With each passing day I get closer and closer to getting all the new 2015 pressed coins from the Walt Disney World Resort.  Over the weekend I had 5 additional coins arrive from some eBay auctions I was able to win over the last week.  Currently I have 12 of the 15 new designs and checking all my resources to try to collect the last few.

First is a pressed Quarter with a design of Pluto walking to the left and the 2015 year included.  This machine is located in the Animal Kingdom park at the Harambe Train Station.

Next is a pressed penny with Nemo swimming to the right and 2015 displayed.  This machine is also located in the Animal Kingdom park in Chester and Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures.

The third design of Minnie with her hands clasped and standing in the middle of the 2015 year.  This machine can be found in Hollywood Studios at the Prop Shop.

The next design is also a pressed penny with Cinderella’s Castle in the back group.  The machine is in the Magic Kingdom in the Emporium gift shop just as you enter the park.

The last penny I received in this batch has Goofy clicking his heels with a box of popcorn in hand.  This machine is located at the Grand Floridian Resort in the Second Floor Lobby.

The collection is nearly complete again with only 3 coins still outstanding.  These last few designs definitely seem to be hard to find especially up here in Jersey.  I’ll keep looking around and hope to have them soon.  Until then keep on smashing!!

Today I received another batch of the new 2015 coin designs.  Right now I have 7 out of the 15 available coins and am constantly on the look out for the remaining few coins.  This most recent batch consist of some designs pressed on Quarters which always look really great.  I think the larger coin allows for more detail and they always press really nicely.  Just like the other designs I had posted about these all have the 2015 year included in each design.

The first design is of Cinderella’s Castle.  The machine is located in the Magic Kingdom at the Main Street Railroad Station.

Next is a design with Nemo from the Pixar Movie Finding Nemo.  This is located in Epcot at The Land Pavilion.

Always a favorite the next design has Donald jumping and holding a hat over his head.  You can find this machine at the All-Star Sports Resort outside the Game Point Arcade.

For now the last coin is of Daisy Duck wearing a hat with clasped hands by her face.  This machine is located in the All-Star Music resort outside the Note’able Games arcade.

I’m still on the lookout for the remaining 2015 designs and hopefully will have them before too long.  As soon as I have them I will be sure to share what they look like and where you can find them.

My family is still about 2 months out from our big trip to Florida but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been hard at working preparing for it.  This job I volunteered for encompasses a wide range of tasks, but to be honest I’m loving every second of it.  My mother is getting concerned we are making this a heavily schedule trip so there is a thin line I’m traversing to try and please everyone.  We want to make sure and see as much as we can, but don’t want to be confined to a set schedule and not be able to enjoy the time together.

Initially I was I was in charge of setting up the dining reservations which seemed like it would be an easy thing to do.  But as I quickly found out it’s not just a simple as “Oh let’s do this place”.  First I did some research on crowd level predictions for the week we are visiting so I could make up a preliminary schedule of which parks we should visit each day.  The purposes of this was to try to have us attend a park that would hopefully have the smallest crowd each day.  Then I would check out different places we wanted to have a meal or the characters we wanted to visit and would send an email to each of my family members to see what they were interested in doing.  After a few emails going back and forth debating we made our final decision where to go and I was able to book of the restaurants and character meals we were interested in.

In a few days I’ll be able to book our Fast Passes and we went through the same procedure.  I made a list of rides that we could book a fast pass for, and sent them out to everyone to get their feedback.  These were much easier to agree upon and at this point I have all the information ready to go and just need the day to come so I can get those setup.

While I waited for that day to come I felt we were close enough to out trip that I could start working on my pressed penny schedule for the trip.  As I mentioned in my previous post about this trip it’s our first big family vacation with all the grandkids and I want to make sure I don’t hinder the time together by having them follow me to each penny machine.  To help make this as organized as possible I started planning out which coins I needed and where they are located.

First I used my vacation schedule to see which parts we were visiting each day and then got the list of penny machines I needed to visit.  On a side note this schedule is what I use to keep track of all our information.  I usually include not just the park for the day, but the restaurant reservation time and confirmation number.  This way I have one piece of paper to carry around incase I need it for anything.  I also take a picture of it with my phone for the rare instance I leave it behind somewhere.

Some machines I already have the coins from either from a previous visit, through friends, acquaintances or eBay.  These machines I just need to get a picture of the machine and the corresponding marquee for my website.  The other machines that have a new design I need to press the new coins and get a picture of the machine.  My next step was to create a checklist of all the machines I need to visit.  On this list I have the machine location, design description, coin type (penny, quarter, dime, etc) and what is needed (Picture Only or Coin & Picture).  This way at a glance I can mark off the machines I track down.

My last step is was to create a map for each park that I can use to know when we are approaching a machine.  This way I don’t take our group in multiple directions and possibly waste time backtracking to areas we have already visited.

