For those of you that may not be familiar with Universal’s CityWalk for lack of a better example it’s kind of like Disney Springs here in Florida, or Downtown Disney in California. It’s located in-between the parking garages and the theme parks so you will walk directly through it on your way into the parks. CityWalk is a collection of restaurants and shopping experiencing that include some Universal specific stores but also a wide variety of merchants selling all sorts of different things. Plus there is a nice selection of restaurants ranging from Bars, chain restaurants, a steampunk chocolate factory, nights clubs and even a hot dog hall of fame.

CityWalk is a nice place to just wonder around after your full day at the park, to pick up some souvenirs you may have missed while enjoying the thrill rides earlier in your day.

In the area near Vivo Italian Kitchen and the Big Fire restaurants is a Universal themed store. In years past this used to be the main Universal shop. But recently they renovated a different section of CityWalk and opened a huge new Universal Studio Store which houses the more mainstream intellectual properties like Harry Potter, Minions, Jurassic Park, Transformers and more. When that store opened this store was retimed to their Legacy store which in my opinion I actually prefer.

You may be curious what they mean by Legacy. But once you walk inside you can tell that this is a very unique store. It’s filled with so many different props and items from former Universal attractions like the fan favorite Jaws ride.

Sometimes you come across items from rides that are still in the park, but I mean come on E.T. is a classic opening day attraction. Will it be removed and replaced? I certainly hope not, but I feel like it’s time may be coming to an end soon.

Once of my favorite rides from years gone by was Disaster. There was something so amazing about hoping on board that tram and heading into a movie set with a full on disaster taking place all around you. If you never got to experience it there are quite a few videos online you can check out. Unfortunately this was removed for the Fast and Furious Supercharged attraction which is a pretty sad replacement.

If there was one attraction that I enjoyed more than Disaster it would have been Kongfrontation. Above was a model of the cable car ride vehicle. I can still remember smelling Kong’s banana breath at the end of the ride. Such a funny but memorable moment.

For you readers that have been around for awhile you may remember that inside this store just near the main entrance / exit was a 4 design pressed penny machine. Well you will be happy to hear that it is still in this store, but was moved over towards the check out area. In its place we found a brand new Collectible Medallion machine. Universal has certainly been jumping on the medallion bandwagon and I absolutely love it. First we found some amazing Halloween Horror Nights Coins, and then not too long ago they released some special Holiday Themed Coins. I am crossing my fingers that we will see some new Mardi Gras Coins very soon as that festival is starting in a few weeks so make sure you check back for details.

I love the cabinet for the machine. It’s simple but looks like one of the wood boxes from that storage warehouse at the end of Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Arc. That seems to be a common theme in this shop as all the props on display seem to be stored in similar containers for long term storage.

The designs on these new medallions included E.T., Kong, Jaws and the famous Back to the Future DeLorean.

All of the medallions have the same back design which is a fun throwback to the classic Universal Studios Florida logo. I’ve mentioned in the past that I do really enjoy these medallions, except of course the price. They are $5 each or $15 for the full 4 coin set. That can certainly add up especially for us pressed penny connoisseurs. I don’t think these will ever completely replace the pressed penny machines throughout the parks and CityWalk but I’d be happy if they do pepper in a few of these machines as long as they keep releasing fun unique designs like these ones.

Below are some additional glamor shots of the DeLorean and Jaws medallions to show off some additional details of the coins. Special thank you to our friends over at Summers Raceway for the props we used in our pictures. Be sure to check out their YouTube channel here if you or anyone in your family is into Hot Wheels collecting and racing. They have some unique and amazing content. Enjoy the rest of your week and as always Keep on Collecting!

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Florida United Numismatists that just rolls off the tongue doesn’t it? Maybe not, and I guess that’s why they shorten it to just FUN and that definitely is a great way to attract people into a convention. I mean who doesn’t want to go to the FUN Convention. In all seriousness the FUN Coin Show / Convention has quickly become one of my favorite events to experience each year. I started going about 4 or 5 years ago and thankfully since then each Winter version of this show has taken place in Orlando which is very close to my home. This years show was from January 6th through 9th and unfortunately due to my schedule I was only able to attend on the Friday morning.

The event was held at the Orange County Convention Center in the North Concourse area. There was a fee of $10 to park, but that was it there was no separate entrance fee for the coin show. As with most convention centers this one is huge but there are plenty of staff around to help point you in the right direction.

Once inside you just need to find the guest registration area. Even though there is no cost to enter you still need to get a name tag to get down into the show floor. I was there shortly after the event started for the day and the line was very short and within minutes I had my name tag and a goody bag.

One of the freebies in the goody bag was a nice hefty medallions that was created specifically for this convention. This years theme was celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Lincoln Memorial. Above is a picture of one side of the coin.

The reverse side of the coin included the FUN information including that it was the 67th annual, and listed the dates of the show. It also had a map of Florida and a star for this years location Orlando. I have received similar coins at past events and always look forward to it. These have quickly become a special little side collection.

Once inside the event the size can be a little overwhelming. There are hundreds and hundreds of vendors buying and selling all sorts of different items. Most are coins and various types of domestic or foreign currency. I even saw some jewelry, watches, even gold bars. There was an area selling coin collecting supplies, and some companies known for grading coins were available to answer questions and you could submit your precious items for a fee to be professionally graded.

I took my time wondering around all the different vendors, but my collection is primary elongated coins and those were hard to find. But some items did catch my Disney-fan eye like the above coin celebrating Steamboat Willie / Mickey.

Another vendor had a pretty big pile of old Disney money that used to be available for purchase / redemption in the theme parks years ago. I remember seeing these on vacations years ago, and need to go through my collection because I’m sure I have some saved someplace. There was quite a markup on these items now that it’s out of circulation and certainly a popular item to collect.

Towards the back of the show floor was an area set aside for the member exhibits. These are always fun to look at as the themed can be on such a wide variety of topics. I saw one that was all about the reed edges on Roosevelt dimes, and another on Kenned Half Dollar error coins. Members put a lot of work in to these and some are quite elaborate. The above one caught my eye since it was showcasing some elongated coins.

After I checked out most of the convention I hunted down The Elongated Collector (TEC) table and was so happy to see my friend Cindy and her sister volunteering at the table. There were some exhibit cases on display with copies of the club newsletter, and other unique items. There were bins filled with various elongated coins at some amazingly cheap prices.

Each year when TEC attends the FUN coin show they have a unique elongated die created. They press quite a few coins and have them available for anyone that stops by the table.

The die is also placed inside the above manual press and visitors can use this to elongated any of their own spare change they may have on hand.

I made a bit of a mistake during my visit and grabbed one of the coins from the table but after speaking with Cindy she let me know those were zinc pennies. She liked to put those out as the shiny zinc coins always seems to attract some of the younger visitors. But for collectors she had a secret stash of copper coins available and I was able to get one for my collection.

Comparing the elongated penny and convention coin I like that TEC decided to make a similar design to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Lincoln memorial. I had a fantastic time once again at this show, and can’t wait to come back next year. It was always great to see and be able to visit with Cindy from TEC and truly appreciate all the work she put into during this event. For more details on FUN in case you are interested in visiting a future show you can visit their website here.

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