Pressed Pennies - Disneyland, Universal Studios, Magic Mountain, Knott's Berry Farm & More!

On July 4th of last year, I did a Bicentennial Post and included a picture of a souvenir pressed penny. That inspired me to look for the other pressed pennies that I have acquired over the years. Well, I found all of them (there aren't that many....only eight!), and now they have somehow led to a larger post on the subject, than I had originally intended:

Pressed Pennies are a relatively inexpensive souvenir and the machines that create them can be found at many tourist attractions and landmarks around the world. According to a Los Angeles Times article that I'm including at the end of this post, pressed coins go back more than 100 years to Vienna, Austria. They were first introduced here in the U.S., at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893.

The first two pressed pennies that I acquired were from a 1976 trip to Universal Studios. These were both made by machines that were operated by hand. You would hand an attendant your coins (the penny, plus the price of the pressing) and they would insert the penny into a tall machine with a large crank. They themselves, would turn the crank and out would come your souvenir coin.

The Jaws attraction from the Universal Studios Tour in California had just opened in April of 1976.

I'm including this "Jaws" photo that my dad took during a 1985 visit to Universal Studios. I did not go on that trip, so I have no idea where this photo op was located. I'm also a bit confused as to why it was there. Jaws 3-D had been released in 1983 and Jaws: The Revenge wasn't going to be come out until 1987. Was this just left over from the 1983 film's release?

This Frankenstein penny is from the same 1976 Universal Studios trip as my "Jaws" penny.

The postcard below, was purchased during an earlier visit. The girl on the left looks like she could have been friends with Marcia ("Oh, my nose!") or Jan ("Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!") Brady.

I took this pic of Frankenstein during a 1979 trip to Universal while seated on one of the "Glamour Trams" at the beginning of the studio tour. Frankenstein could often be seen walking among the parked trams trying to scare guests.

My next penny is from Knott's. I must say that I don't think the design on this one is the greatest. They tried to include two iconic images, the old prospector panning for gold and the Calico Railroad.

This vintage postcard shows a similar image of a prospector.

Here's another Knott's Penny. This one commemorates Knott's 1991 Halloween Haunt. Some of the older Halloween Haunt penny machines can actually still be found in the park today.

The vampire design was used on other Haunt merchandise that year, such as this T-shirt. (Photo courtesy of Knott's Illustrated on Facebook....thank you!!!)

I acquired this next penny at Ports O' Call Village in San Pedro back in the 1970's. My grandparents lived in Torrance back then and they would often take my brother and me over to Ports O' Call, to walk around and look in the shops.

I'm kind of surprised that they didn't put this iconic image of the fisherman on the penny. The description on the back of this vintage postcard reads, "This bronze statue is dedicated to the Fisherman...for his harpoon, hook and net have long harvested the endless sea to grace the tables of America. His sturdy ships and useful catches have always found shelter and market at The Port of Los Angeles."

Here's a photo from Ports O' Call that my brother took during one of our childhood visits.

My next souvenir penny is from Magic Mountain and depicts Shock Wave, a stand-up rollercoaster that was only in the park from 1986-1988. The piece of land that it sat on has changed quite a bit over the years. Other attractions that came and went in that same spot were the Sarajevo Bobsleds, Psyclone, and Apocalypse (originally Terminator Salvation - The Ride).

This Magic Mountain map from 1988 shows the former location of Shockwave.

I don't have any personal photos of Shockwave, but here is professional video footage of Shockwave.....just in case anyone is interested.



This is my newest pressed penny. It's from an early 1990's visit to Seattle, Washington. The Space Needle & Olympic Mountains are depicted in the design.

I purchased this postcard during the same visit. The Olympic Mountains can be seen off in the distance. The area immediately surrounding the Space Needle was originally the location of the 1962 World's Fair. Today the area is called Seattle Center, but several of the buildings and landmarks from the fair are still standing.

Believe it or not, I don't own one single pressed penny from a Disney park.....not even from the Tokyo Disney parks. In Anaheim, there are more than 40 different machines spread out within the parks, hotels, and Downtown Disney. This pamphlet lists the locations of all the machines including those with special limited "60th Anniversary" designs.

So they are using Henry and Sammy from Country Bear Jamboree to represent Critter Country? Weird! Why don't they just put the show back where it belongs!

Again, I haven't purchased any of these. But there are quite a few of the special "60th Anniversary" designs that I do like because of the vintage images that are used. If you look closely, you will see that the artwork for some of these has been taken directly from their respective Disneyland attraction posters (specifically, the PeopleMover, Submarine Voyage, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Columbia Sailing Ship).

This Fantasyland machine makes "pressed quarters".

Most of the pressed coin machines have a generic look such as the one below.

The machine inside the Adventureland Bazaar appears to be the only one that is themed to the "land" that it's located in. It has coin pressers on three different sides of it, with nine different designs altogether.

