Show me (or tell me) about your pin collection

[Susieo]

We started pin trading two visits ago as something different for my very social 4 year old son to do. We purchased a set of pins from ebay, and bought a lanyard from the Wilderness Lodge when we got there. My son had just an amazing time, and it was really interesting to his father and I to see which ones he would keep and which he would trade away. He had definite reasons for doing what he did and we really got a kick out of it. I had to let go of my attachments to certain pins because he didn't feel the same way about them as I did and I realized it wasn't about me, it was about him....

My main piece of advice is to seek out CM's who don't normally interact with guests. We found a man sweeping in the Animal Kingdom last year who had about 5 pins on his lanyard and when my son went over and introduced himself and asked if he could trade with him, you would think he had offered to give the man a brick of gold - his face lit up and he took the time to chat with my son, and my husband and I and quite frankly, we felt great after the encounter. After that, we always sought out people like mousekeeping, and food service workers etc. It was always a great meeting and reminded us about all of the people who work so hard behind the scenes to make it a great place to vacation.

Just my two cents...

 

[kaligal]

OK, who here did the Voluntear thing JUST TO GET THE PINS???

Me.

 

[Raenstoirm]

I have three types of pin sets (and tons of pics for you! ).
The first is my "each trip" set. Each trip I buy a few pins that commemorate the trip. One is always a year pin, the others are MNSSHP, F&G, our hotel that trip, a birthday pin if we were there during my birthday (done that twice), a favorite ride or other thing that was special on that trip.

Set two is bought and traded for. These are cute pins that I have an attachment to, but are not part of a set or I do not like the set for some reason, so I only want one or two from it.

They all go above my printer in my office (with my sand collection above them)

Set three is my trading set. These are 100% traded for (with the exception of a few sets that I just had to buy outright- the HM stretching pins (2010), Duffy in the countries (2011) and the passholder keys (2012). My first time trading I picked the "before Duffy" Duffy bear pins to find. Second trip I chose two types to hunt for. Now-a-days, well, I have pics of my "in progress" sets.

And the in progress group

Here is my current "pins needed" list

"D"- Donald
Bowling pin- cruela/scar
Sillouette- mickey/minnie/donald
Sillouette- dale/daisy/goofy/tink/stitch
Belle teacup- yellow
Fish in bags-nemo/twins/stripe fish
Coffee mugs- Green pluto/mustard Donald
Hitchiking ghosts- missing tall
Hitchiking ghosts frame- have tall
T-shirt DLR- pinnochio/cleo/Ariel/Angel/Cheshire/C&D/Scrooge
Ursula/ Flounder/Scrump/jack
T-shirt- minnie/figaro/stitch/triplets/pooh
Bus- missing 5 plus closer
Paint cans- silver figment/green chipmunk/red mickey/pink figment
Letters- have B,C,E,J,L,M,N,O,Q,R,V,X,Y
Snowflake- mickey/daisy/pluto/jiminy/4 fairys
dwarf box- have doc, sneezy
Soda- missing 5/ have donald
Fastpass- (14 total) MS/RnR
Monorail-silver/yellow/blue/red/pink/gold/coral
Tickets- A, D
Monorail DL- (2011 5 pins)
Racecar- blue & orange


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Can you tell I am a wee bit obbsessed with pins??

 

[tofubeast]

I thought it would be fun to take pics of my pins and share why some are more special to me than others. Some are very limited edition, some they made zillions of! I have yet to trade because I really love my pins. I need to get some 'boring' ones so I can start trading during my next trip. So here's what I got!

Got this set at Disneyland back in '08. Obviously, it commemorates the new Mark VII monorails. (These monorails are so awesome in person.)

VMK- Virtual Magic Kingdom. I used to this game. RIP.

Always a proud member of the Mickey Mouse Club. CMs at WDW always comment about my Soda Fountain pin. I grew up in Hollywood, so it is nice to have a pin that makes me think of my old home.

This is a personal fave of mine because it can be personalized. That's a pic of DH and I wearing our ears!

