Month: January 2019

FUN Convention Winter 2019 – Orlando Florida

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This convention kind of snuck up on me and I thankfully found out about it a few days before it actually started.  FUN stands for Florida United Numismatists and they have two conventions a year, one in the winter and another in the summer.  It moves around to various cities throughout the state and this year luckily it was in Orlando at the Orange County Convention Center.

I’ve been to a few events in this convention center but wow it always amazes me how huge this place is.  If you make the mistake and park in the wrong area you could be walking for quite a while.

Once I found the right area of the convention center I checked in to get my name badge and was given a few special items for visiting.

The first one reminded me of a casino chip, and had the city of Hollywood Florida on the front, and the Florida United Numismatists on the back.

The second item was a beautiful medallion about the FUN convention host cities.  The back listed each city and the number of times it has hosted the event.  Before I go too much further I should mention that admission to this event was free, other than the cost for parking at the convention center.

As we headed towards the main entrance to the show there was a banner welcoming everyone to the show and even had some details on the other hosts sites which seemed to be a trend here.

Once inside I’m always blown away by how big these shows are and the number of vendors.

The tables are literally wall to wall with everything you could possibly imaging when it comes to collecting coins or any time of currency.

Many of the vendors were looking to buy as well as sell their own items, and there seemed to be a lot of transaction happening all over the place.

All the way in back was where the exhibits were where people have displayed some of their collection with a certain theme.  There are different categories and all are judged with the change to win your division.

I did come across some of the exhibits that had some elongated coins which I always love to take my time looking at.  The hard work and details they put into these are really amazing.

Below is one I came across that was about the FUN conventions of previous years.

After enjoying the exhibits we grabbed a quick snack in the food area, and then headed back to the aisle of vendors.  Eventually we found the TEC (The Elongated Collectors) Club table that was located right beside Mr. Raymond Dillard’s table.

Mr. Dillard was working both tables at the time we stopped by.  I had met him for the first time about 6 years ago at the ANA World’s Fair of Money convention in Philadelphia.  He is an amazing wealth of knowledge not just about elongated coins, but a wonderful man to just sit and chat with.

The TEC table had lots of information about the club including some recent issues of the new letter, pamphlets about the club, and of course applications for anyone interested in joining.

There was also a free pressed penny that they were giving out.

Mr. Dillard was also busy with his own table.  His manual coin press machine is always a visitor favorite.  I wonder how many coins have been pressed on that machine.

He was giving out a free pressed penny as well.

Usually if you have a special coin you want to press he will be more than happy to do so for you.  Otherwise the tray on the machine was filled with freshly pressed pennies.

This was another really nice looking design for the FUN convention.  As was the theme I mentioned earlier, the design listed all the host cities of the show.

Not only was he handing out free pennies, but his table was covered with lots and lots of pressed coins at very reasonable prices.  I could spend a lot of time going through some of those bins of coins.

We had a great afternoon spending time with Mr. Dillard and some other elongated collectors.  Eventually we were getting a bit tired and had a long walk back to our car still to make.

As we headed out I noted the next show would be in July and still in Orlando so we will be sure to come back them.  It was really a lot of fun and had lots of unique things to check out.

If you are not already a member of TEC you really should check it out.  I’ve been a member for about 10 years now and have thoroughly enjoyed being a member.  The cost is very reasonable, for 2019 the dues are $11 for a 1 year digital membership or $15 for a hard copy membership.  That just means you get the quarterly newsletter either digitally (PDF in an email) or a hardcopy in the mail.  Each quarter you also get a nice little package with pressed coins inside as well as the coveted membership coins each year.  There is a special editors coin you get if you submit an article to be published in the newsletter and also a recruiter coin if you help a fellow collector join the club.

On that note you can join by visiting the website www.tecnews.org and click on the Join/Renew coin.  Be sure to reference member #4237 so they know I’m helping spread the word and sharing the adventure of elongated coin collecting.

Follow Up – 2019 Dated WDW Coin Replacements

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This is a follow-up post to the one I wrote last week about the new 2019 pressed coins at Walt Disney World.  As I mentioned in that review there were four machines that had 2018 designs, but not 2019 designs.  So that meant that something needed to go into those machines to fill the gap.  It didn’t take too long after all the 2019 designs were released before we found out.

