AP Dining pins questions.....

[Zoemakes5]

Okay, I saw in passing once a note about AP dining pins. I didn't think much of it, but now I have an AP and for the amount of time we go, I'd like to get the pins.
Few questions....
How quickly do they run out?
Do I have to ask for them, or will they simply give them to me?
When do new ones come out? I see the ones that are out now (according to the AP Spring newsletter) came out the beginning of March. Will there be new ones beginning of May? June?
Any other tips/tricks to share?

Thanks!

 

[actionvaughn]

Dining pins usually run out in... I want to say a week. (I should mention that the Mad Hatter pin you're talking about is looooong gone.) Depending on the character or time of year, that can definitely be less. In my experience, whenever the check comes by, I just give the waiter my AP and ask if there are any more AP pins out.

It's pretty undetermined when the new pins come out. There should be more this summer, but none are at the moment. I check it for my other pin trading obsession, but the Disney Official Pin Trading site will always update quicker if there is a dining pin coming out.

As for tips, if you're really intent on getting the pins, you might want to bite the bullet and head to a pricier restaurant, so you don't have to worry about getting to the $30 limit for everyone in your party.

 

[Cinderlala]

What is a dining pin? Can you fill me in, please?

It sounds neat!

 

[pixiewings71]

Just a special pin you get if you have an AP and spend over $30 at participating restaurants. We have the Lady and the Tramp from January and the Mad Hatter from March. So far that's it, they didn't do any others. We get ours at Rancho Del Zocalo usually but we've also received them at Ariel's Grotto and Blue Bayou. They will have signs up until they are gone, just little cardboard signs by the cash registers or when you walk up. I check the official pin trading site to see what's coming out next before we leave for our next weekend trip, I checked this week and nothing is up yet.

 

[bumbershoot]

They definitely run out.

Interesting, I never noticed any signs last mid-September when I first found out about them...we ate at Blue Bayou and got close to $90 with the AP discount, and got 2 pins. If I had known we'd get one for each 30 we would have ordered dessert!

No one seemed to talk about them at all, so I figured it wasn't that popular, but when we went in December, the next pins were already gone by early December. The manager at Storyteller's called around to a bunch of places, but no one had them. It was a real bummer! I think that maybe they should make more, b/c not everyone can get there right at the beginning of their release.

And while we were on our way to Storyteller's, when we would find out they were gone, hubby TRADED his pin from September to someone. He liked what he got in return, but if he had known how popular they were, he wouldn't have traded. (at least I kept mine! I don't trade at all.)

 

[pixiewings71]

They don't put the signs everywhere come to think of it. When we went in Jan to the BB it was the end of the month, no sign but we all got one. At Ariel's Grotto we spent over $100 but only got 2 pins so I don't know how they base it really, I just know that if you go to Rancho and spend $60 you will get 2 pins. LOL They do fast as far as we can tell, they've always sold out the first weekend of release, that's why we don't "collect" them so much, if we get them cool, if not that's OK with us.

 

[bumbershoot]

I just went to disneypins.com, searched for "dining", and oh wow, no wonder we got the Stitch pin last September! It had only been released something like 4 days before our Blue Bayou meal.

And it was over a month from the release of the pin we couldn't get in December.

Bummer we can't get the current pin.

But looking at the timing, maybe we'll get really really really lucky and a new one will be released while we're there.

(more likely it will be released the day AFTER we leave, though)

If I see that one is going to be released during our stay after our PS, I'm changing our character meal, though!

 

[Cinderlala]

Thanks for the info!

I will be sure to look for those next time.