More Pressed Pennies, & Other Souvenir Coins From Disneyland

Back in March of 2016, I did a post about "pressed pennies" from various amusement parks and tourist attractions. In that post, I stated, "Believe it or not, I don't own one single pressed penny from a Disney park."  Well, I was wrong! I can't believe it, but I somehow managed to forget about the following pressed pennies within my collection of Disneyland souvenirs. I came across these recently and of course after seeing them, NOW I remember them!

Okay, these are actually pressed nickels, instead of pennies, but that's a minor technicality. These are from circa 1995. Note the nickel at the top, promoting Disneyland's 40th anniversary, and the one below it, which was available for the New Year:

These pennies represent Mickey Mouse, the Disneyland Hotel, and various attractions or "lands" within the park.

These nine pennies were all available back in the nineties, from machines located inside the Adventureland Bazaar. The top three are all characters from The Lion King (which was released in 1994), the next three represent various scenes in Adventureland, including the Indiana Jones Adventure (which opened in 1995), and the bottom three are all characters from Aladdin, (which was released in 1992).

Next, we will take a look at some Disneyland "commemorative" souvenir coins.

First up is this coin that I purchased in the Main Street Emporium, back in 1980.

The reverse side is divided into six sections for each of the park's "lands," with the exception of Bear Country.  I guess they thought they would solve that problem by putting two of the characters from the Country Bear Jamboree attraction, under the "Frontierland" heading.

The coin was "mounted" within a cardboard square, with a circular cut-out.  The cardboard was "flocked" with a material which makes it feel a bit like velvet.  The coin and it's mounting were then placed inside this clear plastic case.

I purchased this next coin at the same time as the one above.  Both coins are just a little larger than one and a half inches in diameter (or slightly larger than an Eisenhower silver dollar).  This coin was made specially for Disneyland's 25th anniversary.

The reverse side:

 

As can be seen by the original price tag, this coin cost a dollar more than the non-anniversary souvenir coin.

This 30th anniversary coin from 1985, was smaller in size than the previous two coins (about the size of a quarter), and came in a small cardboard box with a clear plastic lid.

The reverse side:

The price of the 30th anniversary coin was $2.50 more, than the one for the 25th anniversary, five years earlier.

For the 35th anniversary in 1990, the souvenir coins went back to their previous size.

The reverse side:

The 35th anniversary coin actually came down in price, and was only .95 cents more than the commemorative coin for the park's 25th anniversary:

 

I had an annual pass in 1995, and went to the park quite a bit that year, but I never saw a souvenir coin for the park's 40th anniversary (other than the "pressed nickel" seen at the top of this post).

In 2000, there was a coin available for the park's 45th anniversary.

The reverse side:

For those keeping track, the price had now doubled in the twenty years that had passed, since the 25th anniversary coin.

At one time, Disneyland used to have special events, such as "Viva Mexico" days and "Festival Japan" days.  These events celebrated other countries and their cultures, and sometimes featured special merchandise.  This coin was available during the park's "Festival Japan" days, in 1984.

The reverse side:

 And this one was available the following year, in 1985:

The reverse side:

 

This is my oldest souvenir coin from Disneyland.  It features the Chicken of the Sea Mermaid on one side.......

.....and the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship, on the other side.  I wish I knew the story on these coins.  Were they sold in the park?  Or were they given out free, in order to promote Chicken of the Sea products?

This Jack Skellington coin is from December of 2006.  It was free with the purchase of a meal, at the park's Cafe Orleans and French Market restaurants.

The coin was just one out of a series of thirteen, all with different facial expressions of Jack's.

All of the coins had this image of the Haunted Mansion (Holiday) on the reverse side:

We will end this post with a couple of arcade "tokens."  This one was available at the Starcade, in Tomorrowland.

And this token was available at "Flynn's Arcade," during the special nighttime event, "Electronica," at Disney's California Adventure.  Both the event and the arcade, opened in the Fall of 2010, and closed in the Spring of 2012.

