Is pin trading still alive and well?

[LeahA]

My DH and DS's love to pin trade with the CM's, is it still an active thing to do? We haven't been in a couple years and didn't know if anything changed, or if people didn't do it anymore.

 

[PanamaMike]

You'll have no problem finding Cast Members or guests trading pins.

 

[LeahA]

Awesome!

 

[hogwartsdropout]

Anyone know if they still do the pin conventions? I've searched online but can't find anything about them.
Also they used to do pin trading every day at World of Disney where you can trade 2 pins from a big bag of pins, everyone got a card and waited in line for their turn...does anyone know if they stopped this?

 

[Fivesacharm]

Pin trading is still very much "a thing." There's an abundance of Cast Members with pins and most of the hotels have area where there's boards of pins for people to trade for.

 

[Hisgirl]

I am new to pins and was looking forward to trading. We went last October, this January, and this February. I had purchased pins representing my favorite old time movies and I also bought a pack of pins which basically turned out to be awful pins I wanted to throw away. (newbie mistake, right?)

At the park in October, I didn't see any CMs with pins. I was surprised.
In January, I saw 4 or 5 CMs with little flat pouches with pins. Again, I was expecting to see more.

In February, we took the grandkids and outfitted them with a lanyard and pins. They were stoked and we diligently looked for CMs with pins. This time, we found several more. Most had a flat pouch worn with about 10 pins....and to be honest, I mostly saw the yucky pins like the ones I got in that big bunch. The entire 9 days were were there I only saw a handful that were classic characters. The best collection was at AKL with a CM there who had a big notebook filled with page after page.

Again and again, we saw the same pins. I'm wondering if folks are buying, from ebay, those big batches, which turn out to be bizarre pins that are most likely scrappers.

Maybe the good pins that are characters and classic are strictly with the folks you'll see with the notebooks. Or...they're holding on to their favorites.

Not sure, but I'm very much interested in your experience. The kids LOVED trading pins and it was one of their highlights for sure!

 

[PanamaMike]

You'll noticed I said there's no problem finding CMs & guests who are trading.

I didn't say there are good pins available.

My last two trips (March & Dec 2013) I came home with very little in the way of new pins, in part because Disney is producing so many starter lanyard sets that the same pins end up on Cast lanyards because so many guests buy the starter sets and then trade away those pins.

It gets more people into the hobby (and puts more money into Disney's pockets) but actually reduces the variety of pins that are available to trade.

 

[speedo]

The Hidden Mickey Pins are unique pins for trading with Cast Members. These are fun to look for and collect. I have one that says "this isn't a pin". You can spot them by the small hidden mickey. They come out in series like princess eyes. Anyway I'd suggest looking for these hidden mickey pins when trading with cast members.

there was a recent entry on the Disney blog about the hidden mickey pins:

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/bl...-pins-arriving-soon-at-disney-parks-for-2014/

 

[ThisIsMyName]

My 6 year old daughter just did pin trading on our trip 2 weeks ago. I read about it and she is very much a "collector" child so I knew she would love it.

We saw CMs every where with them (mostly in the gift shops / food carts but lots of others too). The DVC people and resort CMs also had them. The CM were all super nice and she loved looking for "good ones".

We did buy 25 cheap pins to start. Most of the trader pins were the same cheap ones or starter set pins which I thought was great so then I didn't feel guilty. I quickly found out there are "trader pins" and then nicer collector pins. . .mostly easily noted by the size of the pin but she came home with lots of cute pins (still cheap ones but of all characters she liked).

The way I look at it is the cheap pins are great for Dinsey to get people interested and of course I ended up buying some real $8-$12 collector pins from the gift shops.

 

[soccer-mom29e]

We just got back home late Wednesday evening, and there were cast members everywhere with trading pins. I think it was the most I had ever seen, and we've been once a year for the last nine years. We even traded with a cm who was standing near Haunted Mansion with a broom, just waiting for a mess to be cleaned up. We love pin trading!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

I had no problem finding CMs with pins, most had them, most of the time I did not want to trade anything but, it was fun to be on the hunt for them.
I mostly ended up buying the ones that I wanted and bought a started pack for the ones we wanted to trade.

Big question though about pins, how to you keep the big ones on, I lost a pin that I loved because it fell off R2D2 with mickey ears

 

[soccer-mom29e]

We always buy the metal screw on backs and immediately put them on the pins that we don't want to fall off. We just sit down for a minute and do it.

 

[poooh]

While I was there a couple months ago a cast member actually saw my pins and stopped to offer a trade which was really nice. CMs also gave me advice on where I have the best shot of finding specific pins to trade for. I even traded with another guest there. At some arcades and stores they have big cork boards full of pins for trading. So I would say yes, pins are still very much alive.

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

My kids love it. The CMs are great. My daughter has all the pins she wants to trade on one side and the ones she wants to keep on the other. We buy the mystery pins at the park and trade what she doesn't want or has already.

 

[disneyAndi14]

Yes it is so fun I trade like 4 a year!

 

[msdroz]

My DH and DS's love to pin trade with the CM's, is it still an active thing to do? We haven't been in a couple years and didn't know if anything changed, or if people didn't do it anymore.

I'm so glad you asked this because my son traded pins for the first time a few years ago and LOVED it! I ended up buying a shadow box and we made a great display of the pins he received, some postcards, a few disney maps, his lanyard and a photo from our trip. I can't wait to add to it after this upcoming trip.