My how times flies when you’re having fun. Summer came and went, school started and spooky season arrived in the blink of an eye. In Central Florida where I live we have quite a few different Halloween events available each year. I’ve mentioned numerous times in the past that top of my list is always Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights.

As with the last few years there are once again a total of 10 houses available to explore, and 5 unique scare zones to try and walk through safely. The back stories created by Universal Creative are incredibly detailed and worth learning about if you are even just a moderate fan of this event. There are details that intertwine some of the scare zones, houses and even characters that the average guest probably wouldn’t even realize exist.

My favorite scare zone this year was Torture Fair which was located back in the New York section of the park. However it did include a lot of pretty gory scenes so I’ll spare you those, if you are interested I’m sure you can easily find videos on Youtube. To keep things a little more PG here the above photo is from my next favorite scare zone known as Swamp of the Undead. In the backwaters of Louisiana you unwittingly wander onto private property where you’re swamped by zombies borne from the bodies of other trespassers. This one was a lot of fun, and the actors were great to interact with.

Time to chat about the houses. They were all pretty good, however it seems like the wait times were incredibly long this year. Don’t get me wrong every year they are long, but this year seemed longer than usual. I’m not sure if it’s due to the event being even more popular, or they are selling more Express Passes that make the regular queue lines longer. Whatever the case is, if you are visiting either ante up for the Express option, or be prepared to wait to experience the houses.

I’m lucky enough to be a blessing to get a frequent fear pass so I can visit multiple times during the season. This makes visiting all the houses a bit easier since I don’t need to try and accomplish all of them in one night. It did take a few visits for me to eventually get through all of them. Many times I’m asked for my top houses and here’s this years list.

#3 – Triplets of Terror

#2 – Slaughter Sinema 2

#1 – Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines
Get caught in an epic battle as Saskia Van Helsing and the Bride of Frankenstein go up against Dracula’s daughter and her monstrous mavens.

Scare zones – check, Haunted Houses – check, now on to this years Tribute Store which has you enter through a storage container covered in graffiti.

Usually I’m a huge fan of the HHN Tribute Store but I found myself not as interested in this years edition. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it, I just felt that other years were better themes.

Maybe it was because I wasn’t super excited for the IP (intellectual property) houses which is usually what the different rooms are themed around. In years past I would explore the store each time I visited, this year unfortunately it was a one and done.

The souvenir medallion machine was located in the same spot it’s been the last few years, right at the exit to the Tribute Store before you head back out into the park. I always wish this machine was themed a bit better for Horror Nights, but I believe this is the same machine they use for the other Tribute Stores throughout the year and they probably don’t want to have to clean off fake blood after the spooky season is done.

The medallion set this year includes the fan favorite Lil’ Boo pumpkin, Major Sweets (last year was a scare zone, this year a full blown house), A Quite Place, and Slimer from Ghostbusters.

The design on the reverse side of all the coins is the 2024 Halloween Horror Nights logo which I really like. I think this is a cool new design with the skull and crossbones plus I always like to see a date on it so I know they won’t reuse them next year.

That’s another Halloween Horror Nights in the books. I had a lot of fun once again this year, and the scare actors all did an amazing job. I’m ready for a little down time to get through the Holidays, then I’ll be ready to start preparing for next years Halloween season. Stay safe and Keep on Collecting!

If you are like me when you think of The Headless Horseman your mind may immediately go to the Disney classic The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad where a segment features the ominous figure chasing after poor Ichabod. However this mythical figure had roots that go back centuries appearing in folklore around Europe since the Middle Ages. The figures traditionally depict a rider upon horseback who is missing their head. Depending on the legend, the Horseman is either carrying his head, or missing it altogether, and may be searching for it.

To help us celebrate the spooky season, elongated coin designer Amy Brennan has released her latest Halloween themed coin. This time featuring The Headless Horseman, with a dead creepy tree and some tombstones in the background and the phrase “Heads will Roll”.

This is another fantastic design from Amy. I enjoy all her designs but these Halloween themed ones have a very special place in my collection and I look forward to them each year. If you are interested in acquiring one of these for your own collection, she can be reached through her Facebook group Pressed Penny Mafia – PPM.

Stay Spooky and as always Keep on Pressing!!

Living in central Florida we have a lot of different entertainment options. From the theme parks, to places like Gatorland, Icon Park, dinner shows, shopping and anything else you can think of. Of course that also includes many different types of restaurants and fast food locations. However one of those is strictly unique to Orlando and that is being the home to the World’s Largest McDonald’s.

I have visited this location a few times years ago and once we moved here kind of forgot about it. It’s definitely in a very tourist area just off of International Drive and Sand Lake Road. So needless to say this place can get really busy and if I have a need for McDonald’s there are plenty of them in other areas of town that are easier to get in and out of.

