January 2015 Archive (primarily covers 2013 through
mid-2014)
Note: I will occasionally use catalog numbers
from www.presscoins.com
for Disney coins; that website provides the
most complete information about current and former designs at WDW.
JULY 2014 UPDATE
The L.A. Cinema Storage machine is now at
Prop Shop while Cinema Storage is being converted to a Starbuck’s café.
STAR WARS PENNIES
RETURN TO DARTH’S MALL
The three Star Wars pennies introduced to the
Star Wars Weekends celebration at Disney’s Hollywood Studios were available
again this year at the “Darth’s Mall” shopping area. The machine was accessible only during the
weekend events, which ran starting Friday May 16 and ended on Sunday June
15. As the above photo shows, the
machine was rolling short some of the days.
JUNE 2014 UPDATES
Downtown Disney’s Marketplace Co-Op replaced
the Team Mickey store in May or June.
The Team Mickey machine is retired; there is no machine at Marketplace
Co-Op, which is a collection of small boutique stores.
L.A. Cinema Storage closed on June 16, and is
being converted to a Starbuck’s coffee shop.
This happened after my June visit, so I do not know the status of the
machine there. I suspect it is off
stage. JULY
UPDATE: the machine has been added to the Prop Shop.
For some reason, the Heritage House machine
has a lot of trouble with misfeeds and off-center
rolling. Bring plenty of extra coins
when hitting this machine.
The Dawa Bar
machine disappeared when half that bar/restaurant area was shuttered to make
way for a new walkway to the Lion King stage show. That area has reopened, but the machine
remains missing.
www.presscoins.com
is starting to add off-location machines.
I have confirmed for James and his crew that the two machines (3
pennies, 1 quarter) at the Vero Beach resort are still active. We are seeking confirmation of the Hilton
Head machine.
Rumored permanent closures include the
Indiana Jones stunt show at Hollywood Studios – get your coins while you can!
THE FUTURE(S) OF PENNY PRESSES?
I have seen the future of penny presses, and
it is interesting!
In Canada, the government stopped pressing pennies
due to the cost. This has led some penny
press operators to substitute coins or tokens supplied by the machine – they
use either U.S. pennies or blanks. (There was always an additional concern in
Canada: it is illegal to deface the Queen’s image, so crushing her face was
technically a no-no).
Concern over the potential stoppage of
American penny products has resulted in three machines being installed at
Disneyland to press arcade tokens onto penny designs. The machines have Space Mountain, Wreck-It
Ralph, and Tron themes, with 3 designs in each
machine. December
update: these machines have stopped pressing tokens, but accept tokens as
payment.
Space Mountain and
Wreck-It Ralph pressed tokens, with backstamps
Of course, they could just convert to nickel
machines, which already make seasonal appearances in Anaheim. But I suspect they make good money selling
tokens.
New technology at the
Field Museum
An interesting new machine type had its start
at Epcot, but I have seen it used to maximum potential elsewhere. That machine is a fully electronic press. The Field
Museum in Chicago has two of these machines.
They each feature eight designs, and they have touch-screen displays
that take the user through step-by-step instructions in either English or
Spanish. All coins are inserted into the
same slot, and the design is selected by touching the picture on the screen.
This type of machine got a start at Epcot
France, where electronics enabled the press to have a “secret” design (Agent P)
that could be activated by telephone signal from the interactive scavenger hunt
game.
Epcot France – the
phone that unlocks the “secret” third die, and the machine
Another interesting feature at the Field
Museum: the change machines give 4 quarters and 2 pennies for the dollar you
insert. If the penny is ever
discontinued, this would be a convenient way for stores and attractions to
provide old pennies or blanks for the presses.
Changes could be coming in the coinage as
well as the next generation of machines.
Heritage House coins
MARCH 2014 UPDATE
The Team
Mickey store at Downtown Disney has closed permanently, and its machine (4
dies) is retired. The store will be
replaced by a business called Marketplace Co-Op. UPDATE: Marketplace
Co-Op does not have machines.
The Heritage
House penny machine was finally placed in service recently, but its
location confuses many. It can be found
across from the Hall of Presidents attraction exit in a pathway that connects
the seating area of the Sleepy Hollow snack bar to the Hall of Presidents. DECEMBER UPDATE: the
machine is off-stage.
Splash
Mountain
remains closed for refurbishment until March 22. Its two machines are off-stage during this
time. REOPENED.