I usually just do a Google search for the latest version of the park maps to use.  However this year I found a great site called Kenny The Pirate.  He is known for gathering information about all the available characters you can meet through the resort and parks.  His website has a lot of great information beyond that, and he has created his own maps with the character locations listed on it.  This was something I was already looking at creating myself and Kenny saved me the time.  We wanted to make sure and see as many characters as we can during our trip and this map was just what we needed.  To simplify my needs I tweaked Kenny’s map to include the penny machines I needed to visit.  I color coded them so I could see at a quick glance which machines I needed to press a coin at or just get the picture.  I was pretty impressed with my final result and think this will really help out during my trip.

I just repeated this process for each of the parks, and we even have a pool day half way through the week that I will instead use to visit a few resorts to collect new pennies.  I made a similar map of the entire Disney resort property and listed the resorts on it just as I did above.

From now until we visit all I need to do is update these lists and maps should any additional coins go one stage before (or during) our trip.  I always save the files on my computer and back them up multiple times so I always have a copy that can be updated easily.

Usually about the week before we leave I will ensure I have the appropriate number of quarters and pennies to press all the designs needed.  I also make sure to bring a few extra rolls of coins just in case we come across a new machine.  The cast members at the parks are always really great to make change when needed for the machines, but there are some other places that aren’t so accommodating so it always pays to come prepared.

Am I obsessed?  Of course and I don’t shy away from it but I’m also very passionate about my hobby.  I want to make sure my family vacation is as great as I know it can be, and want to ensure that my daughter, niece and nephew get to see everything Disney has to offer.  But I also want to collect some coins along the way.  Our vacation can’t get here soon enough.

Over the past week or so I saw online that the new 2015 Walt Disney World Resort pressed coins were finally on display.  For the past few years Disney has created an elongated coin with the year included in the design which started a great subset collection to try to obtain.  Each year the parks have upped the ante with adding additional machines with the same design, and even including a pressed Quarter instead of just a penny.  This year however they have outdone themselves again with 10 unique designs, and 15 total coins (some designs are the same but available on a penny and quarter).

Since first seeing these designs online I have been trying to get them for my own collection.  Even though my family will be visiting the resort later this year, I still couldn’t resist trying to get theses coins.  Over the years I have created some great friends all over the country to help with my collection.  I exhausted most of my connections and just didn’t have anyone that was able to visit the parks to get these for me.  So with all other options gone for now I decided to check out eBay which I usually use as a last resort.  There is one seller that I have used quite often and he came through with some of the first available designs.

The first design shown above is of Mickey wearing his Sorcerer’s Apprentice Hat holding a Mickey ice cream.  This penny is currently available at Sir Mickey’s in the Magic Kingdom.

 

The second design is of Tinker Bell flying with pixie dust floating around her.  This penny is available in a machine located at the Contemporary Resort on the 3rd Floor concourse.

The last penny I was able to get has Donald jumping and holding a hat overhead.  This design is currently on stage in Epcot at the Mouse Gears store.

I must admit I really do love these new designs, and the though of there being another 12 coins out there is getting the collector juices flowing.  I’ll keep trying to get the other designs and will post them as I get them.  Worse case I’ll just have to wait until my visit in a few month, but I’m hoping I won’t have to wait that long before I can show them off.

A few weeks ago I posted about a friend of mine from work taking a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida.  He was nice enough to acquire quite a few new pennies that I hadn’t be able to collect at that time.  However there were two new machines that he was unable to obtain during their trip.

Knowing there are new pennies out there and not in my collection is like an itch I can’t scratch.  I try not to think about it, but my subconscious remembers and brings it up every so often.  When it does come to mind I would reach out to some of my fellow collectors that live in Florida to see if they were able to get them for me, but unfortunately this is a busy time of year and visiting a theme park is not always top on the priority list and I can’t hold that against them at all.

Then just a few days ago the itch was back.  With all my other options exhausted I decided to try good old eBay.  The only problem with eBay and trying to find pressed pennies is that you really need to work on the search description.  If you aren’t specific enough you get all sorts of crazy listings that have nothing to do with what you’re actually looking for.

First I checked out the listings of my usual sellers that almost always come through for me, but this time nothing.  I tried my luck at the old fashion search and it did take a few tries but I did manage to find what I was looking for.  I placed my bid, won the auction and immediately paid so I could get the new pennies as soon as possible.

A few days later I came home from work and found a magical brown envelope in my mail with an eBay postage sticker and I knew it was them.  The designs were really great.

The first new machine was at the Japanese Pavilion in Epcot’s World Showcase.  It is located at the bottom of the stairs that lead up to the Katsura Grill (great place to eat by the way, if you haven’t tried it do so on your next trip).  The designs include a Traveling Mickey, Minnie, Duffy, and one of Mickey and Minnie kissing.