The top of the machine features an elephant that lifts it's arms up in the air and then presses down while a loud stomping (or would that be stamping?) sound is heard.

These are the three "60th Anniversary" designs representing Adventureland.

Seasonal designs are even available at times throughout the year. This holiday "pressed nickel" machine was located at the exit to Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln.

Here's a close-up of the inner workings of one of the machines. The coin travels down that clear diagonal slot and then falls between two rollers, which then rotate and imprint a design onto the coin while "elongating" it at the same time.

By the way, all of the special "60th" pennies are still available in the park today, even though the 60th anniversary was technically last year.

And in case you just can't get enough of pressed pennies.....here is that Los Angeles Times article that I mentioned. This is from June 2015.

Theme Park Stagecoaches: Part 2 - Universal Studios

We will continue now with the next entry in my "Theme Park Stagecoaches" series. To see Part 1 in the series, click here: Disneyland's Stagecoach Attraction.

Today we are visiting Universal Studios. Universal used to have it's own stagecoach "attraction".....but it didn't go anywhere!

Universal's coach sat in front of a canvas backdrop with painted scenery on it. The canvas was stretched around rollers and it would move past the "riders", giving the appearance that they were going somewhere as the stagecoach bounced up and down. My dad took this next photo of my brother and my aunt riding inside the stagecoach (they're hiding!) in 1967.

The stagecoach was located in what was then called, Prop Plaza. This was an area where the trams would stop halfway through the Studio Tour (the Studio Tour lasted several hours back then). Prop Plaza also included props that were used in both Universal movies and TV shows.

Note the control box and the sign on the wall just to the right of the stagecoach, in the picture below. The sign is washed out, but it reads, "CAUTION - Maximum Capacity 6 Persons - Use Quarters Only - Have Cameras Ready."

Here's a pic of the stagecoach with the canvas backdrop missing behind it. The jail cell on the right was a very popular photo-op at Universal for many years.

This picture is from a Universal Studios pictorial souvenir book. The top of the stagecoach definitely looks over capacity!

In this aerial shot from 1968, Prop Plaza (and the stagecoach) can be seen in the bottom left corner of the photo.

If we zoom in, we can see other props including some cannons and an airplane. Also visible out on the studio backlot is the steamboat used in the 1936 film Showboat (near the upper left corner of the pic), and the stone bridge used in the film, Sweet Charity (upper right corner). Just in front of that stone bridge, is the spot where the Parting of the Red Sea attraction would be added to the tram tour in 1973.

Here's another aerial shot (from 1967). The dining patio that was above Prop Plaza can be seen in the bottom of the photo. This stop in the tour was actually intended for guests to grab a bite to eat. They could then venture downstairs to the props and also to a tram loading area, where they could board another tram for the second half of the studio tour.

Another close-up:

Prop Plaza also included an antique auto photo-op that was very similar to the stagecoach. This photo is used with permission from Major Pepperidge of Gorillas Don't Blog (thank you, Major!). In addition to bouncing up and down, it looks like the wheels on this vehicle actually spun around. I don't think the wheels on the stagecoach did that (but I'm not one-hundred percent sure).

Prop Plaza stopped being a pit stop along the tram route many years ago, when the tram tour was reduced to just one hour. In 2003, I took my nephew to Universal Studios and was surprised to see the old stagecoach parked in the "upper lot", behind the arena of the former Western Stunt Show (across from Mel's Diner). There were steps behind it, still allowing for guests to climb inside and have their picture taken. The mural behind it was painted on a stationary wall, but it was reminiscent of the old moving backdrop.

I went to Universal Studios again in 2012, and found the coach parked across from where the entrance to the Western Stunt Show used to be. By then, the stunt show arena had been completely removed. Why? I don't know. It hadn't been replaced with anything. Also, the coach was no longer open for guests to pose inside of it. Unfortunately, on my most recent visit to Universal, the coach was nowhere to be found. I hope they didn't toss it in the trash like they did with the old Glacier tunnel, and the Burning House, and the charred remains of Bob Gurr's King Kong animatronic.

Universal has another prop stagecoach that kind of resembles Disneyland's old Mud Wagons (seen in Part 1 of this series). This coach is mounted above the seating area of the Saddle Ranch Chop House restaurant, located outside the entrance to Universal Studios.

This restaurant has a long history of name changes. It originally opened in 1981 as Whomphopper's, then it became Tony Roma's, followed by Country Star Restaurant, and now it's the Saddle Ranch Chop House.

I will leave you today with this final vintage image of the old Prop Plaza Stagecoach, courtesy of "Matterhorn" (thank you!) from Stuff From The Park.

There will be one more part to this "Theme Park Stagecoaches" series. Stay tuned!

****Post Update (September 27, 2017)****

Meet The World reader/commenter "chebert813" spotted the Universal stagecoach just a few weeks ago, during a backlot tour of the studio and she has graciously shared her photo of it with us (thank you, again!) The stagecoach can currently be found parked alongside the Robertson Saloon in the Six Points/Western Streets section of the backlot. I'm so glad to see that this little piece of Universal history still exists!