   

The first machine is over at the Magic Kingdom in the Main Street Train Station.  This is a pressed quarter machine that has had a dates design for the last few years.   For 2019 the quarter design was relocated to the Emporium, and the die was basically just swamped with this machine.

The Tinker Bell design has now been moved from the Emporium to the Main Street Train Station.

The next machine was kind of all over the place last year (2018).  Initially the 2018 pressed penny design was located at the Grand Floridian Resort.  Then about half way through the year the machine was moved over to the Yacht & Beach Club Resorts outside the Lafferty Arcade.

   

Now for 2019 the dated penny design was moved over to the Polynesian Resort in the penny machine on the second floor of the Grand Ceremonial House near the Moana Mercantile.

The penny design at the Polynesian Resort of Pocahontas and John Smith has now been moved to the Yacht & Beach Club machine.

The last two machines are over at the Contemporary Resort, one quarter design and one penny design.

   

The 2018 quarter design was replaced with a design of Mickey, Donald and Goofy that was part of the Friends mini-set.  This design was previously located at the Grand Floridian Resort outside the 1900 Park Fare restaurant but had been removed last summer.

Lastly is the pressed penny machine at the Contemporary Resort.  Unfortunately the machine wasn’t working when I initially visited earlier this week.  But the nearby market had some extra on hand when I mentioned the machine wasn’t working.  This may not always be the case, but if you run into this situation it doesn’t hurt to ask.

   

The penny design was replaced with an old design of Jafar from Aladdin that was part of a Villains mini-set.  This design was removed over 5 years from Cap’n Jack’s Oyster Bar in Downtown Disney (yes that long ago).

This is what I was hoping they would do and bring back some of these numbered mini-set designs that have been taken away over the last few years.  These mini-sets made for some fun trips around property to collect but unfortunately now most of these numbered mini-sets are incomplete unless you happened to press some of the designs years ago.

Well that completes the 2019 machines and the removal of all the 2018 designs.  Be sure to check back often for updates on new machines or any existing designs that are relocated.  Happy Collecting!

2019 Dated Walt Disney World Pressed Coins Set

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Here we are in 2019 and as we all knew was going to happen, the new dated pressed coins have made their appearance all over Walt Disney World property.  But first let me go over how I first found out the new designs were being released.  My daughter and I were over at Epcot just enjoying a day at the park and we decided to head over to The Land pavilion where Soarin’ is, however my daughter prefers the Living with the Land boat ride through the greenhouse.  As we walked inside and back towards the Garden Grill restaurant I noticed the penny/quarter double machine was pulled out from the wall and being worked on.

My daughter was anxious to ride the boat attraction but I asked her to hold tight for a bit.  I knew the 2019 designs were going to be released at any moment, but was amazed that I may have walked upon this actually happening first hand.  Once the machine was put back together and moved against the wall I leaned in and sure enough saw the new quarter design.  The woman who was changing out the design was very nice and spoke with me for a bit about the machines she had already changed out.  She mentioned that more would be out over the next few days.

And so it had begun and I made it my project over the next week to visit all the machines and document the new designs.

   

That first design at The Land near the Garden Grill was in the same location as last year.  The design has Chip and Dale on it and as I mentioned above is on a pressed quarter.

   

I didn’t forget to take my daughter on the Living with the land ride so we did enjoy that, but I was antsy the entire time just thinking about all the new designs around property that I couldn’t wait to find.  With the ride over we quickly headed to the other side of Future World and into the Mouse Gear Shop where we found the first new pressed penny with Spaceship Earth on it.

Something I’m not sure I ever noticed in previous years is that near all these new pressed coin machines was a large selection of 2019 merchandise like photo albums, cups, mugs, t-shirts and more.  I usually stay away from the dated t-shirts, but the one pictures above is calling my name.  I really like the colors this year and may just have to pick one up.

   

We then headed into the World Showcase to the Disney Traders gift shop and found the next penny machine.  The image is of the year 2019 and Mickey is jumping out of the Zero.  (Note: there was a new penny machine over at the Mexico pavilion we found but I’ll review that in an upcoming post.  Stay tuned!)

Those were all the 2019 coins available at Epcot.  Using the intel I had received from the penny machine attendant earlier we headed back to our car and drove over to Hollywood Studios.