The second machine was also located in the Japanese Pavilion and is near the entrance to the Mitsukoshi Department Store.  The designs are Kimono Minnie, Kimono Mickey, Mickey, and Daisy.

 I immediately included these new pennies into my collection and couldn’t wait to post about them online.  I’m sure these will become more available as time go on.  It is the holiday season and it seems like most people visiting Disney this time of year may not be spending too much time in Epcot.  For now the itch it gone and my collection is complete again.  Thankfully it never lasts too long.

Happy collecting.

I am excited to announce that my family has finished booking our 2015 Family Vacation.  Yeah!!  My family, my sister’s family and my parents are all going to be taking this vacation together.  This is something we have wanted to do for a few years but with all the grandchildren being born we kept putting it off.  The last time my sister, parents and I went on a family vacation was back in 1996 before I finished High School.  All I can say is we are well over due for a great family vacation.

Now you may be asking where are we all going?  What magical place would keep an entire family regardless of age entertained for an entire week?  It could only be Walt Disney World!!!  Oh and did I mention that Disney has a huge number of Penny Machines?  Like you even had to ask.

As a family we have taken a lot of great trips growing up, but my sister and I were always the most excited about the trips we would take to either Florida or California to hang out with Mickey and his friends.  Over the years this has not changed one bit.  I was on a streak for a few years visiting Disney for 3 straight summers and I enjoyed every minute of it.  The last time my wife and I went was in 2011 when we took a long weekend trip down to Florida and had a whirlwind visit of the four parks in four days.  It’s only been 3 years since however to me it feels like forever.  Now the hard part was trying to figure out a time to go when the parks wouldn’t be overly crazy, but the hardest part was to try to get 3 separate families schedules all figured out so we could all visit together.  After going back and forth on dates we finally settled on April 2015 which fit right into all our schedule perfectly..

For those of you that don’t know there is a crazy schedule of things that can be booked prior to your visit to Disney.  The most important for many people is their dining reservations.  Disney lets you make these reservations about 180 days prior to your visit if you are staying at one of their resorts.  Using our trusty calendar we figured that if we were going to visit in April that we would need to make our dining reservations in October.  Our entire family met over at my parents house one Sunday and we checked out all the different resorts to figure out what would work best for us.  We decided on the Contemporary Resort which is right on the monorail line (it even comes right inside the resort) and just seemed to fit best for our trip.

With the resort booked we needed to only wait a few weeks before we could start making our reservations.  The date arrived and we were up early making some of our reservations online with the help of a concierge service that our resort offered.  Some places were very difficult to get into, but for the most part we got tables in some old favorites and even some new ones we have not previously experienced.  One place I was told about and somehow never tried before is located in Hollywood Studios called the Sci-Fi Drive In.  It’s indoors but looks like you are outdoors at a drive-in movie.  I don’t know how I ever miss this place before but can’t wait to try it.

There are still some things we can schedule as we get closer to the trip, Fast Passes, and a birthday cake for my nephew who will be celebrating his 1st birthday while we are there (Lucky kid).  But now my work begins in preparation for a massive penny collecting trip.

Walt Disney World is where it all started for me with Penny collecting.  I remember a trip to Florida with my family and grandparents who were always more than happy to give me a few quarters and pennies to press designs in the machines.  I loved it and still have those coins to this day.  When I started going to Disney on my own as an adult the first trip was a penny collecting mess.  I wasn’t prepared and had no idea what machines were available or even what designs I may have already had.  After that first trip in 1997 (A graduation gift from my parents) I decided I had to get more organized and have a plan before I went the next time.  A few years went by before I was able to go back and I had found a lot of online resources that helped.  A site I frequent now is called PressCoins.com which is fantastic.  It took a while to collect all the coins from the four parks, all the resorts and even the water parks, mini-golf courses and other miscellaneous locations, but as of right now I do have an up to date collection.  Not every coin ever produced from Disney but complete for the last 5-6 years.  I do have some collecting friends in Florida that help me get new coins and sometimes I even resort to eBay when all other options don’t pan out.  But now that I know we have a trip coming up I usually stop collecting the new coins so that I have machines to visit during the trip.

On previous trips I have even taken an entire day to visit each resort and collect all the coins at those locations. That can be pretty time-consuming if you don’t have a car.  One trip I used the resort bus system to go from one resort to another, however the buses don’t go to multiple resorts (except the All-Star Resort), so I would take a bus from a park to a resort, then from the resort back to a park and then jump on a different bus for another resort.  Crazy I know but I loved it and would do it again if needed.

Luckily since I do have most of the coins already there probably won’t be too many new ones I need to collect.  I do really enjoy visiting the different resorts as it gives me a change to see each resort and get ideas of which ones I would like to visit in the future.  Since my last trip a new resort has opened called The Art of Animation.

