Pin trading

[tjlukas]

We are taking our kids to WDW for the first time in May. They will be trading pins. I know there are specific cast members that only trade with kids, but how do you tell them from others? And are they at Downtown Disney as well?

 

[Raenstoirm]

Most CMs on Disney property trade, this includes, parks, resorts and DTD. There is a huge pin kiosk at DTD and many resorts have pin boards or pin books.

As for kids, any CM with green lanyards is kids only. Black lanyards or pouches will trade with anyone.

 

[LovinPooh]

My DD did tons of trading at the World of Disney store at DTD. I swear every CM trades in there. Have fun!

 

[tjlukas]

Thank you very much for the information. It is very helpful!!!

 

[Andtototoo]

Keep in mind that not every CM trades pins -- it's a choice the CM makes and some positions do not permit trading because the CM is supposed to be concentrating on safety.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

The tip-off is the green lanyard.

DVC CMs usually have good pins to trade too. Just be ready to ward off their spiel.

Andtotoo - CMs that are wearing lanyards MUST TRADE unless you try to give them an identical pin that they already have. Safety CMs and those on walkways such as HM or SE don't wear them.

 

[Babbletrish]

A few tips my dad and I have learned over the years:

* - As stated, green lanyards can only trade with children, though I don't know if there is an exact age cutoff or anything. Now, I've never been carded by a green lanyard-bearer, but I've never tried either.

* - Resort-hopping (especially the Monorail resorts and the Crescent Lake/EPCOT resorts) is a fun "downtime" activity anyway and asking in each gift shop/concierge station to see their pin board/book makes it extra fun. One of my fondest recent Disney memories is going over pins while enjoying Lapu-Lapus at the Polynesian.

* - There is a pin board/book/something else entirely lurking somewhere in each park. You just have to ask around. Our favorite, the most absurd, is the pin stroller they wheeled out for us in Animal Kingdom.

* - The two most popular pin trading hubs are the kiosk in front of the dancing fountain in EPCOT and the big pin trading store near the far end of Downtown Disney. A warning: this is where the Pin Trading Is Serious Business people tend to lurk. They will usually have huge books full of rare pins and may your deity of choice help you if you ask to trade one of your cheap pins for something that happened to catch your eye. At best, they will laugh at you. HOWEVER, a few of them are sympathetic to casual traders, and may have spares of rare pins. IMO, the risk is worth it.

* - As with so many things in WDW, it pays to show up early for things. Like the soaring condor and mischievous raccoon, pin traders are opportunistic animals, and all these lovely Cast lanyards, boards, books, strollers I have mentioned are usually picked over by mid-afternoon. If you want the best chance at scoring something rare, get up early.

Granted, my advice is a little tongue-in-cheek, but I hope this helps and happy trading!

 

[tink576]

If a cast member has a pin on their clothing it's also not for trade, only pins on their lanyards or sometimes there's a 4x6ish square thing that they can clip and it hangs from their belt with pins. I believe green lanyards are 12 and under or possibly 10 and under.

Have fun! I've been collecting and trading Disney pins for 12 years now. Those three pins my mom first got me have exploded into quite the collection. And my tip would be to make sure you bring some traders where ever you go on property because inevitably the time you run in quick to refill your mug you see the cast member with your dream pin on and you won't have anything with you...You will really be surprised when you start looking how many cast members across so many different job descriptions will be wearing lanyards.

 

[kaligal]

All the CMs wearing lanyards trade pins with kids. The green ones, which are usually (or always?) at waist level are for kids ONLY, but that just means no adults. Kids can still trade with the regular lanyards.

If your kids haven't been before, I'd honestly advise you not to encourage a pin addiction. It gets very expensive. Wait and see if your kids take a serious interest without any prompting. Just a word to the wise there.

Yes, there is a pin store at DTD. It's the best one, but no one location has all the pins.

 

[tink576]

* - The two most popular pin trading hubs are the kiosk in front of the dancing fountain in EPCOT and the big pin trading store near the far end of Downtown Disney. A warning: this is where the Pin Trading Is Serious Business people tend to lurk. They will usually have huge books full of rare pins and may your deity of choice help you if you ask to trade one of your cheap pins for something that happened to catch your eye. At best, they will laugh at you. HOWEVER, a few of them are sympathetic to casual traders, and may have spares of rare pins. IMO, the risk is worth it.

