Hollywood Studios

(Closed) Contest – Win a Set of 2021 Walt Disney World Pressed Coins

/ davidscointravels / 63 Comments

** Thank you to everyone that entered.  The contest has closed and the winner has been contacted so check your emails.  Visit us again for future contests.

It’s that time of year again for our annual giveaway!!  See our past winners here.

This is a chance for you to get a complete set of the 2021 Dated Coins that I had written about in a previous post.   If you haven’t already, be sure to click here and you can find out more details on each coin, or check out our YouTube video on these coins here.

 

This will include all 24 coins (19 Pennies and 5 Medallions) as shown above (please note there is an extra medallion in the picture just to show off the back design).

As stated above this is a FREE contest.  To enter just post a comment below with who your favorite Animated Disney Sidekick is.  Simple right!

Post as many times as you like, and be sure to spread the word.  Share this on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or anywhere else that Disney Pressed Penny fans can be found.  This is always a lot of fun when there is a lot of participation. The contest will end on March 17th, 2021.  At that time I will randomly select a winner and will contact you for your mailing information.

If you haven’t already, be sure to stop by our Youtube channel: davidscointravels and subscribe for videos all about pressed coins including updates on new Walt Disney World pennies.  Your support there helps us offer these types of contests.

Good luck and Keep on Pressing!!

**Please note this is just for entertainment purposes.  This contest is not sponsored or endorsed by The Walt Disney Company.

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster NEW Pressed Pennies – WDW Hollywood Studios

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Just recently I had posted about a new pressed penny machine over at Sir Mickey’s in the Magic Kingdom and how the new machine removed one of the dated penny designs.  Well it looked that this has happened again but this time over at Hollywood Studios.

In years past this park has been home to two dated pressed coins designs.  One a pressed quarter at the Tower (of Terror) Hotel Gift Shop, and a pressed penny over at the Rock around the Shop.  Recently a fellow collector was visiting the park and mentioned casually about an 8-design penny machine at this shop which immediately piqued my interest since there is usually a 3-design machine here.  It took a few days before I was able to acquire a park reservation and then headed in to investigate.  The shop is at the exit of the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, but quick tip you can access this store without riding the coaster if you prefer.

For those that don’t know the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster features Aerosmith so it’s themed around a Rock Concert.  Not only is the coaster themed this way but the Rock Around the Shop is as well.  You can find gear cases all over the place as displays for the merchandise, and there are even a few different kinds of drum sticks you can purchase.

As you exit off the ride there is an area with a bunch of tv screens where you can preview your on-ride photo just before you enter the shop.  The penny machine is found right near this area so you basically have to pass by the machine when leaving.

The cabinet of this machine is themed just like one of those gear cases as well which I think is amazing.  The previous machine had a similar style and I’m happy to see they kept it.

I haven’t mentioned it in awhile but these 8-design penny machines are still the same cost (for now).  Individual pennies are $1 each, or you get a discount if you purchase the entire set for $5.  Also, just as a reminder these new machines supply the penny to be pressed so you don’t have the option to use your preferred penny.

The set includes two designs themed for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster including the attraction logo and one of the Limo style ride vehicle.  These are similar to the designs here previously with the old machine.  The rest of the designs are of Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Doc Dwarf, Pooh and Piglet and Stitch all playing different musical instruments. I’m always up for new designs, but these do seem a bit forced to make them fit into this attraction.  I’m not sure what else they could have done here as the coaster is mostly in the dark so it’s not like they could use images from the ride instead.  It is always fun to see designs of the actual attractions and I know they are popular with kids or adults that have conquered the coaster for the first time, but I don’t know how popular those other designs are going to be.

You may be asking about that 2021 pressed penny as you noticed it was not included in this machine.  Well I can confirm it was released and was located somewhere else in the park.  If you want to find out where be sure to check out our post about all the 2021 dated coin designs here.

Happy Collecting!!

2021 Dated Walt Disney World Pressed Coin Set

/ davidscointravels / 4 Comments

It’s the most magical time of the year….well sort of.  Thankfully this year Disney was able to release their new 2021 Dated pressed coins a little earlier than last year.  It’s a lot of work running all over property hunting for these new designs, but I’m always up for the challenge and enjoy every second of it.  Let’s jump right in and I’ll show you all the new designs and where you can find them on your next trip.

Usually these new designs start to show up right between Christmas and New Years so that’s when I started checking out all the usually locations as frequently as I could.

Sure enough I found the first one on December 27th at Disney Springs in the Pin Trader store.

