Pin Trading at Disneyland?

[UtahMama]

My family loves pin trading at WDW but I'm not sure if it's as "cool" in Disneyland. I honestly can't remember if people are as in to pins at Disneyland. Please advise

 

[IBLarsen]

Yes, there is a lot of pin trading at DLR! I have not been to WDW yet, so can't compare, but we got into it at DLR and you do see a lot of it. We started it for the kids, but somehow DH has taken over!

 

[ludari]

Yes, there is a lot of pin trading at DLR! I have not been to WDW yet, so can't compare, but we got into it at DLR and you do see a lot of it. We started it for the kids, but somehow DH has taken over!

I concur I was at DL last weekend and I noticed pin trading a few times. Have fun.

 

[UtahMama]

Cool! Yayyyy! Thanks so much!
Now, to dust off the pin collection and find "traders" (what we call the one's we can live without).

 

[charmama4]

trading pins is something that my DH can't live without when going. The kids love the idea that "they" are the only ones that can trade with the teal lanyard. We only trade with CM, though. Had a bad experience with a "trader" one time, . It's more fun that way.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

We are big WDW veterans and have found less opportunity at DL, but still enough to make trading worth the effort.

 

[Dramamama]

I pin trade at WDW and DL. It is definitely more popular at WDW. Last spring at DL, I saw almost no CM with lanyards. I went to guest services and complained. The next day lots of CM's had lanyards on. In Oct, again at DL, very few Cm's with lanyards but we were only there one day. No point in complaining. I will be at DL this weekend and hope to trade.

Point is if you don't see CM's with lanyards complain. It will be corrected within 24 hrs.

 

[UtahMama]

I agree. It's a fun opportunity to chat with the CM's with a side benefit of bringing my shy son out of his shell a little. He tries to just point at the pin he'd like to trade, but I tell him he needs to ask for the pin.

 

[Piglet99645]

I've looked for a master thread on pin trading (which I have never heard of until coming to this board) so can someone explain?

I mean it seems obvious, I know, but I wonder if I am missing something.

The kids have a lanyard with pins. CM's will trade pins with your kids. Are there rules? Fill me in! Thanks.

P.

 

[Piglet99645]

I should Google before I ask silly questions.

I found the motherlode of info here: http://eventservices.disney.go.com/pintrading/page?id=getStarted

 

[rune_74]

My kids loved pin trading in disneyland. However, I will only allow them to trade with CM's. We stay away from anyone else trying, especailly adults. Some have been very aggressive and weird.

 

[Mama Who]

trading pins is something that my DH can't live without when going. The kids love the idea that "they" are the only ones that can trade with the teal lanyard. We only trade with CM, though. Had a bad experience with a "trader" one time, . It's more fun that way.

This is our general policy too. Once or twice we have run across a really nice kid and given them a pin but we don't trade with other guests any more.

(Giving a pin to a nice kid can really make your day, though. )

 

[pixiewings71]

Pin trading is popular at DLR! In fact, I've pulled out our traders for our upcoming trip (that I booked last night! lol) We LOVE pin trading!!! We will trade with CM's or park guests, we are just cautious when trading with guests, some are total jerks about trading....but we aren't all bad, we love trading with kids, helping people finish sets....stuff like that. Not sure how much of the helping with sets we will be able to do this trip tho.....all our stuff is old. LOL

 

[KBelle5]

At 24, I love pin trading! I'm such a child, haha. However, I do stay away from outside pin traders and trading with guests. My thought on trading is: One pin for one pin. Not two or three of my pins for your one pin, even if it is the most sought after pin.

Look for leads (usually wearing a red lanyard) or business casual CMs, because they always tend to have some of the harder to find pins. When I worked there, I loved trading with people, but always had such crap pins.

