Disney’s 100th Anniversary. So far we have collected pressed pennies and medallions for both Walt Disney World and Disneyland, honestly I thought we were done. But before we could close out the coin collecting sets for the 100th Anniversary our friends over at the Disney Coin Pressers Facebook Group shared one last set. This one however is not in any of the theme parks, instead they can be found throughout the United States at retailers like Amazon, Kroger and Walmart.

Frankford Candy company was founded in 1947. Starting with just chocolates, has since expanded to include dummies, lollipops, gift sets and more including this the infamous Frankford Wonder Ball. There have been different versions in the past, but this latest edition is helping to celebrate Disney’s 100th anniversary.

Inside each box is a hollow ball of chocolate filled with little candy pieces which are only somewhat edible in my opinion. The candies were giving me flashbacks of those Flintstone vitamins I used to eat as a kid but with lest fruity flavor. The chocolate was definitely not to my liking, however my kids loved it so go figure.

Candy aside, what I was really here for was a special surprise. Inside each box is one metal coin with a Disney Character on it. I visited a few stores in my area and had the best success at Walmart and as you can see bought as many as I could. To be honest the above picture only shows the first batch I found, this was a project that went on for a few weeks.

There are 22 standard coins to collect, and 3 rare chrome coins for a total of 25 coins in the entire set. The packaging was colorful and I honestly liked the design of it. Once you tore open the top the foil wrapped chocolate ball could easily be removed and in the bottom was a piece of folded cardboard that said “Look Prize Below!” helping to keep our coin safe.

I quickly tore into each box to see which coins I was able to collect. Five boxes, led to 10 boxes, then 15 and more. In my spare time I would visit any Walmart within a reasonable driving distance always on the look for more Wonder Balls. I was so obsessed that even during a family vacation to Colorado (spoiler, stay tuned for posts all about that adventure. So many pressed pennies!) I visited a few stores there hoping for those last few coins to finish up the set.

I almost forgot to show the reverse side of the coins. All coins had the same back image of the Disney 100 logo and then a bunch of copyright details. Nothing too extraordinary, but better than just being blank I guess.

Eventually I got to the point where every Wonder Ball I purchased just presented me with a duplicate coin I already had. As you can see in the above image I had quite a few duplicates and ended up only needing 4 coins to finish off the set. So I decided to save some money and headed to the Disney Coin Pressers Facebook group, posted a photo of my duplicate coins available for trade and my want list.

It didn’t take too long before I had secured enough trades to get the coins I needed. It’s always a wonderful feeling to finish off a set and even better when you are able to help other collectors with their sets at the same time.

Now that I had the entire set I needed a nice way to display and store them. I did think of just using my usual method of 2×2 cardboard flips and a 3-ring binder, but I remembered that inside each Wonder Ball box you would get a small checklist for the coin set. On this checklist was an offer to get a free collector’s coin book, and designed for the Disney 100th. Plus it was completely free, all I needed to do was go to the company’s website and fill out a form along with a photo of 6 coins and their corresponding box bar codes.

The only issue was that it could take 6-8 weeks to then arrive in my mail and I will admit Frankford took every single one of those days plus a few more before the booklet finally arrived.

The booklet is a tri-fold design made of pretty rigid cardboard. There are cutouts for each coin with a faded image of each design. My only real complaint about this booklet is the cutouts are slightly larger than the actual coins so they do not fit in there snuggly like other similar booklets from coin collecting supply companies.

They did include a strip of adhesive circles so you can secure the coins into the booklet but if you are like me this is probably not the most ideal option for your collection. I don’t think I’ll be removing the coins any time soon, however when I do I’m sure those sticky dots will either damage the booklet, leave a gross residue on the coin or more likely both.

I spend a lot of time in the theme parks collecting pressed pennies and medallions which I absolutely love. But this coin set just got me hooked in a different manner. It reminded me of collecting sports cards when I was a kid, not knowing what you would get in each pack, and that thrill of the hunt was just so much fun. I may have become a bit obsessed and that’s okay in my mind. The coins are of pretty high quality, they are solid and quite heavy. I have seen that Frankford offers some other similar coin sets and I’m already getting the itch to maybe try and collect those as well. Just when I’m out they drag me back in.

