Wicked is probably my favorite Musical. My wife and I have seen it numerous times on Broadway and are looking enjoyed the new Movie. To celebrate the theatrical release a new “Experience” has opened inside of Universal Studios Orlando.

Part museum, and part souvenir shop, this place has some fantastic movie props, recreated scenes from the movie, and plenty of merchandise.

When you first enter there is a photo op available where Glinda and Elphaba will appear at random times. After that you enter in to the first area and in the back you see Elphaba’s iconic hat sitting on the bed.

Glinda’s beautiful dress is on display along with photos from the movie.

Next we head into a little corridor section that has all different screen used costumes on display.

Then it’s time to head into Emerald City.

Each section inside the Experience had plenty of merchandise themed to that area. Here you can see a selection of the Emerald City items.

I also found a section focused on the Wizard and they also had his costume on display as portrayed by Jeff Goldblum.

There was also Elphaba’s full costume on display and a photo op with her broom.

Just as I was exiting the Emerald City area I found a collectible medallion machine featuring a beautiful green cabinet.

The coins feature images of Elphaba, Glinda, Oz with some Hot Air Ballons, and the Shiz University logo.

The reverse side of all the coins was the same and had the Wicked Logo, along with the Universal Studios copyright details. If you are interested in these coins just note that they are $7 each, or $20 for the full set of four. Individual coins are certainly getting expensive.

On the opposite side of this area of the store (also where the check out area is to purchase you items) I found the pressed penny machine. Once again in a gorgeous green cabinet that fit right in among it’s surroundings.

The pennies in this set had some really great details, I really like how these came out. The designs feature the Wicked Logo, Oz and the Ballons, Elphaba’s Hat, Emerald City, Elphaba, and Glinda. Really a fantastic set I’m super impressed with these.

With my newly acquired medallions and pennies stored away I headed into the last section of the store that was themed around Shiz University. Once again plenty of merchandise and items for any Wicked fan.

I enjoyed this experience a lot and am a sucker for movie costumes and props so this was right now my alley. If you like Wicked there is definitely something in here I’m sure you would love to take home, and if not then at least there are the collectible medallions and pressed pennies to add to your collection. With a second Wicked movie coming out in the future I believe this store will be around for awhile longer so you should have plenty of time to visit and check it out yourself. Keep on Pressing!

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Bluey had certainly become a worldwide phenomenon. In a previous post we took a look at a privately designs set of elongated coins featuring the Heeler girls Bluey and younger sister Bingo. This time we aren’t looking at elongated coins, and not even privately designed. Instead these are official coins created by the Australian Royal mint who teamed up with the creators of the hit tv show.

In April 2024 the Royal Australian Mint unveils a commemorative coin collection. In the show the Heeler kids refer to money as Dollarbucks, and now Blue has her own set of Dollarbuck coins… for real life. The initial release was a three-coin collection sold in individual coin cards each had a pop of color included as part of the coin designs. The first was Blue herself, the second of the main Heller family, and third features The Grannies. If you know, you know. As you can image the demand for these coins was immense and they sold out extremely quickly.

Later in the year another announcement was made this time in conjunction with the Australian Post. An all-new set of collectible Bluey Dollarbucks were being released. This time a set of 10 coins, and a stamp pack featuring fan favorite characters. Plus there was a chance of discovering one special-colored coin which is randomly placed 1 in 10 tubes when purchasing the Bluey 10-coin tube and collectible folder set.

I went back and forth on this quite a bit. I thought the coins looked great and was really intrigued by the possibility of getting a color version of one of the coins. There were none available directly through the Australian Mint or Post by that time. I talked myself out of a few different auctions, but I kept looking at photos of the coins and the collector inside got the best of me. I found one at a reasonable markup and placed my order.

Shipping from Australia did take a few weeks during which I continued to second guess my purchase. The package finally arrived all sealed as if it came directly from the Mint. Above is a picture of the collectible booklet and the sealed roll of 10 Dollarbuck ($1 Australian Dollar coins). Was my tube going to be one of the lucky ones to have a colored coin inside. Let’s take a closer look at the coins.

First let’s just take a quick look at the reverse side of the coin and we can see the effigy of King Charles.

It was interesting because they had the coins in the tube where the potential color coin was at the bottom making the suspense all the more fun or maybe nerve racking depending on the person. I was kind of nervous and not exactly sure why. Guess it’s just the excitement of the hunt that we collectors find ourselves in from time to time. Above is a photo one one of the non-color coins featuring the famous Grannies.

I was down to the last coin, the one featuring Bluey and her possibly red balloon. However, as I flipped the coin over I found that it was just the standard non-color version.

With the full collection unveiled I carefully placed them in the collectible booklet and above you can see the entire set. I kind of wish it had an extra location maybe at the top of the right page for that colored variant incase you were able to acquire it.

After I had all the coins stored away I put the booklet on my shelf with a bunch of other similar coin collections and tried to put that one colored coin out of my mind….. however, if you know me by visiting my posts here you probably know that was easier said than done. I just couldn’t get that coin out of my mind, the collector in me just wasn’t satisfied.

So I contacted quite a few different Australian coin shops online trying to find one for a decent price which after awhile I came to realize just wasn’t going to happen. Eventually I struck a deal with one of the shops that wouldn’t completely put in the poor house, but would probably have to town down the collection purchases for a little while.

Here is a side by side of both the non-color and color versions of the coin. I did some research on how they color the coins and it’s a similar process to how the Royal Canadian Mint produces their color coins. The coin is minted with these micro pores and then ink is printed onto the design and those pores help keep the colors from blending together until dried. If you look real close or under a microscope you can see the small little color dots, but from a standard viewing distance the design and color look great.

Ahhh, now I feel better with the collection now fully complete. My wallet may be worse for the wear but I really think this was a fun little collection to experience and am happy to have it in my collection. What will they come out with next? I can’t wait to find out. Keep on Collecting!

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