smack myself for it now. I saw another one at an antique store in the area, but I couldn't see spending the money the dealer wanted for it.

Now my oldest souvenir are my shot glasses and t-shirt from Cedar Point from around 2008.

I agree with you bjames. I hate the whole "one size fits all" mentality, when when it comes to park t-shirts. And, everything has become so unisex. I also can't believe the amount of Black t-shirts that the parks have on the shelves, as one of the worst colors to wear at a sun baked park, is black.

It also stumps me as to why they will have a very cool t-shirt in larger sizes, but not have the same design in a smaller size. I seldom find a park shirt that I like, because they never go smaller than a large in Men's and all that is available in a boys size, is cartoonish versions of the big boy rides, or snoopy or some lame charactor shirt.

I do have a great Sylvester shirt that I got at Great America, that has Sylvester the cat with clawmarks on you back, and it says Hang On! I love it! I have a large collection of park shirts, mugs, and hats from many different parks. My next t-shirt will be a Gatekeeper shirt. If I can find one I like. My most recent t-shirt. Is a Maverick shirt. Also have a Cedar Point hoodie.

bunky666 said:

Did you see it on eBay and pick it out, or did your wife find it on her own and think it would be a good gift? Either way, nice wife. :)

It was a total surprise. She rocked it.

I have a Cedar Point postcard postmarked 1904. It's the oldest one I've seen so I had to buy it.

I wish I could go back and get some of the souvenirs I either drew on/cut out (like cut out coaster pics to hang on wall). And my long lost 80s Demon shirt. And the original Tidal Wave, Demon and American Eagle patches. And my Kings Dominion picture book. And that Great America shirt with the 3rd hill of Revolution on it. And a bunch of other stuff. Darnit...

I buy park shirts mainly to wear in parks these days (now that I have to dress up for work) so my threshold for buying one has gone up considerably. It has to be a coaster/park I love and a really nice design (preferably using stitched images as opposed to screened one ones.) Im also much more likely to buy a hoodie or polo shirt if the park has one.

I've had tons of souvenir cups over the years, but the printed images have all but disappeared. My oldest amusement park souvenir is probably a small Disney cup from the mid 80s.

I've also learned not to wear amusement park clothing to parks anymore, unless it's the same park. Observant ride ops like messing with "enthusiasts."

Timber-Rider said:

It also stumps me as to why they will have a very cool t-shirt in larger sizes, but not have the same design in a smaller size.

Often times the design template is only one size, so it may not physically fit on smaller shirts. Having had some experience with designing/ordering custom shirts, making sure the design will fit on a small or extra small without looking super tiny on a 3X can be pretty challenging.

^^I typically stick to a shirt from the park I am at or if it is a chain a sister park. Employees tend to notice the sister parks and strike up a conversation about it.

Here I am, a larger enthusiast, and what I've noticed is the cool shirts only seem to come in smaller sizes. Well, what'd ya know?

Hey Vater. I corrected the spelling error. My keyboard sticks sometimes, and the words sometimes get jumbled as I am typing. I hate that.

Hey CP Chris. I would think that a park that wants to sell t-shirts would spend the extra cash to make a t-shirt template that works in various sizes. And, with so much computer technology being used to design templates for just about anything, it would make it a lot easier, and cheaper for them to do so, verses when those same jobs were done by artists, and not machines.

Think back when those same shirts were made by american workers, and not shipped off to china to be mass assembled, with a generic pattern, to be made as cheaply as possible and sold for a huge profit. I'm actually suprised that the parks don't flood their stores with more shirts and merchandise, with as cheaply and quickly as they can be made today, verses 30 years ago.

I'd rather buy a shirt too large and hem it to size than buy a shirt too small and have to somehow add material.

My oldest personal mementos are souvenirs from Kings Island, 1973. These include a park map and a miniature Eiffel tower. As far as my oldest non-personal park artifacts, I have postcards, tickets, pennants, casino tokens, and various other sundry miscellanea dating to the turn of the (20th) century.

FWIW, I wear a large (or can squeeze into a medium) and I've never had a problem with shirts being in the wrong size. Then again, I don't really buy shirts.

One of my friends has a quilting business and one of her specialties is taking t-shirts and turning the fronts of them into a quilt. It's pretty cool and when I do get enough shirts, I'm probably going to do it.

One of my favorite CoasterBuzz mementos is Ensign Smith. I hope he sticks around. :-)

Well, I'm not that ancient...

But thanks. It's good to be back. :)

Well, let's put it this way. You're older than 1973.

You've got some catching up to do, son. We expect at least one humorous, yet pointed response to every thread by close of business Friday.