   

Once in the park we headed right now Sunset Boulevard towards the Rockin’ Roller Coaster, and went in to the Rock Around the Shop to find the above machine.  The penny design was of the Fantasmic Dragon.

   

Just across the courtyard underneath the Hollywood Tower Hotel is the Tower Hotel Gift shop.  Towards the back of the store where the Tower of Terror exits is where the next machine was found.  This was a nice design with the Hollywood Tower Hotel pressed on a quarter.  Unfortunately that was all we had time for on Saturday and had to head home which worked out well anyways as I was running low on spare coins I always bring “just in case”.  Sunday we got up early and headed to our first stop.

   

The All-Star Sports resort has a whole wall of pressed coin machines just outside the Game Point Arcade.  The first machine had the new 2019 design of Goofy pressed on a quarter.

   

Just a short drive away we headed into the All-Star Music resort for the next pressed quarter with Minnie Mouse.  This machine can be found just outside the Note’Able Arcade.

   

The third resort is the All-Star Movies and the machines are all in the World Premier Food Court.  This resort had another pressed quarter design, but this time with Donald and a box of popcorn.  I will admit that I screwed up at this resort.  I just pressed the quarter design and left for our next stop.  After I got home I found out online that there was also a new 2019 penny design here.  So I had to go back the next night after work to get it.

   

Here is that pressed penny of Plus that I completely overlooked.  This should have planted a seed in my mind that maybe this year some of the locations would change (some in fact did) but I wouldn’t realize that until a few days later.

   

Next we drive over to the Animal Kingdom park (it’s not a zoo) and found the new penny in the same spot as last year at Chester and Hester’s Dino Treasures store.  The design is of the Tree of Life.

   

We then walked almost to the far opposite side of the park into Africa near the Harambe Railroad Station.  Currently the train is not operational as they are renovating Rafiki’s Planet Watch, and the pathway back to the train station is now where you can find a handful of Wilderness Explorer tables to earn badges (a free activity you can do in the park).  The cast will question why you are heading back to the train station that isn’t working, but just let them know you are using the penny press machines and they will let you by without any issue.  Thankfully the machine is now outside the station so it can be easily used.  The design is of Pluto on a pressed quarter.

   

A few days passed before I heard about the next machine which was at a new location, the Art of Animation Resort.  This resort has a pretty good food court so I headed over after work for some dinner and to check out the machine.  It’s located right as you walk into the Landscape of Flavor food court.  This is also a bit of a unique dated design.  Not only does it have the year 2019 with Daisy Duck but it also has the Art of Animation resort logo on it.  Guess this one won’t be relocated any time this year.

   

The next pressed penny was also at a  new location this year the Polynesian Village Resort.  On the second floor of the Grand Ceremonial House just outside the Moana Mercantile store.  The penny has an image of Minnie Mouse.

   

As you can probably guess the last three designs were in the Magic Kingdom.  First was in the Main Street Emporium the same place as last year.  The image on this penny is of Chip and Dale.

   

The second machine is about halfway through the Main Street emporium which is another new location for a 2019 design.  This is a pressed  quarter machine and the image is of Mickey in the Zero of 2019 just like the penny design in Epcot at Disney Traders.

   

This last penny machine was found in Fantasyland behind Cinderella’s Castle at the Sir Mickey’s gift shop (same as last year).  However this machine proved to be quite a pain for me to acquire.  The first time I visited it was jammed, so I went back a couple of days later and it was out-of-order again.  I waited a few more days and finally on my third visit I was relieved to find it quite operational.  The pressed penny has Mickey Mouse strutting his stuff over the year 2019.

So that makes for a total of 7 pressed quarter designs.

and 9 pressed penny designs.  For you math wizards out there that is a total of 16 press coins for 2019 which is one more than last year.  I’m not going to lie, I was actually hoping they may release 19 designs for 2019 but I’m happy with what we did get.  Plus with a few of the designs at different locations this made finding them a bit more challenging that I actually enjoyed.

Here is a picture of all 16 of the pressed coins for 2019.  There are a few designs that are the same on a penny and quarter, but I think it’s still a really nice set for this year.  At the time of this posting all the 2018 designs have been removed and retired so if you were missing any you will most likely have to check out eBay.  I say this every year with these dated sets, but make sure you get them before they are gone.

