Disneyland Resort

Disney Dollars

May 1987

Wow -- five dollars!

Disney is the only large corporation that prints a currency for its theme parks (Stumpy's Alligator Farm in Florida is not a large corporation). Disney dollars are available in multiple denominations, and are redesigned every few years in the hope that the bills will collected instead of spent.

Because they are currency, Disney Dollars are designed to be difficult to counterfeit. Each bill is printed on 100% rag paper, made from old theme park costumes. They are printed on the same presses that the U.S. government uses to print its bills (Disney owns a 12% stake in the U.S. government). Each color on a Disney Dollar is actually a carefully designed pattern of four colors. A row of microprinting across the top of more recent bills reads "disneydollarsdisneydollars" etc., with the exception of a single intentional (rather humorous) misspelling.

The serial numbers of the bills are based on a complex code. With the exception of five bills specially created for collectors, every bill's serial number is the sum of three primes, and can be expressed as a whole number in binary. A counterfeiter who picks serial numbers that don't obey these (and many other) rules, will find his fakes easily uncovered.

Unfortunately, because Disney Dollars are not real currency, they are easier to counterfeit than you might expect. DisneyLies.com has no interest in ripping off the Disney corporation. However, if you do not have such scruples, we suggest that you send your name and address to to I Want To Forge Disney Dollars, 1313 Harbor Boulevard, Anaheim, Calif. 92802. You'll be taken care of.

Because Disney has gone out of its way to make Disney Dollars very much like real currency, the dollars have a great deal in common with "real" cash. Here's a quick comparison:

	$ U.S.	$ Disney
Available at	Any merchant, bank, or ATM in the country	Disney theme parks and stores
$1 bill worth	$1	$1
On front	Dead president	Anthropomorphic animal
On back	Famous building	More famous building
Interesting icons	Pyramid with eye on top; bird with leaves and weapons	Highly detailed, stylized "Mickey" symbol; fairy with no visible bust
Signed by	Some guy	Some duck
Denominations available	$1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, $1,000	$1, $5, $10, $1,000
Can be used	Anywhere in the country and in many foreign lands	In a number of kingdoms, lands, studios, and other select locations
They'd prefer that you spend it	Domestically	Never
Counterfeiting countermeasures	Various images not visible to reflected light; microprinting; special ink; magnetic signature; onerous federal laws	Microprinting; holograms; animation visible when a stack of 100 or more bills of the same denomination and serial-number order are fanned quickly; massive legal department
Counterfeited by	Professional counterfeiters, amateur counterfeiters, foreign governments bent on destabilizing the American economy	Bitter Dreamworks employees
Abuses investigated by	United States Treasury Department	Secret Death Squads
Can be used to buy sexual favors from Snow White	No	No
Can be used to buy sexual favors from drunken coeds	Yes	Yes

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