Pin trading a blast!!

[mketting]

I bought pins on ebay ( search -Disney pins lot) before we left for trip, about 10 for my dd 7 and 10 for my cousin 15. Should have bought at least twice as many.


Trading at MK was so much fun. There are so many different pins it is unbelievable. It was fun to look at all the lanyards as we moved through the park and hunt for things.

Before you enter the park (MK) go into the first giftshop. They have a great deal on a pins and Lanyard set. $25.00 for nice lanyard and 4 pins for trading.

On the ship there aren't as many CM's with lanyards but each night they put out a big book that anyone can search through and trade with. You can trade with other vacationers but that is a little trickier because unlike the CM's who have to make any trade you want they often decline trades.

My DD and cousin both brought home almost 30 pins each. They each had several given to them by very kind CM's and we couldn't help but buy others we saw to keep and more just to trade!

 

[Mjasp]

Glad you enjoyed it. We are looking forward to it on our cruise in August.

 

[sillysmom]

What is a CM, and why do they have to trade if they don't want to?

 

[mketting]

A CM is a cast Member, a disney employee, all of there pins are up for trade. They are very patient while you look at there pins even when it is obvious how busy they are.

 

[jwann]

We've done the same thing - my sons and I love it. The "book" during pin-trading time is so much fun to go through. ANother hint - at the beginning of the cruise be sure to wear lanyards on your way on to the boat because there are CMs with lanyards in the atrium. Another hint - when you are walking around the boat, check at the guest services counter. Many times we would stop there and there were always CMs with lanyards on.

 

[mketting]

Good tip. The CM's in the stores also always had Lanyards on.

 

[mamo-4-wdw]

Hey that sounds like fun. How do I get started?

 

[mketting]

Go to ebay and do a search "disney pins lot" you can get groups of pins, average $3-$4 don't pay more than $4.00 a pin. ( The price of pins in the park and shiprange from $6 to $10.

The bigger lot you buy the better the price. Don't worry about what the pins look like. Of the 20 original we took we only brought 3 of them back, the rest we traded. Before you buy just email the seller to make sure all pins have disney trademark on back and are good for trading. Ebay tip. Only go with sellers that have Paypal, that way you pay online with a credit card and don't have to mess around with checks or money orders.


As I said above when you get to the parks or on the ship go to a gift store and buy a lanyard that comes with 4 pins for trading, good price that way, and the lanyards are very nice to put all pins on.

Then start trading. Just walk up to any Cm and ask to look at the pins they are wearing. They are happy to make any trade.

 

[DisneyMom23Boys]

Hi!

Keep on the lookout for CM's with green lanyards, too. They can only trade with children & often have special CM "lanyard pins" that you cannot buy & are only traded by CM's (mostly with the green lanyards). Look early in the am, because by the afternoon these are usually gone. So parents, if you see a pin that you know your child would like you will not be able to trade for it. This happened to us & by the time my dh took one of our children back to the CM the pin was gone. Oh, well, maybe next time.

We also only took about 10 pins each for our 3 children on our first pin trading venture in 2002. The boys ran out of pins to trade halfway through our trip. Now we take about 30 pins each for them to trade.

At WDW check for the days & times of the special kid's pin trading nights. Usually on Friday evenings from 7-9 at the Contemporary (and another on-site location???) there is a HUGE board set up & kids (up to age 12, I think) get to trade for any pin up to 5 times.

It's lots of fun & they even get to see the BIG collectors' collections & try to trade with them.

We haven't cruised yet, so we can't give any tips on that, but thank you for the tips given. I'm sure the boys will have their lanyards on a lot.

Also, on our first visit we purchased an official Disney Pin Trading backpack at Downtown Disney (also available for purchase through WDW Merchandise). It's a great starter size for our boys to carry pins. They have so many pins now that this past Christmas they received 2 more backpacks so they each have their own pin bag to show off.

Pin trading really helps children start conversations & learn great manners, too!

Have fun trading!!

 

[eye R.N.]

It can become an additiction.

At the MK be sure to check out Scoop's pin talk at the Kodak building. It is very informative.

 

[mamo-4-wdw]

I went to ebay and bid on my first set of pins, Wish me luck! This is already fun.

 

[lbgraves]

Thanks for the tip on the green lanyards.

 

[mketting]

Good luck Mamo-4wdw! You will soon be addicited too.

I agree it is a good opportunity for kids to learn how to interact with others. I told my dd6 that if she wanted to trade she had to be the one to go up and ask, she was embarresed at times but always smiling in the ens when the CM handed her the pin she wanted.

 

[mobetsy]

I know that at Disneyland, my ds got a free pin when he went to some event (he was with his aunt, so I'm not sure what it was); are there similar events on board the Magic? Each of my sons will be starting out with about 10 pins to trade, and I'm sure they'd love to add a few to that number by going to special events.

 

[WDWLVR]

Don't forget to check your navigator. At least one night on each cruise there will be a number of officers in the atrium all wearing lanyards ready to cruise. A nice way to interact with them and they especially love talking to the children.

 

[KYCruiseCrazy]

on our first cruise we saw a few CM's with green lanyards. now i know what they are.LOL we will be bringing 20 pine per person for trading. cant wait to trade

 

[mketting]

20 is a good number to start with. 10 is too few if you are going to one of the parks first. In just a few hours we found we had traded all those we were willing and wanted more for trading.

 

[hmneal]

Oh my, we were hooked! Great idea about getting started on ebay (we didn't....bought about 25 pins on our trip!) But here's another tip....the Character Warehouse & Premiere outlets had Disney pins on clearance. So we stocked up on the cheap ones to trade. Also, CC has pins only avail. on the island, so of course we had to have those!

Lanyard only pins were a lot of fun to find. They say "Lanyard Pin" on the back. Also, there is a set currently available called "Wild About Safety" with Pumba & Timon. We ALMOST managed to get all 12 in our 9 day trip (and I'm sure ebay will supply the ones we didn't find!)

Pin trading was so much fun for our youngest daughter & myself (other family members think we were obsessed but that's ok, we enjoyed ourselves!) The CM's were so kind. Some really took an interest in my daughter's collection & tried their best to help her find the ones she needed. Managers have especially good pins too! They told us that it encourages guest interaction.