Month: March 2018

Hitchhiking Ghosts – Disneyland, CA

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Foolish Mortals.

Ahh some of my favorite words from the Disney theme parks.  They have really created some fantastic attractions and things to do in all the different parks, but The Haunted Mansion has always been my favorite.

One of my favorite ghosts in the mansion is the Hat Box Ghost and I’m crossing my fingers that some day he makes his way over to Florida.  But for now he makes for something different when visited Disneyland in California.

Photo credit: Disney Parks

But my all-time favorite ghosts found among the 999 happy haunts are Gus, Ezra and Phineas better known as the Hitchhiking Ghosts.

If you have ever been to a Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween party and seen the parade it starts with the headless horseman which is really cool, but I think the effects for the parade float with these ghosts is pretty amazing.

I’m not sure exactly why I like them so much but they I think as a kid I actually liked the idea that they may follow me home.  Unfortunately they seem pretty happy where they are inside the mansion so instead I’ve filled my home office with as much memorabilia as I can get my hands on.

A year or so ago they came out with Tsum Tsums of the trio which I scooped up immediately.

I’m also obsessed with Magic Bands and have quite the collection but my favorite and most used band is the Haunted Mansion version featuring the hitchhikers.

Just this past Christmas my family gave me this Disney Traditions collectible designed by Jim Shore which is really amazing.  So why am I brining all of this up?  Well as you can guess it probably has something to do with pressed coins, and you would be absolutely correct.  However this is just slightly different than the release of a new set of coins.  The eagle eyed fellow collectors over at parkpennies.com figured something out that I just couldn’t resist sharing with everyone.

Photo Credit: Parkpennies.com

This is the story about a set of pressed quarters located in the New Orleans Square area in Disneyland.  As you can see in the above picture from Parkpennies is themed like a large coffin.  The first set of coins was made available in early 2012.

The designs on the front include the Haunted Mansion Banner, the Haunted Mansion Logo, and the Haunted Mansion Ride.  These front designs are really detailed and would be a great set all its own but they each have a special backstamp with some familiar ghosts.

I’m going to reference each coin by the catalogue number that parkpennies.com uses to try and keep everything organized.  The coin on the left is DL0518 has the HM Banner on the front and Phineas on the back.  The middle coin is DL0519 with the HM Logo on the front and Gus on the back.  The third coin on the right is DL0520 with the HM ride on the front and Ezra on the back.

When this set first became available I immediately contacted a friend of mine that lives near Disneyland and grabbed a set as soon as possible.  Then a few months later the machine disappears and returned with the same designs.  I didn’t think anything of it and figured I already had these coins and assumed the machine was just taken away for maintenance.  Little did I know the hitchhiking ghosts were up to their usual tricks and had hitchhiked onto different coins.  What do I mean by that?

Here is the set of coins that were available if you pressed them after the machine had returned in late 2012.  The coin on the left is DL0525 has the HM Banner but now had Guz.  The middle coin DL0526 with the HM Logo now had Ezra, and the coin on the right was DL0527 had Phineas on the back.  The ghosts seemed happy with these locations as they stayed this way for quite a few years until January 2018 when they were on the move again.

The ghosts had one last design to attach to.  The coin on the left was DL0678 with the HM Banner currently has Ezra.  The coin in the middle DL0679 with the HM Logo has Phineas, and finally on the right is DL0680 had Gus riding along.

I wish I had a better way to show both sides at the same time but I guess you will just have to trust me and more importantly Boomer over at parkpennies.com.  This makes for a very cool little subset of coins and one that I think most collectors probably didn’t even realize was available.  Now I’m not sure if they will continue to switch these designs around periodically which I think would be cool, but for now you may be stuck checking eBay for the original sets.

This is a good reminder to always take the time to really inspect your pressed coins and take in the details of the designs you just never know what you may find.  Oh and always remember to “Beware of Hitchhiking Ghosts”.

