Pressed Penny

Mystery Medallions at Disneyland California

/ davidscointravels / Leave a comment

The Disney parks have been releasing quite a few new medallions over the last couple years. To some of us collectors the FOMO can be a bit overwhelming and we rush to try and collect every coin available. However I’ve always wondered what happens to the extra coins. I know at Universal Studios sometimes they will show up at the annual garage sale deeply discounted, but Disney doesn’t really have anything like that. At least not until recently when I saw a post in the Disney Coin Pressers Facebook group from friend and fellow collector Kelly Buchwald who supplied all the photos below.

Just note that this is only at Disneyland in California, and nothing similar is currently available in Walt Disney World. There is a place called Company D which is the Cast Member store. Inside it has been revealed that they have setup a Mystery Medallion machine.

The marquee on the machine lists that a single medallion is $2, or you can get four medallions for $5 which honestly is great deal. In the fine print along the bottom it explains that the mystery coins include designs from the D100, Pixar Fest, D23, Tomorrowland and Mandalorian sets that were previously released.

As you can see even the buttons have question marks on them as the coins are completely random inside the machine.

Even this middle area of the machine which is usually very nice and neatly organized has quite a lot of extra inventory waiting to be purchased.

I really love this idea and kind of wish they made this available to the general public. Obviously if you are looking for one specific “retired” design this is probably not the best option. But if you are a fan of those blind bags, or mystery bags this would be right up your alley.

Kelly did mention that the machine is just inside the doors to the Company D store. If you are a cast member or know a cast member then head on check it out. If are not a cast member, you can ask very nicely and MAYBE, depending on who is at the door, they may allow you inside real quick to use the machine. But it’s not a guarantee since it is technically just for Cast Members, so if they do turn you away please be nice to the Cast Members.

What do you think of the Mystery Medallions? Would you roll the dice and pick some up. If this came to Florida I would really be tempted to give it a try. Keep on Collecting!

Top Voted Privately Designed Coin 2025

/ davidscointravels / Leave a comment

Privately designed elongated coins are an amazing little niche of our hobby. To celebrate these designs and their creators we have produced our own elongated coin to give out to a few designers each year and I need your help choosing. Below are closeups of each design, the designers name and a couple links for more details on the coins that are currently available to vote for. Then you can go to this link and vote for up to three of your favorite designs.

The voting will continue through the end of this year, and conclude on December 31st, 2025. At that time the votes will be tallied and the top designs will receive our new elongated coin as a gift. Please feel free to share this post and the voting link with your friends, family and any other collectors you know so we can help celebrate these amazing privately designed coins.

Brass Knuckles – Designer: Amy Brennan

Read Blog Post HereView TikTok Video

World Series Champions Dodgers

Concept: Jamie Bennett Designer: Oded Paz

Read Blog Post HereView YouTube Video

Earth Day April 22 – Designer: Edgar Galvan

Read Blog Post HereView YouTube Video

Grand Floridian Gingerbread House 25th

Designer: Joe Watts

Read Blog Post HereView YouTube Video

Happy Thanksgiving – Designer: Alex Mruk

Read Blog Post HereView YouTube Video

Happy New Year with Aloha!

Designer: Michael Mochizuki

View Instagram Post Here

Heads Will Roll – Designer: Amy Brennan

Read Blog Post HereView TikTok Video

Kiss Me I’m Irish – Designer: Alex Mruk

View Instagram Post HereView TikTok Video

Pig Penny 2024

Concept: Dwayne Padon Designer: Don Rea Padon

Read Blog Post Here

Super Bowl LIX – Designer: Wichita Peng

Read Blog Post HereView YouTube Video

Way To Go Tiger – Designer: Megan Ferry

Read Blog Post HereView YouTube Video

Mele Kalikimaka 2024

Designer: Michael Mochizuki

View Instagram Post HereView TikTok Video

Merry Krampus – Designer: Amy Brennan

View Blog Post HereView TikTok Video

Merry Christmas – Designer: Alex Mruk

View Instagram Post HereView YouTube Video

New Pressed Penny Machine Model

/ davidscointravels / Leave a comment

I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m a member of quite a few different pressed penny Facebook groups. I utilize them for various different reasons, like new machine releases, acquiring privately designed coins, collecting tips, and one of my favorites are rumors or interesting finds. In a recent post from one of our collecting friends Jim McNally who also runs the zzzcoins.com website. Now what was interesting about this post is it was about a new style of pressed penny machine he encountered at the Detroit Zoo.

