Super Hero Headquarters – Disney Springs, FL

May 17, 2016 / davidscointravels / 1 Comment

Has anyone gone to see the new Captain America Civil War movie? If not you may be one of the few that hasn’t seen this huge blockbuster. Marvel is certainly a huge commodity and Disney is cashing in on that investment. I had visited Disney Springs a few weeks ago and one of the new stores I found was called Super Hero Headquarters.

This place was filled from corner to corner with everything to fill Marvel needs. T-Shirts, plush, posters, figures, you name it they have it.

Unfortunately for me I found out afterwards that they had recently placed a new touch screen multi-design penny machine in this store only a few days after I had been there. Thankfully a Florida friend of mine was able to visit the store and press a set for my collection.

This is an 8 design set all themed around Marvel’s Avengers. Each design is numbered and includes images of: Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, the Avengers Logo, and Loki. On a side note after you go pick yourself up a set of these be sure to go check out the new Town Center at Disney Springs. This brand new shopping and dining area just opened on May 15th and looks really nice.

I’m excited to check this place out the next time we are in Florida later this year, and hopefully there will be some new penny machines by then.

Coin Collecting Packages for my Friends – Follow Up #1

March 28, 2016 / davidscointravels / 1 Comment

My parents just got back from their annual trip to Florida for some spring break Major League Baseball. During their trip they had decided to visit Orlando and stayed at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort. This allowed them quick access to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex on Disney property where the Atlanta Braves play during spring training.

Knowing that my parents would be staying at a resort with a nice assortment of penny machines I put together a Coin Collecting Package which I had written about previously.

After getting back in town they stopped by to see the grand kids and also drop off some gifts they had picked up. As my children eagerly sat on the couch waiting for their gifts I was doing the same thing. My dad handed me the ziptop bag and I eagerly tore into it to see how the coins turned out.

The Caribbean Beach Resort had four pressed coin machines available on property. Just as a FYI you do NOT need to be a resort guest to access the machine. I have visited numerous resorts to collect the coins and just let the security guard know you are there to use the machines. They are more than happy to let you through. Since my parents had a busy schedule my father wandered around the resort late one night to visit each machine for me.

First up was the machine at the Custom House. This is really just the registration building for the resort. In years past you would check in here to get your room assignment. But starting just last year you can sign up for online checking which triggers a text message on your cell phone with your room number when it’s ready. Makes this custom house kind of obsolete but thankfully there’s still a penny machine available inside.

The pennies at this machine included images of Lilo & Stitch eating ice cream, Jafar from Aladdin, and another Lilo &Stitch playing a ukulele. Thankfully for my father’s sake the other three machines were all located at the same place. Near the big resort pool and recreation area is the Goombay Arcade.

As you walk in along the far wall is a nice cabinet containing the three machines. There are two penny machines that surround a quarter machine.

Starting with the machine on the far left as I mentioned was a three design penny machine.

The pennies at this machine has some familiar faces from one of my favorite Pixar movies Cars. Lightning McQueen, Mack and Miss Sally.

The middle machine has one quarter design available. As a reminder the quarter machines take five quarters to use, four are the price to press and the fifth is the lucky one to be pressed.

This is an interesting design and nicely themed for the Caribbean Beach Resort. It has Goofy dressed up like a Pirate with a Jolly Roger flag.

The last machine on the right side of the cabinet and also had three penny designs.

These designs came our very nicely. There is Nemo obviously from another Pixar favorite Finding Nemo, Mickey in a Tuxedo, and Sleeping Beauty aka Princess Aurora.

Overall I think my dad did very well. In previous trips I usually only give him one or two machines to collect, but he found all four and came back with some great additions for my collection. He did say that the map, and penny design images I included did help make it easier for him. As always I appreciated him taking the time out of his vacation to help me. He said it gave him an excuse to check out the entire resort, and he was happy to help anytime. Bwahaha (Evil laugh) he’s in trouble now!

