Pin Trading as a Cast Member

[mickeyonasticky]

I have some questions about pin trading with guests..

First of all, do the pins that you wear on a lanyard come from a bucket of pins and you just grab a few before your shift? Or do you take your lanyard/hip thingy home each night and be responsible for your own trading-with-guests pins?

Who all gets to wear lanyards and trade with guests? Is it mandatory, or is it a choice?

And I remember hearing that some lanyard colors mean you're only allowed to trade with kids.. If you have a kids-only lanyard, how do you explain to adults (or whoever else) that you can only trade with kids?

I'm just curious how the whole system works.

Thanks!

 

[newdrama12]

I have some questions about pin trading with guests..

First of all, do the pins that you wear on a vest come from a bucket of pins and you just grab a few before your shift? Or do you take your lanyard/hip thingy home each night and be responsible for your own trading-with-guests pins?

Who all gets to wear lanyards and trade with guests? Is it mandatory, or is it a choice?

And I remember hearing that some lanyard colors mean you're only allowed to trade with kids.. If you have a kids-only lanyard, how do you explain to adults (or whoever else) that you can only trade with kids?

I'm just curious how the whole system works.

Thanks!

When I was on the Pangani Trail in DAK, those of us that wanted to pin trade took the lanyard home every night.

As for who wears them, it is mostly anywhere that it would be a safety/health hazard. Most roles, I believe it is a choice.

lanyard colors, if the lanyard is black then you can trade with anyone. If the lanyard is green then you are supposed to trade only with kids 12 or younger.

 

[xoSarah]

You're given the pins on the lanyard but you are able to get them replenished from Disney and trade any bad ones for better ones. You still don't get to pick what they are because it is a random handful you'll be given. If you get non-Disney pins or pins with non-Disney backs, you should trade those in since you can't trade them with guests. For some roles, the lanyard is part of the costume but other roles it isn't. Right now where I work in attractions, we do not have pin lanyards but the cast member working at Fast Pass distribution does.

The pin lanyards used to be all black, then they changed them to blue and green. Blue could trade with anyone, green could only trade with kids. For the 10th year anniversary of pin trading, everyone was supposed to go back to black to be uniform. I believe some people still have green lanyards, though.

 

[druttaro]

I am in merchandise at AKL and we have black and green lanyards. We are all required to have them and one of the managers has a box of pins for refreshment (we just go in the box and get our own).

 

[bkandreu]

I was at Disney World on vacation about two weeks ago. I asked several different Cast Members about pins. One woman told me you have no choice, you have to wear them if you are assigned one and if you are caught concealing your lanyard you'll "get in trouble". not really sure how much trouble. One CM I was trading pins with pulled a little box out of his pocket and told me he kept it for when someone traded a pin that he loved, he would keep that pin and replace it with the ones he kept in the box. Some CMs told me they loved having their lanyard and trading pins.. Some don't like it too much.

 

[rachaelfig]

I thought pin trading was pretty fun, but also really stressful. Moms can be awful about it, wanting their kids to get THIS one NOT the random one that comes in a starter set, and I got yanked around by my neck a lot when Mom wanted to show someone my pins (lots of people get hip lanyards so this doesn't happen). People also can be pretty dumb about pins and they'll interrupt you doing something important just to trade. I worked at the Festival of the Lion King show and I had a little girl run in front of the floats coming out to trade with me, which is an insanely dangerous thing to do. I also ended up getting pretty attached to my pins and I'd get offended when kids would say they were bad, even though I didn't choose them.

 

[glendalais]

I was at Disney World on vacation about two weeks ago. I asked several different Cast Members about pins. One woman told me you have no choice, you have to wear them if you are assigned one and if you are caught concealing your lanyard you'll "get in trouble". not really sure how much trouble. One CM I was trading pins with pulled a little box out of his pocket and told me he kept it for when someone traded a pin that he loved, he would keep that pin and replace it with the ones he kept in the box. Some CMs told me they loved having their lanyard and trading pins.. Some don't like it too much.

Walt Disney World Resort Merchandise Operations Cast Members are required by company policy and the language in their Collective Bargaining Agreement to wear Disney Parks Pin Trading Lanyards while working.

All other Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Cast Members may or may not choose to wear pins, depending on availability and their own local area's policies. Certain positions don't allow for the wearing of Pin Lanyards as a safety measure.

 

[bkandreu]

I know... I was just typing that cause I thought it was interesting to the person who typed the question.

 

[TinkerMouse]

When I get there I'll be merchandise so I'm going to have some of my own pins handy to switch them out too. It's kind of like trading three ways. Your pins, the job's pins and the guest's pins.

