Pin trading question

[ColorfulDreams]

Hi all. We're surprising DS7 with a trip to WDW at the end of August , and I thought that it would be fun to let him do some pin trading while we're there. I picked up the Americana set of 8 pins for a good price from a seller recommended on this board. I've never actually done pin trading before, so my question is will 8 pins be enough for him to trade while there or should I pick up more?

Thanks for all the wonderful information you all posted by the way, I couldn't have figured all this without you .

 

[pixiewings71]

How many days are you giong? Will you have more money just in case he wants to do more trading after these are all gone? It really depends, my family of 4 can easily trade 100 in 2 days, but that's because we all pin trade.....

 

[ColorfulDreams]

Thanks for taking the time to reply . We're going for 8 days, and we are going to have a good amount we're bringing with us just for souvenirs, drinks and such as we are on the DxDDP (not sure if I have the right acronym) and we don't have to worry about food. We could definitely tap into that for pins, and certainly would if he saw a special pin he wanted, or was having an amazing time and needed more. I would like to pick up most of what we need before the trip, however, because I feel like we could get him more for our money from the eBay seller that we used. 10 dollar pins can really add up kwim?

 

[ColorfulDreams]

Thanks again for your help. We did decide to pick up one more set of 7 for him. I did have one more question though.

Does anyone know if you can carry these on with the airline? We're using the ME to pick up our bags, and would like to carry them on the plane so that he can have them to trade right away the first day, but wouldn't want them to be taken away ... because, you know we could stab someone with a Disney pin .

 

[katrina1122]

The more pins the better. If he becomes attached to one, that's one less one to trade. you can buy surprise boxes there to add more for trade if necessary. Plus he'll probably want to buy some for keep as well. It gets addicting way too fast.

We carried our pins on back in 2008 on our flight home from MCO and they were fine, but I don't know about your outbound flight as TSA won't be as familar with them.

 

[Jedana]

If you can hit a Disney outlet store, you can buy pins fairly cheap at them.

We hit the one that was in Vegas back in 2006 (yes a long time ago) and got DD2 40 pins for $1 each. This year, we went to the one in St. Augustine, FL; we got her 24 or 28 pins @ $1 a pin (though they were all the same, Jonas Brothers--just for trading).

 

[pixiewings71]

Thanks for taking the time to reply . We're going for 8 days, and we are going to have a good amount we're bringing with us just for souvenirs, drinks and such as we are on the DxDDP (not sure if I have the right acronym) and we don't have to worry about food. We could definitely tap into that for pins, and certainly would if he saw a special pin he wanted, or was having an amazing time and needed more. I would like to pick up most of what we need before the trip, however, because I feel like we could get him more for our money from the eBay seller that we used. 10 dollar pins can really add up kwim?

$10 a pin can absolutely add up, that's why many traders buy the starter or booster packs in the parks, then you're paying more like $4 a pin, depending on the set of course. I do use eBay for buying trading pins but I'm very careful as I do not like to get scrappers. If you think of it this way, 8 days, if he trades 10 per day that's 80 pins.....I would probably suggest around 100 pins, just for him, but that way if he gets some he likes in the ones you buy you'll have extras...or if YOU find a pin you want on a CM lanyard then you will have a few traders as well. Just don't buy from the sellers who sell lots of 100 without being extremely careful, most of the time when I've purchased in that qty every pin has been a fake!

Thanks again for your help. We did decide to pick up one more set of 7 for him. I did have one more question though.

Does anyone know if you can carry these on with the airline? We're using the ME to pick up our bags, and would like to carry them on the plane so that he can have them to trade right away the first day, but wouldn't want them to be taken away ... because, you know we could stab someone with a Disney pin .

As far as I know you will have no problems taking the pins on the plane as carryon luggage. I've never done it (we live 6 hrs from DLR so we drive) but there have been plenty of reports from others who have.

If you can hit a Disney outlet store, you can buy pins fairly cheap at them.

We hit the one that was in Vegas back in 2006 (yes a long time ago) and got DD2 40 pins for $1 each. This year, we went to the one in St. Augustine, FL; we got her 24 or 28 pins @ $1 a pin (though they were all the same, Jonas Brothers--just for trading).

This is not always true, but when it happens it's pretty awesome!! We buy pins like that just for trading also.

 

[katrina1122]

If you can hit a Disney outlet store, you can buy pins fairly cheap at them.

We hit the one that was in Vegas back in 2006 (yes a long time ago) and got DD2 40 pins for $1 each. This year, we went to the one in St. Augustine, FL; we got her 24 or 28 pins @ $1 a pin (though they were all the same, Jonas Brothers--just for trading).

Our disney outlet in Jackson, NJ has not had pins in 3 years that I've ever seen. So don't rely on that.

 

[starry_solo]

I would try to get 100 pins. Besides trading in the parks, he may be able to trade at the hotel too.

The cheapest I've seen at Disney Character Warehouse (not exactly an outlet) in Fullerton, CA is $3 per pin.

 

[wildeflowers]

I have carried them on in the past. The pins are not long enough for them to be considered a weapon, I believe.

Do not EVER check your pins in your luggage! My daughters pins were stolen out of our checked (into Mears transport) luggage last year and we lost every. single. pin she had purchased and traded during the trip. We had not bought any so we lost about $150 worth of pins we had purchased or bought. Thankfully, she is little so we don't do it for the value of them, etc, but it was still a huge disappointment to her. Apparently, we found out later, that is a really common occurrence. I've been trying to slowly replace them.

The park currently has a deal, which I was really excited about, since I was so nervous about purchasing Ebay pins for the kids to trade. I hate taking the risk and I would hate to unknowingly pass of a scrap pin. So if you are purchasing $25 of merchandise you can get a special starter pin set for $15.95. It has 8 pins and a red mickey lanyard with a mickey card hanging off of it. So it's like paying $2 per pin and getting the lanyard for free. Of course, practically every cast member has a few of these on their lanyards, but we had no problem trading them and at least we knew they were authentic.

 

[Tink14]

I think that will be enough. Over the years he will start collecting more, but for one tripthat should be enough.They sell pins in a lot of places in each park, so you will easily be able to buy more if you need too.Downtown Disney also has tons of pins. Trading pins is a lot of fun and the cast members and kids really enjoy it. Have a great vacation !!!

 

[Orlando313]

My friend and I were at the park for about 3 hrs on Sunday, and by myself I traded around 30 pins, and she traded around 20. It just depends on how serious you think he'll be about it, but you just start to see so many pins you like.

We go to the outlet near the parks to get the on sale booster/starter sets for trading, and then my friend went and found 28 $1.00 pins, all the same, and bought them all. You can find pretty good deals there for pins at times. I think the Disney store is in the Prime or Premium outlets.

 

[WI WDWGIRL]

We travel out of Milwaukee. Southwest Airlines happens to be next to the TSA people taking your luggage. I pack my pins in a insulated Disney lunch box and upzip it for them to see and ask that its ok that I carry it onboard. I have never had a problem doing it this way and have even had them thank me that I was showing it to them ahead of time so there are no problems later on. My bff's daughter had her pins stolen too. Good Luck.