As much as I love Disney World, one of my favorite pastimes is heading into Universal Orlando for a few hours to ride some of my favorite attractions, look at merchandise I desperately want but don’t need, and just experience the overall vibe of the parks.
On one of my last trips, as I was walking through CityWalk (again, looking at all the merchandise I’d buy if I had an unlimited budget; alas, I do not), cutting through one of the stores to escape the heat a bit, and I came across a really cool souvenir tucked away into a corner of the store. I’ve talked before about my love for pressed pennies over in Disney World, but I had no idea I could grab some in CityWalk that are themed to my favorite section of the park — The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
Over in the Universal Studios Store, right inside the very far right door (if you’re walking towards the parks, it’s the closest you can get to Universal Studios before you have to walk out of the store), you’ll find a Wizarding World of Harry Potter Pressed Penny machine!
There are eight different pennies you can grab here, all themed to different parts of Harry Potter. You’ve got the Firebolt broom, the Deathly Hallows, Dobby, the Sorting Hat, the Hogwarts Crest, Harry’s wand, Platform 9 and 3/4, and Harry’s glasses and scar.
You can get all eight of them for just $5, or pay $1 for them individually if you only want a few. I decided to grab all eight, because hey, I love pressed pennies — what a great souvenir for only $5!
What’s really special about this though is that it’s located OUTSIDE of the theme parks, meaning to get to it, you don’t need a park ticket. While you can find lots of Harry Potter and other Universal merchandise in CityWalk, sometimes the really cool items are reserved for inside the park, and those who don’t have a park ticket or Annual Pass are kinda outta luck. With these being in CityWalk, as long as you’re willing to pay for parking and don’t mind going through security, you can pop in and grab these with no issue.
I love that this makes this fun and cheap souvenir more accessible, and now I’ll be on the lookout for more pressed penny machines throughout Universal Orlando as a whole — I’ve only got a few more pages left in my book, but I’d love to find some more.
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We love pressed pennies and have been collecting them for years! I remember back in 2018 when we couldn’t find a Harry Potter pressed penny machine we asked a Universal team member where we could find one. Her reply was that none existed because the banking goblins at Gringott’s refused to deface both wizard and muggle money. Glad to see the goblins have changed their minds!
Same thing happened to us when Pandora first opened in Animal Kingdom. We got an in world answer as to why there weren’t any pressed penny machines there: the Na’vi didn’t believe in money! Of course, that didn’t stop them from selling their baby banshees for $100 each!