We are back with another State Park visit and this time we headed up to Apopka Florida about 40 minutes north of Walt Disney World to the Wekiwa Springs State Park

As with all the Florida State Parks there is a minimal entrance fee per car load but is well worth the cost with the nature trails, springs for swimming, picnic areas and so much more available to all who visit.

On this visit however my family opted to expire the nature trails. Which may have been a mistake with the hot summer temperatures and incredible Florida humidity, but we were determinate to still enjoy our walk among through the swamp.

The lakes and waterways you encounter on the pathways are gorgeous and you will find launches for approved watercraft if you are looking for that type of activity.

The Wekiwa Springs is available for those looking to enjoy a nice way to cool off in the heat. My family has yet to try out one of the springs, and I’m sure we will sometime in the future. For now since we are still fairly new Floridians, it’s taking a little time to get use to the wildlife before we take that plunge into a natural body of water.

After our fantastic stroll through the park we came across this fun little Nature Center located in-between the Springs and the main parking area. It’s not very big, but does have some fun little exhibits on display and plenty of information about the wildlife and plantlike you can find within the park.

Plus if you head towards the back of this little covered pavilion you will find a pressed penny machine.

While I always am happy to find a new pressed penny machine, these style machines are always lower on my preferred list just due to them not always pressing very well. Many times the coins are rolled short, and a portion of the design is missing. Plus lining up the design on the gear with the arrow always seems clumsy and not always accurate. That could be why the coins rolls short and I wish they would come up with a better method.

The penny designs available at this location however I can happily report pressed pretty well for the most part. The Raccoon design rolled a bit short, while the others were about as perfect as we could ask for with this type of machine. Each design includes the State Park name which I love, and the animal images are fairly generic. I’m sure these are creatures you “could” meet within the park, on our visit however we didn’t see any of them. Mostly just some frogs, and plenty of birds up in the trees.

I really have enjoyed visiting the different Florida State Parks and it certainly helps drawn me in that most of them offer a set of pressed pennies. We still have a few others to visit, and plenty of new pennies to press.

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After a fairly quick (for Disney) update the Country Bears Musical Jamboree opened on July 17th at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World.

It features the fan favorite bears (a couple with new names) performing classic Disney songs in their style of country music featuring genres of bluegrass, country-pop and more. The show is inspired by the variety shows performed at the Grand Ole Opry in Tennessee.

I am a pretty big Disney fan and love most of the classic attractions at the parks. We would visit this attraction every so often but it wasn’t something we had to do every time. Honestly if they tore it out and put something else in here I probably would not have been too heart broken. But after seeing the new updated show I really did enjoy it and am happy they decided to go in this direction.

The new songs are catchy and I found myself still singing some of them after I had long left the theater. Disney even released the official music on Youtube and I’m actually playing it in the background while I write this post. Their version of Try everything from Zootopia, and A Whole New World from Aladdin are my two favorites.

Before you head into the show and are waiting inside the lobby absorbing some sweet air conditioning, make sure you check out the new updated pressed penny machine. It’s located just inside the main doors as you enter the building. The cabinet is unchanged from it’s former version, just the coin designs have been updated. I also love the bear claw scratches found all over the floor. Nice touch Disney!

This new 8-design penny set includes some familiar faces but their names have been updated. I think this is a fun new set and I was happy to see this released shortly after the new show premiered.

If you are visiting the Magic Kingdom be sure to take a little break and check out the new Country Bear Musical Jamboree. It’s nice to see a classic opening day attraction get a little love and TLC. Keep on Pressing!

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Seaworld Orlando has done it again with another new coaster. They have definitely seemed to change their focus into these new attractions, as they slowly phase out some of their more problematic animal exhibits.

This time we head back into the Antarctica section of the park. There used to be a ride in this area themed around penguins where you got into a circular donut looking vehicle and slide around the floor following a lost penguin. That has all been removed for this new coaster.

I visited during the opening week of this new ride and the lines were not too bad. Guests are always anxious for new things to do and I actually thought the lines would be worse. The wait times were posted consistently throughout the day at around 45-60 minutes.

When you load onto the coaster it begin like a classic dark ride. It glides across the track at a slow pace through a few initial rooms to get the story started. Then as the outside daylight gets closer the first launch takes place and you are shot out of the building like a regular coaster. There are no inversions on this attraction, but there are some steep banks and plenty of twists and turns making it a fun experience. Family coaster seems a bit deceptive as I think it makes many feel like younger children could ride, but depending on your children that may be something you need to rethink. If you would like to see a video of the full attraction check out the very bottom of this post or click here for our Youtube video about the ride.

Once you exit off the coaster you get to walk through the old Penguin exhibit that is still there. Then you walk through a passage way exiting into the gift shop known as Glacial Supply.

As you would expect there is plenty of penguin themed merchandise inside and honestly most of it was pretty generic items that I’ve seen in many of the other stores inside the park. There was a small section of Penguin Trek themed items right at the front of the store.

That is where I found the latest Minted Collectible Coin featuring Penguin Trek. This is similar to the other coins we have reviewed in previous posts for Ice Breaker and Pipeline coasters. The coin is displayed inside of a clear acrylic case. The photo of the coaster and logo are a nice feature along with the colored coin showing the same image.

