On April 22nd, 2023 Disney celebrated (yes another one) the 25th Anniversary of their Animal Kingdom Theme Park. I visited the park on anniversary day and the celebration was a bit subdued. I think between the 50th (WDW) and 100th (Disney Company) celebrations they didn’t want to over do things. There was a nice little ceremony in front of the Tree of Life with plenty of Disney characters.

Of course you know Disney would have plenty of special merchandise available. Some of these items were available a few days before, but they also made sure to have a few items released only on the 22nd.

Most of the items were available in the two gift shops nears the Tree of Life. One called the Island Mercantile, and the other is the Discovery Island Company.

This second store is also where we were headed to track down the new pressed pennies. There are actually three machines we were looking for and they are along the outside of this store near the corner where you would turn towards the Dinoland USA section of the park.

To make things a bit easier, all three of the machines are right next to each other. There are only three special 25th Anniversary penny designs, and each of these machines has just one of these designs. On a quick side note, look at the details on these machines. I love that big crab on the top grasping a huge penny and the wood carvings in the cabinet are fantastic.

Here is a close up of the three pressed penny designs. Each have the Animal Kingdom 25th Anniversary Logo along with images of Mickey Mouse, Nemo & Dory, and my personal favorite the Tree of Life that has some amazing animal designs incorporated into the tree including the stylized 25 for the trunk.

All in all it was a fun day at Animal Kingdom, but nothing too “wild” took place. There is no time frame currently for how long these 25th Anniversary pennies will be available. I would anticipate they will be here through May 2023 but any longer than that and you truly risk missing out on these new designs. Keep on Pressing!!

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