NEW Pirates of the Caribbean – Magic Kingdom

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I’ve mentioned in previous posts that my all time favorite Disney attraction is the Haunted Mansion, but coming in a very close second is Pirates of the Caribbean.  In the past there have been pressed coins designed for the ride, and the most recent was in a unique machine that looked like a treasure chest.  There is always something special when a new machine is made available in the Magic Kingdom so when I heard a new machine appeared there and was themed around Pirates I had to head over immediately.

With spring break still going on the parks were busier than usual.  After making our way down Main Street we headed into Adventureland.

The construction walls on the right side of the pathway are hiding the new Club 33.

For those of you that may not have known, the Pirates ride has been under a refurbishment that extended from mid February to March 2018.  Part of this closure was to update part of the ride known as the Auction scene.  The famous Redhead was being transformed into a Pirate auctioning off items plundered from the town.  The stand by line was over an hour, but I managed to get a fastpass and was on within 10 minutes.

Some people are not happy about the change as this is a classic Disney ride, but I actually was impressed with the changes and really liked the new Pirate Redhead.  After the ride was over we exited through the Plaza del Sol Caribe Bazaar also known as the gift shop.

I remember taking home numerous plastic pirate swords from here when I was a kid, and can only imaging how TSA would feel about them now at the airport.  This is a pretty big store and has everything you could imagine that is pirate related.

Over near where the restrooms are located is where the new penny machine is found.  This is the same place the previous 3 design machine was located but has now been retired.

These new 8-Design machines seem to be the new norm throughout the parks.  I’m still a die-hard pre-1982 penny person, but have been getting the hang of these new machines.  Being able to get more designs and with the electronic payment available makes collecting these a little more easy not having to carry around a pocket full of change.  If they could just figure out a way that I could use my own pennies in these I would be in heaven.

For anyone that hasn’t used one of these machines yet, should you come across one make sure to try it at least once.  The inner works of the press is really fun to watch.

The machine pressed all the “pennies” nicely.  I did roll  a couple sets and a few of them were a little short or off-center but nothing too serious.  The designs in this set include Pirate Mickey, Pirate Minnie, Pluto with the Jail cell key as seen in the ride, Pirate Goofy, Pirate Donald on a Cannon, a Skull and Crossbones, Dead Men Tell No Tales, and the Pirate Ship.

I’m not sure why but I just get the feeling that 2018 is going to be a big year for new Disney pressed coins.  This new machine is a great theme and I’m glad the Pirate attraction got these great new coins.  My fingers are crossed for maybe an 8-Design Haunted Mansion set which would be awesome (hint hint Disney).  But whatever comes out next I’ll be sure to get there as soon as possible to check them out.

Dinosaur World – Plant City, FL

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A few months ago we had taken a day trip down to Tampa and checked out the Florida Aquarium.  To get there we had traveled straight down the dreaded I-4 highway but I remember seeing a few roadside attractions along the way and made a mental note to look into them.  This past weekend I decided it was time to check out one of those places.

Dinosaur World is located just off of I-4 about 15 minutes outside of Tampa.  As we pulled up we were welcomed by this stone wall covered with dinosaurs that seemed a little cheesy but intriguing at the same time.

After we found a parking spot in the busy lot we headed towards the main building.  This is a combination gift shop and entry ticket area.  I was actually caught a little off guard as I entered this building.

As I’m sure you would expect nothing less of me I did research online before the visit to see if there were any penny machines here and thankfully there was.  However my surprise was that the machine I found just inside the main door was actually a quarter machine.

   

Luckily I always bring spare change and had just enough to press each of the four designs.  When I was young I was obsessed with dinosaurs and would have been able to name most of these without hesitation.  However as I’ve gotten older those crazy long names have escaped me.  To help me out thankfully these designs included the names of each dino and were of a T-Rex, Brachiosaurus, Velociraptor, and Pteranodon.

These pressed quarters also had a nice design on the back of each coin of a T-Rex and Dinosaur World.

