Disney

Best Friends Forever (BFF) Pennies – Disneyland, CA

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West Coast Disney is certainly on a roll of late with releasing new pressed pennies designs and this past week added two new machines.  The first machine is in Disneyland in the Main Street Penny Arcade.

The unfortunate consequence of this new machine is that it replaced the Electric Light Parade penny set which was a really cool collection of designs.  But I will admit that these new pennies are not too shabby.

This first set has image of Miguel & Dante from Coco, Linguine & Remy, and Buzz & Woody from Toy Story.  Another interesting thing to notice about these coins is that they all have 2018 listed on them.  So you know this means that they have a limited shelf life.

The second machine released at roughly the same time is found over at the Bonanza Outfitters on the sidewalk.

The pennies at this new machine include Edna & Jack-Jack from The Incredibles 2, Russel & Doug from Up!, and Dory & Nemo from Finding Nemo / Dory.  The images also include BBF, Best Friends and Swim Buddies making for a fun set.  Just like the first set above these pennies also list 2018.

All six of these pennies have the same backstamp that says Pixar Fest which is going on throughout the West coast parks this summer.  These pennies are a cute set of designs and from what I’ve heard they are becoming very popular.  Make sure to get a set before they disappear.

12-Design Princesses / Heroines Penny Machine Available again

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This is going to be just a quick update post.  I’ve received a lot of message from reading (Thank you all by the way) about the whereabouts of the famed 12-Design Princesses / Heroines penny machine.  Here’s the history as I’ve written quite a bit about this machine.

You can read about my initial use of this machine back in 2015.  Then a few years later the machine was changed from using actual pennies to the penny sized tokens and I wrote a comparison about it here.  However the most recent post was just a few weeks ago when I discussed my first visit to the new Toy Story Land.  In that post I mentioned that the store where the 12-design machine “was” located was transformed into a Toy Story gift shop and this machine was removed so the Toy Story themed machine could be placed there instead.  At that time I didn’t know where the machine was moved to, and I did inquire with several Disney Cast Members about it and they didn’t know what was going to happen to it.  Then this all changed just a couple of days ago.

Word on the street was this machine had received a fresh coat of paint and was relocated over to Disney Springs which recently has become quite the place for pressed coins.

Over in one of the newer areas of Disney Springs called the Town Center (which is really just an outlet mall) is a newer store called The Disney Corner.

The store has multiple floors.  The first floor is primarily everything you can image Princess related.  This does continue up on the second floor but there are some other Disney characters available in certain areas.

There is an elevator is the stairs are too much (there are quite a few) but otherwise if you do attempt the stairs once you get to the second floor the missing penny machine is right in front of you.

As mentioned the machine does have a bit of a different paint job, but the 12 designs are all the same.

I pressed another set just to see if they were still dispensing the penny sized tokens instead of real pennies and that was still the case.  I’ve said it before and I hold to it this is a really nice set to be able to collect all in one place.  Usually in the past to get something like this you would have to visit various machines throughout the parks and resorts.  At $10 for this set it is a little pricy, but hopefully everyone that was inquiring about it can rest assured the machine is back and ready for some pressing.

Part 2 Hotel Plaza Boulevard – Disney Springs Area, FL

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If you read my post a few weeks ago about the Good Neighbor hotels near Disney Springs in Florida this is a follow-up.  In the post I had mentioned that five of the seven hotels had received new penny press machines.  Well just a short while ago those remaining two hotels finally got their machines.  I had been told by a few cast members that they were coming, and it seems they were absolutely correct.

I had been working that day and received the message on my phone that these new penny machines were available.  So this was going to be a night trip over to Disney Springs.  Just as I did the last time I parked in one of the garages and then just walked over to the good neighbor hotel area.  It is a bit of a hike so if you aren’t up to it (or have spent all your energy at the parks) see if someone can drop you off, or you could probably use the short-term check-in parking spots if they are available at each hotel.