 

I know this isn’t a pressed coins, but I still like to include it as part of the annual dated set.  It’s a Collectible Medallion (hint there are more to come) which I have really come to enjoy collecting.  The larger size of the coin allows for a more detailed image which I really like.  Unfortunately even though this design does have the new 2021 year on it, the rest of the designs is exactly the same as the 2020 version.  Hopefully next year they can work on completely redesigning it.  Fingers crossed!

Just a few days later I received a message from a friend and fellow collector Rob Wilson that he was visiting Hollywood Studios and found the first pressed penny.  I was excited to hear this news.  The only problem was that this time of year is very busy at the parks and getting a park reservation for arguably the most popular park at the time of writing this, I had to sit and wait for a few days before I could check it out.

Thankfully I was given very specific information on where this design was located as it wouldn’t not have been my first stop.  Just after you walk into Hollywood Studios there is faux Gas Station called Oscar’s Super Service.  This is actually where you would go to rent a wheelchair or electric scooter.

 

For a long as I can remember they have had a penny press inside this shop, but this is the first time that one of the dated designs was here.  This design is of the Hollywood Tower Hotel better knows as the Tower of Terror attraction.  This has become a common design each year and I still really like it.  Side note, also take a look at the machine and you may notice this has been updated to the new $1 per penny cost, and the machine supplies a shiny zinc penny.  Another interesting tidbit is that this is the only dated penny available in Hollywood Studios this year.  The penny design used to be in the Rock Around the Shop store but that 3-design machine was removed and replaced with an 8-design touch screen model (Stay tuned for a future post on this).  Then the pressed quarter design was at the Tower Hotel Gift shop, the machine is still available, and still $1.25 to press your quarter but there is no longer a dated design there.

Once I had finished walking all throughout the Studios park to ensure they didn’t release any other new designs, I hopped on the Skyliner to visit a resort.

Have I mentioned before how much I love the Skyliner?  It’s amazing and I don’t really like heights but it’s such a great way to get to and from some of the resorts and parks.  On this trip I ended up over at the Art of Animation resort.

 

In the main building of the resort there is a gift shop and food court which is where you can find the pressed penny machine.  This has been a fairly new location for the dated penny designs, and sure enough they continued this year with a new design.  This design is fantastic and I think it’s my favorite design for this year, just a little bit retro.

Next up we continued visiting resorts and headed over to the Polynesian Village Resort.  They are currently going through some major refurbishments at this resort currently with the monorail station being completely removed and eventually rebuilt, and some of the guest rooms will be converted to a Moana theme.

All this construction does make this resort not quite as amazing as it usually is, especially since ‘Ohana is not currently open.  But the gift shops and quick service locations are still open.  On the second floor is the Moana Mercantile for some grab an go items, and is also where the pressed penny machine is found.

 

 Last year this location also had a dated Minnie Mouse design, but thankfully this year even though Minnie has returned the design itself has been changed for this year.

I do kind of wish that this design had Minnie in her hula costume from down in the Lobby, but maybe next year.

Eventually the New Year did arrive and this was when the rest of the dated designs really started showing up.  I had seen on eBay two penny designs listed as being from Animal Kingdom which was out of the ordinary from previous years.  So I just had to visit every machine to see if that was the cases, and sure enough I found them.

First I headed over to Dinoland USA as this was where the dated design has been located the last few years.  As I passed by the Restaurantosaurus I found a friendly little guy making sure to keep his mask on, but looks like he may have picked up the wrong size.

The penny machine in this area can be found in Chester & Hester’s Dino Treasures.  It’s a pretty large gift shop over near all the carinal games.

 

The trend continued with this machine getting the new 2021 design with a really nice image of the Tree of Life.  Plus you can see this machine has fallen pray to the new price increase and you can no longer use your own pennies to press.

That was one penny down, now to try and find the next one.  I headed all around the park visiting each machine that I knew about and ended up back near the front of the Tree of Life at the Island Mercantile.  If you look at the above picture you can see the machine just to the left of the door which is on the side closest to the Pandora area of the park.

 

This machine is really amazing, and the wood carvings are so fun to look at.  The detail is amazing, and who doesn’t like the giant crab on top holding a penny.  Plus the little cup where the pressed coin drops out into is the mouth of a lion with some pretty intimidating teeth.  The 2021 design you can get at this machine has Pluto on it, and also now costs $1 to press.

