How is pin trading at Disneyland these days?

[hauntedcity]

Pin trading at WDW has slowed down a lot in the last few years, but it's still fun. How is it at Disneyland? Is it worth lugging some trading pins all the way from Indiana?

 

[ADLFAN]

I like to have a few of my least treasured pins to trade just for fun! It's a free activity and if you see a pin board with something you like, you get to trade out something you don't like as much!

Kids in lines are fun to trade with, too! I did notice that the CM'S had a lot of duplicate pins throughout the parks. The best, most populated board I saw was in the information booth outside the security area!

For serious traders, I have no idea if anyone is still doing it with collectable or valuable pins... I know there was a guy with a sprawl of those Vinylmations in DTD.

 

[ashley0139]

I have seen a lot more pin boards out recently, actually. I like to trade for fun and have been doing it a lot more than in the past.

 

[hauntedcity]

Thanks. That's good to hear. We will bring them along!

 

[figment_jii]

I also felt like the pin trading had slowed down these last few trips. In late-September, there seemed to be fewer CMs wearing lanyards, but more pin boards. I would still bring some pins because there were still plenty of places to trade (I've found that the best trading tended to happen in the morning).

 

[BriannaRuth]

We also noticed fewer CMs with lanyards on our trip in August. I think there are just so many fake pins these days that they don't encourage it like they used to. A lot of stores still have pin boards, but most of them weren't anything we wanted to trade. I did still have a couple of kids approach me asking to trade pins.

 

[hauntedcity]

Well, we're back, and pin trading was kind of a bust, to be honest. Very few cast members were wearing lanyards, and pin boards seemed to be the way to go, although it seemed like every place had the same stuff. I'd hate to retire the ol' lanyards, but I don't feel like lugging them around for no reason anymore.

 

[Nonsuch]

There are small Pin Trading events in the onsite hotel lobbies, 4:15 to 4:45 daily. It seems like senior hotel staff get out of their offices and interact with guests.

 

[GatorChris]

Pin trading used to be so BIG. Now it's just sorta kinda there. I still remember almost trading one of my pins for a "Ballad of Davy Crockett" pin. To this day I regret getting a Donald Duck pin instead of that one. I know I can get it on ebay but it's the fact I didn't pull the trigger.

 

[Nevada Jen]

We looked all over for a Donald duck pin for my daughter last weekend! I was surprised how hard it was to find one for sale.

 

[hauntedcity]

Pin trading used to be so BIG. Now it's just sorta kinda there. I still remember almost trading one of my pins for a "Ballad of Davy Crockett" pin. To this day I regret getting a Donald Duck pin instead of that one. I know I can get it on ebay but it's the fact I didn't pull the trigger.

Ah, yes... "the one that got away"...

I still remember... let's see, it must have been 2003? 2004? My wife and I were taking the Behind the Seeds tour during Flower & Garden Festival, when I spied cast member who had an amazing Huey, Dewie, & Louie pin. BUT I DIDN'T HAVE MY TRADING PINS WITH ME. I seriously considering ditching the tour, and dashing to buy a pin to trade, until my wife calmed me down.

It's probably been 3 years since I traded for a pin I was really excited about, but I still keep lugging them down to Florida and California with me! What's that definition of insanity again? Oh well, we'll hopefully head back to WDW in 2017, and I'm SURE we'll have some good trades then!

 

[GatorChris]

We looked all over for a Donald duck pin for my daughter last weekend! I was surprised how hard it was to find one for sale.

Here! Here! If there's anything Disney needs more of, it's Donald Duck merch.

 

[hauntedcity]

Here! Here! If there's anything Disney needs more of, it's Donald Duck merch.

More ducks! I want more Scrooge McDuck. Although, I was happy to see several Duck Tales t-shirts last week. (And yes, one of them was found in the mirror.)

 

[grelca]

I've only been going to DL regularly for about a year and a half, but the pin trading there has disappointed me since the beginning. I feel like at WDW (and, to be fair, it's been a couple of years since my last trip, so it could very well be different now), 75%+ of CMs wear lanyards and so it's fun for me to look at all the pins and trade them while just walking around the parks.. I'm personally not a fan of trading with other guests. I feel like it's very rare to see a CM with a pin lanyard at DLR, and to me the boards just aren't the same. It's less personal.

 

[LATJLP]

There are small Pin Trading events in the onsite hotel lobbies, 4:15 to 4:45 daily. It seems like senior hotel staff get out of their offices and interact with guests.

Could you please elaborate on this.....which of the hotels do this, or do they rotate, is there somewhere to find out which on which dates, etc. Thank you.

 

[Nonsuch]

Could you please elaborate on this.....which of the hotels do this, or do they rotate, is there somewhere to find out which on which dates, etc.

I just stumbled upon this pin trading in the GCH lobby, and found it unusual to see several CMs in suits wearing lanyards and trading pins (might have been last December). I seldom trade pins, and so can't comment on the pins CMs had to trade.

The "Activities This Week" flyer from early October had this information:

Pin Trading (All Hotels)
Please join us for pin trading tin the lobbies of all hotels from 4:15 to 4:45 daily.