Another year is quickly coming to a close. The holiday season is upon us and it won’t be long before we are entering into a brand new Year. Today we take some time to give Thanks for our friends, family and of course our elongated coin collecting community. I’ve been sharing my journeys for quite a few years now and I’m always humbled by the number of people that reach out to tell me about their collections, or even asking for help with coins they are tracking down. The messages have come from all over the globe and it’s amazing to think how far we can be, but still so close. Thank you to everyone that visits with me each week and I will continue to do my best sharing stories, tips and especially privately designed coins with all of you.
Today I wanted to share a brand new elongated coin from designer Alex Mruk. We have featured quite a few of his other designs here in previous posts including his Paris Olympics 2024 coin set. He always has wonderful design ideas and the details he includes are second to none.
Living in Florida we have learned quite a few different methods to keep cool during the extremely hot summer months. Probably the most used is just is just staying inside to enjoy our much beloved air conditioning. Our community has a pool, or if we really want to splurge we can visit quite a few different water parks around Orlando. Our favorite has quickly become Discovery Cove but it’s a bit more on the expensive side so we save that one for special occasion. Then we have the Disney water parks that honestly we haven’t visited in quite some time and not too long ago decided we needed to fix that and headed over to Typhoon Lagoon.
Disney has two water parks however after the pandemic they have gone onto a rotating schedule where only one of them is open at a time. Usually for 5-6 months, then it will close and the other opens. For now Blizzard Beach is closed and most likely going through some annual maintenance.
Both of the parks are great and have plenty of water slides, a huge wave pool, sandy beaches, a lazy river and many other things going on to keep your entire family busy. One unique difference here at Typhoon Lagoon is in the wave pool. About every 2 minutes you hear this loud whoosh sound, followed by a huge typhoon like wave that has all the guests in the pool screaming as it nears. It can be a bit chaotic as people are deciding to either try and hop up over it, or dive down underneath it. Then it settles down, and everyone braces for the next one. It’s a lot of fun but can get very exhausting after awhile .
In case you forgot anything important for you visit to the water park, like a bathing suit or maybe just some sun screen you can visit Singapore Sal’s Souvenirs. Of course if you came fully prepared you may still want to venture inside here to check out what goodies you can take home to remember you visit.
In a previous post quite a few years ago now which you can check out here we were able to press a set of pennies. Those designs stuck around for years but have now just recently been changed. The machine is inside the souvenir store near the desk where you can rent towels.
There are three designs available in this set and include images of Mickey and Minnie Surfing, Stitch with Sunglasses and a Surfboard, and Donald riding the Crush ‘n’ Gusher water coaster attraction. These designs have a lot of really nice detail to them. I’ve noticed this more and more recently at Disney with their newer designs and I’m enjoying the look of this new style. Hopefully they continue with it.
On the opposite side of the store near the t-shirts (although locations can always change) they have also added a Collectible Medallion machine. The cabinet is a simple wood grain design that has the appearance of being kind of weather worn, like it was left outside in the elements or washed up on shore. That’s a nice simple touch that I appreciate.
The medallion designs in this set include images of Olaf Chillin’ in the Summertime, the Crush ‘n’ Gusher logo, the Typhoon Lilly icon ship of the park, and Goofy having a bit of trouble carrying all his beach equipment.
The reverse side of all the coins has the same image of Mickey relaxing in a sweet hammock, tied to a palm tree, along the water and a beautiful sun shining in the back. This design is wild and just so detailed there’s a lot to look at here. I’m a little curious about this including both the Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach logos. Does this mean we are getting more medallions at Blizzard Beach? Maybe also some new pennies. I believe Blizzard Beach isn’t scheduled to open for a another couple months so that gives me plenty of time to plan out a visit there later in the year to track now any new coins.
Every so often Disney surprises us with a new pressed penny machine. Shortly after the new Tiana’s Bayou Adventure ride opened they released a new medallion machine, then an 8-design pressed penny machine which I wrote about here. Honestly I figured that was it and we would be on the look out for new designs elsewhere in the park. But that was not the case.
I saw a post in a Disney coin Facebook group I’m a part of, about a new 4-design penny machine being released. So I headed back into the park for another ride on the Bayou and then did some investigating to find this new machine.
I did eventually find it, but what is kind of strange is that it’s been placed in the courtyard behind the attraction near some restrooms when you exit the ride. If you read the previous post about the 8-design machine it was originally located in this spot. They have removed that machine and placed it instead in the gift shop, and in it’s place out here in the courtyard is the new machine.
This version is a 4-design manual machine. It does accept cash and costs $1 per design, with the machine suppling the penny to press. Or you can pay $4 for the entire set. If you use either a debit/credit card for digital payment like ApplePay or Google Wallet you will be charged the full $4 amount and automatically get the entire set of four designs.
I was really impressed with these new penny designs. They are really detailed and just look incredible. I hope this is a sign of things to come and maybe we will see more intricate designs moving forward in other areas of the park.
When you visit the Bayou be sure to check out all three souvenir machines, one medallion machine and two pressed penny machines. Plenty of new coins for your collection! Keep on Pressing.
Privately designed elongated coins are an amazing little niche of our hobby that I have really enjoyed exploring over the last few years. To celebrate these designs and their creators we have produced our own elongated coin to give out to a few designers each year and I need your help choosing. Below are closeups of each design, the designers name and a couple links for more details on the coins that are currently available to vote for. Then you can go to this link and vote for up to three of your favorite designs.
The voting will continue through the end of this year, and conclude on December 31st, 2024. At that time the votes will be tallied and the top few designs will receive our new elongated coin as a gift. Please feel free to share this post and the voting link with your friends, family and any other collectors you know so we can help celebrate these amazing privately designed coins.
David's Coin Travels 