The refurbishment of Dawa Bar at Animal Kingdom also continues, and its machine is also
off-stage during this time. LOCATION OPEN;
MACHINE GONE. DECEMBER
UPDATE:THE MACHINE HAS RETURNED.
▲
The quarter machine at Tomorrowland Power
& Light has been moved from a door area to a more central location next
to an instant photo booth (where the store meets the arcade).
The Lights
Motors Action stunt show machine has been moved into the Prop Shop. This may signal the impending end of the
popular attraction, which has been rumored for a few months to be ending soon
due to its high operating cost.
Another rumored closing that is getting
louder: a total refurbishment of the entire Imagination pavilion, which will take the Image Works machine
off-stage – and possibly into retirement.
After all, that machine still has a design for an attraction that has
been gone for years – the Honey I Shrunk the Audience 3-D movie.
▲
The machine from the Country
Bears porch/Tom Sawyer Exit has been moved across the walkway, near the river
(across from the Frontier Trading Post).
Despite some listings showing a Yacht and Beach quarter machine, that
machine has been away for quite some time.
I would characterize it as “retired.”
No surprise here, but the Star Wars machine has remained off
stage since Star Wars Weekends 2013 ended.
The new weekend series of special events will commence May 16, so
hopefully that set of coins will return.
CONFIRMED: THEY’LL BE BACK, WEEKENDS ONLY FROM MAY
16 THROUGH JUNE 15, 2014.
The Haunted
Mansion machine has been moved next to the turkey leg cart.
January (left) and February
(right) locations for 2014 penny at Grand Floridian
Grand
Floridian
switch-a-roo: In January the Gus & Jaq penny was removed from the 1900 Park Fare restaurant’s
penny machine to make way for the 2014 dated penny. In February, though, the 2014 coin was
removed and located in the second-floor machine, where it replaced one of two
Wall-E designs. Both Wall-E designs were
retired; the other coin was replaced by a penny with Mickey’s face. Back on the first floor, Gus & Jaq returned to their machine.
An oddity at the Frontierland arcade
– the machine has a third die, but the sign is partially blank! (March 2014)
February
2014 changes
Changes during the first week of February:
Heritage House machine
The Heritage House
machine, added in January but unavailable during renovations, is on stage now.
Several single-die
quarter machines have been switched to 3-die machines as part of an ongoing
conversion process. The Main Street Railroad Station in the Magic
Kingdom has added a 2014 dated quarter and the Pinocchio quarter formerly found
at Heritage House. All Star Music has added a 2014 dated quarter and the Mike & Sulley “Friends” series quarter that was previously found
at The Land at Epcot (it was removed in January from The Land to make way for
one of the new 2014 dated quarters). All Star Sports also added a 2014 dated
quarter, and the Winnie the Pooh quarter that was available at the Contemporary
Resort for a short time before it, too, gave way to a 2014 quarter.
The Wall-E series
is being retired. Two dies at Cap’n Jack’s were retired in 2013 when that location closed
for renovation of the Downtown Disney area.
Two were retired from the Grand Floridian in February 2014, and two more
were retired in February from Mouse Gear at Epcot. I believe there is still a Wall-E penny at
Port Orleans, though. March 2014
update: Port Orleans coin also retired.
▲ Mouse Gear at Epcot replaced the two
Wall-E designs with a 2014 dated penny and the return of the road crossing
penny formerly found at Test Track.
Former Fantasia Gardens machine now
at Prop Shop
Finally, another machine has made the rotation at Hollywood
Studios’ Prop Shop. This one brings back
the dies formerly available at Fantasia
Gardens mini-golf. Retired in June
2012, those designs are Sorcerer’s Apprentice Mickey; Aladdin (Princes series
#3 of 7); and Prince Eric (Princes #2 of 7).
The quarter that once was found at Fantasia has made the rounds recently
– Mike & Sulley (Friends #1 of 8) was at
Epcot/The Land but is now at All Star Music.
September update: The
machine at Prop Shop has disappeared.
Two of its designs (Mickey and Aladdin) are now found at Oscar’s Super
Service in a machine that switched from one die to three.
MASSIVE
JANUARY 2014 CHANGES
In the past few years, the only dated
coin at Disney World was placed at the Emporium store at the Magic Kingdom
(2011. 2012, 2013). This year, Disney
produced 2014 dated pennies AND quarters, and sprinkled them at various
locations throughout the Disney property.
They appear to use identical dies for all pennies, and a single die is
repeated for the quarter design, but I have not confirmed that they are
completely identical to each other. In
addition, since some machines roll better impressions than others, there may be
a better machine to get the best-centered rolling.