Coin Collecting Packages for my Friends

March 24, 2016 / davidscointravels / 2 Comments

It’s finally happening. The cold weather is slowly starting to leave us here in Jersey. This is the time of year that a lot of us collectors look forward to as we can start planning our trips for new pressed coins. I usually get a little over zealous and have trips scheduled for most weekend along with at least one week-long trip somewhere. But then reality strikes and some of the short trips need to be bumped or canceled.

Something else that also starts to happen at least for me is that my friends and family start to let me know about trips they are taking. They know of my pressed coin collection and don’t seemed to concerned about being enablers and feeding into the obsession. Deep down I think they actually like the adventure of finding the machines and using the machines but they’ll never admit it.

The downside of this knowledge is that I can easily go overboard requesting they collect every coin within a 100 mile radius. However I really do feel guilty sometimes as I know how my own vacations are schedule and there isn’t always a lot of extra time available. Usually I end up just picking a few machines that are as close to where their hotel is or a theme park, zoo or other attraction they are already visiting. I never want them to have to make a special trip just to use one machine that worst case scenario may be out-of-order. Over the years I have come up with different ways to ensure my friends and family have enough coins to press, and now even take the time to get images of the coins I’m looking for.

I’m mentioned in the past that my parents are big New York Mets fans and go down to Port St Lucie in Florida for Spring Training Baseball season. This years trip has them in Port St Lucie for the first half of their trip and then they are heading to Orlando. The picture above is of the package I created for them as they informed me they would be staying on Walt Disney Property for a few nights at the Caribbean Beach Resort. Everything is put into a gallon size ziptop bag for easy storage and can just be placed in their luggage.

One of the first things I did was do a google search for a copy of the resort map. I use just basic photo editing software on my computer. As you can see above I then insert boxes with the locations of each machine and some details about the coins located there.

Next using my computer’s word processor I create the above table. This is really just to help keep everything spaced and organized. In each box I list the location and then grab a picture of the coins from various websites available online. Once printed I then cut out each box and insert it into little ziptop bags that have the appropriate number of quarters and pennies needed for that machine.

In the past I know my friends and family mean well but sometimes a location would have multiple machines and they didn’t always understand my hand written notes. This was something I started doing just a few years ago and it has worked like a charm. Obviously there is a bit of work to be done on my end but to me it’s all part of the fun.

Once I have the map completed and all the little bags filled I always double-check them with each other to make sure I didn’t overlook something. Then I fold it all up and put in the larger ziptop bag. All that’s left is to wait for them to return so I can see how they turned out.

I have a friend at work that always goes to Walt Disney World around July 4th and stays at the Wilderness Lodge Resort. In anticipation of her trip I already put together a package for her which is pictured below. This is a little risky to do this far in advance as the coins can change at any time but I always like to try to be as prepared as possible.

These two above examples just happen to both be for Disney, but I do the same for other attractions. Most zoos, aquariums and theme parks have digital versions of their maps available online that I just download and use the same process listed above. I’m always very appreciative to all my friends and family for taking the time out of their vacations to press some extra coins for me and the least I can do is make it as easy for them as possible. Hopefully it doesn’t take up too much of their time and they can get back to what they had originally intended to do.

2016 WDW Pennies & Quarters

January 20, 2016February 13, 2016 / davidscointravels / Leave a comment

They’re here!!!

It’s that time of year again and Walt Disney World has released their new 2016 pressed penny and quarter designs at various locations throughout the resort. Just like last year they have released 15 designs in total.

As you can see above there is a nice variety of designs including the famous Disney Characters, the castle and even the ones with just the 2016 year listed.

Here is a shot of just the penny designs which just like last year have 8 designs in total, and below is a picture of the 7 quarter designs.

Now let me go over each individual coin so you can see a close up and I’ll review where to find each one.

First up we will visit the Magic Kingdom where you can find 4 of these designs. The picture above is of Sorcerer’s Apprentice Mickey with his hands outstretched is pressed on a penny and available at Sir Mickey’s Store near Cinderella’s Castle.

The penny on the left is of Cinderella’s Castle and can be found at the Emporium on Main Street.

