On our last trip to WDW, we pressed a lot of pennies! It was so much fun to search out the penny machines as we journeyed throughout the parks, and Eila, even as little as she was (15 months), loved pushing the button on the machine to select the design for the penny.
Needless to say, we're going to press even more pennies on our upcoming trip. For this trip, though, after some research online, we will have a much better (and cuter) system for keeping track of all our pennies as we go through our day.
Needless to say, we're going to press even more pennies on our upcoming trip. For this trip, though, after some research online, we will have a much better (and cuter) system for keeping track of all our pennies as we go through our day.
It starts with a couple of tubes of miniature m & m's. I saw this idea for the first time in a Disney Diva Tip, but there are many variations available online. The first thing you have to do is eat all of the m&m's from inside the tubes - Eila and I had a lot of fun with that! Then, you have to peel the wrapper off the tube. I measured the peeled off wrapper at 4.5" x 5.5" with a ruler. This measurement lets you know how large to set the image on your computer screen for printout. The next step was to find some adorable Disney images online to decorate our tubes with. (Please note that I do not, in any way, own any of the images or characters depicted - I merely found them online.) I just used my word processing program to set the image size and insert a text box on top of the image so that I could add a label (in Waltograph Disney font) to the wrappers. Next, I printed the images on sticker paper, cut out the images, stuck them on the tubes, and then covered the tubes with clear packing tape to protect the images (in case they got rained on, etc.). Take a look:
The next step is to fill the tubes with pennies and quarters. A roll of each fit perfectly inside the larger sized m&m's minis tubes. Next, I searched online for some information about the penny presses, because while we are not going to try to "collect them all," necessarily, we don't really want to duplicate designs that we already have. Presscoins.com has a very complete website. Parkpennies.com also has a lot of information, with special sections for each of the Disney parks and properties. I especially liked the WDW coin press checklist they had for download.
Pressing pennies (and some quarters) has become somewhat of a tradition for us. I remember doing it on trips I took when I was younger, and I am happy to be able to share this tradition with my daughter. The pressed pennies are also inexpensive souvenirs, and most major rides and special locations (like Splash Mountain or the Polynesian Resort) have their own unique designs. That means they are a great way to commemorate special experiences, or to include on scrapbook pages next to photos and memorabilia.
Pressing pennies (and some quarters) has become somewhat of a tradition for us. I remember doing it on trips I took when I was younger, and I am happy to be able to share this tradition with my daughter. The pressed pennies are also inexpensive souvenirs, and most major rides and special locations (like Splash Mountain or the Polynesian Resort) have their own unique designs. That means they are a great way to commemorate special experiences, or to include on scrapbook pages next to photos and memorabilia.