Holiday

Gatorland Holiday Ho Ho Ho-Down | New Pressed Pennies

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We are a couple weeks into 2021 and I just realized that I completely forgot to write about my visit to Gatorland’s Holiday Ho Ho Ho-Down event.  Hopefully you won’t mind a quick trip back to the Holiday season for this post.

Only in Florida can you celebrate the Holiday season at a theme park filled with Alligators.  This is definitely a unique experience, but I had a whole lot of fun here.

When Gatorland first reopens after being closed due to the 2020 Florida Covid quarantine, they introduced a their Social Distancing Skunk Ape who immediately became a guest favorite.  For this even Skunk Ape is back and helping to spread cheer throughout the park by singing (in his own way) classic Holiday songs.

Another special visitor to the park for the Holidays was Gator Claus with his custom Airboat sled pulled by a mystical rein-gator.

Both were available for socially distanced pictures that would make for a unique Christmas card.

In the middle of one of the gator lagoons was a nicely decorated Christmas tree, but I wouldn’t get too close with those gators keeping an eye on it.

Even if you weren’t interested in the holiday festivities there were still plenty of other things to do, and more gators than you probably want near you.

This is one of the gutsiest birds I have ever seen, just tagging along for a slow ride along the water.  But the gators don’t seem to mind as lease while I was watching.

Some of these gators are just enormous.  Look at this one above, the picture just doesn’t do it justice but wow some of them are pretty intimidating.

On my very first visit to Gatorland a few years ago I wrote about the three pressed penny machines available and you can read all about it here.  These machines don’t change too often, so I was surprised to see a new machine on this visit.

The cabinet on this machine is the standard acrylic design, but the wrap and art work all around are great and obviously fit into theme of the park.  I really liked the top marquee of the machine with the gator eyes just watching you as you press your pennies.

This new set of penny designs are also fantastic.  The original machine that was here had some plain gator designs, but they have really stepped up the details and thought behind these new designs.  I love the first one which is the large gator mouth original entrance to the park.  Plus the gator wrester which is a must watch when visiting, the tortoise design is okay, and then the last design of the zip-line over the gator breeding marsh is great although a bit misleading as you don’t actually get that close to the gators.  But still a really nice set of pressed pennies.

Gatorland is a fun place to visit and I find myself there more often that I would have initially thought.  They are always changing things up and with new characters like Skunk Ape and Gator Claus I was just laughing at their antics which was amazing.  I can’t wait to see what they come up with for the new year, and will be keeping an eye on their pressed penny machines in hopes that we get even more new designs.  Be sure to stay out of those Florida Lakes and Keep on Pressing!

Merry Christmas 2020

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

This has been a unique year we have all experienced together, and the Holidays are no exception.  Hopefully, you are able to spend some time with your family and friends either in person or virtually as has become a bit of the norm lately.

To try and help spread a bit of Holiday cheer today I wanted to write real quick about a couple new pressed pennies I was able to purchase from our friends over at The Penny Depot.  The first penny is called Santa’s Reindeer names.  It has a nice reindeer silhouette in the middle and of course all of your favorite reindeer names around the border.

The second penny is not just a reminder about the Holiday spirit, but in my mind, it’s also a mantra for the upcoming year.  I chose to Believe we will get through this together, it may take a little longer than we would like or hope, but we will get there eventually.  Both of these pressed penny designs are available through The Penny Depot online shop and you can get them in either Zinc or Copper, and can even have a hole punched in it to make a charm.  They also have many other fun designs to celebrate different holidays, life events, or just some fun unique designs to add to your collection.

Please be sure to stay safe and have a Happy Holiday and Merry Christmas!!

Happy Thanksgiving 2020!

