From March 14, 2020 to April 30, 2021 the Disneyland Resort was closed due to "COVID-19 restrictions". As Disneyland Resort Fans know all too well, there were no new coins to be found anywhere in the DLR over the length of the closure even though parts of Disney California Adventure and Downtown Disney were open from time to time. As the guides will attest, the last new coin designs in Disneyland were placed onstage back on December 11, 2019 and the last new coin designs in Disney California Adventure were placed onstage January 31, 2020. Needless to say, many collectors were looking forward to the park's reopening with the hope that they would be greeted by several long overdue new coin press machines and designs. But, that was not the case. The Annual Pass program was ended, Passholders were given refunds. A new "standby" Magic Key program wasn't offered until August 25, 2021 which required a reservation drawn from a limited AP allocation. Disneyland Resort Fans that braved the pandemic and paid the increased admission prices found there were no new machines waiting for them. No traditional 2020 Disneyland or Disney California Adventure Holiday Pressed Nickel sets and no annual pressed coin sets either. Not to mention there were no other new pressed coin designs of any kind to be found. (Sorry for the necessary rant. :-) What did happen shortly after the Disneyland Resort reopened was the conversion of existing "press your own penny" 50 cent machines to $1.00 pressed coin vending machines that furnish the penny to be pressed. Some of the coin presses were already missing on reopening day. Within a few months, most all of souvenir penny presses had been converted. With the converted machines, you no longer can "press your own penny" and the price was doubled to $1.00. (The new machines accepted only $1 and $5 dollar bills for payment, no change or optionally a credit card payment of $3.00 for a full set of three coins from a three-play machine or a discounted payment of $5.00 for a full set of eight coins from eight-play machines.) Given the recent changes in Disneyland Resort admission / reservations policy and the discontinuance of coin press support by on-site Cast Members, future machine / coin listings may have to substitute "first reported date" in place of "first onstage date". For those who wish to focus on collecting the traditional "press your own coin" pre-COVID-19 / pre-Vended Disney elongated coins, our pre-covid guides are here for you.
On November 12, 2025, the United States Mint ended the manufacture of "pennies". A 2025 USA Today article explored the implications for souvenir penny presses / elongated coin machines. Then in early 2026, the Disneyland Resort machines that just a few years ago were downgraded to vending machines as you could no longer "press your own coin" were dealt another blow. By January 2026, most all Disneyland Resort "coin presses" were no longer pressing coins. They began pressing custom blank planchets (often referred to as "slugs" or tokens). I don't blame the decision makers, they recognize it's the end of the US cent in the midst of a diminishing role of cash in everyday transactions. I think they are just trying to survive and evolve. But, sadly I think this
represents the end of an era.
Looking forward: When it was no longer possible to "press your own coin", we continued guide sections as "Vended Pressed Coins". Now with the loss of coins in coin press machines, future guide sections will continue as "Vended Pressed Souvenirs". We are here for collectors who wish to collect "Classic Pressed Coins" 1987-2021 or "Vended Pressed Coins" 2021-2025 or "Vended Pressed Souvenirs" 2026+ or all three.