 

[Mary09]

We just started pin trading this past weekend. Currently at DL (or at least in the DCA shops we were in), if you spend at least $40, you can get a starter kit for $15.99 that includes a lanyard and eight pins. I can't pass up a bargain and we were spending $40 anyway. It was a fun thing to do that didn't take money or lines. We had to hunt around a little for CM's with lanyards/pins but we usually found them in the gift shops. They were all nice. I felt a little bad for them, having to stop their work and let people 'shop' off their clothes. I felt better when I learned the company gives them the pins. We encountered one adult pin trader who 'shopped' off a CM the same time as us and he was a little grabby. The CM traded him one pin and then told him he had to wait to make sure my DD didn't want the second pin he had asked for. I thought that was very polite. My DD loves the pins and I think it's a fun thing. We did have one pin disappear silently off the lanyard before day's end so I kind of wish the clasps were stronger.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

We just started pin trading this past weekend. Currently at DL (or at least in the DCA shops we were in), if you spend at least $40, you can get a starter kit for $15.99 that includes a lanyard and eight pins. I can't pass up a bargain and we were spending $40 anyway. It was a fun thing to do that didn't take money or lines. We had to hunt around a little for CM's with lanyards/pins but we usually found them in the gift shops. They were all nice. I felt a little bad for them, having to stop their work and let people 'shop' off their clothes. I felt better when I learned the company gives them the pins. We encountered one adult pin trader who 'shopped' off a CM the same time as us and he was a little grabby. The CM traded him one pin and then told him he had to wait to make sure my DD didn't want the second pin he had asked for. I thought that was very polite. My DD loves the pins and I think it's a fun thing. We did have one pin disappear silently off the lanyard before day's end so I kind of wish the clasps were stronger.

I wish the clasps were stronger too! We adults didn't have problems but my 6 year old lost 3 backs last trip...luckily they poked him before they fell off his lanyard so the pins weren't lost as well.

 

[Mary09]

I wonder if earring backs would fit and hold tighter?

 

[pixiewings71]

We just started pin trading this past weekend. Currently at DL (or at least in the DCA shops we were in), if you spend at least $40, you can get a starter kit for $15.99 that includes a lanyard and eight pins. I can't pass up a bargain and we were spending $40 anyway. It was a fun thing to do that didn't take money or lines. We had to hunt around a little for CM's with lanyards/pins but we usually found them in the gift shops. They were all nice. I felt a little bad for them, having to stop their work and let people 'shop' off their clothes. I felt better when I learned the company gives them the pins. We encountered one adult pin trader who 'shopped' off a CM the same time as us and he was a little grabby. The CM traded him one pin and then told him he had to wait to make sure my DD didn't want the second pin he had asked for. I thought that was very polite. My DD loves the pins and I think it's a fun thing. We did have one pin disappear silently off the lanyard before day's end so I kind of wish the clasps were stronger.

That is a good deal...I think we have enough traders for this trip but if not I will definitely be checking this out! Thanks!! As for the pins falling off, it does happen, I find myself checking them regularly so I don't lose any. I also use the locking backs that you can buy at DL/DCA/DTD for the ones I don't want to ever come off....they have a little allen wrench that comes with them and you have to use that to take the back off. Be aware that others have said they had the posts break off their pins while using these backs but I've never had that problem. You can also get a different type of "locking" back but not from Disney, those you have to get from eBay....here's a link so you can see what kind I mean.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Lot-5-Locking-Trading-Pin-Backs-Clutch-Disney-Brass-/350447861207?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item519851fdd7

I wonder if earring backs would fit and hold tighter?

Earring backs are too small, they don't fit on the pin posts well at all. Yes, I tried...LOL

 

[vew-tori]

We just returned from DL and found the pin trading to be less than WDW. We still had fun with it but not only were there not as many CM's to trade with there was less variety in pins. Most were from starter sets. We found very few Hidden Mickey's. Last spring break at WDW we were able to collect the whole alphabet in 2 days. This year we had 6 days in the parks and only found 1 of the new DL alphabet pins. We just do it for fun so we still had a great time with it. DD made several trades with people while waiting in lines and that was different and fun too.

 

[rune_74]

There are some screw on backs you can buy(I got them in CA near soaring) once on they rarely come off.