Love these ears. It was inspiration for my 'couture' ears that I made with Swarovksi crystals. If curious, check first page of my PTR. The Little Orange Bird is a tribute to WDW history! So glad he's back! The 2012 pin is special because my DH got it for me this past Christmas. It was in my stocking and his way of confirming we would be going to Disney this year!

Love the ol' Attraction Posters, so I had to have this one. Also, a pin marking my first Star Wars Weekend. Hope I get to go to another one soon.

Kermit and Yoda. Only two of the coolest dudes ever!

The WED pin hands down gets the most commentary from CMs. This is such a simple pin, but probably my fave. A tribute to the Imagineers! The top pin marks the 20th anniversary of DHS. I was happy to be there on that very day!

Who else remembers the ol' ticket books?

A pin to always remember EPCOT's 25th. Now I have to get a 30th this upcoming trip!

Donald is another VMK related pin. I need more of these hidden Mickey monorails!! The bottom pin is very special to me. Back in '86, Disneyland gave random prizes to guests entering the park. Some people won Pontiacs, and I won this Main Street pin! I wasn't even a teen yet, so a car wouldn't have meant that much to me. If you are bored, here's an old commercial for this Disneyland giveaway.

Thanks for letting me share with you all!

 

[Raenstoirm]

You have the D ride pin. I need that one!!! (I have B, C, & E)

 

[tofubeast]

You have the D ride pin. I need that one!!! (I have B, C, & E)

Haha, I need A, B, and C! lol. You had a very impressive collection. I wish I had all those awesome pins! Nice display too!

 

[Raenstoirm]

Haha, I need A, B, and C! lol. You had a very impressive collection. I wish I had all those awesome pins! Nice display too!

Thanks! When I look at them all lined up like that, I shudder to think how much money I have "thrown away" on that collection. So a warning to all....if you haven't started trading...DONT START!!!

 

[Kaewin]

My pins

 

[ARAITHEL]

I collect pirates, villains, and mainly jack skellington/ nightmare before Christmas. I also like haunted mansion pins or anything macabre.

This is my messenger bag I carry at the parks.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I started pin collecting in earnest 3 years ago. I collect Snow White and Cinderella pins, Haunted Mansion pins, ride pins that are my favorite rides and pins from where we stay. I also have one pin of each villian and one pin of each princess.

I also get the pins when I go to things like MVMCP, MNSSHP and any other holiday/special occasion type pins like Mother's Day, F&G Festival. But only when I've gone during that time. It's all about the memories for me.

I don't trade pins but I have given pins away when I get extras or some that I got and decided I didn't like after all. I bring my extras with me and often give them to kids with birthday buttons or who I noticed did something nice after getting approval from the parent. I gave them all away on my last trip.

I bought 18x20 size paint canvases, covered them with a chocolate brown fabric material and put the pins on those. I purposely bought all of that fabric that the store had so I'd have plenty for years. I do have one that is done differently because it's in a gold frame but it's basically the same thing.

Those are up on the walls of the master bedroom in our house. I'm running out of space though so I need to come up with a new place to hang them.

 

[jlevis]

A pp mentioned that the black Mickey pin backs fall off very easily - true. The locking backs you find at the pin store or at kiosks do hold better but are expensive and can damage the stud if tightened too much. Get brass pinch backs. I got mine on ebay and they are cheap and hold much better.

 

[thelionqueen]

We got started pin trading right when it was introduced..1999 I think? We stayed @ DL hotel and they gave us a starter pack of 5 pins and a quick "class" on how trading worked. I got several pins that trip and have every single trip since. It is DEFINITELY an adult activity also. My kids have been collecting since their birth as well.

I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit I have literally thousands of pins between me and my boys. My collection is easily 1500 of that. I have 2 pin bags filled with no space as well as 5 lanyards, 3 CM flat "pad" lanyards and a bag full. We got a great deal as a CM in DL. They had the 8 pin Stitch starter sets that came down to less than $4 after a promotion on the day we were there. We bought every set they had, spent over $200 on them to use for traders. That helped our collections but we also buy pins all the time..sigh. Be careful..gets very addictive and expensive..lol

I mainly collect Haunted Mansion, Villians, DL, DCL & Mulan. I have maybe 5 princess pins total (if that). I also like stitch and movie specific pins. I really just look for pins I've never seen and like.