However my kids absolutely love this place so we have been finding ourselves coming here a bit more often than I probably would like to. We try to come in the middle of the week and during not meal times to help keep the crowds down. Here you can see what the first floor looks like near the main ordering area. They even have a really nice aquarium in the middle.

Upstairs on the second floor is a huge arcade, and multilevel playground for the kids. Guests can also earn tickets from some of the games and then cash them in for prizes kind of like Chuck E. Cheese.

There is plenty of seating downstairs, but I find it fills up quickly and upstairs is our preferred area to find a table and then let the kids go play while we wait for our food to be delivered.

This is the corner we usually pick and it gives us a nice view into the kids playground area so we can keep an eye on them as they play. Any hardcore McDonald’s fans may notice a familiar face sitting in front of his piano. That’s right they have Mac Tonight chatting it up and playing some music while you eat.

On my latest visit there was another reason I was there and we will get to that soon but I’m sure you can guess what it may be. Before I did that, I was a bit hungry and placed my order. You may notice in the above photo that their kitchen looks a bit different. This is actually a secondary kitchen, they have a standard one on the other side, this one is where they made special breakfast items like omelets and scrambled eggs. Then for lunch and dinner they have a brick oven to make pizza and pastas.

Like many McDonald’s they have large touch screens for you to place your order. There are numbered markers that you then take and place on your table so the staff can then deliver your food directly to you once it’s done. For science purposes I decided to try their pizza and just got a standard pepperoni and mozzarella. The crust was a little soft and floppy but the flavor wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately in Florida we don’t have great pizza options and this is probably just as good as many of those locations.

I did want to try one other unique item I’ve never seen available at a McDonald’s and that is their “Philly” Cheesesteak. I’m putting the “philly” in quotes because I think Philadelphia would be pretty upset if they knew about this. It’s just a hamburger patty chopped up with some American cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and mayo. It’s honestly more like a New York Chopped Cheese sandwich but still not very good and I would avoid this.

Now with lunch behind me it was time to track down some new souvenir coin machines. I cannot take credit for finding these, I actually heard about them through another collector (Thank you Joe Watts) from one of the Facebook elongated coin groups.

First lets take a look at the Collectible McDallions (Haha I actually just noticed this as I’m typing). I love this machine, the colors are great and I’m absolutely going to be using that hashtag when I post this and my photos on social media.

This set of McDallions (yes I’m sticking with it) have some fun designs. One is of the outside of the building and lists their established date as 1976. There is one of Ronald McDonald, the Hamburgler, and Grimace. Now that I think about it I should have tried that purple Grimace shake.

The reverse side of each McDallion has the same image which has Ronald and his friends waving around the corner of a brick wall with the Golden Arches. Along the edge of the coin it states “World’s Largest Entertainment McDonald’s”. Hmmm Entertainment McDonald’s we may have found their loophole to having that World’s Largest title.

They also had a pressed penny machine. This cabinet is not quite a fun, but a fairly generic plain wood grain. It is also a 3-design electric model. The coins cost $1.00 each or $3.00 for the full set, math is fun!

In case you were wondering, yes the machine does supply the penny for you so don’t bother brining your own. I always kind of chuckle at this sign because it’s almost like McDonald’s thinks they are doing us a favor by supplying the penny.

At least the pennies I got were nice a shiny even though they were newer zinc coins. The design on each penny include a Big Mac, Ronald McDonald and a classic Kids Happy Meal.

This made for a fun little adventure. As I had sat there eating my lunch I wondered why more McDonald’s don’t have coin machines. They have a huge customer base, the machines don’t take up too much room and like some other places (Ahem Buc-ee’s) they could create designs custom for each location with the city and state on it. Many collector’s (casual or serious) would make pilgrimages across the country collecting them. I do remember using a penny machine one other time at a McDonald’s and it was in Pennsylvania. Those designs had nothing to do with McDonald’s they were more generic and I assume the owner of the machine was just temporarily keeping it there while looking for a more permanent home.

We will definitely be back and will keep an eye on these coins to see if they get updated at all in the future. Be sure to stop by if you are in the area, it’s a fun place to visit and you can tell everyone you know that you visited the World’s Largest Entertainment McDonald’s in the World.

Keep on Pressing!

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My family was enjoying a visit to EPCOT over a recent weekend. It was an interesting time to visit as it was one of those rare times when there was not a festival going on. The park attendance seems lighter than usual, and even the temperature was cooperating. Don’t get me wrong it was still hot, but not as hot as we usually encounter in the middle of summer. My oldest daughter and I headed over to the Guardians of the Galaxy coaster, while my youngest daughter and wife headed to the Seas with Nemo and Friends.