I have always wondered, is there some type of pin repair shop or expert pin person who can do repairs? I have a cast lanyard pin from 2005 that has been separated from it's pin part.

 

[bkandreu]

When I get there I'll be merchandise so I'm going to have some of my own pins handy to switch them out too. It's kind of like trading three ways. Your pins, the job's pins and the guest's pins.

I have always wondered, is there some type of pin repair shop or expert pin person who can do repairs? I have a cast lanyard pin from 2005 that has been separated from it's pin part.

I'm going to do that too, bring my own pins and keep the ones I like.. I've wondered about the pin repair thing too because I have a few I'd like repaired..That'd be neat if they DID have a place that would repair and buff the pin up for you.

 

[Cesilie]

When I was in DCA here in anaheim I was in QSFB so only when you worked a register were you allowed to trade pins because of health concerns (germs and all ya know!). I remember a lot of people hating to trade but I LOVED it and always asked to be able to trade... its actually what made my cashering job interesting lol.

In DLR/DCA you do NOT take home the lanyard, it is disney property and when your shift is over you either hand it off to someone else (we did the same for lunches/breaks) or hang it in the managers office. We were told not to hide them, I always had mine out though and re-arranged the pins lol. it was lots of fun for me

some places its a requirement and you HAVE to do it. I know that in DLR frontierland you have 2hr shifts of nothing but pin trading with binders! I wanted to do that SO bad but my co-workers on that side hated it just fuddy-duddys i guess lol


also, you CAN NOT TAKE THE PINS OFF YOUR LANYARD AND SWITCH THEM WITH YOUR OWN PINS. its against policy (or thats what I was told) so don't get too attached to ones you like. If you get caught with one you're liable to be termed However, sometimes you can just tell your lead that you'd really REALLY like to trade for a certain pin and then will hold it for you... then when you're COMPLETELY off and out of costume THEN and ONLY then can you trade (same goes for buying things. in DLR we'd get in trouble and wouldn't be allowed to make purchases if we were in costume) for it and only if that lead is there or has told whoever has the lanyard to "save" that pin for you. However, if a guest requests it in the time you are clocking out/changing it is fair game. there are not supposed to be any "holds" lol

also be very careful when trading "cast exclusive" pins. Its kinda a no-no since they are supposed to be for us mouse workers only people will try to trade you some CRAZY stuff for them... although it is wise to NOT trade them. Keep it within the family as my lead said they are for CMs and CMs only. the lame people are the ones who sell them online.... so sad

 

[TinkerMouse]

When I was in DCA here in anaheim I was in QSFB so only when you worked a register were you allowed to trade pins because of health concerns (germs and all ya know!). I remember a lot of people hating to trade but I LOVED it and always asked to be able to trade... its actually what made my cashering job interesting lol.

In DLR/DCA you do NOT take home the lanyard, it is disney property and when your shift is over you either hand it off to someone else (we did the same for lunches/breaks) or hang it in the managers office. We were told not to hide them, I always had mine out though and re-arranged the pins lol. it was lots of fun for me

some places its a requirement and you HAVE to do it. I know that in DLR frontierland you have 2hr shifts of nothing but pin trading with binders! I wanted to do that SO bad but my co-workers on that side hated it just fuddy-duddys i guess lol


also, you CAN NOT TAKE THE PINS OFF YOUR LANYARD AND SWITCH THEM WITH YOUR OWN PINS. its against policy (or thats what I was told) so don't get too attached to ones you like. If you get caught with one you're liable to be termed However, sometimes you can just tell your lead that you'd really REALLY like to trade for a certain pin and then will hold it for you... then when you're COMPLETELY off and out of costume THEN and ONLY then can you trade (same goes for buying things. in DLR we'd get in trouble and wouldn't be allowed to make purchases if we were in costume) for it and only if that lead is there or has told whoever has the lanyard to "save" that pin for you. However, if a guest requests it in the time you are clocking out/changing it is fair game. there are not supposed to be any "holds" lol

also be very careful when trading "cast exclusive" pins. Its kinda a no-no since they are supposed to be for us mouse workers only people will try to trade you some CRAZY stuff for them... although it is wise to NOT trade them. Keep it within the family as my lead said they are for CMs and CMs only. the lame people are the ones who sell them online.... so sad

Thanks for all the info but now I'm confused.

Are these rules only for DL/DCA? Just because I have never heard of something doesn't mean it's not true so I just want clarification.

I do know from personal experience that if a DL/DCA cast member has a lanyard you better get the pin you want from them now or it won't be there in the next five minutes because the cast member would have passed the lanyard to a co-worker, but I have never seen DCL or WDW cast members pass lanyards unless they don't usually wear them or were holding them for a co-worker.