The third design is also on a penny and shows Apprentice Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Pluto surrounding the 2016. This penny is available at the Splashdown Photos Preview at the end of Splash Mountain (Tip: You don’t need to actually go on the ride but can walk back trough the gift shop towards the exit of Splash Mountain to access this machine).

The only 2016 quarter design available in the Magic Kingdom can be found at the Main Street Railroad Station at the bottom of the stairs. The image is of Cinderella’s Castle above the 2016.

Over at Epcot they have two designs available. The first is located in the huge Mouse Gears gift shop in Future World. The penny had Apprentice Mickey controlling the waves surrounding him.

A short walk over towards The Land is where you will find the second coin at Epcot. It’s located right outside the Garden Grill revolving restaurant and has Donald with a Tuba wrapped around his neck.

At the Animal Kingdom park the penny design is available at Chester & Hester’s Dino Treasures. Are you noticing a theme here? This design also has an image of Sorcerer’s Apprentice Mickey with his magic wand.

The second coin is available at the Harambe Railway Station. Here you will find the quarter design which has Pluto playing a saxophone.

So far Disney hasn’t released the new name of this park so for now I’m still going to call it Hollywood Studios. This park also has two designs available. The first is a penny located at the Prop Shop along with about 12 other machines (not really but pretty close). This is a nice image of 2016 with the Sorcerer’s Hat on top of the zero.

UPDATED: This quarter design is in a machine that was originally located at the Mickeye’s of Hollywood store, but was moved to the Pizza Planet in Hollywood Studios. My friend was able to find the machine at the Pizza Planet but recently it seems to have gone missing. If any of you have been keeping up with Disney renovation news the Pizza Planet is about to be closed down (maybe moved) to make room for the new Star Wars and Toy Story lands.

Time to ride the monorail. First stop is the Contemporary Resort, and the awesome wall of pressed coin machines located on the 4th floor concourse directly below the monorail platform. The penny design has 2016 in the middle surrounded by 6 different Disney characters.

The machine with the quarter design is also located on the 4th floor concourse. This is a really nice coin. 2016 is in the middle and surrounded by Music, Magic, Memories (2016’s theme) and a banner that says Where magic lives.

Three monorail stops later and we are at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. Taking the monorail will have you on the exact floor of the resort you need to be for the penny machine. It’s located on the 2nd floor Lobby and has an image of Goofy playing a drum.

These last two will require a trip on a bus (or take your car) over to the All-Star Resorts. The first stop is at the All-Star Sports Resort to find the above quarter design located at the Game Point Arcade. The image is of Minnie Mouse playing a Bass Violin.

Just one resort over and you arrive at the All-Star Music Resort. The quarter machine is located at the Note-able Games Arcade and shows Daisy playing a violin.

Whew!! That’s the whole set for this year, and as I said last year it looks like they are really trying to up the ante each year which I think is completely awesome. I like that there are no duplicate designs this year and can’t wait to see what is in store for the rest of the year.

New Marketplace Fun Finds – Disney Springs

December 5, 2015 / davidscointravels / Leave a comment

Out with the old Downtown Disney in Orlando, and in with the new revitalized Disney Springs. When I had visited back in April much of this area was under construction and behind the magical walls forcing us to use our imagination as to what Disney was creating.

Now I believe the official grand opening isn’t until early 2016 but some of the new restaurants and shops have started to open. I’ve got a few on my list for the next time we visit. But in the meantime a new set of pressed pennies became available at the Marketplace Fun Finds. This little store has seen quite a bit of action with their machines this year. The original machine located here had four designs all that included “Downtown Disney”. Well naturally with the name change to Disney Springs these old coins had to go.

Similar to the previous set all four of these designs says “Disney Springs” and included images of the Disney Springs Logo, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Goofy. A friend of mine from Orlando was able to stop by and get these coins for me, but his phone was dead by the time he got to the store and wasn’t able to get a picture of the machine (I’m sending a phone car charger for Christmas). But as always I’m very thankful he didn’t mind going out of his way to pick these up for me so I’ll forgive the dead battery (this time hint hint).