Keep on Collecting!

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I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m originally from Canada, and part of my DNA is that I’m a pretty big hockey fan. When I was much younger, my dad and I were a part of some local hockey history when our city got a brand new expansion NHL hockey team. However, an interesting tidbit is not only did we get a new hockey team, but we got to celebrate 11 Stanley Cup wins by hanging banners in our arena. How is this possible and what does it have to do with coin collecting? Well let me explain.

Flashback, the year was 1989. I was growing up in Ottawa Canada and to keep the stereotype alive, being Canadian I was a diehard hockey fan. Unfortunately Ottawa, which little known fact here in the USA, is actually the Capital of Canada didn’t have a professional hockey team.

Ottawa had been home to the original Senators team, a founding NHL franchise and 11-time Stanley Cup champion. They played in the NHA that eventually became the NHL from 1883 to 1934 when due to financial struggles were moved to St. Louis as the Eagles but folded shortly after with all players being transferred to other teams.

Sure we had a fairly well known and popular minor league team, but when it came to the NHL many of us locals were stuck rooting for the next closest teams either the Montreal Canadiens or the Toronto Maple Leafs. Thankfully that would eventually change.

The NHL dad recently announced plans to expand the league. Real estate developer Bruce Firestone and some financial partners put in a bid to “Bring Back the Senators”. Ads were placed in local newspapers to try and persuade the public to help support the proposed team. For a measly $25 per seat pledge people could secure an opportunity to be among the first fans offered season tickets if the new team was granted.

I remember my dad brining this exact article home and showing it to me during our dinner, and together we filled it out and mailed it off the next day. It was very exciting news, but at this point it was kind of like a kickstarter, we still didn’t know for sure if it would happen.

Then on December 12th, 1990 the NHL approved two new franchises, the Tampa Bay Lighting and the Ottawa Senators to start pay in the 1992-93 season. There was no time to waste for the new team. A coach and staff was needed, then an expansion draft to start putting together the team were only a few things on the ever growing to do list before they could hit the ice. During this time my father confirmed our interest in season tickets and we eventually picked a day to go in an select our seat locations. Because we were so early in submitting that initial pledge we were able to get seats just two rows back from the ice near the Home team bench along the blue line. These were near perfect seats in our minds.

The new state of the art arena (for that time period) wouldn’t be ready until early 1996, so in the meantime their first home arena was the Ottawa civic Center currently home to the minor league team I mentioned earlier the Ottawa 67’s. This smaller arena was retrofitted with more seating, executive suites, and larger press boxes to try and prepare for the larger professional games.

On October 8th, 1992 the Senators finally jumped on the ice for an incredible first home game against NHL dynasty the Montreal Canadiens and now geographic rival. The deal I had with my parents for weeknight games was that my homework always had to be done before my dad got home from work. On opening night my homework was long completed as nothing was going to make me miss this first official game. Traffic was backed up, parking was crazy, and trying to get inside the arena required quite a bit of patience but we were ready. As they ripped out tickets allowing us inside the building we were then gifted a special opening night program and another gift that we will look at shortly.

The energy inside that building was incredible. Prior to the first puck drop, they held a special ceremony hanging 11 Stanley Cup winning banners from the arenas rafters to commemorate the achievements of the orignal Ottawa Hockey Club. These are not officially recognized by the NHL for the current iteration of the team, but that didn’t matter to us hometown fans, we were proud to have this team back representing our incredible city.

Fans were on their feed for almost the entire, and as if by destiny after all the time and effort put into getting this team back. Ottawa was able to win their very first regular season game 5 to 3.

Overall we didn’t have a great initial season, but that’s to be expected with a new team. We continued with our season tickets for the next 4 seasons, and even got to enjoy their first full season in the new arena originally called the Palladium and since then was renamed the Canadian Tire Center. Eventually we had to give up our tickets to the Senators because our family was moving down to New Jersey. I’ve seen Ottawa play in person a few times over the years again the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers and more recently down here in Florida again the Tampa Bay Lighting. I’ve gone to playoff games, and international tournaments. I’ve seen Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and so many other Hall of Fame players play in person, but nothing was as exciting as that very first game in Ottawa bak in 1992.