Walt Disney's "America The Beautiful" at Disneyland

America The Beautiful was a 360 degree film that was presented at Disneyland, in Tomorrowland's Circle-Vision Theater. Over the years, there were several films with that same name that were shown, but the version that played the longest debuted in 1967, along with a whole new Tomorrowland.

The film played at Disneyland for 17 years until it was eventually replaced by American Journeys and The Wonders of China in 1984. However, in the summer of 1996, America the Beautiful returned to Disneyland for a limited engagement that lasted into 1997.

This was still a time before everyone was on the internet, so I didn't have any advanced notice about the film's return. I can still remember the excitement I felt back in 1996, when I first saw this new banner hanging over the entrance to the theater. The banner reads, "Celebrating 40 Years of Circle-Vision - The 1960's Classic - Walt Disney's America the Beautiful - Special Return Showing"

Let's go back now and take a look at the Circle-Vision theater building (and surrounding area), through a series of "then and now" photographs. This first photo was taken in 1983. It doesn't show the actual theater (which would be just to our left) but it does show what the costumes looked like for the hostesses working the attraction.

This next photo is from 1996 and was taken while standing just a little further west, allowing us to see a portion of the theater marquee. Note the two banners announcing the return of America the Beautiful. One of them is the Statue of Liberty banner that we saw above. We'll get a closer look at that red, white and blue one in just a minute.

Not to depress anyone, but here are a couple "later" shots of the building taken from almost the same spot. The first one is from Wikipedia. I have very few of my own photos of the "Brown Tomorrowland of 1998" because I found it too repulsive to photograph.

And this is the current view:

Next, we have some shots of the theater entrance that were taken while standing underneath the PeopleMover beam. This is from 1983:

If we lighten the photo a little, we can see the design on the wall just inside the doorway a little better.

This is the same angle, from 1996. Note again, the two new banners. Also note the strips of metal that have been added to the marquee to cover up the former sponsor of the theater (Delta Airlines).

I don't need to lighten that photo to see the wall inside, because I took a close-up shot of it back in 1996.

Once again, I don't want to bum anyone out, but this photo was taken from the same angle, so I'm including it here. I shot this one through a hole in one of the construction walls that were put up during the destruction of Tomorrowland in September of 1997. (The hole in the wall just happened to line up perfectly with the shot I had taken back in 1983. You can see just a smidgen of the PeopleMover beam in the upper right hand corner of both photos.)

And the same view today:

Going back to 1983, this close up shows the smaller sign that was tucked into a corner just to the left of the entrance.

And here's the sign's replacement. This was taken in January of 1996, prior to the return of America the Beautiful. The Wonders of China would play in the theater first, from early morning until early afternoon. American Journeys was then shown the rest of the operating day. There was a short period of time in the middle of the day, that the theater would have to close in order to change the marquee and switch the reels of film on the projectors.

This is the same display case in July of 1996. The sign on the right mentions that America the Beautiful was the last Circle-Vision film personally supervised by Walt Disney. There is also a mention of the "next generation of Tomorrowland attractions". What a joke! The Circle-Vision theater didn't even get to remain as a stand-alone attraction in the new Tomorrowland of 1998. It was turned into a queue for an attraction that lasted only two and a half years! Argh!

Now we will head inside the building. The waiting area had large square upholstered seats. Sometimes you would see guests sprawled across them taking a nap. In the photo below, they have been pushed together in groupings of two. The PeopleMover had not permanently closed at the time this interior shot was taken in 1995, but it's operation was "spotty". Here, we can see that there is one car lined up right behind another on the track. Also, if you look at the wall below the PeopleMover track, you can just make out a world map. This photo goes back to when Delta Airlines was still a sponsor of the theater.

I'm including this next pic just for fun. If you look carefully in the photo above, there is an upside down popcorn box under one of the seats (far left and in the back). This isn't THAT exact popcorn box from the photo (I don't usually pick up trash off of the ground), but it is one just like it that I had saved from back then.

This photo shows what the pre-show area looked like during the time that America the Beautiful was having it's special return showing. The state flags were a little reminiscent of the way the room was decorated back in the early days of the Circle-Vision Theater. Too bad they didn't replicate the modern flags that used to hang from the ceiling.

Now let's go inside the theater and watch America The Beautiful. I've posted two links below. I shot this footage in 1996, during the film's return engagement to Disneyland. This first link includes the building's exterior and also the pre-show ("Hey everyone....at the count of three, shout out what state or country you are from!").





This second link is for a video of the actual film, in it's entirety.





I do have footage of both American Journeys and The Wonders of China that I will post in the future, if anyone is interested.

****POST UPDATE****
I have now posted footage for both American Journeys and The Wonders of China. That footage can be viewed here: Circle-Vision at Disneyland.