It's a blast! Before you buy "tons" of pins on ebay, please check out the thread on the collector's board that explains "scrappers" It is definitely something to get educated on and avoid buying.

Enjoy! We LOVE it! Now we're doing Vinylmations too...sigh..lol

 

[AllieMallie]

Thank you all for sharing your collections with me. I can see why adults would get addicted to this hobby as well. The pins are just so detailed! I love hearing the stories of how everyone got started and what motivates you all to collect. I think this makes a WDW even fuller because of the extra interactions you get and the stories behind your collections.


I think for this trip. I'm gonna buy a couple of commemorative pins for this particular trip (a Pop one, one, an engagement, an anniversary one, one MNSSHP pin and maybe a favorite ride one). I think I'm also gonna get a starter kit to see if I could trade those. I will definitely proceed with caution though as I can definitely see myself getting addicted to this.

 

[AllieMallie]

I thought it would be fun to take pics of my pins and share why some are more special to me than others. Some are very limited edition, some they made zillions of! I have yet to trade because I really love my pins. I need to get some 'boring' ones so I can start trading during my next trip. So here's what I got!


Donald is another VMK related pin. I need more of these hidden Mickey monorails!! The bottom pin is very special to me. Back in '86, Disneyland gave random prizes to guests entering the park. Some people won Pontiacs, and I won this Main Street pin! I wasn't even a teen yet, so a car wouldn't have meant that much to me. If you are bored, here's an old commercial for this Disneyland giveaway.

Thanks for letting me share with you all!

Oooooo. I loooove your collection! I especiallly like you have them displayed. Thank you for sharing this. I can't wait to start buying pins! Keep your fingers crossed that I don't get addicted!

 

[AllieMallie]

I collect pirates, villains, and mainly jack skellington/ nightmare before Christmas. I also like haunted mansion pins or anything macabre.

This is my messenger bag I carry at the parks.

This so cool! I think if I ever decide to form a pin collection, I'm gonna pick a theme so there's some sort of cohesion. I also really like how you have them pinned to your bag. Do other visitors assume they're up for trading though since you're "wearing" them? I bought a baggallini messanger bag for this trip, and you're giving me a good idea of where to put these pins.

 

[Emma1987]

Loving all the pictures of pins. I'm so jealous !! lol

 

[PanamaMike]

and my Disney Dollars

 

[klmall]

Love this thread! I too, started back when the pin trading frenzy began and my collection dates back to 1999 although some of my pins are earlier than that. Along with hundreds of others in my suburb, I waited in line each weekend for my local Disney store to release the Countdown to the Millennium and the 100 Years of Dreams pins.

For awhile I traded extensively on trips and online but got 'burned' in a very ugly misunderstanding with a supertrader who was only in trading for the resale potential.

My collection is now around 1100 keeper pins with another 100 or so extras for giving away/trading. If you want to view my pins go to PinPics.com; I'm listed under Pinsaver and while I don't generally trade anymore I do buy a few pins each time I go to WDW or see something interesting online.

I also have the Disney Store Christmas pin tree that I love and some other framed and boxed sets.

P.S. I can't quite get the Vinylmation thing at all but Disney pins did get me started collecting U.S. National Park pins and Historic Site pins when I traveled to Europe.

 

[Pesky]

Here is a thread about good and bad ebay sellers that is a good place to start.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2213419

I already got some pins for the kids to trade and keep for the next vacation. My goal is actually to show them how to quickly identify a CM and get used to approaching them in case they need help. And then I couldn't help myself! I got some for me too. Some, like the breakfast items, I just liked. But I really got into the Christmas ones (generic not year) and am thinking I could actually string lanyards or enforced rope around the Christmas tree with the pins!

 

[brookmey]

I collect pins, but I don't trade. The pins I have are of the Disney resorts we've stayed at, the years we've gone, special events we attended (like MNSSHP) or a special time of year that we've gone, like Memorial Day. I also have a pin from each park.

DD collects princess pins and she's now collecting pins from her favorite rides.

DS collects pins of the "darker" side of Disney, like the villains, Nightmare Before Christmas and he also likes the 3-D vinylmation pins.