With the two pennies found at Animal Kingdom it was time to visit the next park on our list EPCOT.  This park has been under quite a bit of construction this past year and finally some of those projects have started to end.  One of these is the front plaza just as you enter into the park.  They have brought back an amazing retro EPCOT fountain and this area is now so wide open and very beautiful.

The rest of Future World is still a bit of a mess and hopefully that will get better as 2021 continues.  Once you get past that area and into the World Showcase you need to look for the Disney Traders store.

 

This store has also been the home to an annual dated penny for quite a few years and that continues this year as well.  The design here is of Chip and Dale.

The second pressed penny is in a bit of a unique location.  In years past the second EPCOT dated design was found in the Mouse Gear gift shop back towards the front of the park.  But in 2020 when they gutted and began completely renovating the store the penny disappeared for quite a long time before reappear in the Norway Pavilion.

This is the gift shop you exit into if you take a ride on the Frozen Ever After attraction.

 

This is a really nice looking machine.  The art work on the cabinet is wonderful and I would assume Norwegian but that’s just a guess.  The design here is of Spaceship Earth and this is another design I really like for this new year.

Only one last place to visit and that’s my personal favorite park the Magic Kingdom.  But there are not just two dated designs here as in years past, but instead there is 12 pennies and 4 medallions.  So if you can only visit one park on your trip and want to get some 2021 dated designs this is the park to hit up.

 

The first machine is not too far inside the park and can be found just underneath the Main Street Railroad Station.  To be honest these are kind of hidden, but trust me it’s down there and just behind the double staircases that would take you up to the train platform.  This is a 4 design hand crank machine but all 4 designs have been swapped out for 2021 images including Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Cinderella Castle in the style of the new Mickey Mouse cartoons currently running on Disney+.  I wasn’t a fan of this style at first, but those cartoons are so much fun it’s hard not to like them and I’ve eventually come around.

Just a little further down Main Street the final few machines are all inside the Emporium.

Due to all the social distancing the stores have specific doors that you have to enter and others for exiting only.  For the emporium you basically need to walk about half way down Main Street before you can enter, even though you pass about 4 other doors along the way.  That does however bring you into the store and right near the first machine located near the big wall of Disney Pins.

 

This was another interesting turn of events with having new 2021 dated designs in an 8-design penny machine.  Upon closer inspection the vendor of the machines made a brilliant design choice to have the dated designs on one of the die rings, and the 4 non-dated designs on the second die ring.  This allows them to change out the dated designs without disturbing the rest of the machine.  So even thought his machine has 8 designs in total only the 4 dated designs were changed out.  The images on the new pennies include Mickey & Minnie, Donald & Daisy, Chip & Dale and a second Cinderella Castle that looks identical to the one we just found at the Main Street Railroad Station.

 

The second machine inside the Emporium has their collectible medallions.  This machine was placed here in 2020 shortly after the parks reopened from being temporarily closed for Covid.  All 4 of the front designs are the same as before including Mickey & Minnie, Goofy, Donald and Pluto.  It’s only the back image that was changed and has Cinderella Castle with 2021 on them.

 

Finally our last machine it back up towards the front of the Emporium as if you were heading towards the exit to the theme park.  This is another 8-design machine, but only the 4 dated designs were replaced.  The new images include Daisy Duck, Donald Duck, Pluto and a Pirate Ship (maybe Captain Hooks?).

 

Well that’s all of them and above are pictures of all the new 2021 dated pennies and medallions.  Now I will say that with a bit of trepidation as I was scored a bit last year.  Initially I thought we had found all the 2020 designs and then over the course of a few more week / months they released more and more designs.  So I guess I should say, for now these are all the designs.

Before we go I did have a few items to go over.  First you may be thinking, hey there aren’t any 2021 pressed quarters and you would be absolutely correct.  I’ve chatted with some fellow collectors and we think they will be a thing of the past.  The overall number of pressed quarter machines is very low at the moment and I do think they will eventually just be removed completely.  Not having dated designs on quarters just seems to be another sign of that eventually happening.  Next you may be questioning that we didn’t visit the All-Star resorts which have had dated designs the last few years.  That unfortunately is due to those resorts not currently being open, they were shut down for Covid last year and are not scheduled to reopen for another few months and even at that time I believe only one will be reopening.  I am anxious to get over there and check out the machines once they reopen and I’ll share all about what I find.  Will there be more new 2021 dated designs there?  Maybe, but I also wouldn’t be surprised to see a few new 8-design machines there instead.  Only time will tell.