This will probably be the only resort I will need to visit during our trip.  We have already schedule a “Pool Day” half way through our stay.  This will probably be my only change to visit this new resort and check it our in person.

Look at this place it looks awesome.  Not to mention it’s considered a value resort which usually are very affordable for most budgets.  They have different sections designed like The Lion King, Little Mermaid, Cars and Finding Nemo. The pictures I have seen online just look beautiful and I can’t wait to wander around and check it out.

So for now I get to watch my online account tick down the days until our trip.  I’ve been keeping a list of the new penny designs that appear on stage and will mark them on my maps.  This way as we visit each theme park I know exactly where to go and can grab the pennies as we pass them by.  Since my entire family is going I have to be a little more conscientious of everyone.  In previous trips I would just head out on my own to get the coins I needed, but with my daughter visiting for the first time I want to take in the park through her eyes.

You only get to visit Disney for the first time once and I can’t wait to see what she thinks.

A really good friend of mine from work just this past week got back from a family vacation to Walt Disney World in Florida.  As I had previously posted about the craziness of my upcoming vacation, he had also been planning his trip for month.

He knew that I was an avid collector of pressed coins and asked (he probably wished he hadn’t) if there were any new designs he could pick up for me during his trip.  Wow, what an amazing friend.  I had a moral, do I take him up on the offer, or left him enjoy his vacation?  I chose the latter and explained I appreciated the offer but didn’t want to be responsible for his family wandering all over the parks looking for pennies.  But he didn’t take no for an answer and insisted that his kids would already been looking for the new Frozen pennies which have been recently been released and didn’t mind checking out the other new machines.

Now I was already feeling kind of guilt so I convinced myself that if I made it as easy for them to find the designs I needed that my conscience would be clear, and I wouldn’t be disturbing their vacation too much.  Heading over to my number 1 resource for WDW pressed coins I checked out http://www.PressCoins.com (Check it out they are awesome).  I always keep up with their blog which lists all new designs, retired machines and any changes to existing designs.  After reviewing all the new designs I had not yet acquired I started to put together the supplies.

First I figured out which machines had new coins and created little print outs that listed the Park across the top, then the actual location within that park, and finally a picture from the website of the actual design I needed.  I then used the small jewelry bags I use for my own personal coin missions and loaded the print out and appropriate number of quarters and pennies inside.

There were only a few bags I had to put together and wanted to try and help with his own quest to find the Frozen designs for his kids.  Going back to the PressCoins.com website I found a list of all those designs and their exact locations.  I put together my own little checklist with the locations, design descriptions and even a little picture of each penny.  It came out really well and he thanked me for doing this as it helped them know exactly where to go once inside each park.

When he got back to work after his vacation it took all my power not to just run over to his office trying to get the coins.  Luckily I didn’t have to wait long as he quickly came over to give me the run down of his trip.  He handed over the bags with the freshly pressed pennies inside and I immediately examined each one.  I’m always amazed at how much detail the designers are able to put into each penny.

I had most of the new Frozen designs collected already, but they had released some new designs I had not been able to get previously.  The above designs were located in Hollywood Studios as the Legends of Hollywood store.  The designs included Olaf, Anna, Elza and Anna standing together.

Next was a new design of Olaf from Frozen.  It was located in the Magic Kingdom at the Island Supply Store.  My friend said that the store was actually closed for renovations but a cast member saw them wandering aimlessly around and asked if they were looking for the penny machine.  When they said yes the cast member walked them over to the machine which was located by the Verandah Breezeway right beside the store.  Those cast members sure are friendly and helpful, always there when you need them.

 While at Epcot they were able to get another new design I had requested in the Mouse Gears store.  This design is of Kristoff also from Frozen.  I think they are up to about at least 15 Frozen designs by now.

I had send them with some additional coins for new designs located in Epcot near the Japan pavilion in the World’s Showcase.  Unfortunately they didn’t make it back to that area and were unable to obtain those designs.  I didn’t mind at all and was still overjoyed at what they did get for me.

There was one additional surprise they had in store for me.  One day while they were at Hollywood Studios they were waiting in line to meet the new characters from the animated movie Big Hero 6 which had just been released.  Once done with the character meet and greet they noticed a penny machine with 3 designs of each character from the movie.  These weren’t on my list since I didn’t even know they existed before they left, but they figured that since the movie had just come out these must be brand new.  They quickly scrambled some change together and pressed the coins for me.  The designs include Baymax, Hiro and Fred.

I couldn’t thank his family enough for getting all these designs for me.  I really appreciated it and hoped I hadn’t messed up their their already busy vacation schedule.  It’s always nice to have friends that even though they may not collect the coins themselves are more than happy to assist in collecting them for me.  They may be enabling the obsession, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.