Pin Trading Question - Foreign Pins

[SydneyAus]

We are visiting Disneyland in a couple of months. It will be the first time that our kids will be old enough to fully enjoy everything in the park. As such I wanted to get them involved in pins (and pin trading). To kick start this I bought some officially licensed pins in Australia through a legitimate bricks and mortar chain of stores and wanted to know whether they will be ok for trading? They don't have the Mickey waffling on the back or the pin trading seal, but as I said they are officially licensed pins, various Disney characters, Star Wars, Marvel and some celebrating Disney's 100 years.

I plan on buying a lanyard and pin set each for the kids whilst there but wanted to know whether our Australian pins will be OK for trading too.

I figure we will also be able to collect pins at other locations through our holiday across the West Coast.

 

[Vala]

Do they have the Disney copyright on the back? The waffling doesn't matter and I am not sure what you mean with seal. If you could post a photo of one of the backs I can tell you for sure.

Anything with the (c) Disney is technically tradeable. You may see a CM refusing them (simply because they haven't seen them), but if they have the right logo they are okay. I had a few people going "oh what's that?" at my Paris Disney pins too, simply because these don't end up on boards really often and they were not familiar with them.

EDIT: Just noticed you can't post pictures yet. This is what I am talking about.

 

[SydneyAus]

I haven't checked the back on all of them, but the ones I have checked if they are classic Disney have (c) Disney if they are Marvel they have (c) Marvel, Star Wars have (c) LFL.

But it is just a flat back with only the copyright on it, nothing else.

 

[Vala]

Then they are fine. The copyright is what counts.

I am guessing they would have to pay extra fees for using the Mickey print, that is if Disney would even license it.

Marvel and Lucasfilm will be okay from my experience, it is just that the official wording is "Disney copyright."

 

[SydneyAus]

Thanks Vala. I like the pins anyway, so even if they couldn't be traded it won't be an issue, it will all hinge on how into trading the kids are.

 

[Vala]

What days are you in the park? There is a pin store in Frontierland called Westward Ho. There are usually a few traders sitting on the benches, mostly Tuesdays and Sundays. Those guys are going to be all over Australian pins, they don't show up at the Resort often.

Thing is, those are other guests. So they don't have to trade like the CMs.

Most of them do have a selection that your kids will easily be able to trade from. Just ask to see the pins, point out what you like and show them what you have. So basically, CM trading plus one step.

I'm adding this because I sat there too occasionally and had pins pretty much being ripped from my book without even as much as a "hi".

 

[SydneyAus]

What days are you in the park? There is a pin store in Frontierland called Westward Ho. There are usually a few traders sitting on the benches, mostly Tuesdays and Sundays. Those guys are going to be all over Australian pins, they don't show up at the Resort often.

Thing is, those are other guests. So they don't have to trade like the CMs.

Most of them do have a selection that your kids will easily be able to trade from. Just ask to see the pins, point out what you like and show them what you have. So basically, CM trading plus one step.

I'm adding this because I sat there too occasionally and had pins pretty much being ripped from my book without even as much as a "hi".

We're there for five days from Wednesday --> Sunday in September with park hoppers but haven't determined which days we will spend in each park (the OBB days we will avoid DCA).

 

[gelatoni fan]

These pins are tradable with cast members in the US per the official Disney Pin Trading rules. In practice, some cast members without proper training will refuse those pins but the vast majority of cast members know to accept pins with (c) Disney.

If you plan to travel to the other Disney parks, these pins are not tradable in Asia and may be rejected in Disneyland Paris.

 

[SydneyAus]

These pins are tradable with cast members in the US per the official Disney Pin Trading rules. In practice, some cast members without proper training will refuse those pins but the vast majority of cast members know to accept pins with (c) Disney.

If you plan to travel to the other Disney parks, these pins are not tradable in Asia and may be rejected in Disneyland Paris.

That's interesting, do you know what is behind the difference in policies at these parks?

 

[gelatoni fan]

That's interesting, do you know what is behind the difference in policies at these parks?

Pin trading was banned in Tokyo Disneyland about 20 years ago because it got too crazy.