Recently I was in our garage cleaning up some things and came across a large moving box that contained all my Ottawa Senators souvenirs. There were all our ticket stubs, team magazines, newspaper articles and even some pucks that I caught during a few of the games. That’s when I came across that special gift we received on Opening night this limited edition commemorative coin.

I’d forgotten all about this stuff and really enjoyed revisiting this and wanted to share it all with you. Thank you for indulging me with this little trip down memory lane. I’m sure not everyone out there is a hockey fan, and probably more rare would be if you even knew who the Senators were. Thank you for reading about one of my childhood passions and this very special coin in my collection.

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This week I wanted to share another very special pressed coin set from our friend, fellow collector and coin designer Michael Mochizuki. We have previously reviewed a few other coin sets from Michael’s collection and they are all not just striking to look at, but the additional details and story pages that are included with each set make these truly a very special collectible.

Michael has been designing elongated coins since 2010 specializing in Hawaiian historical subjects and commemorating various Hawaii anniversaries. To date he has created over 250 designs which is truly amazing. This latest set I acquired focuses on the Honolulu Police Department that celebrated their 90th Anniversary back in 2022.

These are limited sets that are numbered, which I think this is a fantastic touch making these sets highly sought after.  The detailed information and photographs Michael includes gives so much wonderful information about the subject, and allows us to have a greater appreciation not just for the work that went into the coin design but also the people involved with this subject.

The design of this coin has some great details as well. Michael really puts a lot of work and thought into each of his coins. We see the Honoloulu Police Department listed across the top, a large 90 in the middle with the zero being represented by the Police badge shield, and the year span of the department 1932 to 2022.

A fun addition to these limited sets is the included Poker style chip that has a full color image on one side of the Police Shield, and the elongated coin design on the reverse side.

The set I received included a full denomination set of coins, and the poker chip I just mentioned. Michael has quite an amazing catalog of Hawaiian elongated coin sets similar in style and amount of detail to this one. If you are interested in checking out any of Michael’s available sets I have included a link to his Facebook group page here.

Thank you for checking out more privately designed pressed coins with me. There are so many talented designers in our community that we have plenty to find and review.

As always Keep on Pressing. Mahalo!

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This doesn’t happen often, however I’ll admit that somehow this new medallion machine snuck out into the park without my knowing about it. I live pretty close to the Disney and Universal parks here in Central Florida so I’m usually good at checking on the machines regularly. But this one really snuck up on me.

If it wasn’t for some random Facebook post and comment it may have gone even longer without being found. I’m in various Facebook groups for things like Coin Collecting, Pressed Pennies and just the theme parks in general. One morning I was scrolling through the latest posts and came across one where a visitor stated they had found a medallion machine in the Universal park and wanted to know if there were any others around. Always looking to help whenever I can, I started to write up response with the machine locations.

Then just before I was about to submit my comment, I saw that the official Universal account responded with a full list of location. All of them match my list except for one they had listed over at the Islands of Adventure park, on Super Hero Island in The Comic Book store.

I reread the comment a couple times thinking I must have missed something. Then I send messages to a few other Universal coin collectors I know and asked if they were aware of it to which they were just as surprised. Now it’s not that I didn’t believe the Universal team, but this gave me an excuse to head over to the park and make sure this was an accurate piece of information.

Thankfully the comic book store is not too big though it’s completely filled with a lot of cool things like actual comic books, statues and figurings, t-shirts, mugs and lots of autographed items from your favorite super heroes.

Eventually I did find the machine tucked away in the back near a wall of themed backpacks and plush toys.

The machine cabinet had an interesting look to it. With metal trim and large faux rivets I guess this could be a “secured” vault of some sort filled with coins. Maybe I’m just looking too deep into some sort of theming for the machine. I did like the marquee across the top. The medallion set included coins with images of Spiderman, Wolverine, Hulk and Captain America. The Wolverine one was a nice touch, since we don’t see him over at the Disney parks at all.

