Pins, Lanyards & trading - OH MY!?!?!

[bkyrdmoviemom]

Please forgive my ignorance....
What is all this about pins and lanyards? I see a few mentions, and lots of pictures of people with pins....
So how does one get these pins? do you only trade them? or do you buy them? do you have to have special pins to trade? why would you want to trade with a CM? are there special lanyards? special DIS colors perhaps? do I have to stock up before arriving? and with what?

aaarrrggghhhh?

I'm soooooooooo clueless on this - someone please HELP!!!

 

[mickeysaver]

Start here.....
http://eventservices.disney.go.com/pintrading/page?id=getStarted

At the top of the page, click on Tools of the Trade for pin trading etiquette.

Next try addressing your questions over on the Collector's board....
http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=37

My next suggestion is to check out.....
http://www.dizpins.com/

and....
http://www.pinpics.com/

Other than eBay, I hesitate to suggest any additional websites that sell pins.

I hope this helps! Maggie

 

[Garfieldo]

So how does one get these pins?

You can buy them at any park, or even your local Disney store.

do you only trade them? or do you buy them?

Both. If you meet someone who's also carrying Disney pins, you can trade them with each other.

do you have to have special pins to trade?

Any official Disney pin can be traded. They're easily identified by the the Mickey-shaped backs.

why would you want to trade with a CM?

Certain cast members carry pins that are not sold in stores. Unlike most people, they are required to trade with you if you request a trade. You can only trade with a specific cast member twice a day.

are there special lanyards? special DIS colors perhaps?

It depends what you mean by "special" lanyards. They do sell themed lanyards with characters on them, but besides being a bit wider than regular lanyards, there isn't really anything special about them. They come in lots of different colors, so you'll just have to search.

do I have to stock up before arriving? and with what?

I'd recommend going to your local Disney store and buying as many of the cheap-o pins as you can. Then, trade them with cast members when you get to the park. For more info, just visit the links mickeysaver posted.

 

[bkyrdmoviemom]

Thank you so much for the information!!!
I shall check it all out!
appreciate it very much!
Sue

 

[astrodrummergirl]

Any official Disney pin can be traded. They're easily identified by the the Mickey-shaped backs.

They don't have to have Mickey backs, according to a cast member my sister and I traded with in the land pavillion at epcot in august, the only requirement is that they have (C) Disney written horizontally on the backs.

Just adding this as we had pins with both plastic and metal backs and they were fine to trade, also that the pins we used to get in the Disney Stores would have black or gold round backs, wish they still sold them .

 

[mrincredible2008]

Please forgive my ignorance....
What is all this about pins and lanyards? I see a few mentions, and lots of pictures of people with pins....
So how does one get these pins? do you only trade them? or do you buy them? do you have to have special pins to trade? why would you want to trade with a CM? are there special lanyards? special DIS colors perhaps? do I have to stock up before arriving? and with what?

aaarrrggghhhh?

I'm soooooooooo clueless on this - someone please HELP!!!

you can buy them at the park. mickey loves you to do this! or you can buy from ebay. look for sellers with high feedback and great feedback. if the deal is too good to be true....probably a bunch of china pins. get the cast lanyard with hidden mickeys.

 

[DizzDoll]

Another suggestion if you want to do some trading is when you get to WDW pick up some pin packs which are 4 to 7 pins in a box and you can trade those for ones you like on a CMs lanyard. It's a LOT of fun (just got into that part of "pinning" this year, I usually bought the ones I wanted), and you can meet a lot of interesting people too. Also, a little Disney Tip du jour, if you do trade with a CM, look for inverted pins: these are pins facing the CMs body and the back facing you. More often than not these pins have Hidden Mickeys on them and are VERY collectable. Have fun! Can't wait to start my 4th lanyard next August!!!

 

[iluv2go2disney]

This past July was my experience with pin trading, and my kids LOVED it. I ordered about 15 each for them off Ebay. I found sort of like a grab bag. My kid had a lanyard full when they got there of pins they really didn't like too much. They had a great time finding CM with green lanyards on to trade with. ( The ones with green can only trade with kids). It became my kids goal to trade all their pins for ones they liked , DD-Tinkerbell, and DS -Stitch. They were successful and got some really great pins. We are going back next July and they are already planning what kind of pins to collect next time.

 

[prekteacher]

Thanks you for the info. I think I will do this with my children when we go in May.

 

[byoung]

I collect the pins but do not trade.

 

[mrincredible2008]

when you do start pin trading, set your sights on a certain type of pin such as certain characters. there are so many pins, hard to focus on getting all of them. we collect cast member hidden mickeys and try to get complete sets. also have to collect mr. incredible pins and jessica rabbit. these are harder to find. ds really has a good time with this each trip.

 

[DCLWDW]

We starting pin trading in 2001; it wasn't too long after that I focused on DCL pins since there are so many now.

 

[MomPOM]

I started pin trading during our trip last year and it's so much fun. Only problem is that I have too many to be on a lanyard. I need to get one of those pocket things to use. I need to find one though.

I suggest when you get there to buy up some cheapy ones that you won't get attached to and trade those. I've gotten quite a few cool ones this way. The CMs have to trade with you (as long as they aren't the CMs that only trade with kids) so it's easy as pie.