Disney World can be an expensive place which is why we keep an eye out for merchandise sales and affordable souvenirs!
The American Adventure
One of the least expensive souvenirs you can snag in Disney World is a collectible pressed penny from one of the various penny press machines scattered around the parks. And we’ve noticed that Disney is slowly replacing these machines with upgraded versions!
We took a tour around EPCOT to see what has — and has not — changed about the penny presses in the World Showcase. This quest was spurred by a shiny new penny press that was recently installed in The American Adventure pavilion.
Pressed Penny Machine in the American Adventure
A Cast Member explained that while the previous machine had coin slots for guests to pay, it has now been replaced with one that lets guests use a credit card!
Pressed Penny Machine in the American Adventure
And the machines in The American Adventure pavilion aren’t the only ones around World Showcase that have received an upgrade. Over at the Africa Outpost, the penny presses have also been upgraded to the credit card version!
Outpost Penny Press
These next few upgraded machines have been around for a while, so it looks like the process of replacing these guys might be pretty slow. The Japan pavilion has two of the upgraded presses…
Japan Penny Press
…and the China pavilion has one as well! These new machines do make the whole penny pressing experience slightly more expensive, going from 51 cents at the old machines to $1 at the new ones. But another positive aspect of the new machines is that guests no longer need to provide their own penny to be pressed since the new machines can supply one!
China Penny Press
But, like we said, replacing the machines does seem to be a slow process. Several World Showcase pavilions, like Italy and Morocco, still have the old penny presses.
Italy Penny Press
As a note, Germany’s penny press is located in one of the stores that is still temporarily closed, but the Cast Member we talked to offered to go get our penny pressed for us. So nice! If you really want that pressed penny from the Germany pavilion, talk to a Cast Member and they may be able to help you out!
Morocco Penny Press
So, while a pressed penny might not be the first Disney World souvenir that comes to mind for many guests, the new machines do make snagging one a bit easier! No more carrying change if you want a pressed penny from one of the upgraded machines — you just might need to pay a little more.
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There’s a new one in the Frozen gift shop in Norway too. You can get all 8 character pennies for $5
Really? I have a whole baggie full of new shiny pennies from last year, just for this purpose. Just finished gathering the quarters to go with them. Oh well, guess I should have seen it coming. 🙂
Why are you happy they doubled in price?
In the new machines, can you still spend with quarters?
I’m kinda bummed that they are replacing with card payments. Not only because they are increasing the price(ridiculous, IMHO), but my kids love putting their money in and getting their penny back! Sure, it’s a pain to lug around change, but it is something they always look forward to spending their money on. We leave in 10 days so hopefully we will be able to find plenty of old machines because I already have their pennies and quarters ready to go!
We were sad to this happening. We enjoyed the crank handle and actually selecting the one you want and all that. And of course transforming an actual penny.
You know, I’m finding it very difficult….. lately, every time I read DFB, I see another “Disney initiative” on how to separate us from our dollar. Sooner or later, only the rich or couples without children will be able to receive “the Magic”.
I would rather supply the penny myself. I prefer to use pre 1982 pennies.
Jennifer, stickers on the machine say they supply the pennies.
My boys loved turning the wheel to feel like they were making the presses pennies. These new machines take all of that away.
We absolutely prefer to supply the pennies ourselves. We bring pennies of our choosing on trips. (prefer new/shiny, maybe from current year of trip.)
We also prefer cranking the handle ourselves.
Finally, we rarely want more than one penny design from a machine, we just pick our favorite one. Seems like they are trying to get us to buy more than one.
In conclusion, I don’t like this at all. 🙁
Seriously wish they would keep the option for the old machines / side by side with the credit card ones. Disney could do that easily since that was the whole charm of using the machines in the first place.
They should put the old ones at The Boardwalk, just like they have the penny video machines.
“Slightly” “Double”
We refuse to use the dollar machines. The credit card ones that were $5 for eight weren’t bad, but the main attraction was watching my then four-year-old crank it himself.
I’m more upset about the “upgrade” than the price increase, and I let Disney know.
This actually makes me so sad. It’s one of the things my husband enjoyed doing with our daughters. It was like a scavenger hunt for them…at each park and our resort, they went in search for ALL of the machines and my girls loved cranking the handle. Now he won’t get to do the same with our little guy on our next trip, and he’s been looking forward to it. I’m starting to see a trend with Disney…pay more for a reduced experience. Even the renovated resorts’ rooms have lost some of their charm. ☹️
I have been collecting pressed pennies since I was 16 (and I’ll be turning 50 in little over a month). The fun was always using your own penny and cranking it to get pressed. This takes all of that away. Also, not that it matters, but I always would use a penny from the year of our trip. My daughters also enjoyed doing this too. I guess my travel hobby is coming to an end at WDW at least. This makes me sad, very sad.
Another way Dis is digging deeper…into our pockets. I bring my own pennies as I only want to use pre-1983 pennies. “New” pennies are almost all zinc. That’s why when you press them they look corroded. Last trip I brought a roll of unused from the year I was born (very pre-1983!). By knowing which way to put them in, sometimes you get the date still on the back. I won’t use any of the $1 machines. It was getting harder to find the $0.51 ones in March. I imagine by the next time I go (post Armageddon) they will all have been switched.
As a Canadian traveller this isn’t great news. Transaction fees for converting to the American dollar through a Canadian credit card are ridiculous – so I travel with a lot of cash. I LOVE using up all of my spare coins at these machines, and the last time I was there (early March, JUST before the shut down) I would see pennies that I wanted just to be disappointed that the machine only takes credit card (or $1 bills – but the point was to get rid of the loose change!)
I believe that accounting is running Disney! Always the bottom line,$$$$.
This is a penny machine! Leave it alone! Disney is squeezing the guest, the same guests that came since 1971 and with stays helped build the parks. D23 openly stated that the Poly lobby is changed to bring merchandise closer to the guests. They got rid of the most beautiful lava floral icon. Have a look at the lobby now. Guest sit on the chairs playing the cell phones. Disney is becoming unaffordable! Now we have to plan every 2 years maybe 3 yrs and one short trip. Disney you win. It a penny machine. Rethink this!
Germs. Disinfect handles after every use
As a smashed penny collector, that’s not the news we like to hear. Instead of being able to use our own copper pennies, now we are supplied with a zinc penny that will rust and turn colors over time. What makes this hobby fun is lugging the change around, inserting your coins and cranking the pennies out. I mainly visit Disneyland in Anaheim, CA and I will be SO SAD if they did this to our machines. PLEASE WE BEG YOU, LEAVE THE MACHINES ALONE!!!!
As the developer of the Pressed Coins apps for both WDW and DLR on iOS devices, I know from talking with the experts that they’d much rather use their own copper pennies for the machines. What is being done does not improve things.
It doesn’t appear looking at the new machines that the hand cranking aspect of this souvenir is being replaced, just the method by which to pay. I, too, prefer to use my own penny because the new pennies don’t impress nicely. But, alas, still a small price to pay for a souvenir that makes me happy!
Disney should be ashamed that it delegated this souvenir to a vendor who has doubled prices and used shoddy copper-coated zinc pennies to be dispensed by the machines
I don’t like this at all! I like bringing my purse of change and pressing an actual penny or quarter. Why would I be happy about spending twice as much on this?
This looks like a universally disliked change. Just a reminder to everyone, when you’re unhappy, contact [email protected] and NICELY and POLITELY explain how disappointed you are. They probably will only send you a thank you note for contacting them, but very occasionally they actually change. If there are still old pressed penny machines around, we might (just maybe) get them to keep some. The more people who contact them, the better!