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This has been quite a year we have all experienced together.  But now more than ever I feel it’s very important to take some time and count our Blessings and be Thankful for everything we do have.  First off please know that I truly appreciate every one of you that stops by here week after week to check-in on my pressed penny obsession.  Whether you have been a long-time follower or have just recently come across these crazy stories I cannot express how much I feel blessed to know that you actually take a few minutes out of your day to read about my collection.  We do have a fantastic community here of collectors that I have enjoyed getting to know over the years.  I read all of your comments and appreciate you taking the time to reach out.

The above features pressed penny was shared by followed TEC Member Cindy Calhoun on The Elongated Collector’s Facebook page and I thought it was a great design to share.  It was designed by Elmer Anderson and is marked as design EA-10 for those of your collecting some private roller designs.

It’s about time to pop the turkey in the oven over here and enjoy some family togetherness.  This year we have been able to do that more often due to the limited time we head outside, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the work.  My family is truly the most important thing in my life but pressed pennies to come in pretty close behind.  Have a fantastic Thanksgiving and let’s hope we can get through the rest of 2020 as quickly as possible.  I’m definitely looking forward to more Penny Travels in the New Year!

Happy Easter 2020

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Happy Easter!!

Even though we are stuck inside and not able to enjoy our family’s company in person this is still a wonderful holiday to celebrate.  I always equate Easter with Spring that is one of my favorite seasons and signifies to me a fresh start with beautiful flowers in bloom.  However, if you ask my kids they will say it’s all about the Easter Bunny and of course plenty of candy and chocolates.  To each their own I guess.

I wanted to try and share some fun Easter pressed penny designs and found some that I thought were really cute.  Plus with my Disney withdrawals, these seemed to perfect choice this year.  The below are courtesy of Kuniaki Hiraki and his Tokyo Disneyland Souvenir Medallion website and is updated regularly.  Be sure to check it out as it’s a fantastic resource for these coins.

Photo Credit: Kuniaki Hiraki

These pressed medallions are from Tokyo Disney Land and were available in 2019.  I just really loved these and will be trying to get these for my personal collection.  Above has Donald and Daisy Duck as Easter Eggs.

Photo Credit: Kuniaki Hiraki

The above coin is of Woody and Buzz Lightyear as Easter Eggs.

Photo Credit: Kuniaki Hiraki

To finish this set is another design with the Little Green Men from Toy Story as Easter Eggs.  This entire set of 3 pressed medallions was available at the Tomorrowland Terrace.

Photo Credit: Kuniaki Hiraki

But wait there are a couple more I wanted to share.  Above is Mickey with some Bunny Ears on and cute little easter eggs running around.

Photo Credit: Kuniaki Hiraki

The last design I found for 2019 had Donald also wearing some Bunny Ears and is celebrating Easter in style.

As I continued to check out Kuniaki’s website I noticed that to my surprise the 2020 Easter Designs has been released just a couple weeks ago at a few of the Resort Monorail line stations.

Photo Credit: Kuniaki Hiraki

First was at the Tokyo Resort Gateway Station with Chip, Dale, and Usa enjoying some Easter music.

Photo Credit: Kuniaki Hiraki

Next was over at the Bayside Station and has Mickey and Usa as Easter Eggs.  I really like these character egg designs.

Photo Credit: Kuniaki Hiraki

The final two designs were located at the Tokyo DisneySea station.  The first image had Daisy, Donald, and Usa.

Photo Credit: Kuniaki Hiraki

The final medallion so far has Minnie and Usa as Easter Eggs.  This may be my favorite design of them all.

I’ve resisted starting a Tokyo Disneyland collection just due to logistics about trying to acquire them, but holy cow these designs are really gorgeous and they do seem to change them up with the different seasons and holidays throughout the year.  eBay here I come!

Happy Easter everyone and stay safe as always.  Keep on Pressing!

2019 Holiday Nickels – Disneyland and California Adventure

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With the dry spell of very few new pressed coins at Disneyland this year, I was a bit worried the annual Holiday pressed nickel designs may not be released.  Thankfully just a week ago or so I was proven incorrect and it was documented online that the new designs were out.