First was the Wyndham hotel at Lake Buena Vista.

Make sure you are careful walking around these hotels as it seemed like there was even more traffic at night with people coming back to their hotels.

Once inside the main lobby area just to the right side is the Disney gift shop.

As soon as you are inside the store the penny machine is right near the main door.

The designs available at this machine are of Goofy with a tire around his neck, Pluto, and Tinker Bell.

The next hotel was a little further of a walk than I had remember the first time around.  For some reason I thought it was right next to the Wyndham but there are a few other buildings in between.

Eventually I did make it to the Best Western.  I also just heard recently that they are adding a second tower so they must be doing pretty good business at this hotel.

As you walk into the Best Western there are two stores one on the left and a another on the right.  The store on the right is where you can get drinks, and snacks.  The Disney gift shop is the one on the left side.

The store has two doors but is not very big.  If you are inside looking at the register check-out counter the machine is on the left side.

I thought this set of pennies was pretty cute.  It includes Mickey and Pluto driving in a car, Goofy in his PJs and another Tinker Bell.

With all the pennies pressed I had the long walk back to my car.  It is nice to see these good neighbor hotels getting in on the pressed penny craze.  They are not the easiest places to get to unless you don’t mind walking.

Grand Floridian Resort – Another NEW Pressed Pennies

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I kind of lucked out with this new set of pressed pennies.  Last weekend my two daughters wanted to visit the Magic Kingdom so we could ride their new favorite attraction Peter Pan’s Flight.  Thankfully I was able to book us fastpasses so we could avoid the usual 60 plus minute standby wait.  After flying with Peter to Never land and saving Wendy from Captain Hook we enjoyed a fun afternoon in the park.

If you have read some of my previous posts about the Magic Kingdom I’m always on the look out for new snacks or food items.  One of my all time favorite is the famous Dole Whip floats available over in Adventureland.  On this trip I had heard about a new version available at Storybook Treats in Fantasyland.  This new snack is called the Peter Pan Float, and consists of Key Lime Soft serve with Sprite soda.  There was also a chocolate feather included.  This was definitely unique and very refreshing on a hot summer afternoon.

Then we wandered over to the Sleepy Hollow quick service for my kids favorite fresh fruit waffle.  As we waited in line I saw something else that I just had to try.  A churro ice cream sandwich.  This was really amazing.  The churros were hot and covered with cinnamon and sugar, then the ice cream was nice a cold making for that classic combination.  I don’t know how long this will be around but it is worth a try if you are visiting soon.

Now that we had our fill of snacks, we enjoyed a few other attractions before heading out for the day.  It always seems to take quite a while to get out of the park, across the lake and then back to our car in the parking lot.  My two girls were quickly falling asleep in the back seat while I drove towards home, but just as we got on Western Way near the Coronado Springs resort my phone buzzed with a message.  Thankfully my car has Apple CarPlay so Siri read the message out loud.  “New Penny Machine reported at the Grand Floridian Hotel & Spa”.  At that exact moment I was roughly half way home so I had a moral dilemma.  Continue heading home or make a u-turn and get some new pennies.

I asked my girls what they wanted to do, and they responded with some inaudible mumble since they were partially asleep by this time.  But I took their response as acknowledgement we should go get some new pennies.  I cautiously made the next available u-turn and headed back towards the park and eventually pulled into the Grand Floridian parking lot.

This is a really beautiful hotel and I always love being able to visit.  Maybe some day I can actually save up enough to stay here, but for now as I usually do I can continue to pretend I’m an actual guest.

Once inside the main first floor lobby, the check-in area is to your right, but if you turn towards the left you will see a hallway not too far away.  Down this short hallway are some restrooms, and also the exit doors for the 1800 Park Fare restaurant.

This is where two previously penny machines used to be located.  One was a 3 design electric penny machine, and the second was also a 3 design electric machine but pressed on quarters.  These two machines are no longer at this resort (see bottom of post for more info).

