With so many theme parks here in central Florida they are always updating their offerings to complete with each other. Some guests who have been coming for many years are always the first to complain when one of their favorite attractions is replaced. Disney still has quite a few classic attractions in their parks, but Universal is one that doesn’t seem to hesitate when removing some of their most loved attractions. I remember visiting when I was young and riding taking a trip back in time with Back to the Future, or a nice leisurely boat tour on Jaws, but one of my all time favorites was Kongfrontation. Some people say this is for the best and we now have much more advanced attractions to enjoy but there is 1still that nostalgia that I do miss when thinking about those rides.

One thing Universal does do very well is have call backs to those long gone attractions either as an easter egg in their seasonal tribute store, or in the queue for the new attraction. But more than anything else they will inundate us with merchandise and most of it can be found right at the entrance to the park in the Universal Studios Store.

We have gone through this store numerous times in the past documenting new merchandise for more recent movies and attractions, to those classic oldies we loved so much.

I found this fancy button up shirt that had most of my favorites all together in quite the mashup. All it was missing was Kongfrontation and I probably would have picked it up.

Along this pathway down the middle of the store used to be the location of a couple old 3-design penny machines. These machines had designs available for some of these classic attractions. They had also been the last remaining machines to only cost $0.50 and allowed you to use your own penny. However on this recent trip as you can see in the above picture those machines are now erased from existence.

Thankfully all is not lost and Universal did replace it with a new 8-design digital touchscreen machine. I really like the wood cabinet of this machine, that fits in nicely with the nearby store fixtures and the fun little details along the bottom that remind me of an old movie theater marquee.

The penny designs available at this new machine are a mixture of old and new attractions within the Universal parks. Included is Jaws, the famous Back to the Future Delorean license plate to represent the historical park attractions, then we have E.T., MIB, Spider-man and Velocicoaster as currently available attractions. Does this mean we are getting a new Iron Man attraction soon? If Disney has anything to do with things, I highly doubt it and does seem like a strange design to include with this set. Too bad we couldn’t have a Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure design instead. Oh well maybe some day.

Thanks for tagging along as we took a quick visit into the ever changing Universal Studios Store. Like the merchandise you just never know what you may find inside. Stay tuned for some other upcoming Universal posts, there is plenty more new stuff still on the way. Have a fantastic week and as always Keep on Pressing!

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I have made it no secret that my favorite snack at Disney is the world famous Pineapple Dole whip. I love the float version that includes pineapple juice, but more recently they have been experimenting with some other flavors and you know I’ve tried them all. There has been raspberry, key lime, lemon, coconut, strawberry, watermelon, cherry, pistachio and quite a few more. All of them were great but the original pineapple is my absolute favorite.1

Sometimes however I’m in the mood for something a little different and out of all these other flavors my next top choice is the Citrus Swirl. Now first I’ll mention there are two very similar options that are sometimes mixed up. One is the Orange Cream which is Orange dole whip twisted with vanilla ice cream basically a pretty standard creamsicle flavor. The second option is the Citrus Swirl which is a frozen orange juice twisted with vanilla soft-serve, it’s much more tart and in my opinion more refreshing and amazing. Now why am I brining all this up, well first I love talking about dole whip and Disney snacks but for the main purposes of this post it has to do with a special character that has become synonymous with this citrus swirl treat.

Who is this character you may ask. Well it’s the cute little Orange Bird that you may have seen all around the Florida Disney parks. He has shown up on all sorts of merchandise but it doesn’t stop there, our friend and fellow collector Don Cade has created many fantastic elongated coins including a special Orange Bird design. But first let’s review a bit of history.

Back in 1969 Disney was looking for corporate sponsors to help pay for the construction of their new park Walt Disney World. The Florida Citrus Commission was eager to be involved and Disney encourage them to sponsor the Tropical Serenade attraction that would eventually be renamed the Enchanted Tiki Room. For $3 million dollars and a 10 year commitment they would sponsor the attraction along with a connected juice bar that would sell orange juice and there snacks. The juice bar would be called the Sunshine Tree Terrace. Once caveat the Citrus commission required was some kind of character identifier they could use, and that’s when Disney came up with the Orange Bird.

The partnership continued until 1987 when the Florida Citrus commission decided not to renew the sponsorship, and with that loss the orange bird went absent from the parks for 17 years. Then in 2004 in the Japan parks the Orange Bird made a come back with some specialized merchandise and guests loved it. Anticipation was mounting for his return to Florida and eventually in 2012 he officially came back as the icon for Sunshine Tree Terrace once again.

Now it’s location can be a bit confusion. Originally it was located next to the Enchanted Tiki Room and Aloha Isle offering the Pineapple dole whip was near the Swiss Family Treehouse. Then in 2015 these locations switched places. So if you are in the mood for a Citrus Swirl be sure to head towards the big Treehouse.