The first set is available over in Disneyland Park at the Main Street Penny Arcade.  I really like this set, it has designs of Mickey with the word Noel, Minnie Mouse with the word Joy, and the third design with both of them together and two candy canes formed into a heart.

The reverse side of each of these coins says Happy Holidays 2019.

Not too far away over in Disney California Adventure in the Kingswell Camera shop is the second set of pressed nickels.  This set has images of Tinker Bell saying Celebrate the Season, Chip and Dale as the Snow Bros., and Mickey feeding some reindeer.

The reverse image on this set also says Happy Holidays 2019 but inside a Tree Ornament which is pretty cool.

I always look forward to these sets and anxiously await their return each year.  I was a bit worried they may not arrive but once they did I made to pick up a set for my collection as soon as possible.  These are definitely only for a limited time and we just never know how long they will stay out in the parks so get your set quickly!

Happy Holidays!

2018 Holiday Nickels – Disneyland and California Adventure

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This is going to be a quick post because well the holiday’s are over and we have a  lot of other things to see and do with the new year upon us.  But these coins were part of a strange situation that we don’t know much about and made them a bit of a hot commodity this year.

On December 21st it was reported that the pressed nickel set was released in the California Adventure park at Jolly Trolley Treats on Buena Vista Street.

As always they have a nice backstamp on each of the pressed coins with a bit of holiday decoration.  I only noticed after taking the above pictures of this set that the Mickey and Minnie designs go together with Mickey holding some Mistletoe and Minnie leaning in to give him a kiss.  Kind of a cute set within the set.

Then Christmas came and went with no Disneyland set.  Followed shortly after by New Years coming and going and still no Disneyland set.

Then on January 2nd the Disneyland Holiday Nickel set finally appears in the Main Street Penny Arcade.

Similar backstamp for the Disneyland coins, and to be honest even the front designs are very similar with the characters just in different positions.

The strange thing is that these coins were then pulled off-stage only a week later on January 8th.  So these sets were only available for a very short time, especially the Disneyland set which was only a week.  Luckily I was able to get a set from a friend in California, but just be aware that if you are looking for these on eBay or another aftermarket merchant the cost may be higher than usually due to this limited availability.  I’m not sure if there was a problem getting the designs made, or if they had to scrap other designs and that’s why we got similar ones.  Either way it was still nice to keep this annual tradition going and hopefully next year the machines will be available for just a bit longer allowing more people to press a set.

Festival of the Holidays & France Pavilion Penny Machine Returns

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Quick side note.  The below is something I wrote up earlier in December but just didn’t get a chance to post it.  I had planned on writing something else for this week, BUT Walt Disney World decided this was the week they were going to release all their new 2019 pennies and quarters.  So all week I’ve been heading in and out of the parks and resorts looking for the coins.  Full review will be coming as soon as I can.   In the meantime enjoy the below even though it’s a bit late in celebrating the holidays.
Have a wonderful 2019!!
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Still being relatively new Floridians, my family is still finding it hard to get into the Holiday spirit.  Coming from New Jersey we had the transition from summer into fall with the changing of the leaves and cooler weather, then into winter with lots of snow.  But now in Florida it pretty much seems like summertime all year round.  There are some things we have found that help, but our favorite has been the Festival of the Holidays and Candlelight Procession in Epcot.

The decorations around the park are always a nice touch, and the topiary that are common for each festival in Epcot are always really amazing.

As you head through the middle of Future World you can see the top of the Christmas tree just near the entrance to World Showcase.

You always want to make sure you pick up the passport for the Festival.  This will contain information about the different Holiday storytellers, show times, and most importantly the food booths.

We checked out a few of the booths this year.  One we always visit is near the Canadian Pavilion and this year is called the Yukon.

We tried the French Canadian classic tourtiere which is like a meat pie filled with Beef and Pork with a housemate ketchup.  To offset the savory dish we tried some Ice wine from a winery called Inniskillin located in the Niagara Falls region of Canada.  The tourtiere had the familiar holiday spice and flavor I remember from my childhood in Canada and it was a nice treat.

