Questions about Kids and Pin Trading

[3DisneyGals&1Grumpy]

On last year's trip my DD became curious about pin trading. She has decided that on our next trip she definitely wants to do it. Thanks to the Dis I have been purchasing pins on sale at the Disney Store, Disney outlets, and at Disney direct. My plan is to surprise her once we arrive by presenting the pins and then letting her pick out a lanyard. So here are my questions:

1. How many pins should I plan on her trading per day? She can be shy. I
want her to trade with CMs and other kids only.

2. Do you wear all your pins or leave your favorites at the hotel? I don't
want her to feel pressured to trade a favorite if she doesn't want to.
I am afraid she will be to shy to say "No thanks."

3. By no means do I think this is an investment and I know every trade will
not be "even steven" but should I be concerned that all her $12 + pins
will soon be replaced with the Sedomas and possibly fakes?

4. Is it acceptable to trade Disneyland pins at WDW?

5. Do the lanyards get heavy or uncomfortable?

Thanks for all your help!

 

[2angelsinheaven]

1. How many pins should I plan on her trading per day? We bring about 20-25 with us, so that's 10-12 each a day. Although we spent alot of time trading since we visit so often.

2. Do you wear all your pins or leave your favorites at the hotel? We wear the pins we plan on trading, we also carry a little baggie with a few extra pins, that way if we trade for something we really like and want to keep (ie we won't trade even if we see something really cool we like) we put these in the bag and replace it with a pin from the bag.

3. By no means do I think this is an investment and I know every trade will
not be "even steven" but should I be concerned that all her $12 + pins
will soon be replaced with the Sedomas and possibly fakes? You can try to help guide her with this, Sedesmas and Propins, etc are easy to spot and if you do end up with one you can always trade it back.

4. Is it acceptable to trade Disneyland pins at WDW? We love getting DL pins, it's one of the few ways we can get them. Bring them, we WDW folks love them.

5. Do the lanyards get heavy or uncomfortable? They can be hot, which is why sometimes in the summer we just carry a bag with pins, or maybe your daughter could wear a small fanny pack with her pins in their. They sell these as well.

Just remember to enjoy and have fun!

 

[3DisneyGals&1Grumpy]

Thanks for all the great advice 2angelsinheaven.
I know she will have a lot of fun.

 

[It's A Happy Day]

I didn't see how old your dd is but it is definitely a fun thing to do with the kids. We went last October with DD3 & DS4 at the time and they really enjoyed pin trading. Honestly I ended up carrying the lanyards in my bag and they only wanted them if they spotted a pin that caught their eye (or mine and my husbands eyes ) They did get quite heavy. Your smart to pick up pins prior to getting there and don't worry if you start with multiples of one because then you don't mind trading it. I ended up getting 2 lanyards per child. On one we kept all the pins we did NOT want to trade and the other we had the pins they did want to trade. This way we didn't accidentally trade one they wanted to keep. I would also recommend picking up a package of backs while you are there because they are hard to replace if you lose one. As far as how often they traded...we left it up to them but I remember only trading a couple a day. HAVE FUN!!!

 

[daber]

If I have a pin I really want to keep, I leave it home/at the hotel. Two reasons: In the heat of the moment I might trade it and/or sometimes they fall off the lanyard and it is worse to just loose it somewhere in the park.

 

[3DisneyGals&1Grumpy]

Thanks for all the great advice. Any more pin trading tips I should know?

 

[pandamom]

I think 10 - 20 pins a day is a good estimate. That's about what my dds traded each day last trip (they were 5 and 7 at the time). They only traded w/cm's and they did end up with some sedesma and propins -- but they liked them so it was fine. Many time's cm's would encourage them to pick "good" pins (lanyard, LE, cast, etc.) but they usually would just pick what they like regardless of any prompting. A very nice cm tried to talk dd5 out of trading for a 2000 dancer pin but she really wanted it since she was born in 2000. She also traded for a 2000 kodak pin last trip for the same reason. So be aware you may come back w/some "junk" pins but as long as they are happy.... As for lanyards, they can become uncomfortable and heavy and pins can fall off easily. My older dd still wears hers but with only a few pins on it at a time -- I keep additional traders in my pocket and she puts the new pins she gets in her backpack. My younger one wears a pin trading hat (we bought ours at Animal Kingdom and it came w/pins on it). I also keep traders in my pocket for her and the new pins go into the backpack. Be aware that pin trading is highly addictive!

Just remember to be courteous to the cm's and have FUN!