All the coins had the same reverse image of the Marvel Super Hero Island logo which I always enjoy seeing. It would have bee nice to see either the Universal or Islands of Adventure logo as well, however that may be some sort of restriction with Marvel being a Disney property. Never a dull moment when those two companies are trying to work together.

These collectible medallions definitely seem to becoming more popular even with the much higher price point per coin and set. Universal has quite a large catalog of movies to chose from so I’ll be interested to see what new coins come out next. Hopefully I find them quicker than this set.

Keep on Collecting!

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If you have younger children, grand children or are just a kid at heart you are probably familiar with the hugely popular animated tv series Bluey. My kids were introduced to the show by a family member and it’s been all Bluey all the time ever since.

Created by Joe Brumm the series was inspired by his experience in raising two daughters. The title character Bluey was created as a Cattle Dog to give the series an Australian voice.

After a few revisions a seven minute pilot was created and used to pitch the show to studio executives. With both the Australian Broadcast Corporation and the BBC officially ordering 52 seven minute episodes and eventually premiered on October 1st, 2018. The show became an instant hit and in 2019 the international broadcast rights were acquired by The Walt Disney Company with plans to premier the show on their Disney Junior television network and streamed on their Disney+ platform.

The central theme of the show is the influence of a supportive family. Bandit is the father, Chilli the mother and their children Bluey and Bingo engage in imaginative play during mundane activities. Such as visiting the doctor, going to the supermarket, or picking up take-out food. The parents engage in these imaginative stories along with their friends, learning lessons along the way like the importance of following the flies, the influence of technology, and their personal emotions such as jealousy and regret.

As with any popular show there is a lot of available merchandise out there, and trust me when I say that my family probably it all here in our house. Most of it is for our kids, but recently I came across a couple special elongated coins created by fellow collector Edgar Galvan.

Both designs were available on copper U.S. cent coins and have images of Bingo the younger brown dog, and of the show’s title character Bluey.

As our kids have grown up my wife and I have endured quite a few different animated shows. Some were honestly hard to watch, while every so often we came across a great one like Phineas and Ferb. Now honestly my favorite is Bluey and we all get very excited when new episodes are announced. The characters are cute, and the stories are fantastic with some wonderful messages not only for the kids but us adults as well. If you have any young ones in your family I’d highly recommend you check this show out, or if you want to just watch it yourself don’t worry I do that myself sometimes.

Keep on Pressing!

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Inside Disney’s California Adventure Park there was a section known as the Pacific Wharf. This area was themed to resemble the old waterfront of Monterey California as a tribute to its fishing industry. The once area I remember was the Boudin Bakery Tour where you could get some amazing sough dough bread. But as with many things Disney they are changed or updated and this area was not immune this this.

In 2022 it was announced that Pacific Wharf would be re-themed to San Fransokyo, a fictional city seen in the Disney animated film Big Hero 6. You know the one with that big puffy robot Baymax. It didn’t take too much time for Disney imagineering to make the change and the new area official debuted in August 2023.

Located between Cars Land and Pixar Pier, the San Fransokyo Square is a themed waterfront neighborhood where you can find various restaurants and shops including Ghirardelli Soda Foundation and Chocolate Shop, and Lucky Fortune Cookery.

There is also a new area where you can visit with Baymax and Hiro to get the low down on all things Super Heroes, or you know just a photo.

Earlier I mentioned the Boudin Bakery Tour and they are known for some unique and creative loaves of bread. Now with this new theme you can find some adorable Baymax bread available for sale. They will package it up so you can take it back home or to your hotel, but honestly if you are like me it will be gone before you ever get out of the park.

With all the food places around there is a large patio and seating area available to enjoy your meals or snacks. Near the Lucky Fortune Cookery there is a set of restrooms and right out side is a new collectible medallion machine built right into the wall.

The art work on this machine is incredible and I love the little BH6 “graffiti” near the bottom. This is just so well themed for this new area of the park.