To celebrate this piece of Walt Disney World history Don Cade created these amazing pressed coins. I saw these listed online and had to reach out to get a set for my collection.

I’ve mentioned in the past about the TEC Facebook group and all it’s benefits. This is one place that Don makes his designs available to other collectors. No membership needed, but the information that all the members share and offers for custom coins like these are just too good to pass up. Stay tuned for more privately designed coin designs, there are just so many out there and I can’t wait to share them with you.

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Welcome to Jurassic Park!

Sorry I couldn’t help myself, and I feel like that whether you say it out loud or just in your head this saying takes place every time you walk through those large Jurassic Park gates inside Universal’s Islands of Adventure.

Just the other day I was enjoying a visit to Universal with a friend of mine that really wanted to just do a bunch of rides and attractions. Many times when I’m at the park I find myself more often than not just walking around, eating snacks and searching for pressed pennies. So the thought of a ride day was almost a foreign thought. Usually with such long wait times I just prefer not to bother, but today was the day for rides only….well maybe just one new pressed penny machine. But we will get to that eventually.

We didn’t start our day inside Jurassic Park, instead we checked out the Harry Potter area for those rides first, then we found ourselves hearing strange noises coming from the nearby bushes and foliage. This was a telltale sign that we had entered the land of Dinosaurs. In a previous post I gave some details on the new Velocicoaster attraction which to this day I still have not actually experienced (maybe some day) but you can read about that ride and the special pressed penny here. One ride in this section of the park that I have ridden in the past is the River Adventure and since it was already raining outside I figured I couldn’t get any more saturated than I already was.

We hopped inside and after a short wait, we climbed aboard our tour boat. Last time I was on a tour boat like this a huge shark jumped out at me over in Universal Studios. So my fingers were crossed that this would turn out better.

Well….I won’t spoil it for you but the tour started out nice and relaxing but quickly escalated when dinos started escaping their confinement’s. Eventually our only way out was down a huge waterfall and as you can see from the above picture we did somehow get even more soaked on this rainy day.

As with all good theme park attractions we exited off our wet boat and directly into a gift shop and for this ride the store is known as Jurassic Outfitters.

By this time of day we had successfully ridden a handful of rides so I think it’s a good time to celebrate with a brand new set of pressed pennies. Thankfully we were in exactly the right place.

In among all the dino plush, t-shirts, pins and other soaking wet guests is the new machine up again one of the walls near the entrance.

Inside this shop used to be two separate 3-design electronic penny press machines. Both of those are now gone and retired. In their place is this new fancy 8-design touch screen model that certainly seems to be taking over everywhere.

The penny designs available at this machine are very similar to the ones that used to be here in those separate machines. There is a new Jurassic World logo design, and then various dinos like a T-Rex, Raptor and Indominus Rex.

Well now that I had successfully taken a bit of a break to press some new pennies, it was time to head back on our adventure to hit up some other attractions before calling it a day. Thank you for tagging along as we spent our afternoon inside Jurassic Park and tracked down a full set of dino…pennies.

Keep on Pressing!

** Updated 02/09/2023 The countdown has begun for when the 50th Pressed Pennies will be removed and no longer available to guests and collectors. Many of the machines now have these stickers on them confirming they will be leaving soon. So if you haven’t picked yours up yet, time is quickly running out.

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These new pressed penny designs are celebrating the Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary. However as you can see from the below images the penny designs are of a different style that the first 53 we tracked down earlier this year and you can read all about here. This is why I’ll be referencing these new coins as Series 2 just to try and distinguish between them. Let’s dive in and I’ll show you where to find them.

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Disney Springs – Pin Traders

Just as with the first Series of pennies we are back at the Pin Traders shop which can be found towards the Rainforest Cafe / Earl of Sandwich end of Disney Springs. The other two 50th penny designs are still available here, but this new design can be found in a third machine just between the rack of magic bands a section of collectible pins. This design has Mickey posing in front of a large 50 with Cinderella Castle in the back ground and “The World’s Most Magical Celebration” across the bottom.

POP Century Resort – Everything POPs Dining

If you are not staying at the POP Century Resort getting in here to press the penny can be a bit of a pain. There are pretty strict parking restrictions so most of the time I end up taking either the Skyliner or Disney Bus transportation to get into the resort. Once inside the penny machine can be found inside the Everything POPs Shopping & Dining area of the main building. Just as you past through the gift shop into the food court the machine will be on the left side. This penny design has our favorite pup Pluto, the rest of the design is the same as the others with the 50, Castle and Most Magical Celebration listed.