In their place now is a new 8-design touch screen penny press machine that is really taking over.  This resort already had a machine similar to this with different designs installed back in May that you can read about here.  So far the Grand Floridian is the only resort to have the 8-design machine model, and now they have two of them.

The machine pressed penny sized token blanks which are nice and shiny, but we are still waiting to see how they hold up over time.  The designs available in this machine include Alice, the Mad Hatter, Jaq & Gus, Cinderella, the White Rabbit, Ariel, Tigger & Pooh, and Princess Jasmine.

Even though this resort now only has 3 machines there are a total of 19 designs available for pressing.  This new machine located in the first floor lobby, the second 8-design machine is still on the second floor lobby near the doors to the monorail station, and the third machine is out near the bus stop with 3 designs.  Not a bad haul if you have some free time to stop by this resort.

Remember above I mentioned the two machines that used to be in this location.  Well I was over at the Yacht & Beach Club Resorts just last night for dinner and afterwards we usually like to walk around the resort to work off our meal.

As we headed around the resort pool we passed by the Lafferty Arcade which is near the Beaches and Cream Ice Cream shop/restaurant.  I knew they had two machines here previously but suddenly a third machine caught my eye.

The machine pictures above to the far left is the penny machine that used to be near the exit to 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian.

The designs are still the same and have not changed.  They still include Jaq & Gus from Cinderella, Alice from Alice in Wonderland, and Prince Charming from Cinderella.

There was no sign of the quarter machine from the Grand Floridian but with the above relocation I’m hoping that the quarter machine will show up somewhere else soon.

Toy Story Land – Hollywood Studios, FL

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The below is based on my visit that took place Tuesday July 3rd, 2018.  Things may change and I’ll try to keep everyone updated.
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As we all knows penny machines can and often do change or move all over Walt Disney World property.  Just a couple of days ago (on July 3rd) I was able to head over and check out the brand new Toy Story Land over at Hollywood Studios.

Online since the new land opened on June 30th, there have been all sorts of unconfirmed rumors of new penny machines, or didn’t see any machines but wasn’t really looking scenarios.  So on this, my first trip to the new land I was making sure to check every nook and cranny hunting out new or maybe just relocated machines.

For those of you that are interested in where this new land is located.  After you enter into the park you head straight back down Hollywood Boulevard towards the Chinese Theatre.

Then you enter into Animation Courtyard and head left past the Voyage of the Little Mermaid show.  This is basically the same area where the Toy Story Midway Mania ride was located.  But just before that building you will see the crown turning right.  Plus there is a lot of cast members guiding the way.

As you walk up a big friendly face is waiting to great you into Andy’s backyard.

The idea is that we are all shrunken down to the size of toys and are a part of Andy’s imagination that he has set up in his backyard.

This includes the main attraction which is the Slinky Dog Dash family roller coaster.

The pathways are illuminated by Christmas lights, and tinker toys.

As you can see from the above picture the crowds are busy but not totally crazy.  When I visited it was the fourth day this new land was open, and I got there around 9am.  The pathways were pretty wide open, but the standby lines for the rides were pretty long.  Slinky Dog was about a 90 minute wait, and there is not much shade or cover in any of these areas.

The second new attraction is the Alien Swirling Saucers.  This had about a 60 minute standby wait, but thankfully I had been able to find a fastness online and didn’t wait more than 5 minutes.

This ride has you as the passenger of a space ship piloted by the little green men from the Toy Story movies.  The ride kind of moves in figure eights, and the ship kind of whips you around the corners as they turn.  I don’t do the tea cups in Magic Kingdom, but was able to ride this without any issue.  It’s pretty tame, but still very cute and entertaining.

After the ride I headed over to Woody’s lunch box for a late breakfast.  This is the quick service food option available.