Photo Courtesy: Jim McNally

Here’s a loot at the machine and at first glance seems like many other machines I’m sure you have come across on your travels. It’s created by The Penny Press Machine Company, offering four designs in a manual press machine.

Photo Courtesy: Jim McNally

As with many of machines lately it accepts both cash and credit or digital payments like Apple Pay or Google Wallet.

Photo Courtesy: Jim McNally

However when you take a closer look at the instructions on how the machine works we notice an interesting new feature. If you use your either the digital payment or pay by cash with a paper bill the machine will supply the pennies to press. OR, it does allow you to use the machine by inserting four quarters and your own penny of choice.

This seems so trivial I’m sure to many casual visitors to these machines, but ever since we have seen the newer preloaded machine, there has been quite an outcry by many collectors wishing they could still use their preferred copper pennies. It’s taken quite a few years but seems like this company has figured it out.

Since the release of this first penny machine at the Detroit Zoo they have released a second machine with new designs as well and you can read a press release about them here. Of course since word of this new style of machine was posted about, everyone seems to be on the lookout for more of them. I have not seen or heard of any in the Orlando or Central Florida areas as of yet. That may be due to these machines being created by a different vendor. But I am anxious to try and find one on my own travels so I can try it out in person. If any of you have come across this new style of machine be sure to leave a comment below. Keep on Pressing!!

Halloween Horror Nights 2025 Medallions – Universal Studios Florida

/ davidscointravels / Leave a comment

Spooky season is about to come to a close, and what better way to celebrate Halloween today than by visiting Universal Studios Florida’s Halloween Horror Nights event. This is easily my favorite haunt event in the central Florida area.

Similar to previous years there were 10 haunted houses / mazed and I guess technically 5 scare zones although one of them was more of a “dance party” than scare zone. Not sure if that was due a last minute change or was always planned to be that way.

However the other actual scare zones were really good. Down Hollywood Boulevard was the Masquerade Dance with Death that had some great costumes and makeup.

My top scare zone however was The Cat Lady of Crooked Lane and not just because I’m a cat person. This scare zone was incredibly detailed, the scare actors did a fantastic job and at one end of the zone there was a bit of a stage show that would be performed throughout the night explaining the story. This was really a great idea and I watched this show numerous times.

Another fun new addition to this years event was at Mel’s Die-In. It was kind of a mini-scare zone and had zombie car-hops skating throughout the crowd and even taking some pictures with guests.

I’m blessed to live fairly close to Universal property and because I love Horror Nights I make sure to acquire a frequent fear pass so I can visit multiple times during the season. This makes visiting all the houses a bit easier since I don’t need to try and accomplish all of them in one night. It did take a few visits for me to eventually get through all of them. After some careful consideration here is my top 3 houses for 2025.

#3 – Jason Universe

#2 – Terrifier

#1 – El Artista: A Spanish Haunting
In 19th century Spain, a tortured artist moves to an isolated country manor to seek inspiration. Instead, the art comes alive and possesses him. You’re about to be part of the permanent exhibition.

With the scare zones and houses out of the way let’s focus on the new Tribute Store. Well…. in my opinion this was a bit of a let down this year. It was much smaller which was due to its location in the arcade near The Mummy attraction. I believe this was because of construction being done in the other areas the shop is usually located. Due to the limited space we didn’t have the multiple themed rooms, and instead each wall within the store would focus on one of the houses like Terrifier, Jason Universe or Fallout.

Tucked away in the back past the check out area, as always seems to be the case was the new collectible medallion machine. The coins were $7 each, or all 4 for $20.

The medallion designs came as no surprise since they usually are issued for each of the big intellectual property houses like Terrifier, Fallout and Jason Universe. The Lil’ Boo coin was cute but I feel like we have seen a similar coin the last few years and was hoping for something different. I actually would prefer to have coins created for the original houses like my fav this year El Artista.

The reverse side of all the medallions has the same image of the 2025 Horror Nights logo, which I do like and makes it easier to remember which version of the event the coins were from. My memory is not quite what is used to be.

That’s another spooky season in the books, and we can start to look forward to the Holiday season. However it’s never too early to start thinking about next years event.

Have a wonderful Halloween and as always Keep on Collecting!

Pig Penny 2024 Edition | Lexington, NC

/ davidscointravels / 1 Comment

Privately designed elongate coins has quickly become one of my favorite niches within our hobby. There are so many talented designers and the themes are infinite. I try to check out as many as I can to help get the designers some more exposure and this weeks coin design is one that I really think you will enjoy. It’s known as the Pig Penny, and has become an annual tradition created and released by Dwayne Padon from Lexington Kentucky.