   

Just beside this machine was a table and basket holding a collection of pressed penny booklets.  There was a generic penny passport that had a sticker stating it would hold pressed quarters.  The second booklet which I purchased was themed for Dinosaur World but would only hold pressed pennies.  That was okay for me since I don’t store my coins in these booklets anyways, but can resist buying these booklets anyways as a separate collection.  While I paid for the booklet I also bought our entrance ticket to the park and headed back outside.

As we exited out the back of the gift shop we encountered a large open area with some huge dinosaurs keeping an eye on everyone.  These were stationary and not animated at all but the details on them were still pretty amazing.  This first area of the park had a lot of picnic tables and signs reserving some of the sections for birthday parties (lucky kids).  There was also a dino themed playground, and a fossil hunt area that you could buy a separate ticket to participate with.

We just kept following the path through the park and came to a stone archway that reminded me of the Jurassic Park entrance just much less intimidating.  This welcomed us to Dinosaur World.

In this area we were on a raised boardwalk that wound through the thick foliage and trees.  There were dinosaurs around each corner and had signage nearby listing their name and some details about them.

We found some mammoths in one area but was surprised they weren’t inside a glacier or other ice age type cavern.  But I guess that’s hard to find in the hot Florida weather.

I was a little disappointed that these dinosaurs didn’t move.  Some had speakers nearby that would broadcast generic dinosaur roars or noises.

This area of the park had pathways that headed in all different directions but was much larger than I anticipated.  There was a lot of walking but thankfully the tall trees overhead gave a lot of nice shade.

Eventually we seemed to have visited with all the different dinosaurs in this area of the park and headed back to the front area to one last section yet to see.

The museum.  When we had bought our tickets the nice woman at the counter told us to prepare our daughters for the animatronic dinos inside as they can be scary.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but as you can see from the picture above there was another machine to use first.

   

This machine had three designs all pressed on pennies.  This machine did roll the designs a little short on the one end but the finished product wasn’t too bad.  The images on the coins included a Brontosaurus, a Dimetrodon, and of course the famous T-Rex.  These pressed pennies did not have a back design on them.

Inside the museum the pathway went back and forth hiding the animatronics at the end, but you could hear them making noise.  The walls had little windows that displayed different fossils and prehistoric items.

Eventually we made our way  to the end where the moving dinosaurs were but to be honest they were pretty tame.  My youngest daughter who is just 2 years old ran right up to them and didn’t seem to be bothered by them at all.

They didn’t move much and their sounds much but they were still detailed nicely to make for a fun finale to our visit.  After quite a bit of walking and sun shine it was about time we headed back to the modern-day.  It was a nice surprise to find two coin press machines here.  Dinosaur world was a cute little park and my kids really enjoyed it, but I think it would be difficult to spend an entire day here.  I’m sure we will be back to visit some day to visit the dinos and hopefully find some new pressed coins.

Town Center Fire House – Disney Springs, FL

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Did I just post about a new machine at Disney Springs.  Well with all the changes that have gone on there plus the still to come new restaurants and stores I find myself spending more and more time there and enjoying every moment.  I don’t find myself needing an excuse anymore to go visit the Springs but this past weekend when I heard that another new penny machine showed up I jumped in my car and headed over to check it out.

For anyone thinking about visiting just for this machine as I did, I parked in the Orange lot which brings you down just near the big Coca-Cola store and Planet Hollywood restaurant.  If you walk between these two buildings directly in front of you is a covered area that starts the Town Center.

Behind the construction walls on the right side of the walkway in the picture above is the Wolfgang Puck restaurant coming soon.  But right before that on the right side is the Firehouse also known as the building where the restrooms are located.

This does make for some awkward moments trying to take pictures and video but thankfully I visited early in the more before this area got too busy.

This is a 4-design hang crank machine in a nice full wood cabinet.

The designs that press on the pennies include Firefighter Mickey, Firefighter Donald, Pluto with a fireman’s helmet, and Red the fire truck from the Pixar movie Cars.  As you can see from the picture above the images came out nicely, however this actually took me quite a few tries to get this set to roll properly.