Once we were done with the coaster we headed over to Nemo to meet up and decided to take another ride through the Ocean with Nemo and his grand adventure.

It’s a cute slow moving dark ride attraction with some nicely detailed scenes and projections that are a bit dated and could use an updating soon. This is nothing too state of the art by todays standards but my youngest daughter absolutely loves it.

Once the ride is over you exit in to the SeaBase that setup like an aquarium. I remember in years past there used to be all sorts of things going on inside. Now it’s mostly just large tanks filled with all sorts of sea life.

If you look closely inside one of the largest tanks you may even spot a not so hidden mickey. This is also where guests can scuba dive at certain times of the day which I can only image would be a really fun experience.

There is also a nursery up on the second floor with some smaller creatures. I don’t think they are actually babies, but they are beautiful tanks and the colors of the fish are really striking. They also do have quite a few cast members around answering questions if you have any.

As you are leaving the SeaBase you will exit through a small gift shop and along one of the walls you will find a few souvenir machines.

On the left is a penny press machine that we have visited many times in the past. On the right is a souvenir (dog) tag engraving machine. But on this visit I noticed something new in the center and that was a souvenir medallion machine.

This new set of coins has a nice tarnished look to them. I actually like this look to the more shiny versions we have seen at other machines. These don’t attract fingerprints and dirt as easily as the other ones so I hope they move forward with this style in the future. The set includes designs of Ariel and Flounder, the Seagulls from Finding Nemo (Mine, Mine, Mine), Bruce and the Sharks reminding themselves that Fish are Friends, and Crush the Turtle Duuuuuude!

The reverse side of each coin has an image of Mickey wearing some scuba gear and “The Living Seas” across the top. Now this is an interesting design because I’m pretty sure this pavilion is no longer known as the Living Seas. Is this an error coin that shouldn’t have been released? Will these be pulled soon and replaced with corrected versions. I’m not sure, but I’ll be checking back to see if anything changes. That could be an expensive error if they find out. Keep on Collecting!

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Mickey Mouse, the longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company. He was originally created as a replacement for a prior Disney character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

The new character was originally to be named “Mortimer” until according to Disney Lore, Walt’s wife Lillian suggested “Mickey”. He first appeared in two 1928 shorts Plane Crazy and the Gallopin Caucho which were not picked up for distribution. His public debut premiered on November 18, 1928 in the short film Steamboat Willie. Written and directed by Walt Disney and long time collaborator Ub Iwerks, it was created on a budge at the time of about $5,000 and had a total run time of 7 minutes and 47 seconds.

Steamboat Willie is especially notable for being one of the first cartoon with synchronized sound, as well as a fully post-produced soundtrack. Walt Believed that synchronized sound was the future of film, and Steamboat Willie went on to become the most popular cartoon of its day. The short is often considered to be one of the most influential cartoons ever made, and in 1998 was selected by the United States Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Then on January 1st, 2024 the cartoon entered the public domain. So you may be asking, what exactly is public domain? Well it consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have been forfeited, expressly waived, may be inapplicable or in Steamboat Willie’s case it expired.

But as you may have noticed Disney has changed the way Mickey looks t throughout the years. So while Steamboat Willie Mickey is currently in the Public Domain, the other versions are still under copyright for now. That means since no one holds the exclusive rights to Steamboat Willie, anyone can legally use or reference him without permission.

It didn’t take long for some very creative people to start rolling out all sorts of things featuring Steamboat Willie’s image. I’ve seen plenty of clothing on Etsy, and even heard rumors of a horror themed movie but I’m hoping that one may be fake. But of course my favorite are some new privately designed elongated coins featuring that whistling mouse that created an empire.

The first design is from former TEC President Oded Paz. It showcases the classic Steamboat Willie image of Mickey behind the helm of his ship whistling that famous toon. It even includes the year 1928 on the lifesaver ring hanging in the background. This design is available in a limited Mintage set that includes a US Cent, Nickel, Dime, Quarter, alarge Copper planchet, and a Mexican bi-metallic 1 peso coin. You can visit Oded’s Facebook page here to order this or any of his other coins and collecting supplies.

The second design is from Michael Mochizuki who you may remember from some of our previous videos on a few of his historic Hawaiian elongated coin designs. This design is just too cute. It’s a fun twist on the Steamboat Willie character but with a Hawaiian flare. Mickey is wearing some shorts covered in beautiful orchid blossoms, he’s riding a surfboard with an iconic Hawaiian mountain and beach in the background. Along with the elongated coin there was also a black and white poker chip, with the Aloha Mickey design on one side, and a color Mickey on the other holding his surf board and rocking some sweet looking flip flops. You can visit Michael’s Facebook Page here to see all his available designs.