The reverse side of the coin has the Penguin Trek logo along with “Opened 2024” that I really like, as well as all the details on the coaster. This includes the company that made it, total length, height, speed, and other stats.

I don’t know what it is about these coins but I’ve really grown to like them and have actually been looking forward to this one. Whenever I hear about a new SeaWorld attraction I start wondering if they will release another new coin. The only issue is that the price is wild at $34.99. I was able to get a passholder discount which helped a bit but that’s still a high price for this item. I’ve never seen anyone else buy one and don’t see many listed on eBay so I’m not sure how many of these they actually sell and worry that if they aren’t very popular they may eventually stop offering them. I would prefer they just drop the price which I think would help them sell more. For now there are no new attractions scheduled to open at SeaWorld so it may be some time before we see any of these Limited Edition Minted Coins. Keep on Collecting!

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I’ve been lucky enough to travel and see quite a bit of the United States and Canada, but there are still plenty of places I would love to visit. Hawaii is probably the top of that list. My wife and I have been talking about maybe doing a future anniversary trip to the islands but for now it’s just a, hope to one day, type of trip. Hopefully if that trip ever does happen, I would like to either stay at the Disney Aulani Resort or at least just stop by and check it out (not sure of the rules for non-guests). Even if I’m all the way out in the Pacific Ocean I still need a Disney fix. Plus I was just informed that the resort has just released a new collectible medallion machine.

During some of my fantasy trip planning, you know where you go through booking a completely insane trip with all the trimmings but don’t actually book it. It’s fun to see all the different options available and things to do at the resort. The pictures I’m sure do not do this place justice, but even still it looks amazing in those pictures.

Now about those medallions I mentioned earlier. Since I have not been to Aulani I don’t really know the layout very well. The information I’ve received is that the Machine is somewhere on the main level of the resort in or near an activity center. If anyone has more specific details please let me know so I can update the info here.

The above photo of the machine was shared in a Facebook group and shows a bit of the cabinet and marquee sign. The cabinet design has an interesting look to it.

The machine does offer four different designs and each comes with the same design on the reverse side which is of the Aulani arch logo.

There is a sign displayed near the machine trying to give clearer instructions on how the machine works and the different payment methods. I do find in my travels that some collectors try swiping their credit card for just one coin and walk off. Not realizing they have been forced to pay full price for the full set and almost leave without the other three coins they paid for. I think this will help, as long as guests are actually reading it.

The designs available on this set of medallions include 2024 Year of the Dragon, Chip & Dale Surfing, Mickey & Pluto on the beach, and 2024 Stitch.

Above is a closer look at the design on the back side of each medallions. This is a great feature helping to distinguish where these coins came from.

I do like the dated coins as this would mean that we may see new designs each year. The only drawback if their location. Obviously not a place that most of us are able to visit often so that leaves either trying to find a set on eBay or connect with a Hawaiian personal shopper. The cost for the set is $20 for all four, or $6 each which is standard for many of the machines here in Florida at the theme parks. That doesn’t include any additional shopper fees and postage so it could end up being quite the investment if you really want these for your collection. Aloha!

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Yes we are back with another Florida State Park visit, but this one I promise is different. Well by different I mean we don’t explore a nature trail, or swim in a Springs. Instead we do get out on the water for a tour, however before I explain that further lets get inside the park.

After paying for the water tour we head beyond the ticket booth area into the park. It has some really nice paved walkways, and the foliage was fairly well maintained in this front area. There was also a long building with multiple store fronts for plenty of shopping options while you visit.

Ok now let’s talk about this water tour. We were not getting into any canoes or pontoon boats, instead this was a Glass Bottom Boat tour. My family had never done something like this before and weren’t exactly sure what to expect.

Above is a photo of the fleet of boats. The tours start about every 20 minutes and the boats can accommodate about 25 people at a time.

Here’s how it works, the glass bottom is a strip down the middle of the boat, and all the guests sit on benches that are along both sides and the rear. The front is where your Captain sits, and also has a microphone to ensure all their information and expertise can be heard during your trip.

Once we launched and headed for deeper water this glass bottom boat was amazing. My kids were just fascinated with it and couldn’t take their eyes off aways from it.

The Captains all have a set route they take you on, but with their own expertise can adjust the locations to help ensure you see plenty of aquatic creatures. During our trip we saw tons of fish, turtles, and about a half dozen manatees.

After our 30 minute tour, the boat was docked and we all unloaded into that shopping area I mentioned earlier. On the day we visited quite a few of the shops were not open. Thankfully for me the penny machine was located outside so I was still able to use it.

Notice the wheels on the bottom of this cabinet. Obviously this is for easier placement of the machine, and from what I’ve seen online it does move around quite often. However it’s always under this covered little shopping area with only a few store front so it shouldn’t be too hard to find.

The pennies pressed really nicely at this machine. It really seems to have been given quite a bit of attention to keep it working properly. I’ve had some not great experiences in the past with these penny pincher style machines. I loved that one of the designs is of the Glass Bottom Boat, then we have some more generic “Florida” themed designs of a couple Manatees, a Gator and a Turtle. All of the designs do also say Silver Springs State Park, Ocala Florida on them which is such a nice feature.

My Florida State Park collection of pressed pennies has really been growing and it seems like we do have a few more to visit in the future. This tour was amazing and I can’t wait to come back and experience it again. Thanks for visiting, and as always Keep on Pressing!

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