I first came across the Pig Penny back in 2024 and immediately placed an order to acquire one for my collection. The cute pig design ridding a motorcycle had just caught my attention. As I always do, I wanted to try and learn more about the design and designer. Dwayne was amazing to reach back out and share his coin story with us.

Dwayne came up with the idea to produce a collectible souvenir to help promote his hometown of Lexington North Carolina about 15 years before he ever made one. He always had 20 projects on 20 different topic in the works at the same time. In 2006 he started doing some research on all kinds of things like having tokens, souvenir coins, plastic items and elongated coins made. After much thought he decided to proceed with creating elongated coins, mainly because after all the pieces were in his hands, he could control production through the sales on his terms.

He came up with the name Pig Penny after trying to think of a simple but memorable name. His mom Don Rea Padon had always been a great artist and he asked her to draw the first design featuring a pig. Lexington is officially the BBQ Capital of North Carolina, along with Pigs is all a big theme within Lexington. They have fiberglass pig statues on display all over the downtown area that have become big tourist attractions.

In September 2007 he completed the first three designs, and the local newspaper feature Dwayne and his Pig Pennies on the front page, creating an unexpectedly significant domino effect. The day he debut the coin locally at his mother’s store, they had at least 200 people standing in line waiting for her to open. The next few hours where a whirlwind of customers, buying anything and everything with Pig Pennies involved. He just made and packaged the coins, but his mother and others had used the coins to make all kinds of items like bracelets, jewelry, ornaments, bookmarks, earrings rings and downs of odds and end items.

Dwayne had joined a few online elongated coin collector pages like on Yahoo groups and TEC News to name just af ew. He mainly just read and learned without posting much about the coins he had in the works. His plan was to just get through the local BBQ Festival and then release the information about the coins to all the collector pages afterwards. However, when the newspaper article was released someone in California saw it somewhere online and shared it with several of the same online groups. Orders started flooding in and everything hit all at once from all over the world at the same time. Dwayne bought two maps to keep a record of the states and countries he would shop the coins to, and eventually placed those pins in all 50 states and over 50 countries around the globe. All of this from his living room operation.

Each year his mom Don Rea Padon (you may noticed her initials DRP on the coin designs) helps design each of the coins. These have become quite the collectible and I know quite a few other collectors that have been trying to complete the entire set. Since my first one in 2024 I have acquire a few of the other designs but still have quite a few to go including the new 2025 design.

Dwayne has had quite a lot of success with this Pig Penny designs and has been featured on the news, on the radio, numerous print articles and of course he gets recognized in public. “Being recognized, especially by kids, was cool though. Many times I hear a kid yell “Look, mama, it’s the Pig Penny Man.” A title he wears proudly. If you are interested in more information about the Pig Penny you can visit Dwaynes website PigPenny.app or his Facebook group linked here.

Keep on Pressing!

Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park NEW Medallions

/ davidscointravels / Leave a comment

As the summer was coming to a close our kids had requested on last Staycation at a Disney Resort. This time we opted to visit Coronado Springs, however this post is not about that resort. Instead there was actually a special promotion going on that on our “Check-in” day we could visit one of the Disney Water Parks.

It had been quite some time since we last visited Blizzard Beach and opted to spend our day there before retiring to the resort. We do find the water parks get quite busy first thing in the morning and during our visit was no different. The entrance line was long, but moved quickly and before we knew it we were inside the park.

In previous posts we have reviewed the water park in more details, and honestly not much has changed since then. We usually start in the big wave pool before heading to some of the water slides.

Eventually we find ourselves in the lazy river which is probably my favorite. It’s always a nice way to just sit back and float along the river getting some sun and a bit of relaxation. There are always areas where things get a bit congested, and with the Disney theming some areas will spray or splash you if you aren’t paying close attention.

Towards the main entrance / exit area is the Beach Haus which is the main big gift shop. Inside you will find all the usual merchandise just themed about the water park. If you have forgotten to pack your bath suit, swim goggles or sun screen it’s all here as well.

This is also where you can find the pressed penny machine that has not changed since our last visit that you can read about here. What is new is the collectible medallion machine. The cabinet design is similar to the one we found at Typhoon Lagoon not too long ago. It has a beach worn look to it which is fine, I felt like it maybe should have looked like it was stuck inside a block of ice or a giant pile of snow to keep with the theme of this Water Park.