When I originally started working on this post and video there was only just Michael’s design, but then once I saw the second one from Oded I new I needed to make sure it was included as well. Will there be any more released? I certainly hope so, as I think Steamboat Willie is such an iconic part of Disney history I’d love to see what some other designers come up with. If you are interested in either of these designs the links to both their Facebook pages are available above. I wonder what big character may be next to enter Public Domain? Keep on Pressing!

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Earlier in the summer when I attended the Summer FUN Coin Show in Orlando I had received a pamphlet advertising another coin show later in the year. That was the inaugural Great American Coin & Collectible Show in Tampa Florida at the Tampa Convention Center hosted by Coin World Magazine. I’m always on the look out for new events and ways to try and find elongated coins for my collection and figured I would make the trip to Tampa so I could check it out.

I decided to visit during the week hoping to avoid some of the larger crowds that would most likely happen over the weekend. The only draw back was that there was an admission cost to enter during the week. There was also a parking fee for the nearby garage so that was also something to know before you go.

I’ve never been inside the Tampa Convention Center before and it was very nice. I’m use to the larger sprawling campus of the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando but everything was laid out nicely and was well organized. I had no issues figuring our where I needed to go. There was an online preregistration that I took advantage of for a bit of a discount, plus it helped expedite getting checked-in and my credentials once I arrived. With my lanyard around my neck I headed into the bourse floor.

I mentioned that this was the inaugural GACC show and it was advertised as having over 700 vendors. It was in a large area with plenty going on. I’m not sure if I think this was actually 700 vendors but I’ll take their word for it.

The vendors had everything you could imagine available for sale, and many of them were also looking to buy if you had anything available they were interested in. Some vendors had a wild selection of all different items, while many more preferred to just have a more limited niche set of items. I chatted with quite a few vendors trying to see if anyone had any elongated coins for sale but didn’t have much luck.

I made some new friends at the Lincoln Cents and Canadian Coins table shown above. They had a large selection of U.S. Cents (pennies). Quite a few large bags of pennies, as well as individual coins all available for sale. No elongated coins here, but they were wonderful to chat with and I hope they had a successful show. I look forward to seeing them again at future shows.

As I continued to wonder around the show floor and did at one point come across a table with a few elongated coins available. One was the above slabbed 1902 Pan-American Expo Elongated coin.

They also had a few others available that inquired about. It’s not that I wasn’t interested in them, but their prices just seemed higher than I thought the coins were worth. I did try to talk them down a bit but wasn’t able to get to a price I was comfortable paying. So I just had to leave them behind.

As much as this was probably more considered a coin show, it did adveterise that there would be other collectibles available. However I didn’t see too much of that around.

I did run into a few booths with some Pokemon cards, and even a couple small piles of comic books but that was about it.

Another section of coin shows I’ve always enjoyed are the education exhibits. At the Orlando show there is a separate designated area for all those exhibits to be displayed, but at the GACC show they seemed to just be displayed at the vendor or club tables. So they were a little harder to find. As always the exhibitors did a wonderful job and I know from first hand it takes a lot of work. One that I really enjoyed was about Disney Dollars and had some very early bills I’d never seen in person before.

Now I knew that our friends at TECNews wouldn’t be attending this show so I wasn’t expecting to find any free elongated coins. However at one point during my visit as I walked through the club tables I saw some familiar faces John and Nancy Wilson at the ANA table, and sure enough they had an elongated coin they were giving out and even offered a second elongated coin for being a TEC Member.

The coins were not themed for this GACC show but that’s okay I still was happy to have them for my collection. The elongated penny was honoring Kenneth Bressett at the 2024 World’s Fair of Money, and the second coin was an elongated nickel celebrating the ANA’s 126th year anniversary and was also from the World’s Fair of Money show.

Other than these two elongated coins from the ANA table I wasn’t able to acquire any other coins during this visit. That’s okay and just something that happens from time to time. When we have a very specific niche like elongated coins unfortunately not many of the more traditional collectors carry them. A few that I spoke to mentioned they had some back at their shops and gave me contact information to reach out. I’m just hoping maybe by asking over and over again, in the future they may be more apt to bring some of them along and we can take a look at that them.

The GACC did announce future dates for their next couple shows. April 2025 will be held in Fort Lauderdale Florida, and then September 2025 in Chicago Illinois. I’m note sure if I’ll make that trip to Fort Lauderdale next year, but you never know. If they do have another event closer to the Orlando area I definitely think I’d check it out again. These shows are always a lot of fun, filled with wonderful people all enjoying the hobby in many different ways. Keep on Collecting!

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