Thank you again for checking in and I hope this helps you with your collection or maybe even just as a checklist for which new pennies you collect throughout the year.  It is obviously early on in 2021 so there should be plenty of time to pick these up at the parks and resorts, but  remember what happened with that 2020 Spaceship earth penny that disappear and collectors were going nuts wondering if it would be back.  Get these before they are gone!

Stay tuned for a future post coming soon as our annual Contest will be happening where you have a chance to win a complete set of these dated coins.  Click here to see our past years winners.

Have a fantastic week and Keep on Pressing.

Hollywood Studios Machines Converting to $1 per Penny Design

/ davidscointravels / 4 Comments

At the time of writing this, Walt Disney World Theme parks currently closed due to the Covid-19 virus and the social distancing going on throughout the United States we are all pretty much confined to our homes.  But this does give us some time to catch up on things like cleaning up the house, or maybe spending some time outside weeding our garden…however, in my case, those still sound very boring and I’d rather write about pressed pennies.  Thankfully we had so many new pennies released, and I still have our family vacation from last year to write about that this may just be the time I need to get all those adventures posted.  First, though I wanted to continue reviewing the next park at Walt Disney World to convert their 4-design penny machines over to $1.

Hollywood Studios has had an exciting year, with 2019 bringing us Star Wars (Land) Galaxy’s Edge, then in December we got the new Rise of the Resistance ride which is unbelievably amazing, and now just a few weeks ago the new Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway opened.  This has finally completed (for now) the park’s transformation and part of that was swapping out these penny machines.

Let’s get started by heading straight up Hollywood Boulevard to where it intersects with Sunset Boulevard.  There is a little building here called Hollywood Junction.  On the backside of this building, there used to be two machines.

  

But unfortunately one of these machines has not returned.  It’s been weeks since these machines were all changed so I’m assuming that the second machine has been retired and not coming back.  Maybe it was to make room for the new ATM placed in this area, but in the picture above on the right, there still looks to be plenty of room for that machine.

I’ll say this just once at this time but please note this is the same for all the other machines I’ll review today.  After the conversion, the machine(s) have returned with the new $1 per penny price tag.  It accepts cash, credit card or digital payments like ApplePay.  The machine also supplies a pre-loaded zinc penny.  You can no longer use your own preferred pennies.  Also, the designs have not changed and are exactly the same as they were before the change.

Next, I headed over to the Muppet Courtyard into the Stage 1 Company gift shop which is all Muppet’s Themed.

 

This machine is located in the back of the store where they usually have most of the plush toys but of course, that can change.  This store does have two other machines, but this is the only 4-design model available here.

I had to kind of backtrack a little bit towards the Echo Lake area.  Near the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular show is a little shop called the Adventure Outpost.

 

The first machine at this location is right out front before you even enter the store.  The cabinet of the machine has changed slightly but still is pretty similar to what it was before.

 

The second machine is inside the store.  As I mentioned above this store is small so it isn’t hard to find this machine but it can be a little difficult to use if the store is busy.

If you do decide to go and watch the Indiana Jones stunt show one of the exits brings you out near the Backlot Express quick-service restaurant.  There is also a little outdoor gift shop here that has the next penny machine.

 

The machine has moved slightly after the change but is still in the same general area of that outdoor shop.

 

Next, we headed to the other side of the park and started heading down Sunset Boulevard.  About halfway down you will come to the Sunset Ranch which has a couple quick-services places to eat, plus a pin store, and a little stand called Anaheim Product with churros, pretzels, frozen lemonade, and other snacks.  Right out from of this stand is the above pictures penny machine.  I always liked this machine with the cabinet designed to looks like crates of produce.  When the machines get themed like that it always just seems to add to the fun.

If you spin around 180 degrees you will see a little alleyway in between some larger stores.  At the back of this alleyway are a set of restrooms and a penny machine.

 

I always dislike when penny machines are placed outside restrooms but that seems to be a very common location for them.  Guess people need something to do while waiting for their family members.

 

At the end of Sunset Boulevard, we took a left into the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Courtyard.  Just beside the face painting tent is the penny machine.

Past the entrance to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is an area of the park that was previously only open for certain events, but now is open all the time with a new attraction at the Sunset Showcase Theater called Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy.

 

The penny machine in this area is located just outside the exit to the theater.  You do not need to sit through the show to access the machine as it is outside for anyone to see.  But the show is cute and has a really cool Lightning McQueen animatronic inside.  Originally this machine was located back in the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Courtyard near the previous machine but was relocated here once the show opened premiered.

Finally, we come to the last 4-design machine in this park.  It’s over near the Tower of Terror, outside the Hollywood Tower Gift Shop in the courtyard.