The coins in this set have images of Goofy in a tube probably enjoying the lazy river, Olaf is Chillin’ in the Sunshine, Mickey and Donald heading to the Wave Pool, and the Blizzard Beach Logo with the Ice Gator.

The reverse side of all the coins have the same image, which is also the same on the Typhoon Lagoon medallions. I do really enjoy this design of Mickey in a hammock as it has quite a few fun little details included. The Typhoon Lagoon logo is across the top, and Blizzard Beach along the bottom. I would have preferred to have unique reverse designs for the two parks, but I’m sure there is a reason they kept it the same.

We enjoy the rest of our day at the water park but by late afternoon the sun and water had taken it’s toll on us and we were getting pretty exhausted. The resort thankfully was right down the street and before we knew it we were relaxing in our resort room. It wasn’t a long trip but we still enjoyed our visit to Blizzard Beach and was able to add a few new coins to our collection.

TECNews 15 Year Membership Coin

/ davidscointravels / Leave a comment

The elongated collectors, or more affectionally known as TECNews was first formed back on August 20th, 166. When twelve dedicated elongated coin collectors who were attending the ANA convention in Chicago, got together in a room and voted into existence what we know today as TEC. However, it did take them almost three months to formally vote on the name “The Elongated Collectors”. Dottie Dow was elected the first President and Editor of the newsletter, and the rest as they say is history.

Membership includes a quarterly newsletter in either a printed hard copy version, or a digital electronic version. Both feature informative articles, club news, reports from offers and members. Plus the added perk of receiving unique elongated coins with each issue to help build your collection.

The group gathers for its annual meeting at the American Numismatic Association’s (ANA) World’s Fair of Money convention. In addition, many members gather throughout the year at mini-meets in various parts of the country to visit with each other, compare newly acquired coins, trade, and even go on trips to press nearby coin machines.

I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of the club for quite awhile now and have had met so many other members during those years. Then of course there are all the coins I’ve accumulated from the club. Many are created by other members to share some of their own personal interests, contest winners, club awards and my personal favorite the annual member coin.

I mentioned I’ve been a member for quite awhile but honestly I think I kind of forgot exactly how long it’s been, until just recently when I received a thank you card in the mail. It came from TEC President Tyler Tyson.

The card included a very special coin celebrating my 15 years as a TEC member. Starting in 2020 the show appreciation for long term members, six elongated coins were created to mark milestone anniversaries, 5 years on a copper center, 10 years on a nickel, 15 years on a quarter, 20 years on a Susan B. Anthony dollar, 25 years on a golden dollar, and Lifetime members on a half dollar.

A big thank you to TECNews for all the wonderful years of newsletters, coins, events, friendship and just enjoyment of our hobby. As with so many things in life, I really wish I had joined the club sooner and don’t really know why I waited. So to anyone out there that is not a member but enjoys collecting elongated coins, whether you only have a few in your collection or thousands of them, I truly believe you would enjoy TEC. I have the club website linked here, and before you know it you’l be collecting your 15 year membership coin well.

Zootopia Collectible Medallions | Disney’s Animal Kingdom

/ davidscointravels / Leave a comment

On March 16th, 2025 a long running attraction had it’s final performance. At Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park, at the base of the giant Tree of Life was a 4-D style attraction called It’s Tough to be a Bug! Some fans were sad to see this attraction closing down, but that just means there is something new on the way. Disney has announced the replacement called Zootopia Better Zoogether that is due to open late in 2025.

As a bit of a Preview a new set of collectible medallions was released on Discovery Island in Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park.

As you heads towards the big Tree of Life there is a gift shop on the right side of the pathway called Discovery Trading Company.

Those of you that may also be pressed penny collectors will probably be very familiar with this location. Outside of the shop there is a back corner area that has two penny machines and now the new medallion machine.

The machine has a nice cabinet design with the offset section in the middle making it looks like a few wooden boxes or containers stacked on top of one another. Anything other than just a plain box is a plus in my opinion.

The set of medallions includes designs of Judy Hopps, Nick Wilde, Clawhauser and the last says Zoogether Day with some animal silhouettes in the middle surrounded by some cute paw prints around the edge.

The reverse side of all the coins has the same image which is the Zootopia Better Together 2025 logo. It also says Preview Series at the top, and Limited Edition along the bottom.

