Pin-trading events to end at Disney resort hotels

[crazy4wdw]

Pin-trading events to end at Disney resort hotels
No reason was given, but Disney said the parks would still have pin events.

Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted July 25, 2006

Disney pin-trading nights are coming to an end at Walt Disney World hotels, and some collectors wonder if it's because of declining interest.

The Walt Disney Co. announced on its official pin-collecting Web site this month that weekly pin-trading sessions, staple activities in several Walt Disney World resort hotels for years, will end in the next couple of weeks.

The Web site, officialdisneypintrading.com, did not say why the sessions are ending. Nor did a Walt Disney World spokeswoman, except to say that the company is making room for future pin-trading opportunities, associated with the company's upcoming "Year of a Million Dreams" campaign that opens in October.

"It's part of the ongoing efforts to continually refresh the experiences," spokeswoman Kim Prunty said.

Disney lapel pins depict thousands of iconic Disney moments ranging from Snow White kissing Grumpy to Cars characters. Most retail for $6.95 to $12.95. In 2000, pin-trading popularity took off. And not long after that, pin-trading sessions began at the hotels.

But attendance at the hotel sessions has fallen recently, collectors said. Some wondered if Disney might have saturated the collectible pin market and deflated the craze, while others suggested that professional pin traders, known as "pin sharks," began to dominate small meetings and took the fun out of them.

"It definitely has slowed down," said Arlen Miller, president of the World Chapter of the National Fantasy Fan Club of Disneyana enthusiasts.

No one's expecting Disney pin trading to stop.

Disney still plans other pin-trading events, including the big, annual Pin Celebration 2006 at Epcot, Sept. 8-10, which requires a $90-per-person cover charge. Disney also still encourages trading throughout the parks, and at occasional Downtown Disney sessions. And Prunty insisted interest still is "strong and continues to grow."

Collections dealer Tom Tumbusch of Dayton, Ohio, publishes the Disneyana Guide to Pin Trading, which lists and prices more than 17,000 pins. Tumbusch, who also handles collectibles ranging from Broadway posters to Hot Wheels cars, said he's seen thinning crowds at recent hotel sessions and suggested it could be because there now are so many Disney pins that people may be losing interest.

"Disney has over-produced watches, and the collectors went away. . . . The saturation level, of just too many, is reached in every collectible area," Tumbusch said. "It becomes overwhelming. And people say, 'To heck with this,' when they try to sell stuff and they can't get their money back."

The Web site announced that the last official Walt Disney World hotel pin sessions will be at the All-Star Sports Resort from 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday; the Contemporary Resort from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday; and the Pop Century Resort from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 5.

Scott Powers can be reached at spowers@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5441.

 

[hightown]

That's really going to be sad news for my daughter who loved doing this!

It was nice that these sessions were all about the kids when it came to the trading board. It gave her an opportunity to collect the cast lanyard pins without having to vie with the adult collectors in the parks running from CM to CM snatching up lanyard series pins.

Really sad and elimates 2-3 to dos in our schedule.

 

[exDS vet]

What's sad is that the "pin sharks" are mostly responsible for this. I traded for a very brief time back in 2000 and 2001, but only with CM's. For me, there was something very wrong with seeing grownups hanging aruond these pin tradig sessions, looking like hustlers, showing off their albums, and pretending to be authorities on all things Disney.

I personally am glad to see trading sessions going away. I believe Disney saturates the market so that the "sharks" will go away. There's one thing to be a collector, and another to be a "shark". When I managed a Disney Store, I saw the exact same thing happen with Bean Bags. I remember selling (on my own) a Cast Member Mickey Bean Bag to somebody for $500. Today, nobody would pay $10 - $20 for the same thing.

Disney still sells Bean Bags and they will always sell pins. They are popular with kids and adults, regardless of the collectability. If and when he pin sharks go away, the fun in pin trading and collecting will return.

 

[hightown]

Had the same thoughts re the 'sharks' although in fairness, there were also some very nice adults who went down the line of kids before they started going to the board and would trade any of their extra lanyard pins for whatever legit disney pin the kid had. To those folks, thank you, you made my daughter's night.

To the folks sitting around with their books and 5 or mulitples of a seemingly hard to find lanyard pin who wouldn't consider trading with my kid unless they had your holy grail... hope exDSvet is right and soon your holy grail is on every CM lanyard in MK!

 

[Luv2Roam]

I rarely went to PTN, and I live near WDW. If I went it was to meet out of state pin friends, and I did not even bother taking a pin bag.
I am an introvert. (Although pin trading has helped with that somewhat. Parents -- pin trading is a good tool to help a shy child.) And I also have a problem where I like pretty much all Disney pins. So everthing looked good to me.
I am positive in that I hope there are vast improvements over what they had. I was never impressed with PTN once Disney took them over. PTN was less biting and friendlier when Kathryn started them and looked over the area. She was always nothing but welcoming to me.
There are so many fun ways Disney COULD handle pin trading. I hope they do. I discovered long ago the less I had to do with pins at WDW, the more I enjoyed my park time. Disney does not make pin collecting and trading very enjoyable. The guests were already doing that on their own anyway, IMHO.
Pins don't sell out like they use to. Although there are so many more styles. So it could be they sell just as many. But there are many more to buy than years ago. And pins are still VERY popular.
Sure, some pin people leave. But there are always more coming in.
I have met many wonderful people from all over that I would not have known had it not been for pin trading.
Pin trading is how we became MK Grand Marshals one day years ago.