I have also never heard that cast exclusive pins are for cast members only. I have been trading since 2002 and every person who I have spoken to about cast exclusive pins and/or hidden mickey pins has said that the fun of those is that you can only get them if you are a cast member or from cast members so they are kind of rare because some cast members are traders/collectors and keep them. I've never heard that we aren't supposed to have them or they aren't meant for us if we're not cast members. I got most of my cast exclusive pins from cast members and they taught me about hidden Mickeys.

Also I've read about several WDW cast members (never DL) keeping their own pins nearby so are these people living on the edge?

 

[Cesilie]

I'm not sure if the rules only apply to DL/DCA since Ive never been to WDW...

guess i shoulda clarified that annnnnd I mean like, buying cast member pins (from company D/team center) and then going and trading them. THOSE are the pins that are meant to be only for us. Not the hidden mickey ones... they are a bit different.

CM pins from behind the scenes (as these are what i'm referring to) are actually sorta cheap (we had some in DL for $2!) and some are more expensive and limited. They told us you're not supposed to go and buy a $2 and then trade it to some random person and get a $30 pin out of it. Its like cheating I guess... and since the CM pins are for things that commeorate things that CMs do it doesn't really get out much to the public.

I actually looked on ebay a few days ago for a CM pin that I wanted that I couldn't pick up while I was there (funding and all) and I couldn't find ANY CM pins that we had there... it actually was pretty nice :3 I'd wear mine around and people would be trying to trade me for it and I was like "Nope CM only pin sorriessss" lol.

 

[glendalais]

Thanks for all the info but now I'm confused.

Are these rules only for DL/DCA? Just because I have never heard of something doesn't mean it's not true so I just want clarification.

I do know from personal experience that if a DL/DCA cast member has a lanyard you better get the pin you want from them now or it won't be there in the next five minutes because the cast member would have passed the lanyard to a co-worker, but I have never seen DCL or WDW cast members pass lanyards unless they don't usually wear them or were holding them for a co-worker.

I have also never heard that cast exclusive pins are for cast members only. I have been trading since 2002 and every person who I have spoken to about cast exclusive pins and/or hidden mickey pins has said that the fun of those is that you can only get them if you are a cast member or from cast members so they are kind of rare because some cast members are traders/collectors and keep them. I've never heard that we aren't supposed to have them or they aren't meant for us if we're not cast members. I got most of my cast exclusive pins from cast members and they taught me about hidden Mickeys.

Also I've read about several WDW cast members (never DL) keeping their own pins nearby so are these people living on the edge?

As mentioned previously, outside of WDW Merchandise, it depends on the rules set up by your individual work area.

I know of DLR work areas that could have honestly cared less about what pins you were wearing or who you traded them with, as long as you didn't do something like give the entire lanyard to a Guest or along those lines. When I was in DL Attractions, they even let us take our lanyards home.

As to Cast Exclusive Pins, while some areas may institute differing policies for their own locations, there is no company-wide restriction on trading such pins. Indeed, all Cast Exclusive pins are listed on the Guest-viewable giant list of Disney Parks Pin Trading tradeable pins.

 

[TinkerMouse]

Thanks!

 

[Joanna71985]

I work in attractions, at the Great Movie Ride. There are only 3 positions where we can wear a pin lanyard (outside of tasking). I do have a lanyard, but I made sure to get a hip lanyard

 

[TinkerMouse]

I work in attractions, at the Great Movie Ride. There are only 3 positions where we can wear a pin lanyard (outside of tasking). I do have a lanyard, but I made sure to get a hip lanyard

Would you say you like hip lanyards better because people don't tend to reach for them? Are there other positives that the hip lanyard has over the neck one?

 

[MickeyMouse98]

Hello there! Here's the official Disney Pin Collecting site!

http://eventservices.disney.go.com/pintrading/page?id=getStarted#start

Hope this helps!

 

[taythegibs]

about the people "reaching for them"

I have read in a list of rules for trading that you should not grab the lanyards and i have asked guests a few times to let go of it, not that it happens too often in the first place. The guests who i've had pull on the lanyard the most are the little kids who are just wanting to see closer (thats why we kneel to trade with kids) My managers do not have a problem with us removing or just not wearing our lanyards especially when doing something like a trash run or when we are in the restrooms. I have had the same lanyard for several months and take it home every night.

 

[taythegibs]

Hello there! Here's the official Disney Pin Collecting site!

http://eventservices.disney.go.com/pintrading/page?id=getStarted#start

Hope this helps!

heres a quote from the 'Guidelines for Guests'

• Please refrain from touching a Cast Member’s or Guest’s pins or lanyard. If you need
a closer look, kindly ask the Cast Member or Guest wearing the lanyard if she or he can
bring it into clearer view for you