Lanyard and beginner pins before trip

[mickeymom629]

My grandkids want to start pin trading the next time we are in WDW (ages 9, 9 and 6)
Would you recommend waiting until we are in the park/resort (later this year) to buy the lanyard and starter pins or do you have a favorite online store?
I have some pins to give them for trading from my years as a Disney Store cm, though I'm sorry to say that I gave most of the ones I didn't care about away to a friend's kid many years ago... (I have my own collection of favorites that I won't trade).

 

[Sparrow'sLady]

My grandkids want to start pin trading the next time we are in WDW (ages 9, 9 and 6)
Would you recommend waiting until we are in the park/resort (later this year) to buy the lanyard and starter pins or do you have a favorite online store?
I have some pins to give them for trading from my years as a Disney Store cm, though I'm sorry to say that I gave most of the ones I didn't care about away to a friend's kid many years ago... (I have my own collection of favorites that I won't trade).

I would consider a less expensive option. There are some great pin groups on FB where you can get traders for much less than you will pay in the parks, and these are legit pins.

Many of the pins on Cast Member lanyards are scrappers. It would be a shame to spend $8 or more on pins to get scrappers, unless you just do not care about that.

 

[gcpantazis]

Going in know that the vast majority of pins (if not every single one you'll see) on boards at the park are fake. But yeah for the experience I'd look online for some cheaper options. Save your direct-to-disney bucks for things they'll keep / not trade!

There was a very lame video shared recently on instagram of a collector leaving a real pin on each board in epcot and a guy following behind him to collect it and leave another fake. it's a real messed up state of affairs. last time we went i only saw one clearly real one, a very nice winnie pin that had almost certainly been placed by CMs. We traded up two pins because it was so nice and it only seemed fair to put the karma out there... but that was the only one we saw! This was at the lobby of BCV

 

[cdoc29]

I posted this in another thread on the topic.

The truth is we are talking about two different activities with two different economies.
I used to get upset that I was purchasing Disney Pins at the parks for my kids to trade and they were getting cheap junk in return. But as Disney does not seem to care not sure why the rest of us should, they could stop the practice but they choose not to. Nowadays we purchase the cheap ones (scrappers) to trade with cast members and seek out real collectors for our authentic pins. We look at the activity as two different activities. Training pins with cast members vs trading authentic Disney Pins other guests. This way I could care less what pins my kids get when trading with cast members and they have fun with the interaction. I keep my authentic pins separate to trade with other guests who are serious about their collections.