I really like these coins, and actually prefer the tarnished petina look to them. For one it makes photographing them much easier, but I do like the look of them better and it helps reduce all the fingerprints. The big question is how long will these coins be available. The new Zootopia Better Together show has been schedule to premier in December 2025. My guess is these will be available at least until the new show begins, then after that maybe we will see some new designs with “Grand Opening” or slightly different designs at that time. I’ll be sure to check back later in the year to see what happens. Keep on Collecting!

Youtube Channel 1,000 Subscriber Design Contest Winner

/ davidscointravels / 1 Comment

Earlier this year our Youtube channel hit 1,000 Subscribers and to celebrate I wanted to help one of our viewers create their very own elongated coin. Thank you to everyone that submitted their design ideas you certainly gave me a lot to review and chose from.

There wasn’t a specific topic or subject so you could submit any style design you liked, and that made it really fun to see what you all came up with. I knew I needed some help so I recruited my family to help go through all the designs and we eventually decided on our top three. Let’s take a quick look at the two runner up designs.

Created by Peter from Sweden this design titled Vallis Ursi which means Valley of the bear and is a play on his last name Biorndahl or Bear Valley. This was a really unique idea and we loved the meaning behind it.

This design was created by Martin from the UK as a business card and advertisement for his Youtube channel Penny Press on Tour. We liked the penny machine design featured in the middle of the coin and was one of the few vertical designs we received. Be sure to check out Martin’s youtube channel I have it linked here.

These were just a couple of the amazing designs we received and I wish I could help create all of them for you. But after some discussions my family unanimously decided this was going to be the winning design. Created by Megan from Ohio here is a look at her concept design first.

As you can see it’s beautiful and honestly didn’t need any adjustments or redesigns. The only change I requested was to include her initials at the bottom of the coin. Every artist should sign their creation. Take a look at her finished elongated coin design.

Below is a photo of Megan with her winning design. She received 25 of the elongated pennies, including a special denomination set that included a US penny, nickel, dime and quarter.

Congratulations to Megan and her winning design. However she is not the only winner here. I had mentioned in the original video that we would make some additional copies of her design on US pennies to give away to anyone that was interested in one. All you need to do is send a self addresses stamped envelope to my PO Box 135512, Clermont Florida 34713. Once I receive your envelope I’ll return it with a free copy of Megan’s beautiful elongated coin for your very own collection.

A huge thank you to Rick Santos for helping once again with this project. As always he did a great job converting Megan’s concept design into an amazing physical elongated coin. He has plenty of his own coin designs available for sale or if you are interested in creating your own design he would be happy to help. Just visit his Etsy Shop The Custom Pennies that I have linked here. Thank you to everyone that visits here on our blog and also our YouTube channel. I never thought we would get to 1,000 subscribers but it’s truly an honor to share our hobby with everyone. Maybe in the future we can his 2,000 subscribers and do this once again. Keep on Pressing!

Disney’s Aulani Hawaii Resort Pressed Pennies

/ davidscointravels / Leave a comment

About a year ago we reported that a brand new Collectible Medallion machine was placed at Disney’s Aulani Resort and Spa in Hawaii. Then earlier this year they replaced the dated coin design with a new 2025 version. Now as much as I like the medallions (except for their much higher cost) I really was hoping to see a Pressed Penny machine….well that time has finally arrived.

Photo Credit: The DIS

Unfortunately I still have not been able to visit Aulani in person, but it’s still on my bucket list and hope to do that sooner than later. However, I was able to use a wonderful service through a Facebook group that consists of Hawaiian locals that can visit the resort to pick up items for a small service fee. Since that’s always much cheaper than a flight to the islands I reached out again for assistance getting the new pennies.

I was informed that the new penny machine is located in the same place as the medallion machine and that is the Pau Hana activity center. The cabinet of the penny machine has a similar wrap to the medallion one nearby, but the tropical fish on top is a nice additional detail.

There are 8 penny designs available and the cost thankfully is the same as we find in the theme parks. One design is $1, or you can get the entire set of eight for $5. Plus as I’m sure you are now used to, the machine will supply the pennies.

The set includes some really nice designs featuring Chip, Dale, Minnie Mouse, Duffy, Sally Mae, Stitch, Angel and Goofy. All of the coin designs include the Aulani logo on the front.

However, they also all have a fantastic backstamp that features the Aulani Logo and resort information.

Once again the Aulani resort has received some nice new coins to keep us collectors busy. If you are visiting Aulani some time soon be sure to check out the Pau Hana activity center for all the available coins both medallions and pennies. None of these penny designs are dated so I wouldn’t anticipate these changing anytime soon but time will tell. Mahalo and be sure to Keep on Collecting!