best pin event

[Duckfan]

If you have been to more than one pin event....
What was your favorite pin event and why, what made it different from the bad ones?

 

[NHMickey]

I really enjoyed the MGM event. The first one. I was just thinking about this on my way home from work. I met some folks that weekend that will be with me and a part of my life for a long time and I hope forever. I also enjoyed the first Epcot pin event but not for the event so to speak but for one of the best Rainy days/nights I think I have ever spent.

 

[Eeyore's Pal]

I have been to the two Epcot events, the Princess event, and last year's July 4th event.

The first Epcot event wins hands-down! Meeting so many DISpals in person for the first time made this event a super time for me. There were some glitches, and spurts of bad weather, but the World Showplace was a great venue. Add a little better lighting, and it would be a great venue!

I hope this year's Epcot event will recapture some of the spirit of that first big event, and improve on it.

 

[Dizneypins.com]

April 1, 2000.
WDW's First pin event ever, this was the beginning and for the 4 weekends in april they released the first 4 artist choice pins.. Artist signings, pin trading.. simple yet fun.
Next I would have to say the princess event at WDW , weather was a bid cold and rainy and only 1 pin related glitch.
Seems in some ways it has been a downward spiral since then, less caring about guests and more money for WDW.

 

[shoes99]

Our first pin event was the unofficial Poolside Mickey pin cruise. We were able to buy more than 2 each, so we wound up with some very good trading pins. We had a wonderful time on the ship.
We went to only two land pin events, MGM Dec 2002 and Animal Kingdom Parti Gras Feb 2003. My favorite of these two was Parti Gras but I also had fun at MGM because we had 3 newbie pin trading family members with us from NJ and we had a fun time showing them the ropes.
Unfortunately we will not be going to any more pin events in 2003 and are also disappointed that there will be no Disneyana 2003 this year. I loved going to Disneyana because I like the parties, event pieces and meeting Disney legends....
Michele

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Larry, I'm glad you mentioned the April 2000 Artist Choice weekends. After reading the original post, I was thinking of the September 2000 Artist Choice weekends, but wasn't sure if those would have been considered "pin events" in the same way as the more recent ones.

Like you said about the April weekends, the September AC weekends were "simple yet fun." No event fees, no auctions, no 50 million pins to drain the bank account. Just two pins each weekend, artist signings, and trading with fellow collectors.

Of the more recent events, it's a wash with most of them. Most of them had great theming -- Big Pin Game, Star Spangled Pin Event, etc -- but they all had something against them as well. Lauri complained about being forced to stand in the heat at the BPG to the point of almost passing out, some of the open edition pins at the SSPE sold out, and we were bounced from the World Showplace in Epcot last year.

Maybe Disney needs to learn from its past and take a back to basics approach with the pin events and design them for the pin traders instead of to improve their profit margin.

 

[Tinkerbel129]

I have been to a lot of the pin events and have enjoyed most of them regardless of the rain, heat, cold, long lines, so so food,etc., etc. I have met and made wonderful friendships from all of them and cherish the great times we had together. Looking forward to the magical moments still to come at future events. But, if I had to pick one it would be........

PARTI GRAS!!


This event I decided I would make the fun for myself. I went in costume as a fairy and was eventually renamed the "Bead Fairy". I passed out over 200 hundred mardi gras beads to people. There were a lot of guests that thought I was a cast member and I had to keep telling them no, I am a guest like you. I kept bopping around to all the music, putting beads on guests and on cast members (I had to keep moving if I wanted to stay warm too), but it was a blast!! Just wished I had brought my camera with me.

 

[NHMickey]

The Artist Choice weekends were fantastic!!!