 

You do not need to ride Tower of Terror to use this machine (thankfully).  That ride is not one of my favorites so I’m glad I can just walk over to use this machine with the screams of the attraction riders hollering out in the background.

Hollywood Studios had the most 4-design machines of all the parks.  They were changed out over the course of a month or so.  It’s interesting to watch how they handle this by removing about half of the machines first, then once those are changed out they remove the second half.  However, these definitely seem to take longer than the other locations to get all the machines back.  As I mentioned way back at the beginning we did lose one of the machines that still has not returned and I don’t think it will.  But the park still has lots of other machines and plenty of penny designs available to keep you busy.  Oh and if you have some time in between pressing your coins, make sure to try out some of the new rides you won’t be disappointed.

2020 Dated Walt Disney World Pressed Coins Set

/ davidscointravels / 1 Comment

Happy New Year!!  Ok sorry I know it’s February but I have some great news, all the 2020 pressed coins have been released at Walt Disney World.  Well, most of them are available…but we will get to that in a bit.  This year was a bit chaotic, we came out of the gate early in January with a hand full of new coins, then it took some time for the rest to appear.

Just recently the last few 2019 designs were finally removed and replaced with old retired designs, not new 2020 ones.  I was trying to hold out as long as I could before writing this to keep all this information in one post.  I’ve spoken with some fellow collectors and we believe that the 2020 dated designs have all been released.  As always if anything changes I’ll be sure to update everyone.

We will star over in Epcot at the Mouse Gear store.  This is the main gift shop just behind Spaceship Earth and has been home to a dated penny design for quite a few years.

   

The penny machine can be found along a wall covered in the 2020 merchandise like t-shirts, sweaters, snow globs, picture frames and so much more.  The penny available here was of Spaceship Earth.

Remember at the beginning when I said most of the designs are available well this is the one exception for now.  I was at Epcot the day this design was released.  But for some reason about a week, later this store was closed up for a lengthy refurbishment.  As of the date, I’m writing this penny machine has not been moved and is currently unavailable.  There is a new “Temporary” Mouse Gear store behind the Electric Umbrella quick service restaurant, but the machine hasn’t been placed there yet.  This design has become a highly sought after design for now since it was only available for a few days not many people were able to get one.  Rumors are that the machine cabinet is being rethemed and will then return.  I’ll be sure to post an update if it shows up again.

   

Epcot also had a second penny design available back in the World Showcase at the Disney Trader’s gift shop.  The design is of Chip and Dale carrying what I think is Donald’s hat.  After pressing this penny I headed over to the International Gateway and grabbed the new Skyliner over to Hollywood Studios.

   

The first new design is back in the Rock Around the Shop the gift shop for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.  I really like the design of this machine’s cabinet and hope they don’t change it.  It just really fits in well here.  The penny design here was of Chip and Dale in 2020.

 

Not too far away was the next coin in the Tower Hotel Gifts which is the store for the Tower of Terror attraction.  This pressed quarter has a similar design from previous years of the Tower of Terror.

With Hollywood Studios completed we headed over to the Animal Kingdom.  Back in Dinoland USA at the Chester and Hester Dino Treasures gift shop is where the penny machine is located.

 

The penny in this store is of the Tree of Life the icon of the park also with 2020 at the bottom.  Animal Kingdom used to have a dated pressed quarter located at the Harambe Train Station but this machine did not get a 2020 design.

Now we were off to check out some of the resorts for new coins.  First, we stopped at the All-Star Sports resort.

 

The machines are located in the main lobby building just outside the Arcade.  There is one-quarter machine available and the design here is of 2020 Goofy.

A little further down the road, we visited the All-Star Music resort.  These machines are also located in the main building just outside the Note’ Able Arcade.

 

The pressed quarter design at this resort is of Pluto with 2020 on it.

The last All-Star resort is Movies and ended strong with two pressed coin designs.

 

These machines are found in the World Premier Food Court and can be a busy place if you visit during common mealtime.  The pressed quarter design is of Donald Duck.

 

Just a few steps to the right is the penny machine with the new 2020 design of Pluto.  This completed the All-Star resorts so we jumped back in our car and headed over to the Art of Animation resort.

This resort has one of my favorite food courts called the Landscape of Flavors.  When you first walk in there is a pretty big gift shop, then the food court is just beyond that.  The penny machines are just past the gift shop.

 

The design available at this machine is another horizontal image of Donald Duck in 2020.  There was just one more resort we needed to visit and it probably my all-time favorite.

