to lanyard or not to lanyard that is the question!

[Alexsmommie]

So my DH, and I are taking our DS (will be 4 when we go) in Dec... I wanted to take some pins for him to trade (should he be interested) and some pennys for pressing (should he be interested) but for the pins (and to help keep our kttw safe) I've seen some awesome lanyards... I've also heard their pouches rip easily... anyone have an alternative?

I like the lanyard cause it keeps the kttw and any other cards in one spot without needing my purse or digging through the backpack for them!! (esp during EMH!!) but I'm worried we'll lose them!! (also I heard that since we're doing a split stay CSR and BLT that we have to use up our dining and tickets from CSR first so I dont want to confuse the two!!)

Please help!! (any suggestions are welcome!)

 

[Belle5]

Well, this is just my opinion based on limited experience (we started pin-trading the very first day it ever became available all those years ago. All of my boys have been involved in pin-trading...right now we're down to just the two youngest, 8 and 14, still enjoying the trading experience).

Where we are at with it at the moment is the lanyards are just for display in the hotel room or while at home. They will also wear their lanyard, sometimes, to go to pin trading hour at the resorts. We really don't like to wear them in the parks...they're a pain. What we do instead is take (maybe) two pins per day that they are thinking of trading and they will trade those with CM's in the parks. We buy a few new pins each visit. The best advice I ever received from a CM who worked selling pins was to buy my little boy pins that he really disliked...like a six pack of princess pins or something. Then, he could have great fun trading since the trading part is what he likes best...the EXPERIENCE of trading. This may not work for your family, but it does ours. Have fun!

 

[Emma1987]

Where we are at with it at the moment is the lanyards are just for display in the hotel room or while at home. They will also wear their lanyard, sometimes, to go to pin trading hour at the resorts. We really don't like to wear them in the parks...they're a pain. What we do instead is take (maybe) two pins per day that they are thinking of trading and they will trade those with CM's in the parks. We buy a few new pins each visit. The best advice I ever received from a CM who worked selling pins was to buy my little boy pins that he really disliked...like a six pack of princess pins or something. Then, he could have great fun trading since the trading part is what he likes best...the EXPERIENCE of trading. This may not work for your family, but it does ours. Have fun!

+1 Good advice!

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

Well, this is just my opinion based on limited experience (we started pin-trading the very first day it ever became available all those years ago. All of my boys have been involved in pin-trading...right now we're down to just the two youngest, 8 and 14, still enjoying the trading experience).

Where we are at with it at the moment is the lanyards are just for display in the hotel room or while at home. They will also wear their lanyard, sometimes, to go to pin trading hour at the resorts. We really don't like to wear them in the parks...they're a pain. What we do instead is take (maybe) two pins per day that they are thinking of trading and they will trade those with CM's in the parks. We buy a few new pins each visit. The best advice I ever received from a CM who worked selling pins was to buy my little boy pins that he really disliked...like a six pack of princess pins or something. Then, he could have great fun trading since the trading part is what he likes best...the EXPERIENCE of trading. This may not work for your family, but it does ours. Have fun!

I agree with trading for the experience. We buy from ebay and have the kids pick a couple they absolutely want, then they draw randomly from a hat. That way they get funky ones and want to trade them. My son drew for my nephew as he was not over when we did the picks, and he thought it was hilarious every time he got a princess. I told him it didn't really matter since they would be traded anyway.

I was one of the people who told you about the tearing of the lanyard pouch. Seriously, try the retractable pouch. It is awesome. It has two parts. It is one pouch with a clear divider to keep your cards and fastpasses separate. Doing a split stay is easy as far as the cards go. Once your stay at CSR is complete, pull your KTTW cards out of the pouch, and put your new ones in. Easy. If you need to see a picture, I can look through mine to find one to post. If I can't find one, then I will go take a new one to post. I often just clipped my pouch to a collar or a pocket, and it stayed all day. I loved it. It was clear, so it was very convenient to show my KTTW card at EMH b/c they usually want to see it after hours before riding a ride. I was able to just flash my pouch and off I went.

We usually end up with the lanyards wrapped around the stroller handles as they get heavy. The two pin thing wouldn't work for my kiddos though. Some days I had to almost drag everyone away from the CM's to get them to move on from pin trading. We are going to give everyone a back sack this year. You know, one of those bags with strings as the straps? That way they understand that the stroller will not be the catch all since this is the last year we are taking one, so they better get used to carrying their own lanyards and stuff. I also won't have to stop and wait for them to dig through the stroller for various items. They will all have their own stash of various items in their back sack. That is where we will store the rest of their pins.

Good luck figuring out what works for you. Let me know if you need a picture of the pouch.

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

Actually, I managed to find one right away. This is a picture of my mom and I with my girls. If you look closely, you can see my pouch on the left side. My mom's is pretty visible though. As you can see, there is a Mickey head clip that just clips wherever you want it. It holds really well, and you can probably see the back of my mom's KTTW cards as hers is flipped in this pic. They are great b/c they pull out on a string, so you can just show the CM your KTTW card, and then it retracts back.

 

[brennicksmom]

Where we are at with it at the moment is the lanyards are just for display in the hotel room or while at home. They will also wear their lanyard, sometimes, to go to pin trading hour at the resorts. We really don't like to wear them in the parks...they're a pain. What we do instead is take (maybe) two pins per day that they are thinking of trading and they will trade those with CM's in the parks. We buy a few new pins each visit. The best advice I ever received from a CM who worked selling pins was to buy my little boy pins that he really disliked...like a six pack of princess pins or something. Then, he could have great fun trading since the trading part is what he likes best...the EXPERIENCE of trading. This may not work for your family, but it does ours. Have fun!

We have done basically the same thing. Our boys display their pins on a bulletin board at home, but we end up traveling with all of them. We put them in groups on black foam from a craft store-they are easy to see on black. They stack and get put into a ziplock bag. They have a section of pins to trade. They pick out a few to trade for the day and at night they re-group them and decide what their goal is for the next day. They carry them in a WDW fanny pack. They wear these to carry their phones and cameras. When we need to buy more, we buy ones that they know they will trade. IE the princess ones. We tried the lanyards one year, but my hubby and I ended up carrying them. They also would get knocked off lanyard fairly easily so we used the locking clips and carried the mickey backs. What a pain!! Our new method I just described has been the easiest by far. By the way my kids were 9 and 12 at last trip.

 

[Alexsmommie]

Thank you everyone for the ideas!! (we still have a *few* months til we go so I'll have time to figure out what works for us!!)