If you’re in the area make sure you stop by the new Disney Springs and see what’s new. Check out Iron Chef Morimoto’s new restaurant or take an amphibious car for a tour of the lake from the new Boathouse restaurant. Then before heading home wonder by the Marketplace Fun Finds and get a set of these coins, it’s the first new set for Disney Springs and hopefully won’t be the last.

Disney’s Earport – Orlando , FL

October 12, 2015October 20, 2016 / davidscointravels / 3 Comments

For anyone that has taken a trip to Orlando Florida regardless of whether it was to visit the Magic Kingdom, or any other non-magical place (Just kidding) when you come back to the Orland Airport you have probably spent some time in the numerous gift shops available in the terminals. I know I always visit the Universal Studios store, the SeaWorld store, the Kennedy Space Center store and of course the Disney Earport store.

Usually by the time we are at the airport our bags are already stuffed with additional gifts and souvenirs but that doesn’t stop us from checking out the store just in case we missed something. Also for those of you that may not know most of these stores also have pressed penny machines.

Unfortunately in my experience these machines don’t get updated very often. I checked each of the stores in April when we had our big trip to Disney World and they were the same designs I had pressed some 4-5 years prior. That was until just this past week. I read a post online that the Disney Earport store had finally added a machine.

It took me a few days of trying to get some contacts around Orlando to make a trip to the airport but unfortunately that didn’t work out. So I went to my next resource which is eBay and found that one of my favorite sellers had some sets available for purchase so I quickly ordered a set and a few days later they arrived.

The machine has 3 designs which include: Pilot Mickey, Pilot Stitch and Elsa from Frozen. The Elsa design is the same one available in Hollywood Studios at the In Character Shop and kind of seems out of place in this set but who am I to complain.

So if you’re experiencing a layover or have some time to kill before you flight leaves Orlando International Airport be sure to check out not just the Disney Earport store but the other shops as well for some last-minute pressed pennies. It will help elevate the sting of knowing your vacation has come to an end, or least that’s what I try to tell myself. I’ll let you know if it ever starts working.

Monster’s Inc Pennies – Hollywood Studios WDW

September 2, 2015 / davidscointravels / Leave a comment

It’s been a little while since a new machine became available at Walt Disney World in Orlando Florida, but just this past week or so that finally changed. This new machine is located in the Prop Shop where it seems almost every other penny machine in this park is now located. For those of you that don’t know there were some major changes announced for Hollywood Studios over the next few years which include a Toy Story Land and for you anyone interested in a galaxy far far away…Star Wars Land. Below I have listed one of the concept drawings that has been floating around online and I must say if we get anything close to this it would really be amazing.

The reason I bring these up is that there are a lot of changes going on at Hollywood Studios these days. Numerous attractions have already closed with potentially more to come as the additional space is needed for these new Lands that are being installed. With so much going on it seems like the penny machines are being gathers into a hand full of locations which makes finding them easier. The Prop Shop is located back where Streets of America meets Pixar place, this is also the area where the Studio Catering Co. and Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure are also located. The Prop Shop is now home to I think about 7 pressed coin machines in total which could make for quite a haul in a short amount of time. This latest machine to be put on stage is a 4-design hand crank model themed around the popular Pixar movie Monster’s Inc.

The designs include: Mike Wazowski, Sully Sullivan, Boo, and Randall. Each character is shown coming through one of the famous doors in Monstropolis. I was quite impressed with the detail of each of these new coins, but also a little surprised they were utilizing this movie when they have a few other newer titles that were recently released. In any case they make a nice addition to the collection. With all the changes that will be going on at Hollywood Studios you may want to get all the pressed coins you can because who knows what will happen to these machines when buildings start coming down and new planets start showing up.