We have almost a full year but you never know what could happen.  Plus 2019 is going to bring us Star Wars Land (Galaxy’s Edge) and I’m hoping maybe I can use the force or a light saber to press some new coins but we will find out later this year when that new land opens.  Last year was a record number of new pressed coins released in WDW and I’m hoping 2019 will be even bigger.  Stick around and I’ll be sure to share news of all new pressed penny machines through the year and of course we will go on some other adventures along the way.

2018 Holiday Nickels – Disneyland and California Adventure

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This is going to be a quick post because well the holiday’s are over and we have a  lot of other things to see and do with the new year upon us.  But these coins were part of a strange situation that we don’t know much about and made them a bit of a hot commodity this year.

On December 21st it was reported that the pressed nickel set was released in the California Adventure park at Jolly Trolley Treats on Buena Vista Street.

As always they have a nice backstamp on each of the pressed coins with a bit of holiday decoration.  I only noticed after taking the above pictures of this set that the Mickey and Minnie designs go together with Mickey holding some Mistletoe and Minnie leaning in to give him a kiss.  Kind of a cute set within the set.

Then Christmas came and went with no Disneyland set.  Followed shortly after by New Years coming and going and still no Disneyland set.

Then on January 2nd the Disneyland Holiday Nickel set finally appears in the Main Street Penny Arcade.

Similar backstamp for the Disneyland coins, and to be honest even the front designs are very similar with the characters just in different positions.

The strange thing is that these coins were then pulled off-stage only a week later on January 8th.  So these sets were only available for a very short time, especially the Disneyland set which was only a week.  Luckily I was able to get a set from a friend in California, but just be aware that if you are looking for these on eBay or another aftermarket merchant the cost may be higher than usually due to this limited availability.  I’m not sure if there was a problem getting the designs made, or if they had to scrap other designs and that’s why we got similar ones.  Either way it was still nice to keep this annual tradition going and hopefully next year the machines will be available for just a bit longer allowing more people to press a set.

Main Street Confectionery – Magic Kingdom

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As we got closer to Christmas and the new year we had family in town which is always a great time but very busy.  Plus my job has its busy time of year leaving up to January 1st so there was a lot going on.  To top things off I was anxiously waiting for the new 2019 pressed coin designs (detailed post coming soon!), so I was surprised when a new machine made an appearance in the Magic Kingdom.

My sister and her family didn’t need much convincing to visit the Magic Kingdom that evening after I was done with work.  But we knew that being this close to the holidays the crowds of guests was going to be pretty crazy.

I always think the Magic Kingdom looks beautiful at night with all its lights on, and Main Street seemed even more magical.

If you are familiar with the current location of the penny press machines along Main Street, most of them are along the left side (when you are facing the castle).  This new machine though was in the Main Street Confectionery on the right side and maybe starting a new set of machines along that side.  There are quite a few shops along that side that have plenty of room for some machines.

Inside the Confectionery is like being in a candy factory.  All the shelves are stuffed with candy apples, popcorn, cotton candy and bags of all kinds of sweets.

In the back you can see some cast members working on a fresh batch of caramel apples.

Each of these stores connect to one another so you don’t need to go outside and back inside.  Rather there are just connecting doors in the wall, and on the far side of the Confectionery by this door was where the penny machine was located.

The cabinet of the machine is a plain white design.  I was hoping it would have candy themed designs on it, but the theming of these new machines doesn’t seem to go into that amount of detail unlike some of the older style machines.

Thankfully the store wasn’t too busy.  I think mostly because everyone was outside on Main Street were preparing for the fireworks.  I walked right up to the machine and pressed my coins.

The designs on the pennies in this set are really cute, and do fit in with the location of the machine.  The set includes images of your favorite Disney characters enjoying some sweet treats.  Mickey and Donald with Candy Apples, Goofy with some Candy Canes, and Minnie with Ice cream just to name a  few.

I have only been in this store a handful of times.  Usually with my kids on visits to the park we avoid candy stores whenever possible.  But it’s really a fun store, and if you have a sweet tooth it’s a place you can load up on some enjoyable treats.

I walked outside just in time to see some of the fireworks above Cinderella’s Castle.  We live close enough to the parks that most nights we can hear the fireworks, but there’s nothing like being there in person to see them high in the sky.