The pin trading at downtown Disney at the pin store has been disbanded, has been for a year or two unless it has come back. I used to love setting up and trading at downtown disney and was one of those casual traders with a page of princesses pins for the girls and pirates and stitch for the guys that I was willing to trade for anything with the kids. Most of the people there are sharks though and only want you to buy pins for them...don't bother trading with them. The sharks are mostly the ones hanging at Epcot because they have annuals the casual trader who is paying to get into the park is not sitting there trading all day.

That said...One of my first memories trading was January 2000 when they 1st started this new fangaled pin trading thing, and no one knew what it was about, we went down with 3 pins. Well my sister collected these spaceship fab five pins, there was a collection of each character. On the last night of our trip we were in Epcot and were desperately trying to find that last pin on a lanyard and went to ask "those serious people with all the books". We had nothing worth trading. The set was apparently from DL California, our touring plan must have been following some guy from California who was trading and we tried to trade for that last pin for her and it was useless. Then one guy, we'll never forget him, broke up his set and GAVE my sister the last pin she needed. He said he had time to find another and they would be gone before we ever returned. We'll never forget that guy, and no we've never seen that set being traded after that trip.

 

[tink576]

If your kids haven't been before, I'd honestly advise you not to encourage a pin addiction. It gets very expensive. Wait and see if your kids take a serious interest without any prompting. Just a word to the wise there.

That ship to buying more and more pins sails very fast!

 

[kaligal]

That ship to buying more and more pins sails very fast!

Yes. Yes, it does.

 

[Praise2Him]

* - As with so many things in WDW, it pays to show up early for things. Like the soaring condor and mischievous raccoon, pin traders are opportunistic animals, and all these lovely Cast lanyards, boards, books, strollers I have mentioned are usually picked over by mid-afternoon. If you want the best chance at scoring something rare, get up early.

Not necessarily. Cast members work shifts all day. I work at night and I normally get to work between 4 & 8 pm, so my lanyard is "new" late in the day.

 

[jlevis]

The pin trading at downtown Disney at the pin store has been disbanded, has been for a year or two unless it has come back.

They do have a pin board set-up there. At least they did when we were there in September. No tables though.

 

[jedi jen]

My family loves to pin trade.....or at least that is my story. It started out that I got a starter set and lanyard for my kids. There were so many I wanted to trade, that now I do it too. Now, my whole family does it. It is a fun thing to do and there are no crowds and lines. The CMs are so nice and we love meeting them. We get a new lanyard each trip and pin trade. It is our main souvenir. We talk about what ones we are looking for. I have all the lanyards from prior trips and each one reflects each person and what they were "into" that trip. My son collected Stitch his first year. Daughter always collects the princesses. For DS and DD, hidden mickeys are always popular. DBF collected pirates. I vary. Pixar, Bambi, Nightmare before Christmas, Mickey, rides, etc..... Enjoy!

 

[Amyhoff]

We have never traded pins. If I want my daughter to start doing this, what's the best place to start? We are headed to Magic Kingdom first thing, so can we buy a starter kit there? How much does something like that cost?

 

[tink576]

They do have a pin board set-up there. At least they did when we were there in September. No tables though.

They probably still have the pin board run by CM's but I had been referring to trading with non-CM's, that has been disbanded and as you said the tables have been removed.

 

[jenfromjersey]

A tip to save money on pin trading. Buy pins in lots on ebay and use those to trade for the pins you want. MUCH cheaper than buying in the parks

 

[stargazertechie]

A tip to save money on pin trading. Buy pins in lots on ebay and use those to trade for the pins you want. MUCH cheaper than buying in the parks

That is seriously terrible advice, and ruins trading for the honest people. That's because the vast majority of EBay pins (especially large lots) are counterfeit pins (called scrappers).

There is a link to a lengthy discussion on the topic in my signature. I'm not going to copy it all here

I will say this- my dad, not knowing any better, bought several lots in preparation for this trip. The seller had 99.9% positive feedback,and yet every last pin we got was a poorly made fake.

If Disney sells pins for $6, and the cheapest you can get them on clearance from Disney (the copyright owner) is $1.50, how in the world could a seller make a profit selling hundreds of pins for .80, and where would they even get their inventory from?

Not from Disney, that's for sure

 

[tink576]

Sometimes the Disney outlet at the outlet mall just outside Disney has pins on clearance (not always but sometimes) for between $2-4 a pin. I've even seen some of the starter sets and lanyard sets on sale or on clearance there when they were still full price in the parks.