I love the theming at the Polynesian Village Resort, and the food options are great.  Inside the main lobby building called the Grand Ceremonial House, up on the second floor is the Moana Mercantile and the penny machine is right outside the store.

 

Of all the designs this year I think this one is my favorite, 2020 Minnie Mouse.

After a quick ride on the Monorail, we were inside the Magic Kingdom.  I headed right down Main Street, through the Castle and into Fantasyland.

Near the carousel is a store called Sir Mickey’s.  This is also the store you exit into after you experience a Princess Meet and Greet.

 

In previous years this machine has been my archnemesis.  I think in 2019 I had to visit this machine about 3-4 times before it was finally working to press the penny.  This year I lucked out and it was working without any issue.  This is another cute design of 2020 Mickey Mouse.

In previous years the Main Street Emporium had a dated penny and quarter, but not in 2020.  This year those old designs were replaced with previously retired designs from other locations.  But I did find another machine at the Main Street Train Station.

 

This was a new machine placed here in 2019 and all four of the designs were replaced with new 2020 penny designs.  This set has images of Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Cinderella’s Castle.  We had just one more place to visit to finalize all the 2020 coins, we grabbed a bus over to Disney Springs.

   

In the Pin Traders store, there is a collectible medallion machine.  This has moved around a bit over the last year, but this seems to be it’s new “permanent” location.  There was a 2019 design here and it has been replaced with a new 2020 medallion.

Wow, I don’t know about you but that was quite a trek around WDW property.

This year there are only 4 pressed quarter designs.  It does seem like these pressed quarter machines are slowly being removed as quite a few of them were taken away last year and have not returned.  There were 12 pennies and 1 collectible medallion, making for a grand total of 17 dated coins.

Keep in mind that penny from Epcot’s Mouse Gear is not currently available, and is also a prime example of making sure you try to get these coins as soon as you can.  With so many things changing around Walt Disney World property these machines seem to come and go periodically which can leave holes in your collection.

Have a great 2020 and I’ll be sure to keep you up to date with any changes to this setup or if that pesky Mouse Gear penny shows up somewhere.  I think this is going to be another big year at WDW with new coin released so we will definitely be busy.

Keep on Smashing!!

Magic Kingdom Machines Converting to $1 per Penny Design

/ davidscointravels / 4 Comments

If you have been following along recently you will most likely have noticed my last few posts about the new 4-design penny press machines and the increase in cost.

This change has a lot of collectors not too happy, but not necessarily just because of the higher price.  This is something that I feel was inevitable and am kind of surprised it didn’t happen earlier.  From what I have been hearing from collectors they are more upset about the machine supplying the penny.  We have talked in the past about the preference for a lot of pressed penny collectors to use pre-1982 pennies due to their higher copper content.  This usually results in much better final pressings.  But as we have found with the new larger format machines (8 or 12 design machines) that already supply new shiny zinc (copper coated) penny.  The jury is still out on how well these pressed pennies will hold up over time.

The first few machines to be released on Walt Disney World property were two machines at the Main Street Train Station in the Magic Kingdom, and the new machine in Toy Story Land at Hollywood Studios.  However these were brand new machines just released, and this immediately sparked another concern about whether any existing machines would get the price increase as well.

I have checked out all the parks and so far only one other machine over in Tomorrowland has been changed.

   

Over near the Tomorrowland Speedway was a 4-design hand crank machine that has been here for a while.

As you can see from the above picture, the machine has been upgraded (?!?! updated) to the new price point.

 

Fortunately (or maybe not if you don’t already have these coins) the designs have not changed.  They are still the same as they were before the price increase.  Thankfully for my collection I already had a set pressed on some older (pre-1982) pennies, but went ahead and pressed a new set just to see how they came out.

There were a few other 4-design machines that were temporarily missing from the Magic Kingdom.  As we assumed they have returned with the updated cabinet and the new price and payment system.

First was over in Tomorrowland near where the TTA People Mover line forms.  The designs have not changed.

Next over in the Tomorrowland Light & Power store (Space Mountain Gift shop) has two machines.

The first penny machine also has the same designs as before.

However, this location also used to have a pressed dime machine that was very unique.  That machine has been converted to a penny machine but still has the same original designs.

I spoke with some other collectors about these pennies, and it appears the dies inside the machine are the same dime sized as before, but the tension/pressure of the machine has been adjusted to press pennies.  Due to this, the pennies come out much shorter than usual.  As you can see from the comparison picture above the pennies come out almost the same size as the dimes.