Here is a list of 2014 coins as I have found them, together with the designs they
replaced. These coins were installed over a period of weeks in January and
February.
Pennies:
Magic Kingdom – Sir Mickey’s
(replacing Dopey)
Magic Kingdom – Emporium (replacing
2013 dated coin)
Contemporary Resort (replacing
Mickey’s face)
Epcot – Mouse Gear (replacing a Wall-E
design)
Animal Kingdom – Chester & Hester’s
(replacing aliorimus)
Hollywood Studios – Prop Shop
(replacing Roger Rabbit)
Grand Floridian – 1900 Park Fare
(first replaced Jaq & Gus/Cinderella series in
January, then moved in February to replace a Wall-E design)
Quarters:
Contemporary Resort (replacing Winnie
the Pooh – the new design from 2013)
Animal Kingdom – Harambe RR Station
(replacing Rex)
Epcot – The Land (replacing Mike &
Sulley)
Magic Kingdom – Main Street RR Station
(added to quarter machine when switched to 3 dies)
All Star Music (new die)
All Star Sports (new die)
Hollywood Studios – Mickey’s of
Hollywood (replacing Classic Mickey Mouse).
I do not know whether the replaced
designs are retired now, or just “off stage” for the next year. It has been reported by www.presscoins.com that there will be 7
penny locations and 7 quarter locations.
The Heritage House store at the Magic Kingdom (Liberty Square)
reportedly received a new 3-die penny machine, replacing the quarter machine
removed recently. The designs are Hall
of Presidents, Liberty Square steam boat, and Mickey Mouse with a flag. However
– the store is closed for refurbishment and, at least during the second week of
January, the machine was unavailable.
February update: the store is open and the
machine is available.
New Prop Shop machine
in January
Three designs retired in August from
Cap’n Jack’s at Downtown Disney have been combined in a single machine at the Prop Shop in January. The three designs show classic face views of
Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy. This machine
is located where the Wreck-It Ralph machines used to be at Prop Shop.
Prop Shop classic
designs
The two Wreck-It Ralph machines have been relocated to the Animation
Courtyard building called “Magic of Disney Animation,” where they now sit
beside the meet-and-greet area for Vanellope and Wreck-It Ralph. You may recall that these machines started
their journey at Pizza Planet, moved to Prop Shop, and are now in the animation
building. Next stop may be retirement,
so get them while you can!
New home for Wreck-It
Ralph machines
THE LAND GARDEN GRILL CHANGES
The Soarin’ quarter
machine at Epcot’s Garden Grill switched to a 3-die machine with Merida and 3
cubs and Mike & Sulley (Friends series #1 of 8)
in 2013. In 2014 the Mike & Sulley (Friends #1 of 8) coin switched to the 2014 dated
design. Mike & Sulley
were retired for about a month, but then popped up at All Star Music in
February.
OFF STAGE IN FRONTIERLAND, AFRICA
In January 2014, three FroLand machines were
off stage: the two at Splash Mountain (the attraction is being refurbished
through March), and the former Tom Sawyer Exit machine – which had been placed
at the Country Bear Jamboree porch. One
cast member told me the machine was jamming too much and “just disappeared one
day.”
Dawa Bar at Animal Kingdom is also undergoing
renovations, and its machine is off-stage (January 2014).
INNOVENTIONS MACHINE RELOCATED
The Innoventions East machine now appears in
Innoventions West. Both machines are
near the back of the attraction by the doors leading to The Land.
2013 ENTRIES ▼
|
HAUNTED MANSION MACHINE ARRIVES AFTER MORE THAN 2-YEAR WAIT The Haunted Mansion at the Magic Kingdom has been
expecting a new machine for more than two years; it finally was installed in
late October 2013, just in time for Halloween. It is found outdoors near the carriage house
(at the beginning of the ride queue) in a custom cabinet. The 4 designs on the hand-crank machine are the 3
individual hitchhiking ghosts (did you know their names are Phineas, Gus, and Ezra?), plus a group shot of
Mickey, Goofy & Donald as the hitchhiking ghosts. |
EXPEDITION
EVEREST 3-DIE PENNY PRESS
This new machine was placed in the gift shop at
the end of the Expedition Everest ride in October 2013.
NEW DESIGN SCHEME FOR PENNY PRESSES
As you may have noticed, the faceplates for the
machines have undergone a change as each machine receives some type of
modification.
