?'s about Autographs and Pin Trading

[Hamm It Up]

Do most people get autographs at the character meets? I had considered not bringing books for DD4 and DD6, but they may feel left out since everyone else will have them. I thought they would waste time they could spend talking to them, then again, it could give them something to talk about. Opinions?

Also, I got the girls lanyards and pins for trading. It seems like it would be fun, but will it eat up a lot of our time? I may have over planned our trip! So I am not sure how much free time we will have for trading. First time I have been in years and I just couldn't help myself

 

[aaarcher86]

Neither takes much time.

Autograph books are probably 50/50.

 

[mousehockey37]

I think you're on the right track. The books give them something to talk about and the pins will only take a few minutes with CMs. I believe there are even certain CM's that wear green lanyards (correct me if I'm wrong) that will only trade with kids. The CMs that trade with just kids will always let the kids pick, the CM will not ask first. They could help if the kid(s) aren't able to pick.

Also, if you're going to pin trade, make sure to go get some of the metal pin backs to lock those pins on the lanyards and keep the kids "keepers" put away when they're done so they don't accidentally trade them away.

 

[Oswin]

Pin trading takes about 30 seconds to a minute to do, it's not really time consuming! I've been doing it since I was 7 or 8 and am still addicted.

 

[kmoore7]

Autograph books are a must,IMO. My children still have theirs from our first trip. Fair warning though,I speak from experience with 3 girls, they may become obsessed with getting all the princesses.

Pin trading has become an obsession with us when we go. I have a"vacation hat"that I keep mine on. Last trip I was approached by two little boys who asked if I would trade with them. Of course I did! Their mom asked if I was a CM. She was shocked when I said no. The look on the little guys faces made it worth it. I just re-purchased what I traded. Sorry for rambling.

The short answer for both is YES

 

[mountdew1]

Pin trading only takes time if you let it. If your kids get a few pins from one of the CM series, and then want to complete it, you can spend all sorts of time chasing down CMs and seeing if they have the pins you need. But other people just happen to see a CM lanyard, and check it out to see if there is anything cool on it.

Autographs don't take much time, but may or may not be worth it. I can't recall pulling my autograph books out very often once I got home growing up, but other people say their kids pull them out all the time. Try it, if your kids don't like it, don't pull them out of the bag.

 

[Hamm It Up]

Thanks everyone for taking time to respond. That helps a lot. I will get a couple of books and take the pins I have with us. I also came across another great idea about having a photo mat signed. I will try to find as many princesses as I can!

 

[SaraJR]

i want photos not autographs, but im curious about pins, is that still big and where can i pre buy?

 

[Hamm It Up]

It looked like it was still popular when I was researching it. I will be interested to see how many people will have them. Reading about it I learned that there are many counterfeit pins that are of low quality. Some said the CMs may still trade you legitimate pins for them and some may not. The best price I could find was about $2 per pin on eBay. The seller I purchased from was bizzybee1 for a random lot of 25 pins. I was happy with what I received and we were lucky to get a card of princess pins, which my daughters loved. I have to be careful they do not trade their favorite ones away. They all looked authentic to me and seemed very well made. I think they can cost $8 or more EACH at the parks. Some of the cards had prices on them for over $25. So it seems like a good deal to me.

From what I saw, it looked like you can get fake ones at around a $1 each. The other piece of advice I read was to trade with the CM's wearing the green lanyards early in the day to avoid getting fakes as they start the day with a fresh batch of authentic pins.