Above is a picture of the seven other pennies I tried to press that didn’t roll correctly.  Considering this is a brand new machine it’s surprising that the machine wasn’t aligned properly.  Just as a tip for anyone that may be using this machine I tried turning the handle fairly slowly and starting to press the design a little earlier that having the arrows completely lined up as per usual process.  It took a little practice but was able to get a full set eventually.  The machines throughout Disney property usually have stickers on them where you can report a message that is broken.  Unfortunately this machine didn’t have that so I tried submitting a note through one of the other machines to see what happens.  It’s not completely a lost cause at this point, but can be frustrating so make sure you bring some extra coins.  Always pays to be a little over prepared.

Food Truck Pavilion – Disney Springs, FL

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Fresh off the new release of the 2018 dates set of pressed coins Disney didn’t waste much time getting out another new set of pressed pennies.  The new machine can be found over at Disney Springs which seems to be a popular spot lately for new machines.

Over on the West Side is where you can find the big AMC movie theatre, Cirque du Soleil theatre, a Starbucks and some other interesting stores and restaurants.  This area is under quite a bit of construction right now with the recently demolished Disney Quest building making way for a new NBA Experience, and some other new restaurants.

Just past the Starbucks and across from the Star Wars Galactic Outpost and Marvel Superhero Headquarters is an open area just along the water front.  This area is where you can now find the Disney Food Trucks.

Usually there are three different food trucks here but lately only two have been available with the third one on the move around property.

   

The Springs Street Tacos obviously has various tacos for sale.  The Fantasy Fare truck has things like empanadas, chicken taquitos, and Mexican meatball sliders.  This area also does have live music later on at night and can get quite crowded with spectators.

If you are walking along the main pathway you will see the penny machine just to the center entrance to the Food Truck Pavilion.

The machine has some nice artwork on the cabinet.  The design is of the Disney Springs logo which I think is pretty cool.

This is a cute unique set of pennies that I hope they continue releasing.  The set includes images of Minnie eating an ice cream cone, Chef Goofy with a Turkey, Chef Mickey with a Sandwich and Dopey Dwarf eating Cake.  With the recent changes to Disney Springs and the massive amount of new restaurants now available these coins just fit right in to this area.

Above is a picture I took of the machine at night which you can see the area does get busier, plus there is a mobile bar right beside the machine which usually has a long line. This can cause a little congestion around the machine but people are usually nice to step aside if you ask to use the machine.

As I mentioned before I really like this set and think it’s a great new addition to anyones collection.  Hopefully they continue on this pace of releasing some more creative designs like these ones.  Side note, if you are visiting Disney Springs make sure to check out some of the new restaurants they really are great.  A few of my favorites are Art Smith’s Homecomin’, and Maria & Enzo’s.  Enjoy!

SeaWorld Part 3 – Orlando, FL

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On this third time around to SeaWorld another few weeks after my previous visit I decided to start early in the day and stay late if needed to find the last batch of penny machines.  The entire drive over to the park my youngest daughter kept saying she wanted to see sharks.  So I make sure that our first stop once we got through security was over to the shark exhibit.

This type of exhibit is pretty common now among aquariums where you are surrounded by the tanks.

Once nice feature is that when you do make it to the large main tank with the sharks, there is a moving walkway which prevents people from blocking the pathway.  This keeps everyone moving through, but at a nice leisurely pace so you can take some nice pictures or have the sharks swim along with you.  After we were done with the sharks we headed into the far side of the park that we hadn’t visited before.

A strange sight in the middle of Florida were ice glaciers, and snow.  This was all themed to be like you were in Antarctica and is where we found the Empire of the Penguin exhibit.

Once inside where you can see all the penguins I will admit it’s freezing in there.  This obviously is for the comfort of the penguins, but since we were wearing t-shirts and shorts we didn’t stay inside too long.  As we exited of course we found ourselves in a penguin themed gift shop.