Port Orleans French Quarter Resort – Jackson Square

This is one of my favorite resorts. The theming is great, it has fun music everywhere and of course beignets whenever you want them. As you enter the main building, near the check-in section is the Jackson Square Gift Shop and is where you will find the next 50th Anniversary Series 2 pressed penny. The penny design at this location has Donald Duck with the rest of the design being the same as we have seen with the other pennies.

Grand Floridian Resort & Spa – Bus Stop

As we head a little closer to the Magic Kingdom we needed to make a quick detour over at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. This top tier resort always gives off the essence of elegance and glamour. To be honest sometimes I feel a bit out of place here. This resort does have a few different pressed penny machines but the one we are looking for is out front of the resort at the bus stop where you would get transportation to Disney Springs, Animal Kingdom and other locations around property. So far this is one of my favorite designs at this location with a beautiful image of Mickey and Minnie in front of the Castle with a floating 50 and some of the famous Disney Fireworks in the air.

Animal Kingdom – Discovery Trading Co.

Animal Kingdom always blows me away with all the little details the imagineers included, and it seems like every time I visit I see something new. Whether it’s the hand woven creations inside Pandora the World of Avatar, or the hand carved wooden art work back in Harambe it’s always a fun place to visit. To track down the next pressed penny we didn’t have to go too far inside the park. Right near the Tree of Life is a large gift shop called the Discovery Trading Co. Outside of this store is a beautiful sight a wall of three total pressed penny machines and one of them is where you can get your own Series 2 Chip and Dale 50th Design.

Boardwalk Inn – Lobby

Just outside of Epcot is one of my favorite places to visit during the evening hours the Disney Boardwalk. They have plenty of restaurants, stores, and even entertainment along the water. Plus the Boardwalk Inn is a fun homage to the classic Atlantic City resorts and coastal beaches. Just inside the main Lobby building near the resort gift shop is where you can find the pressed penny machine with our next 50th Series 2 penny design of Minnie Mouse.

Wilderness Lodge – Bus Stop

Our next stop was over at the Wilderness Lodge resort which is another of my favorite resorts. The log cabin vibes once inside is truly amazing and esthetically for me very eye pleasing. I’ve always had great experiences at the different restaurants and their Christmas tree during the holidays is in my option the best on Disney property. The penny machine we were tracking on this visit is a bit of a walk from the main lobby building. You need to walk outside and head towards the Bus Stop for the resort to find the machine and the special 50th penny design of Your Pal Mickey Mouse.

Magic Kingdom – Tony’s Town Square Restaurant

To finish out this Series 2 set of pressed coins we headed into the Magic Kingdom. The first new penny available can be found inside Tony’s Town Square Restaurant which is themed around Lady and the Tramp. This is also the same building where you can meet Mickey and Tinker Bell for some iconic family photos. The machine is just outside the restaurants restrooms and has our favorite Pixie Tinker Bell.

Magic Kingdom – Main Street Firehouse

On this journey we have pressed quite a few great new designs but this last one is my favorite of them all. This design can be found in the machine located inside the Main Street Firehouse. The penny machine is certainly a unique one that appears to be carved out of a historic piece of firefighting equipment. The penny design has the iconic Partners Statue located just in front of Cinderella Castle that showcases Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse holding hands.

I can’t think of a better way to finish up this second set of pressed pennies celebrating Walt Disney Worlds 50th Anniversary Celebration. If anyone has any new information on additional designs, location changes or updates please let us know in the comments below so we can help everyone acquire this great new set of coins. Keep on Pressing!

Currently we are smack dab in the middle of Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary Celebration which is going on for a total of 18 months. We have already posted about the initial set of 53 pressed pennies, and collectible medallions. Plus here’s a quick insider tip, they have started to release a smaller Series 2 of pressed coins so be sure you are subscribed to learn all about those very soon.

Today however I wanted to share with you a very special “Unofficial” set of pressed pennies also celebrating WDW’s 50th Anniversary that has been created by our friends over at ThePennyDepot.com.

First we have this really nice classic design with just WDW Established 1971 on it. This is fairly simplistic overall, but I still really like it.

Second is another simple design of an outline of the center piece of the Magic Kingdom Cinderella Castle.

The following design is not necessarily for the 50th, but I included it hear as part of “Disney History” as it includes our favorite Pixie Tinker Bell with what I’m going to say is her famous pixie dust. Plus a wonderful quote from Peter Pan “All you need is faith trust and a little pixie dust.”

This last design is my absolute favorite. The details in this one are really unbelievable with Cinderella Castle and a big 50th in the middle, plus plenty of stars above and the famous Disney fireworks celebrating in the sky. I liked this one so much I actually picked up a couple copies for my collection.

The Penny Depot has really done another great job with these new designs they have available at their online store. Be sure to pick these up as I know they will make a great addition to your WDW 50th Pressed Penny collection.

That’s it for this week, thank you for visiting and please be sure to always Keep On Pressing!

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