Okay, I know there are park pins, character pins, ride pins, seasonal pins but are there restaurant pins for the major places like Chef Mickeys, Whispering Canyon, etc.?
There really isn't a whole lot in way of restaurant pins in the parks. I'm not saying that they are not out there, you just have to look for them. A lot of the ones that I know about are now retired. But they did just come out with a new series for all the restaurants that have Breakfast, they came out in Aug.
If you would like to take a look at what is out there check out www.pinpics.com. They have a pretty up to date listing of what has just been released along with a pic of the pin.
Below is a pic of one of the pins from the series. It's pin 32166: WDW - Breakfast Series (Breakfastosaurus). Just to give you an idea.
If you want to search the site. Just go to the (when looking at the screen) left hand side of the page. Then click on the search button, then mark the Disney Pin box, hit continue. Then you will be taken to a page with where you will make the WDW box, then in the specific words box type in the name of the resturant you are looking for. Then hit brows, all the pins that have ever been made (that pinpics knows about) will pop up. Good luck!
At our 2001 Chef Mickey breakfast we were given a Chef Mickey pin (perhaps since we were celebrating a birthday?)
I am glad to hear they have new ones. Did you get your pin at the breakfast or did you have to buy it? If so, where? We are just starting to collect pins and that sounds super!
I have a California Grill pin. My husband bought it for me at the restaurant when we were there in 1998. That was back before Disney started the CM pin trading, etc. I haven't seen them in a long time but you might try ebay for other, harder to find restaurant pins. I'm always amazed what can be found on ebay!
They were using a California Grill pin as a CM lanyard refresher last month. They were everywhere. They did the same thing with a Crystal Palace pin last year after it re-opened.
For the breakfast pins, you can buy them at any of the pin carts or stations in the park. They should be still be in stock.
Now if you are starting you see tons of resturant pins on the CM lanyards, then they might be refreasher pins. Look on the back of the pin to see if they are stamped with a 2003 or 2004 back stamp. The ones you are talking about orginally came out in the late 90's.
Remember to always go there. They have an amazing list of the newest pins. Probably because they are actually from disney. They even have all of the limited editions there.