Old styles:
New styles:
OTHER LATE 2013 MODIFICATIONS
The Contemporary Resort received two updates
in the second half of 2013: the addition of a Winnie the Pooh quarter in July
2013 – which was replaced in 2014 with a dated quarter design, and a Chef
Mickey’s cent in December. I do not have
a picture of the Pooh quarter, given its short tenure there. February 2014 update:
The Pooh quarter now appears at All Star Sports.
Chef Mickey’s – new in
2013 at Contemporary
Mickey’s of Hollywood also got a new quarter
in July 2013, replacing the Ratatouille quarter. The Ratatouille series is now
entirely retired.
Mickey’s of Hollywood
new quarter in 2013
ROLLING TIP FOR QUARTERS
Most quarter machines use the left-hand slot
for the quarter that is returned to you.
On the hand-crank machines at the Sorcerer’s Hat store and Rainforest
Café, though, the right slot is the magic slot.
YODELING COWGIRL JESSIE FINALLY GETS HER RESPECT
This one escaped my notice when it first
happened – when the Buzz Cart machine at the Magic Kingdom was updated with the
Toy Story 3 designs, the coin with Jessie misspelled her name as “Jesse.” That design was quietly replaced some time in
2012 or 2013 to correctly denote “Jessie.”
The design appears the same in all other respects. I will be adding the single corrected coin to
my sales list soon.
Left is wrong; right
is right
|
FIRST ELONGATED COIN
MACHINE ADDED TO “NEW FANTASYLAND” A
machine was finally added to the expanded Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom in
August. A new 4-die machine is now
found in the large circus tent (Big Top Souvenirs). Its designs are all new: Donald Duck as a
strongman; Minnie Mouse as a trapeze performer; Goofy as the Great Goofini;
and Mickey Mouse as a ringmaster.
Big Top machine is
first at Fantasyland expansion _______________________________________________________________
2 new Space Mountain
quarters QUARTERS PICK UP PACE
TO 3-DIE MACHINES August
was an active month, especially for quarter collectors. The single-die quarter machine at
Tomorrowland Power & Light (Space Mountain) added two designs: Mickey,
Pluto and Goofy at Space Mountain, and Pluto in space.
Star Traders
switches to 3 dies; 2 new quarters shown Star
Traders at Magic Kingdom added two dies to the Evil Emperor Zurg
machine. The two new quarters are
Mickey and Pluto in a spaceship and a Tomorrowland logo coin. The
Ratatouille series of quarters was replaced entirely. See the below article for more details. There
is a plan to replace all single-die quarter machines with three-die
arrangements.
CAP’N
JACK’S CLOSED; FIREHOUSE GETS MACHINE BACK As
part of the renovation of Downtown Disney, Cap’n Jack’s was closed in
mid-August and its two penny machines retired. In addition, the Firehouse penny machine
has moved from Prop Shop at Hollywood Studios back to the Magic Kingdom’s fire station. It keeps the 3 Dalmatian-themed designs it
had at the Studios. These are
different from the designs the machine had when it first served the MK. |
|
BONJOUR,
RATATOUILLE As we mentioned last month, the Ratatouille
series of quarters was rapidly disappearing.
Now all 5 designs are retired. #1 of 5 at Heritage House was replaced in
August by Friends #3 of 8 (Pinocchio & Jiminy Cricket, formerly at
Boardwalk). The following changes were made in July: #2 of 5 at Mickey’s of Hollywood (Hollywood
Studios) was replaced by a new Mickey Mouse design with the DHS logo. #3 of 5 was replaced at The Land (Epcot) by
a new design featuring Merida & the 3 cubs from “Brave.” She also graces
a new penny design at Prop Shop (Hollywood Studios), where 4 new designs have
replaced the Tron coins. #4 of 5 was removed from a 3-die quarter
machine at the Contemporary Resort, and replaced with a Winnie the Pooh coin
(Winnie looking into honey jar) #5 of 5 was replaced at All Star Movies by
Mickey Mouse holding a video camera. This machine had been switched to 3 dies
in June.
Mickey, Merida, Agent P & Buzz
replace Tron; notice the new change machine at Prop Shop as well TRON MACHINE REPLACED July also brought changes to the Prop Shop, where the Tron
machine was replaced by a different hand-crank machine with 4 new penny
designs: Merida from “Brave”; Mickey with a movie camera; Agent P from
Phineas & Ferb; and Buzz Lightyear.
