Disney World
Pressed Pennies Tube

Disney World Pressed Pennies are fun and cheap souvenirs that appeal to all ages. This page will show you how to make a personalized tube to hold the coins needed for pressed penny machines for your upcoming vacation.

What exactly is a pressed penny? A pressed penny is basically a regular penny that is subjected to about 2500 pounds of pressure by a machine in order to imprint a design on it. Most of these machines give you a choice of design.

My kids each have their own penny collection. They have little books made especially to hold their pennies. When we go someplace special, whether it be a museum, ballpark, or vacation place, they are constantly on the lookout for pressed penny machines. It is a great way for them to remember good times and trips. The pennies also make B>inexpensive souvenirs and they often pay for them by themselves!

Disney World is a wonderful place to begin or add to a pressed penny collection. There are both penny and quarter machines located throughout the resort. They are at each park, resort and even Downtown Disney. The designs include everything from characters, parks, attractions, or special events. You can obtain a list of machine locations for each park at Guest Relations. You may even be able to get a Master List showing all of the locations of all the Disney World Pressed Pennies machines across the whole resort.

Disney World Pressed Pennies make great souvenirs – and they are cheap to boot! Although, I guess they could get expensive if you try to collect them all! They only cost 51 cents for an elongated penny or $1.25 for a quarter. A special Disney World Pressed Pennies book or album costs about $7 but is not a necessity.

My kids are pretty selective about which pennies they choose. One of my sons decided to get one from each country in Epcot. Another did each land in the Magic Kingdom. The little one wasn’t as choosy – he just liked making the pennies get squished! They each splurged and got a pressed quarter to commemorate their bravery after riding the Tower of Terror at The Disney Studios.

The Pressed Penny Tube is simply a plastic tube that you load up with quarters and pennies before your vacation. To make them, we used the tubes from large packages of M&M minis. You can also use a film canister, or any tube you can find (the tubes from Airborne tablets would work too). Personalize each tube with stickers and a name label for each child. Then load it up! I would suggest stacking coins in the tube by alternating 2 quarters and then a penny. That’s it. Easy as pie. Now the coins are readily accessible when the pressed penny machine is spotted.

• Use pennies that are dated before 1982. These pennies have no zinc in them and produce a much clearer image when imprinted.

• Imprint the face or heads side of the coin. Sometimes the monument on the tail side shows through the pressed imprint.

• Clean the pennies (or quarters) that you are going to press by soaking them in a little bit of vinegar. You’ll get a nicer product.