For Hong Kong Disneyland, my guess is that a lot of people complained too much about poorly trained CMs not accepting Japanese pins which don't have the pin trading logo so they decided to officially change the policy to not accept any pins without the pin trading logo. This trickled down to Shanghai.

Out of all the parks, Paris is the most cautious about fake pins so CMs are more likely to not accept pins that they're unsure off. For Paris, the rules say a pin must have (c) Disney and contain a "Disney character, attraction, movie or design". The (c) Marvel and (c) LFL pins are technically not tradable per the rules but a lot of cast members would accept pins with Marvel and Star Wars characters that they recognize.

 

[Vala]

Out of all the parks, Paris is the most cautious about fake pins so CMs are more likely to not accept pins that they're unsure off. For Paris, the rules say a pin must have (c) Disney and contain a "Disney character, attraction, movie or design". The (c) Marvel and (c) LFL pins are technically not tradable per the rules but a lot of cast members would accept pins with Marvel and Star Wars characters that they recognize.

That's a really friendly way to put it. Yeah, that is the official rule.

Bluntly speaking, Paris is basically doing whatever the CM wants to do. I had CMs coming up with "rules" that the pin has to be the same character or the same size, insisting they get to choose (and then the pin went straight into their pocket) or refuse a pin that was a perfectly recognizable character (Olaf comes to mind) because "they didn't like" it. I mean not that I couldn't relate to hating Olaf...

 

[gelatoni fan]

That's a really friendly way to put it. Yeah, that is the official rule.

Bluntly speaking, Paris is basically doing whatever the CM wants to do. I had CMs coming up with "rules" that the pin has to be the same character or the same size, insisting they get to choose (and then the pin went straight into their pocket) or refuse a pin that was a perfectly recognizable character (Olaf comes to mind) because "they didn't like" it. I mean not that I couldn't relate to hating Olaf...

My experience wasn't quite as extreme but I could definitely imagine someone having your type of experience in Paris.

Funnily, a CM did reject one of my pins that had (c) Disney and contained the WDW Sorcerers hat but was very happy to accept my Olaf pin. I have seen a Paris CM ask a guest if they could have a specific pin from their lanyard and hear about inconsistent "rules" especially at Pueblo's.

In terms of putting a pin in their pocket, I have seen a CM in Paris trade with guests from their personal bag. It's also well known that in Hong Kong, some CMs regularly take the best pins off their company provided pin trading bag/lanyard for themselves and may or may not replace them with their own pin. Of course, there's also legitimate reasons to hold a pin such as to verify tradeability with a more experienced CM or keep it for a themed pin trading board later.

 

[Vala]

My experience wasn't quite as extreme but I could definitely imagine someone having your type of experience in Paris.

Funnily, a CM did reject one of my pins that had (c) Disney and contained the WDW Sorcerers hat but was very happy to accept my Olaf pin. I have seen a Paris CM ask a guest if they could have a specific pin from their lanyard and hear about inconsistent "rules" especially at Pueblo's.

In terms of putting a pin in their pocket, I have seen a CM in Paris trade with guests from their personal bag. It's also well known that in Hong Kong, some CMs regularly take the best pins off their company provided pin trading bag/lanyard for themselves and may or may not replace them with their own pin. Of course, there's also legitimate reasons to hold a pin such as to verify tradeability with a more experienced CM or keep it for a themed pin trading board later.

Maybe the CM I dealt with just really hated that snowman.

I mean I have seen it happen everywhere, pins going into pockets. Usually I am okay with it, I am aware that it's tolerated if the CM replaces it, and yeah maybe they have a reason like wanting to work on a themed board for trading or whatever. I am also happy to let them have something they obviously like. IIt was the demand part that bugged me so much.

My worst CM experience was still Anaheim anyway. A CM (didn't know he was one at that point) came up to me when I was trading at Westward Ho and kept bugging me for one of my pins, even after I kept telling him no. Happened again a couple of days later. It got that bad that we had to leave the area because he wouldn't take no for an answer, and wouldn't even stop after other traders ran an intervention. Then a couple of days later I ran into him while he was working, and again he started harassing me about that pin. It was completely crazy. I complained about him in the end, hopefully something was done.