I opted to try something a little different that grabbed my eye.  It was a S’Mores French Toast.  Marshmallow and Chocolate ganache on Brioche french toast encrusted with graham cracker crumbs.  It was very sweet, but still interesting and enjoyable.  I’ll have to come back some day for lunch or dinner and try some of the other items as this place is definitely intriguing.

With breakfast done I was back on my hunt and passed by the new entrance to Toy Story Mania.  I had gone down each pathway I could find, near all the attractions, and Woody’s lunch box but couldn’t find any pressed penny machines.

Just to be sure I made a second walk through and still nothing.  There isn’t a standard gift shop in this new land which would have been the most probably location for a new machine.  But currently there are only merchandise carts located near each of the attractions.  Unfortunately I have to say as of this day no machines (new or old) were to be found inside Toy Story Land.

Feeling a little disappointed at not being able to discover a new set of pressed pennies I decided to make sure the existing machine was still available.  I headed out of Toy Story Land and down into Pixar Place.  There is still some things going on here like a meet and greet with Buzz Lightyear or Cruz Ramirez from Cars 3.  But this area pretty much just dead-ends and forces you to u-turn back the way you came.

I did take a quick look at the old entrance to Toy Story Midway Mania and it is all boarded up.

Directly across from this is the Story Department store which is where the previous machine was located.  But as you can see from the above picture it’s no longer here.  Now I needed to figure out where it had gone.

Thankfully I found it pretty easily and didn’t even ask a cast member.  Back in the Animation Courtyard near Star Wars Launch Bay is a gift shop called In Character.  This place used to be all princesses all the time (trust me I know, this was my daughters favorite place).  But now it’s a make ship Toy Story Land gift shop.  I don’t know if this will be permanent or not, but for now it’s all about Toy Story.

   

This machine is exactly the same as it’s been for a while.  The designs include Hamm, Wheezy, Rex and one of the Little Green Men.  Now those of you that recognize where this machine is located may be saying, but what happened to the 12-Design Heroines penny machine.  Well I thought the same thing so I asked a cast member where that machine went.  I was told it was removed completely (gasp!).  Is this forever, I don’t know and honestly don’t think so.  That was a pretty popular machine and was always busy whenever I visited it.  Just to make sure it wasn’t moved somewhere else without the cast member knowing I wondered the rest of the park and sure enough didn’t see it anywhere.

One of the last places I checked was the Indiana Jones Adventure Outpost shop.  As I mentioned above it wasn’t here, but they did have a design that I thought fit into today’s events so I pressed a copy just for the heck of it.

   

Good old Buzz Lightyear, but so far away from the new Toy Story Land I wonder why.  Maybe Woody had something to do with this.  Anyways, this does seem kind of strange to be so far away, but maybe he will get moved in the weeks to come.

Well that was my Toy Story day in Hollywood Studios.  I am definitely disappointed that there were no new machines, but am hopeful they are still on the way.  If the existing machine had just been moved into the land then I would be more apt to assume no new machines are coming.  However since this machine was moved to another spot outside the land I think this is a good sign at least one new machine is on the way.  As always only time will tell and I’ll be sure to check back.  I do have some days scheduled to go back with my family a few times in the next couple weeks.  I’ll be sure to keep my eyes open and will share any new info I find.

Toy Story Land is definitely a fun place and the new rides are entertaining for all ages.  Nothing too extreme, but still enjoyable.  I don’t think it’s as immersive as Pandora over in the Animal Kingdom which is truly amazing.  Toy Story land is fun, just not a place I see people spending their entire days inside.

Hotel Plaza Boulevard – Disney Springs Area, FL

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First off I’ll apologize for the delay in getting around to writing about these new penny press machines.  These were released weeks ago while I was out-of-town on a Family vacation.  It’s amazing how just a week away can put everything so far behind.  I’m still trying to time to write about our trip.  But in the mean time I figured I needed to try and catch up on some of these “newer” machines.

