It seems like every year Disney is celebrating some type of anniversary, from the company, parks, movies and of course Uncle Walt himself. As 2022 starts to come to a close we have one more celebration and that is over at EPCOT for its 40th Anniversary which was on October 1st.
When I arrived at the park there were plenty of new signs around for the 40th. But when I went back a couple days later it was all gone. So this was certainly a quick celebration that seems to not be sticking around too long.
Honestly there wasn’t much going on at the parks for this event anyways, other than mostly just merchandise and all of that was located in the Creations Shop just beyond Spaceship Earth.
As I’m sure you can guess there was plenty of items for sale with the 40th Anniversary all over it. I mean it’s Disney and merchandising is one of the things they do best. There was a huge line just to get into this store and I heard that the wait time exceeded 2 hours at one point so these items were in pretty high demand. Unfortunately I know that a lot of it was headed straight for eBay but that’s a complaint for another time.
If you are a pin collector they had you covered with at least 10-15 different kinds of pins, plus there is always plenty of t-shirts, sweaters, spirit jerseys, hats, magic bands and so much more.
Plus this is Figment’s park, so there is plenty of purple dragon related items on both clothing, pins and of course different types of plushies. Unfortunately there was no special pressed pennies or commemorative medallions (sort of). This is something I’ve always hoped Disney would start doing more, and for a little while we saw some Festival medallions appear but those haven’t come back in the last couple years.
However, I did come across a bin filled with some 40th Anniversary commemorative coins. They did come safely stored inside a small acrylic holder case. But the price tag on these took me back a bit. At $34.99 these were certainly an expensive coin to buy for collectors. We were told by nearby Cast Members that these were a limited quantity and once they were gone, they were gone. So of course being the Disney sucker that I am, I fought off the crowds and picked one up for my collection.
Yes I took it out of the protective case, but I really wanted to get a closer look at it. One side has the classic EPCOT rings logo with the globe in the center. EPCOT 40 near the bottom as well as the anniversary date October 1st, 2022.
Now I will say that it is quite hefty and weights in at 1.2oz (35 grams). There is not markings on the coin to indicate what type of metals it’s made up of but is a very nice looking coin. It has a diameter of 45.25mm and a height of 3.70mm. The coin has almost like a matte finish on it, which I actually really like and helps keep those pesky fingerprints from getting on it.
The reverse side of the coin has Celebrating 40 Years of Imagination around the edge, and EPCOT 40 at the bottom. The center is the EPCOT rings and globe logo again this time with no inlaid color. That is circled by all the different land logos like World of Motion, The Living Seas, The Land, Journey into Imagination and more.
Overall I was a bit disappointed with the 40th Anniversary celebration at EPCOT just because it seemed like Disney just needed an excuse to release a bunch of new merchandise knowing guests would rush to get it, and I was right there with them. I do wish they had released a special pressed penny or medallion just to help keep the cost down a bit for us collectors. But I do really like this commemorative coin and found out a few hours after I picked mine up that they were indeed sold out so even with that high cost it seems like guests were willing to pay which has me worried that the next big celebration may have even higher costs for similar items.
Happy Anniversary EPCOT, you were not my favorite park as a child because you seemed like I was going on a school field trip instead of on vacation. But as I’ve gotten older you have become one of my favorite parks and I certainly appreciate you more than I ever did.
Keep on Collecting!
David's Coin Travels 