BOARDWALK: QUARTER MACHINE SWITCHED TO 3 PENNIES The quarter machine at the Boardwalk resort has been
switched to 3 new penny designs: Chip (from Chip & Dale); Winnie the Pooh
with umbrella; and Donald Duck with elephant squirting water. The quarter from that machine will be
relocated elsewhere in the future.
Keep in mind that quarter machines are being switched to triple dies,
allowing many opportunities for these designs to return. |
|
SWITCHEROO A couple
changes occurred in June 2013.
Machines at Legends of Hollywood (Disney’s Hollywood Studios) and Goombay
Games Arcade (Caribbean Beach resort) were switched. In addition, the single-die quarter machine
at All Star Movies has been switched to a 3-die machine. Now at
Legends of Hollywood: Cheshire Cat from the Alice in Wonderland series (#2 of
6); the stepmother and stepsisters from the Cinderella series (#5 of 5);
White Rabbit from Alice (#3 of 6).
These had been numbers RES0165, RES0173, and RES0166 respectively
(using the numbering systems from www.presscoins.com), but
now have been assigned numbers DHS0087 through DHS0089. At
Caribbean Beach, the arcade now features three designs from the numbered
“Pixar Cars” series: Mack, Sally, and Lightning McQueen (#9, 3 & 1 of the
series). Formerly numbered DHS0004 through
DHS0006, these are now RES0280 through RES0282 respectively.
July 2013 replacement at All Star Movies – notice it is
marked for Hollywood Studios Over at
the All Star Movie resort, the Ratatouille quarter (RES0235) is now joined by
Lilo & Stitch (Friends series #4 of 8) (RES0250) and Bambi, Thumper &
Flower (Friends series #2 of 8) (RES0283, formerly AK0118). The Bambi quarter had been at the Out of
the Wild shop at AK; Lilo & Stitch was at The Mara food court at the
Animal Kingdom Lodge – July update: the Ratatouille design was replaced by Mickey Mouse
holding a video camera. |
|
STAR
WARS COINS ISSUED Three new designs have been added at
Disney’s Hollywood Studios to celebrate Star Wars Weekends. The special event weekends ran on Fridays,
Saturdays and Sundays from May 17 through June 9. It is expected the machine will be sent to
Tatooine Traders near the Star Tours ride, but so far the machine is
off-stage (as of late June). The designs are Mickey as a Jedi; Minnie as
Princess Leia; and Goofy as Darth Vader.
|
|
DISNEY
CRUISE LINE TERMINAL ADDS TWO MACHINES Two penny machines were added April 24,
2013, to the Disney Cruise Line terminal in Port Canaveral, Florida. Each machine has 3 dies, and they share a
double-wide cabinet. The designs are: Castaway Cay (Disney’s
private island); Disney Cruise Line; Disney Magic; Disney Wonder; Disney
Fantasy; and Disney Dream. The last
four represent the four cruise ships in the company’s fleet. All coins have a Cruise Line backstamp. The machines are located beyond security
and are accessible only to passengers with tickets. |
|
QUICK
NOTES Two quarter designs formerly at Rafiki’s
Planet Watch have been added to the quarter machine at Grand Floridian, so
that machine has been converted from a single die to 3 dies. The penny machine at Kona in the Polynesian
Resort has been moved across the lobby to join the quarter machine in front
of Samoa Snacks.
MARCH 23: The Tron monorail gave way to the Avengers monorail, which – on March 23,
2012 – was converted to an Iron Man monorail.
Tron had its own set of pennies – so why haven’t these popular hero movies? Simple answer: when Disney acquired Marvel,
it had to honor Marvel’s preexisting contract granting Universal Studios
exclusive rights to use the Marvel images inside theme parks – so no
elongated coins to celebrate the Marvel Universe in the Disney parks. That’s also why the Avengers and Iron Man
monorails do not operate on the Epcot line: that route would take them into
the Epcot park and violate the exclusive-use provision. As a result, they are
used only on the TTC to MK gate routes (Iron Man is on the resorts
route). Tron – being a Disney property
– was not similarly affected, and its monorail fearlessly traveled the Epcot
line. Monsters University was presented as a
monorail theme in 2013, but this will be the last of themed monorails for a while. As of January 2013, the MU theme is gone,
and the trains are being slated for an entire new paint job and possible
redesign. To protect the new paint,
the graphic wraps will not be applied in the near future. |
OLDER ARCHIVED
ARTICLES:
Rafiki’s
Planet Watch (Dec. 2012/Jan. 2013)
Shrunken Ned’s & Pirates of the
Caribbean
Firehouse machine at
Hollywood Studios & Magic Kingdom