For anyone who might be interested, here is the link to my previous blog post (from five years ago) on souvenir Pressed Pennies, which includes pennies from Universal Studios, Magic Mountain, Knott's Berry Farm, and more.

Magic Kingdom Club Christmas Catalog - 1984

In the days before The Disney Store or The Disney Catalog, there was The Disney Family Showcase catalog from the Magic Kingdom Club. I received this catalog in the mail in 1984 and never received another one after that, so it may be the only time that Disney did something like this under that name. I had a subscription to Disney News Magazine at the time, so I'm assuming that is how I got on their mailing list.

There are more than 30 pages, but I've scanned each and every one of them and included them below. Some of the photos in the catalog were taken at Disneyland, Walt Disney World and Epcot Center.

The intro talks about Walt and his "Family of Corporate Participants" that helped finance the construction of Disneyland.

See's candy at $6.00 a pound! Wow! Today See's candy is over $19.00 a pound and the price goes up every year after the holidays, like clockwork.

The photo below is from Disneyland's "Festival Japan" parade, which makes me wonder what ever happened to Festival Japan, Viva Mexico Days, and Canada Days at Disneyland?

Epcot Center's Germany Pavilion is pictured on the page below. I had no idea that Goebel manufactured Hummel figurines. I thought Hummels were made by a company named Hummel.

The page below includes a picture taken at Epcot's Italy Pavilion. Epcot would have only been 2 years old at the time this catalog came out.

Only $65 for a Disneyland adult Annual Pass! This was before there were different "levels" of annual passes, so every pass was a "premium" pass. Passes had only been available for a year and a half at this point. Wikipedia (and many other sites) state that the first annual passes were offered to the public in 1984. I have my very first annual pass and it is dated June 20, 1983. I guess it is possible that they were only available to Magic Kingdom Club members that first year since these sites are specifically stating "to the public". However the sites I have been on that supposedly have comprehensive info about annual passes and the prices over the years, fail to mention that they were available in 1983....even if it was something that wasn't offered to the "general" public. I remember they first became available shortly after the New Fantasyland opened in May of 1983. The cost of an adult annual pass at that time was $60.

Disney gift certificates were available, but Disney Dollars would not debut until 1987.

This was the only item that I ordered from the catalog. A Disneyland attraction poster for only $12.50! I still have mine rolled up in the original shipping tube....I never did anything with it. I wonder what it would sell for today?

My brother and I both had Mickey Mouse watches when we were kids. As a matter of fact, we still have them. I remember the girl that sat next to me in 4th grade used to gripe at me about the ticking of my Mickey Mouse watch being too loud!

Arribas Brothers opened their first shop at Disneyland in 1967. Today they have two locations in the park, one on Main St. and the other in New Orleans Square. There used to be a Fantasyland location (inside the Castle) and another over at the Disneyland Hotel. That location was demolished five years ago along with the hotel waterfalls. :-(

The Pendleton Shop (pictured below) was located in Disneyland's Frontierland from opening day in 1955 until 1990.

Disc cameras took horrible, "grainy" photos. I'm glad I never bought one!

I believe that's Betty Taylor in the Golden Horseshoe photo (wearing the black dress). She performed in the Golden Horseshoe Revue from 1956 until 1986!

Who knew that slide projectors were so expensive back in the day?

I have Mickey's Christmas Carol on video and it's still in that same gift box shown on the lower right. I've gotten rid of most of my Disney videos, but I've kept that particular one because it was a gift from my dad.

The Disney Channel had just debuted one year earlier. Only $5.95 for a Disney T-shirt? I don't think you can get a T-shirt at Disneyland today for less than $30.

I wonder who would answer if you called the number below? Don't do it! I'm willing to bet that it's no longer a Disney number.

I hope everyone enjoyed this little shopping trip back to 1984! Happy Holidays to you all!