The shop wasn’t too big, but did have a penny machine located inside.  It’s kind of around the corner, and I think that if we didn’t go through the penguin exhibit I may not have noticed it was here.

   

With these pennies pressed and stored away we headed out the far side of “Antarctica” and heard the familiar screams / laughter from a water flume ride.  Here at SeaWorld they have one called Journey to Atlantis..

I’m not a fan of getting soaking wet in a theme park and avoid these water drop rides most of the time.  My sister loves Splash Mountain so when her family is in town visiting I’ll join her on that one just like when we were kids.

On this visit I decided to try to stay dry so we just stood by and watched a few boats go down the large drop and get drenched at the bottom.  When you are looking directly at this ride if you turn 180 degrees you will see the above three machines just waiting to be used.

   

The first machine on the left side was labeled around the Journey to Atlantis ride but strangely the penny designs didn’t have anything to do with that ride.

   

The machine in the middle of this trio was themed around the Kraken which is another intense roller coaster nearby.

   

The third machine has designs of some seals.  This is probably due to the Pacific Point Preserve area of the park back near Antarctica.

Before we headed on I wanted to make a quick stop into the gift shop for the Journey to Atlantis ride.  Whenever I’m hunting for penny machines Disney has met pretty trained to look inside souvenir stores.  Unfortunately there weren’t any penny machines there but they did have a small little aquarium.  As we wandered around the store I also found a pressed penny booklet that I just had to get.

I’ve posted in the past that I store all my pressed coins in 2×2 cardboard holders inside three-ring binders.  However that still doesn’t stop me from collecting these booklets.  I have a large plastic container in my house just filled with them.

A little further past the Journey to Atlantis ride was a pit stop area with some restrooms.  We made the stop but only because two more penny machines were located here.

   

One machine is by the women’s restroom and the second by the mens.  I’ve never been a fan of having penny machines hear restrooms as they just end up being used to lean on, or people loitering around them.  Most are nice enough to move aside when asked, and more often than not you also get a group of kids wanting to see how the machine works.

   

While using this second machine I did have a nice family give me a heads up about some other penny machines near by.  We chatted for a bit about pressing coins and also let them know about TEC (The Elongated Collectors)  Club which they were unaware of.  Wishing each other well on our collection we split up and went in search of the last few machines.

Taking the instructions from my new friends we headed over to the TurtleTrek and Manatee rehabilitation area.

Turtles are cool, but there is nothing like a manatee.  I’m still fascinated by these creatures.  There was a staff member near by giving a little presentation about some of their newest additions.

Two orphaned baby manatees.  It was a heartbreaking story that is always sad to hear.  People just not paying attention with their boats and these slows moving animals.  The two just don’t mix.  But these little ones were being well taken care of and they were just really fun to watch.

   

After visiting with the baby manatees I headed back over to the Turtle area and found the next penny machine.  By this time we had explored almost the entire park, but we had one last area to check out.

Dolphins, how could I have forgotten about dolphins.  At the top of the tank they do have feeding times where you can help feed the dolphins.  Or for a better view of these amazing mammals you can go to the underwater viewing area.

If you walk down the pathway towards the viewing area is where we found the last two penny machines.

   

The machines are on either side of the pathway, but because this is both the entrance and exit to the viewing area and of course with the popularity of dolphins this area does get a little congested.

   

It had been another busy day but we enjoyed every moment of it.  After visiting with the dolphins for a little while we headed back towards the front of the park.  We had visited every corner and gift shop of the park and found all the penny machines currently available.

SeaWorld definitely has a lot of offer and we will be back hopefully before too long.  With a total of 24 machines each with 4 penny designs that’s a total of 96 pennies.  Most of the machines do have the ability to make change if needed but I always recommend coming prepared whenever possible.  This would be a massive project to try to collect all of these during one visit, but not completely out of the question.  I’m not sure you would have time for much else.  As I mentioned there is a lot to see and do here so take your time and enjoy it.