There is also a cookie stroll you can partake in.  There are six cookies available at specific food booths around the World Showcase.  The cookies were only a few dollars each.  When you purchase your cookie, make sure they stamp your festival passport.  Once you have had all your cookies there is one last Completer cookie to get which is accompanied by a cold bottle of milk.

I mentioned previously about the Holiday Storytellers.  These are done by performers in some of the pavilions that tell stories or sing songs about the holiday celebrations from their home countries.  We headed to France and loved the stories told by Père Noël.

As a side story this our Holiday adventure through Epcot, I had heard a rumor that the pressed penny machine in the France Pavilion had returned.  So I took a quick trip into Les Halles the gift shop and patisserie to check it out.

Sure enough in the back of the shop where it used to be was the machine.  The cabinet has changed but the two designs were still the same.

The two designs are of Mickey with the Eiffel Tower, and the France Pavilion.

Now if you have been following my travels there was a post a year or so ago about a secret penny that was available here in the France Pavilion.  You can read about it here.

As I pressed a new set of pennies at this machine I watched the dies inside the machine turn and noticed the third secret die was still inside.  I was hoping this would mean that the Agent P interactive game that you used to play to get this coin would be reactivated.  However after chatting with some fellow collectors online the rumors are that the Agent P game will be going away in the near future and replaced with something else.  So unfortunately for now it appears there is no way to press this special coin.

After visiting the patisserie in Les Halles for my wife’s favorite chocolate croissants we headed to one last Festival food booth for a couple of items that we had been hearing good things about.

At the L’Chaim! booth there was quite a line which seemed to be a good sign.

First we tried the potato knish which I remember having in New York City on many visits.  This wasn’t as good as the authentic ones in NYC, but it was still really good.

The second items we tried at this booth was the Pastrami on Rye with a housemate picket.  This was really good.  I’m a sucker for Pastrami or Corned beef and really like this one.  I did with the portion was larger, but this is pretty standard size for the Epcot festivals.

We enjoyed the rest of the Festival around the World Showcase and eventually ended up in the China Pavilion at Nine Dragons restaurant for dinner.  We had booked a dining package for the Candlelight Processional that evening.  After dinner we headed towards the American Pavilion for the show and it was amazing. Our celebrity narrator was Neil Patrick Harris, but the stars of the show were the orchestra and choir.  The music and singing were really fantastic.

On our way out of the park after the candlelight procession I overhear someone say, “If that doesn’t get you in the Holiday spirit nothing will”.  I couldn’t agree more.

Jungle Adventures – Christmas, FL

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Merry Christmas!!

Ok this is a bit of a stretch I’ll admit but when I was trying to figure out something to write about for this holiday season I was kind of drawing a blank.  I did find a new online penny vendor with some new holiday designs but that’s what I usually do, and this year I wanted it to be a bit different.  As I scoured the internet I was trying to see if there was a local Christmas festival or anything that may have a pressed penny design but kept coming up empty.  However eventually I did notice something on a map of central Florida during these searches, and found a little town called Christmas.

Yes you read that right, Christmas Florida is an actual place and it was only about an hour away from our house.  Plus the icing on top was that there was a roadside attraction in this town that had a penny machine.  The pieces were all falling into place.  Pennies, Christmas, and Alligators…sure why not.

Jungle Adventures is where we were headed.  It was a nice Florida “winter” day in the high sixties (sorry if you are from up north), and the as a nice change of pace from the usual Orlando traffic, there were not many cars on the road in this part of town.

As we turned off the highway we were greeted by Swampy the World’s largest Gator.  This is just the design of the main building that includes the gift shop and admission desk.  Quite the roadside attraction.  We got parked, headed inside to buy our tickets to the park and started our Adventure.