Not only is the machine adorable but the designs on the coins are fantastic as well. There of course is a great one of Baymax, the San Fransokyo Gate Bridge, an Ancient Japanese Style Coin with Kanji symbols, and one with some Japanese style Fish Kites.

Don’t forget about the reverse side of each of the coins. They all have the same image shown above of the SFS (San Fransokyo Square) Logo.

There you have it another great set of collectible medallions from the West Coast. With the 100th Anniversary quickly coming to an end I’ll be interested to see what designs eventually replace those throughout the parks. We definitely have our work cut out for ourselves in the coming months. Be sure to check back often for updates and details on all new coins inside Disneyland. Keep on Collecting!

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Summer time is over and that means it’s spooky season once again. Here in Central Florida all the haunting events have started and my favorite is Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights.

This year the even has 10 new houses to explore, and 5 scare zones, plus the fan favorite Tribute Store with some new collectible medallions that we will get to in a little bit. For now let’s step into the fog and see what’s happening this year.

Dr. Oddfellow is the official Icon of this years event. He has quite the backstory that spans decades, and at one point was even a circus entrepreneur and the boss of Jack Schmidt better known as Jack the Clown. I could go on for pages about the entire story, but if you are a HHN fan definitely check out either the Official Universal Podcast or even just the HHN Wiki for all the juicy details of this amazing character.

Each of the five scare zones this year all revolve around different points in Dr. Oddfellow’s past. The Jungle of Doom is fun, but my favorite has to be the Vamp’69 Summer of Blood that is designed like a music festival infested with vampires. With the groovy music, and amazing scare actors this is really a fantastic place to explore.

One of the houses this year is themed for The Last of Us video game (not the HBO series) and this even leaked into another part of the event where there is a Fedra quarantine area. Mostly used for a few special foot stands, this area is themed incredibly well even if you just want to walk through it.

Speaking of food, there is always quite a few unique offerings available during each Horror Nights event. Some sounded pretty good and I may try them during future visits, however there was one I couldn’t pass up on my first trip and that was the Bloody Campground Poutine. Crispy fries topped with Asian-inspired gravy, char-sui roasted pork, cheese curds, scallions and crispy chilis.

It took some doing but I was eventually able to experience all 10 of the haunted houses at the event. I won’t give any spoilers away about details within the houses, but I do always get asked what my favorite houses were so here are my top 3 for HHN 2023.

#3 Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings

#2 Dr. Oddfellow’s Twisted Origins

#1 The Darkest Deal
Blues musician Pinestraw Spruce will have to face the music after meeting with The Collector and trading his soul for musical glory. You and your squad learn the terrible price of fame.

It’s starting to get late so it’s about time to head over to the New York area and head into this year’s Tribute Store.

Inside the theme is of a comic book store. There is a story that you can read along each of the walls, and into the various rooms. It can be hard to focus with all the amazing decorations and of course the endless merchandise.

There is even a room designed to look like you are in an old film noir style comic strip. There are projections on the walls and floor making it appear like it’s raining and is such a cool effect.

After you shopping, past the check out area but before you head back out into the park the last little area is where you will find the medallion machine. This is basically the same location it has been the last few years since it’s been available. Thankfully we do have new designs for this even, including the reverse image of the 2023 HHN Logo.

The main designs of each coin include two Stranger Things 4 images of the Hellfire Club logo, and Vecna. Plus one of your favorite Good Buy Doll Chucky, and the HHN favorite Lil’ Boo pumpkin.

This has been another fantastic HHN and I look forward to revisiting some of the houses and scare zones again as the event continues over the next few weeks. The medallion machine always seems to be quite popular so be sure to get your set as soon as you can. On a quick side note the HHN Tribute Store is open during regular Theme Park hours so you can get your set even if you prefer to avoid the scary stuff. Have a happy haunting season and as always Keep on Collecting!

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We are back today with a West Coast update at the Disneyland park, Walt’s original Magic Kingdom on an Indiana Jones type adventure hunting down some new pressed pennies.

Over in Adventureland let’s start out by taking a trip on the Indiana Jones Adventure into the Temple of the Forbidden Eye.