Penny Machines on TV

July 27, 2015April 1, 2017 / davidscointravels / 5 Comments

Over the weekend after spending the day collecting pressed coins I decided to indulge in another guilty pleasure of mine. There was a movie on SyFy Network a few years ago that started it all, Sharknado. When I originally heard the title I immediately laughed out loud but than had to check out the promo trailer. It looked incredibly stupid and yet intriguing all at the same time. I watch the original and I just can’t explain my draw to the movie other than saying it was so dumb it was good. I apparently wasn’t the only one as they had such a following of the first that last year (2014) they came out with a sequel that was equally as bad but still entertaining. Well the SyFy network has done it again and just last week came out with the third installment. Now before you go running for the hills thinking this is a review of a terrible movie I promise that isn’t the point of this post.

Each movie takes place in a different part of the United States. First was Los Angeles, then New York and this time it started in Washington, DC but ended up in Florida and more specific in Universal Studios Orlando.

During one scene when the Sharknado is raining down all manner of sharks on the innocent tourists visiting the park something immediately caught my eye. This must be from all the training I have whenever we are out on vacation or visiting any new attraction. I noticed in the background there was a penny machine.

I was able to grab a screen shot and as you can see above it was right in the middle of the shot. After seeing this I quickly headed online and checked out my personal collection as I was almost positive I had visited that exact machine. Sure enough I found a picture of the machine I took when visiting Universal Studios 2011.

Back when I had visited the Jaws ride was still there but has recently been removed to make room for more Harry Potter attractions, but apparently this machine is still available for use.

The designs are still the same and include: Amity Island, Bruce (Jaws), Spider-Man and X-Men. After finishing the movie I started thinking back to some other shows I had seen in the past where a penny machine made an appearance. My wife always laughs when we would watch these shows and I would immediately pause the screen and point out the machine. She was just amazed at how I can pick these out at a moments noticed. What can I say it’s a gift.

It took a little time on my end but I was able to come up with two other instances. First was from a show on the Travel Channel called Food Paradise. They basically pick a type of food (Steaks, Burgers, Pizza, etc) and visit places all across the country that supposedly have either the best or most unusual take on that food. One episode I saw was titled Deep Fried Paradise 2 Extra Crispy. In it they visit Old Town in San Diego California where there is a restaurant called Cafe Coyote that services up Deep Fried Ice Cream. They interview numerous customers and then have a shot of a mariachi band playing right beside a penny machine.

Strangely enough I had also visited this location during a trip to California back in 2008. Unfortunately at that time I didn’t know this place had such great Deep Fried Ice Cream so we didn’t stop to eat here but I knew about the penny machine and made a special stop to collect the coin.

There is only one design available and as you can see from the picture above it was pressing a little short. The design is of Old Town itself and lists Cabrillo 1542.

I knew of one other machine I had seen on TV and it was in the newer version of Hawaii Five-O that premiered in 2010. I stopped watching the show after the first couple season, but I remembered in Season 1 Episode 1 Steve McGarrett returns home to Oahu and is greeted by Chin Ho Kelly. As they reminisce about their past they walk right by a young boy using a penny machine.

This one took me a little time to research online. Since I have not had the pleasure of visiting Hawaii yet I have not used this machine and didn’t recognize where it was located. Eventually I found on the pennycollector.com website that this machine appears to be at the U.S.S. Missouri Memorial.

There are 4 designs available: USS Missouri, Kamikaze Apr 11 1945, Pear Harbor, and USS Missouri BB-63 Pear Harbor Hawaii.

I must say I was pretty impressed with my memory on some of these. It took some time to go back and find the shows but was really cool to see the machines on some pretty popular shows.

Remember to keep your eyes open you never know when you’ll find a machine during your travels, or even on TV.

[UPDATE 3/31/2017]
I don’t usually watch the Fox Animated Series Bob’s Burgers on a regular basis, but sometimes it just happens to be on when I’m channel surfing and I’ll check it out. I’m glad I did on this most recent weekend. From Season 7 Episode 14 the children are visiting a local aquarium and they briefly mention a penny crusher (press) machine. Later in the episode you can see the aforementioned penny crusher in the background.

I thought this was a cool little easter egg for us penny collectors and wanted to add it to this post. I’ll keep updating as I find more penny machines appearing in TV shows.

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David's Coin Travels

Follow my journey across the country collecting elongated coins

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