I’ve mentioned in a previous post about these hotels that are located on Walt Disney World property but are not Disney owned.  They are usually referred to as “Good Neighbor” hotels.  You get most of the same benefits (fast passes, early park hours, and transportation to the parks) but usually at a much lower price which is nice.  Located to the east of Disney Springs right along Hotel Plaza Boulevard are these seven hotels.  Each of these hotels does have a Disney gift shop located inside, but in the past none of them ever had a pressed penny machine.  Then all of a sudden five of these hotels received machines and I had to head over as soon as I was back in town to check them out.

Since I had never visited these hotels before I wasn’t sure what the parking situation would be like and was worried about high hourly parking rates.  So instead I parked (for free) in one of the Disney Springs parking garages and walked to each of the hotels.  I walked through the Marketplace and just beside the Once Upon a Toy Store is a walkway that allows you to cross the busy Buena Vista Drive.

These walkways were actually pretty nice, and my daughter had a great time watching the cars pass by underneath our feet.  Eventually we ended up on the far side of Hotel Plaza Boulevard and headed into the first hotel.

The Hilton Orlando Buena Vista was out first stop.  Heading inside through the main lobby area we hung a right and down the hallway we saw the familiar Disney Store sign.

There is nothing unique about these stores.  After visiting all of them they pretty much carried the same items, standard souvenirs, plush character, drinks, snacks and toiletries.

   

Just inside the store on the right side was the penny press machine.  The cabinet was painted the classic Mickey red which was a nice surprise.  The designs available in this machine were of  Mickey & Pluto, Lilo with a  Camera, and Stitch playing a Ukulele.

The hotels are next to each other, but there is still quite a walk in between each one.  It was a nice walk although this time of year the Florida sun and humidity can get to you pretty quickly.

The second hotel was the Holiday Inn Orlando.  We headed inside past the check-in area, hung a left and just near the lounge area was the gift shop.

As my daughter checked out the souvenirs (although I think by now she has pretty much all of them) I found the machine along the sidewalk and pressed my coins.

   

The designs at this machine were of two new designs: Chef Minnie with a Cake, and Goofy fishing, but the third design was of Lumiere & Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast.  This last design used to be available at the Once Upon a Time gift shop in Hollywood Studios.  It had been removed back in July 2017 when two new 8-design touch screen machines were located there instead.

Still on the same side of the boulevard the next stop was at the B Resort & Spa.  Strange name, but this was a beautiful looking hotel.

I was only able to check out the lobby and gift shop but from what I could see this looks really nice and I’d be interested in checking it out in the future.

As I walked into the gift shop I noticed a large mural behind the check out area.  I’m sure it was just an interchangeable piece of wallpaper but it was still fun to look at with the Magic Kingdom and it’s landmarks depicted in the image.

Plus the penny machine was right beside it so while I used the machine I took a closer look at it.  I’ve seen some t-shirts and other merchandise in some of the park stores with this style drawing so I’m sure this is the new 2018 design.  I may have to pick something up the next time I’m in the parks.

   

The designs at this machine were of Minnie with her hands together, Pluto jumping on Mickey.  Both of which were brand new images.  The third design is of Anna & Elsa from Frozen.  This used to be at the Puffin’s Roost in Epcot at the Norway Pavilion but had been removed a year or so ago.

The last hotel on this side of the boulevard was the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton.

This was an interesting designed building, but the lobby area was not very big.  As soon as I walked in the check-in desk was to the right, and the Disney store was to the left.  Pretty easy to find.

   

While I used this machine to press the pennies the cast member in the store came by to  talk.  She mentioned the machine has just been brought in a few days prior.  I asked if she knew whether all the “Good Neighbor” hotels were getting them and she wasn’t sure, but more on that in a bit.  The designs in this machine were of Minnie Mouse, Donald in a Tuxedo, and Jiminy Cricket.

Once I had left the DoubleTree suites it was time to cross over the boulevard.  This is a very busy street so be careful crossing.  I didn’t want to risk just running across especially with my young daughter along for the visit.  So we waited, and waited and waited for the traffic light to change.  But made for a much safer crossing.  On the other side were a couple of hotels but we had to head all the way back towards Disney Springs.