Now it was time to hit up some rides and maybe find a savory snacks, I think I had enough candy for one day.

Festival of the Holidays & France Pavilion Penny Machine Returns

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Quick side note.  The below is something I wrote up earlier in December but just didn’t get a chance to post it.  I had planned on writing something else for this week, BUT Walt Disney World decided this was the week they were going to release all their new 2019 pennies and quarters.  So all week I’ve been heading in and out of the parks and resorts looking for the coins.  Full review will be coming as soon as I can.   In the meantime enjoy the below even though it’s a bit late in celebrating the holidays.
Have a wonderful 2019!!
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Still being relatively new Floridians, my family is still finding it hard to get into the Holiday spirit.  Coming from New Jersey we had the transition from summer into fall with the changing of the leaves and cooler weather, then into winter with lots of snow.  But now in Florida it pretty much seems like summertime all year round.  There are some things we have found that help, but our favorite has been the Festival of the Holidays and Candlelight Procession in Epcot.

The decorations around the park are always a nice touch, and the topiary that are common for each festival in Epcot are always really amazing.

As you head through the middle of Future World you can see the top of the Christmas tree just near the entrance to World Showcase.

You always want to make sure you pick up the passport for the Festival.  This will contain information about the different Holiday storytellers, show times, and most importantly the food booths.

We checked out a few of the booths this year.  One we always visit is near the Canadian Pavilion and this year is called the Yukon.

We tried the French Canadian classic tourtiere which is like a meat pie filled with Beef and Pork with a housemate ketchup.  To offset the savory dish we tried some Ice wine from a winery called Inniskillin located in the Niagara Falls region of Canada.  The tourtiere had the familiar holiday spice and flavor I remember from my childhood in Canada and it was a nice treat.

There is also a cookie stroll you can partake in.  There are six cookies available at specific food booths around the World Showcase.  The cookies were only a few dollars each.  When you purchase your cookie, make sure they stamp your festival passport.  Once you have had all your cookies there is one last Completer cookie to get which is accompanied by a cold bottle of milk.

I mentioned previously about the Holiday Storytellers.  These are done by performers in some of the pavilions that tell stories or sing songs about the holiday celebrations from their home countries.  We headed to France and loved the stories told by Père Noël.

As a side story this our Holiday adventure through Epcot, I had heard a rumor that the pressed penny machine in the France Pavilion had returned.  So I took a quick trip into Les Halles the gift shop and patisserie to check it out.

Sure enough in the back of the shop where it used to be was the machine.  The cabinet has changed but the two designs were still the same.

The two designs are of Mickey with the Eiffel Tower, and the France Pavilion.

Now if you have been following my travels there was a post a year or so ago about a secret penny that was available here in the France Pavilion.  You can read about it here.

As I pressed a new set of pennies at this machine I watched the dies inside the machine turn and noticed the third secret die was still inside.  I was hoping this would mean that the Agent P interactive game that you used to play to get this coin would be reactivated.  However after chatting with some fellow collectors online the rumors are that the Agent P game will be going away in the near future and replaced with something else.  So unfortunately for now it appears there is no way to press this special coin.

After visiting the patisserie in Les Halles for my wife’s favorite chocolate croissants we headed to one last Festival food booth for a couple of items that we had been hearing good things about.

At the L’Chaim! booth there was quite a line which seemed to be a good sign.

First we tried the potato knish which I remember having in New York City on many visits.  This wasn’t as good as the authentic ones in NYC, but it was still really good.

The second items we tried at this booth was the Pastrami on Rye with a housemate picket.  This was really good.  I’m a sucker for Pastrami or Corned beef and really like this one.  I did with the portion was larger, but this is pretty standard size for the Epcot festivals.

We enjoyed the rest of the Festival around the World Showcase and eventually ended up in the China Pavilion at Nine Dragons restaurant for dinner.  We had booked a dining package for the Candlelight Processional that evening.  After dinner we headed towards the American Pavilion for the show and it was amazing. Our celebrity narrator was Neil Patrick Harris, but the stars of the show were the orchestra and choir.  The music and singing were really fantastic.

On our way out of the park after the candlelight procession I overhear someone say, “If that doesn’t get you in the Holiday spirit nothing will”.  I couldn’t agree more.