The next machine was in Storybook Circus (where the classic Dumbo ride is located) in the Big Top Souvenir gift shop.  Located all the way in the back this machine can be easily missed.  The four penny designs are the same as before it’s updated, the only change is to the price and payment options.

Heading over to Liberty Square we checked on the machine near the Haunted Mansion.  These designs have also returned unchanged but the instructions on how to use the machine have been updated and are more detailed.

Just a short stroll into Frontierland the machine located across from the Frontier Trading Post has also got a new cabinet with updated pricing.  Designs are unchanged.

Finally, the last machine is over by the world-famous Jungle Cruise attraction.  The cabinet has been updated but as with most of these machines, the designs are the same as before.

I also visited Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Disney Springs but didn’t find any other 4-design machines missing.  I would think this is probably a bit of a time-consuming process to update the machine cabinets so they are probably systematically doing each park one at a time to limit the number of machines that will be unavailable.

Being a collector that prefers to use my own pennies this is a bit of a bummer to see the machines converted over to pre-loaded.  I had used some pre-loaded machines in the past at other places around Niagara Falls and received some pretty shabby pennies.  On the plus side, it does appear Disney is trying to use some brand new shiny pennies, but they are zinc.  We will just have to wait and see how they hold up over time like the preferred copper pennies.

Walt Disney World Theme Parks “Coin Set”

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One evening I was over at Disney’s Magic Kingdom with nothing in particular on the agenda.  I always feel very fortunate to be able to visit the parks as often as I do, and sometimes go just to walk through the parks and take in the magic.  Whenever possible I offer to help families take pictures, or help guide someone that looks a bit lost.

Of course, as I wander around the parks I’m also keeping an eye our on the pressed penny machines.  Trying to keep up to date on if new machines have shown up, or existing machines have been changed or removed.  I walked over to Storybook Circus to check on the penny machine in the Big Top Souvenir shop (which FYI was removed and we think being changed into a $1 per penny machine click here to read more).

While I was inside I took a look at some of the new items and on this spinning rack fixture something caught my eye.

This was a package of what they titled a “Coin Set”.

It also had the official “Authentic Original Disney Parks” seal of approval.

The cost for the coins was $12.99, so that’s $3.25 per coin not including tax.  I also received a passholder discount which helped reduce the cost a bit.

Once I got home I took them out of the package to get a better look.  Each coin is a different color.  I don’t think they are actually made out of different metals, but rather just a different coating.  Each coin represents the different theme parks: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and the Animal Kingdom.  The coins also include the year that each of the parks was originally opened.

On the back of each coin is the corresponding park name and logo.

These coins are pretty hefty and do have some weight to them.  I tried to take a bit of a profile picture above so you could see how thick they are.  They are pretty cool and I just couldn’t resist picking up a set for my collection.  I doubt this would be an ongoing series with new coins being released periodically but with Disney, you just never know.  So far the Big Top Souvenir store is the only place I’ve seen this coin set available, but I’m sure they can be found in other stores on property you just have to keep your eyes open for them.

NEW Toy Story Land Pressed Pennies (Finally) – Hollywood Studios, FL

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Over in Hollywood Studios back on June 30th, 2018 Toy Story Land officially opened.  There were two new attractions (Slinky Dog Dash, and Alien Swirling Saucers) and one that just had the entrance moved into his new land (Toy Story Mania).  I remember heading over just a couple days after the new land opened on a mission to not only explore the new area but to see if there were any new penny machines.  You can read about that here…spoiler no new machines.  But that all just changed and it only took about 10 months.

On a quick side note, this is also the 30th anniversary of Hollywood Studios so there is a lot of special signage throughout the park.

I sped walked to the back of the park and directly into Toy Story Land.  Woody is right there at the entrance welcoming all the new toys into Andy’s backyard.

Some areas of this land can be a bit deceiving.  When I saw the above “crowd” I thought it wasn’t going to be too busy, but the wait times for the attractions were pretty high as usual.

As an example, the Slinky Dog Dash coaster wait time was at 120 minutes.  Way too hot to be standing in the blistering sun.  The ride is a lot of fun but yikes that’s a long wait.

It may be a bit hard to see in the above picture, but the Toy Story Mania had a 70-minute wait.

The last attraction Alien Swirling Saucers had an 80-minute stand-by wait.  So it was definitely a busy day in the park, but may be due to the sun people were hiding in the shade or other buildings as the pathways were not too congested.

The new penny machine is located in a bit of a side area in between Slinky Dog Dash and Alien Swirling Saucers.  There is a large Green Alien statue nearby which can act as a nice marker if you are looking for the machine.