At this intersection of Hotel Plaza Boulevard and East Buena Vista Drive is where the overhead walkways where that we had initially taken to cross the street.  On this side of the boulevard there was a sidewalk so we just headed to the right down East Buena Vista Drive.

After a bit of a walk we found the last hotel on this trip the Hilton Palace Buena Vista.

This Disney store is a little more difficult to find.  If you come in through the front main entrance of the hotel you need to take the elevator down a floor.  In this area is where the food court section is and the gift shop is just nearby.

This was yet another beautiful looking hotel and I was really surprised.  I’m not sure why I just assumed these would be a little run down or outdated but they were definitely not what I was expecting.

   

This was the last machine to use and unfortunately it was a little temperamental.  It seemed like the slide the finished pressed penny uses to eventually end up in the cup at the bottom wasn’t lined up correctly.  The machine seemed to press the coins fine, but once they slide down they apparently ended up in the bottom of the cabinet.  I asked the cast member for help but they said they didn’t have the key to open up the machine.  Thankfully I had a few extra sets of quarters and pennies for just this type of situation.  After a few test runs I found that if I kept my hand just inside the bottom cup it would help keep the pennies from dropping inside the machine.  Hopefully this has been fixed as the cast member said they would bring it up with their manager.

With all these new pennies stored away in my pocket we decided to make our way back over the walkways to Disney Springs.

Now I did mention that I had asked the cast member at the DoubleTree Suites about other machines in the area.  As you can see from the picture of the area map I found along the sidewalk there are seven Good Neighbor resorts.

As of this visit I made there were only five of these resorts with penny machines.  However I have read online that rumors are swirling about the remaining two hotels (Best Western and Wyndham) will be getting machines in the near future.  Fingers crossed!

   

Plus you can read here about the Hilton over at Bonnet Creek that got a new machine that I had posted about earlier.  It definitely seems like Disney has been releasing a lot of new penny press machines in locations they never had before.  I’m hoping this is due to the popularity of these machines and they realize people really enjoy them plus of course they make the resorts some money.

This was quite a bit of walking to start in Disney Springs, and make the long trek to each resort.  But it took about an hour and a half at a leisurely pace.  We tried not to rush and once I was inside these hotels I did want to spend a bit of time checking them out.  I didn’t see any of the guest rooms, but if they are anything like the lobby’s and mail hotel areas I would absolutely keep these in mind when visiting the area.  Plus they have penny machines so that’s always a plus in my books.

(Closed) Contest – Win a Set of 2018 Walt Disney World Pressed Coins

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** Thank you to everyone that entered.  The contest has closed and the winners have contacted by email.   Check back for future contests.

Congratulations Hannah for being one of the lucky winners.

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FREE CONTEST:

This is a chance for you to get a complete set of the 2018 Pressed Coins that I had written about in a previous post.  Click here to read all about them and get more details on each coin.  This will include all 15 coins (8 Pennies and 7 Quarters).

We did this last year or maybe the year before and got some great suggestions, so I wanted to try it again.  All you need to do is post a comment below with any ideas you have for the 2019 annual set that you would like to see for next year.  This can be a unique set of movies, characters, ride or attractions, or food (Mmm…Dole Whip Penny).  Last time we had suggestions of Disney Snacks, Yearly Festivals and Holiday Parties like Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.  Let your imagination run wild.

Post as many times as you like, and be sure to spread the word.  This is always a lot of fun when there is lots of participation.  The contest will end on July 31st, 2018.  At that time I’ll randomly select a winner and will contact you for your mailing information.

Good luck!!

**Please note this is just for entertainment purposes.  This contest is not sponsored or endorsed by The Walt Disney Company and this contest does not mean these coins will actual be implemented.  As I mentioned this is just for fun, but you could get a free set of coins.