After leaving the main building we came to the Golden Gator Bridge that takes you over the water to the Wild Animal Island.  The green stuff on top of the water is called Duckweed that is a flowering aquatic plant that floats on still or slow-moving wetlands.  While walking over the bridge we could see quite a few gators just floating along very slowly.  Then on the other side we came face with some really big ones.

As you can see from the above picture the walkway allows you to get right up close to the fence but there are signs everywhere stating not to put your fingers in the case.  Seemed like good advice.

The fence is only 5 feet or so high, and I was able to reach over for some pictures.  The big guys didn’t flinch at all.  I was worried they may move around a bit as we got closer but they must be used to all the attention.  There is staff all around to answer any questions and you can also buy various bags of food in the gift shop for feeding all the different animals.

There were a couple Florida Panthers here as well, but just like our cats at home they were enjoying a nap which I’m sure is how they spend most of their day.

There is an elevated nature walk along this boardwalk.  Thankfully it’s all screened in at the bottom to keep you safe.  This literally takes you right through the swamp.

There were a large amount of vultures here when we visited.  I’m sure they are there for the scape of food left behind, but they can be a little intimating as they are pretty big when you get close to them.

I saw this little guy resting on a branch just above the water and thought he looked pretty comfortable.  It was a little surprising that all the gators weren’t more active, and I think I maybe saw one moving slightly but that was about it.  A few times my daughter even asked if they were real, which I assured her they were.

After feeding some of the animals, and having a nice afternoon visit we headed back into the main building.  Inside the gift shop area was where the penny press machine was located.

It was a nice old school three design electric model.  The machine worked great and the pennies pressed very nicely.

The set of pennies included the Jungle Adventures Logo, a Gator and a Florida Panther.  This place isn’t huge, but does have a nice big collection of animals to visit with and learn about.  We have visited Gatorland which I believe has more gators, but at Jungle Adventure I felt like we were able to get much closer to the gators which may or may not have been a good thing.    They do offer a boat tour that gets you even closer to some of the gators, but it unfortunately was not operating during our visit due to inclement weather.

This was a classic Florida attraction, with some fun things to do and there was practically no one there.  I think we only saw 2 or 3 other families there which is a nice change from the more popular theme parks.

As I said at the beginning this was a bit of a stretch for a Christmas post but hope you enjoyed it.  Have a great Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone.  Stay safe and remember 2019 is just around the corner.  So many more pennies still to find and we have lots of things planned for next year.

2017 Holiday Nickels – Disneyland and California Adventure

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It’s that time of year again and as Christmas is  almost here, Disneyland has released their annual Holiday Nickel sets.  As with previous years the first set of nickels released were available at the Main Street Penny Arcade.

The images are of Mickey & Minnie Seasons Greetings 2017, Donald Duck Happy Holidays 2017, and Tinker Bell Happy New Year! 2018.

The backstamp on each of these nickels is the Disneyland Park logo with a snowflake and mistletoe.

Walking across the promenade over to California Adventure you can find the second set of holiday nickels.

The machine can be found in the Kingswell Camera shop.  The designs are of a Toy Story Alien Ornament Seasons Greetings 2017, Tow Mater Holiday Cheer 2017, and Lightning McQueen Happy New Year 2018.

Similar to the other backstamp this one has the California Adventure logo with snowflake and mistletoe.

I say this every year but these really are a cool little set and looking forward to them has become an annual event that lots of collectors enjoy.  Make sure you get a set of each before they disappear for another year.

Have a very Merry Christmas, and Holiday season!!

Merry Christmas 2017

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Just like every year it’s late night / early morning and I’m wrapping some last minutes gifts.  But I wanted to take a quick break to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.  Thank you for coming back each week and following my adventures, and enjoying the fun of pressing pennies.  All the feedback is wonderful and I truly appreciate everyone that follows along.

Please have a safe holiday and enjoy the festivities with your loved ones, and I hope Santa brings you everything you asked for.