The cabinet of this machine is big and red.  The blue machine beside it on the right created engraved dog tags.

I really like this set of pennies.  The images are of the three attractions, and fourth is of Woody and Buzz with the Toy Story Land logo.  This is exactly what I was hoping would have been in the land last year when it first opened.  Not sure if there was a delay or some other issue getting this machine made, but in any case, I’m glad it did finally make it.  This does seem to be a very popular machine.

Did you notice it’s another $1 per penny style machine?  That’s right, these seem to be the new version that will be coming to the parks soon.  Just like the other new machines at the Magic Kingdom Train Station, the machine supplies the penny.  It does take $1 bills for individual pennies, or you can use a credit card to pay the $4 for all four designs.

I’m keeping a close eye out on the other 4 design machines around Disney Property and will post an update if any other machines start getting this conversion to $1.

NEW Pennies Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Courtyard – Hollywood Studios

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Only someone with sharp eagle eyes was able to find these new pennies.  Over in Hollywood Studios outside the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is a large courtyard with some snack stands, a pin cart, face painting and two penny machines.

These two machines have been here for quite a while and their designs haven’t changed.

But just recently someone noticed that on one of these machines had two of its designs changed.

One was a completely swamped out, but the second only had slight changes to the design.

The first design is of Pluto blowing a horn.  This has replaced an old design of Goofy singing.  The second design is of the Flaming Guitars with the Roller Coaster logo.  At a quick glance  this design looks to be the same as it was before, but upon closer review the guitar and flames are a slightly different size.

Not a big change, but I’m happy to see some new designs in the four hand crank machines as those don’t change too often.  Now it will make our jobs a little harder knowing that these machines may start having designs replaced throughout the parks as well.  I’ll keep you posted if we find any others.

Mickey’s 90th Celebration Pressed Pennies

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Back on November 18, 1928 Mickey Mouse made his debut and things have never been the same.  Walt Disney has a famous quote “I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing…that it was all started with a mouse.”  If only Walt could see what has become of his little friend now I’m sure it would have exceeded even his expectations.

Now here we are celebrating his 90th birthday, and Disney has extended this celebration to all aspect of the park.  There are special merchandise, cupcakes, and even some special costumes for the characters.  But the most exciting release (at least for me) was that they had released five special Pressed Pennies.

I just happened to come across the first penny as I was visiting Disney Springs.  My daughters have become obsessed with Pin Trading so I usually visit the Pin Trader store to see if there are any new pins they may like.  This is also a place that currently has 5 penny machines.  As I walked by one of the machines I noticed a new design.

 

I immediately pressed a few copies of the penny, took my pictures of the machine and posted them online for the collecting community.  Then we found out that there were other sightings of similar new designs popping up all over property.  So we now had a new plan for the day.

We then drove over to Epcot and into the Mouse Gear store which is where another collector mentioned they had seen one of the new designs.

 

Sure enough the new design was added to the machine that has the dated 2019 penny from earlier this year.  This was another nice design with Mickey inside the Zero of the 90 for his celebration.

The next stop was just a quick Monorail ride over to the Magic Kingdom.  Rumors were there had been two new designs released here.  First was just after the main entrance to the park at the Newsstand.

 

This is probably my favorite design of the new set.  I always liked Steamboat Willie Mickey and we don’t get many pressed designs with him on it.  After using this machine we headed down Main Street and over towards Adventureland.

Just past the Skipper Canteen restaurant there is a store called the Island Supply.  Just before that is a place known as the Verandah Breezeway but this is basically where the restrooms are located in this section of the park.

 

Inside this area is always packed with people but along one of the walls is where the penny machine can be found.  The penny here had a new 2019 design with Mickey in the Zero.

The fifth and last penny was found the next over at Hollywood Studios.  Unfortunately the studios closes early  so it took a few days before I was able to get over there and visit the machine.

 

Back near the Disney Junior and Star Wars Launch Bay area of the park is a little place called The Studio Store.  This penny has both Mickey and Minnie looking like they are ready to Celebrate.

We have all kept our eyes open for any additional designs, but so far it’s only been these five.  They make for a nice set, and as always was fun to hunt around property looking for them.  As with the other 2019 coins these were located in some unusual machine locations, but that was all part of the adventure.

These pennies will definitely not be around too long so make sure you try and get a set before too long.  Over the next couple years there are lots of special anniversaries at the Florida parks so hopefully this is something they continue releasing to help Celebrate the magic of Disney.