This attraction is known as an enhanced motion vehicle dark ride. Guests board the vehicle that is designed to look like a battered military troop transport.

We accompany archaeologist Dr. Indiana Jones on a turbulent quest through a dangerous subterranean lost template guarded by a supernatural power. There are many twists and turns as you proceed through the adventure and it culminates with a face to face confrontation with the large iconic boulder rolling towards the guests with the ride vehicle quickly maneuvering to avoid it to safety.

Now that we have narrowly avoided being crushed by that boulder, let’s head across the pathway into the Adventureland Bazaar.

This store is filled with all types of Indiana Jones themed merchandise including your very own Hat and Whip should you be in need of one during your visit. For our purposes today we head towards the center of the store where a large stone structure can be found that is home to a few different pressed penny machines. The Rajah’s Mint machine has the new penny designs we were looking for themed for Indiana Jones. The pennies include images of Indy running from the Boulder, Indy cracking his whip, and the Eyes of Mara. There is also an updated backstamp on each coin of the Adventureland logo with some nice bamboo details across the top and bottom.

It’s always fun to play archeologist even if it’s only for a few pressed pennies. Hopefully we see some other new designs somewhere in the parks soon. Keep on Pressing!

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If you have ever traveled into the Orlando International Airport you know how busy it can be, and in desperate need of some expansion due to the travelers. Well finally the much anticipated Terminal C has opened with some really interesting dining and shopping options. The only problem is they are all beyond the TSA Security check available only for travelers arriving or departing from this terminal.

However that has all recently changed, and they now offer a special visitor pass to anyone that is interested in visiting the terminal. You just need to visit the Experience MCO website linked here fill out the form with your information and select the date (only up to 7 days in advance). Then the day of your visit you will receive an email confirmation from TSA if are approved with your visitor pass. It was quite simple and before I knew it I was on my way to Terminal C

After parking in the lot, I headed inside and towards the TSA Security check. You still have to go through this check just like every other passenger, empty out your pockets, take off your shoes and put them in a bin to be scanned. Thankfully I didn’t need to worry about any luggage so the process was pretty quick. Then I headed down a long hallway and into the large atrium.

There were a lot of places to explore here, but today my main destination was the Universal Store. Even just from the outside you can tell how big this place is with two floors of merchandise it was pretty impressive.

If you are a frequent visitor to the Universal Orlando theme parks all this merchandise will be very familiar to you. There are different sections for things like general Universal items, Jurassic World, Minions, and of course Harry Potter.

They also have some fun photo ops scattered around the store like Hagrid’s motorbike, and even a Raptor tearing through one of the walls.

Tucked in among the super hero stuff is where I found the first pressed penny machine. The cabinet matched the store design perfectly and I liked the rounded corners just like the nearby fixtures. The designs here are very similar to ones you can get inside the theme parks and have images of The Simpsons, Minions, Spider-man, Jaws, E.T., and Jurassic World.

Next it was time to head upstairs and it was all Harry Potter up there. Plus do you see that picture of Hogwarts castle on the far wall, well that is actually a huge digital screen that extends from that wall, up along the ceiling and over to the opposite wall. There is a really amazing Dragon encounter that takes place and if you want to see if check out my TikTok video here.

This floor had Hogwarts robes, lounge fly bags, wands and so much more. I was really surprised with how much merchandise they jammed into this store.

This is also where I found the second pressed penny machine and I’m sure you can guess what the designs are here, yup it’s all Harry Potter. These designs are also available in the theme parks among a couple different machines. So they aren’t technically new designs, I matched a few of them up at home and they don’t appear to be any differences. But if you missed out on them at the parks, this is a great way to pick up a set before heading back home.

I did wonder around the rest of the terminal to check out the Disney store and SeaWorld gift shops but neither of them (for now) had a pressed penny machine available. There was no real time limit on my visitor pass, just that you need to leave by 8pm so that gives you plenty of time to check it out. I was there for about an hour and parking only cost me $5 but we know that at an airport that can jump up quickly if you are there for a longer period of time. Keep on Pressing!

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