Tips for pick a pearl?

[archdandy]

I've never done Pick a Pearl in the Japan Pavilion so this trip I am making sure to do it! I wanted to know if there were any tips or tricks to getting a big pearl!

 

[PHLtoMCO]

I've never done Pick a Pearl in the Japan Pavilion so this trip I am making sure to do it! I wanted to know if there were any tips or tricks to getting a big pearl!

I've done it when I was younger and now my daughter does it. There really aren't any tips that I know of. Mine and my daughter's have all been quite small. Maybe you'll get lucky! It's definitely a cute experience.

Enjoy!

 

[lizabu]

There's a huges couple hundred page thread on this. The main thing people agree on is the larger and uglier the oyster the more likely the pearl will be big. I followed the advice in that thread and got a 7mm pearl. I just love mine. It's my favorite souvineer from our trip. I can't wait to do it again. I bought a simple necklace setting for around $10 which was well worth it because where else are you going to get someone to set it for you? I didn't buy a chain there. I think a simple one was around $10 or $15. I waited until I got home and got one at Walmart. It ended up costing me the same so I might as well have bought it at Disney.

 

[StacyMarie]

I went with the instructions to pick the "hairiest" ugliest one I could find, not necessarily the biggest, and I ended up with 7.5 mm TWINS! I also helped my daughters pick theirs and we went with ugly hairy ones with them and they each ended up with an 8 mm and an 8.5 mm. One was pink and one was yellow. Hope this helps.

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

Yep, my DD's went with ugly ones. The two my older DD picked were red tinted on the shells, they both gave her black pearls. Both were 7.5mm.

The other DD picked a really ugly one, and got 7mm twins.

 

[jvptravels]

I went with the instructions to pick the "hairiest" ugliest one I could find, not necessarily the biggest, and I ended up with 7.5 mm TWINS! I also helped my daughters pick theirs and we went with ugly hairy ones with them and they each ended up with an 8 mm and an 8.5 mm. One was pink and one was yellow.

This just gave me the greatest idea for a new TLC reality competition show about baby adoptions. LOL!!

 

[jimjenkids]

my daughter too, picked an ugly one and ended up with twins....still her favorite thing to do at Epcot....they already have plans to do it again!

 

[4littleones]

How do they know the oysters have pearls in them? I am sure this is dumb question but do they open each of them beforehand to check for a pear and then suet them out for people to pick them.

 

[canopynut66]

not sure is a rhyme nor reason to them as I have 8 mm and have smal ones and got a gray one once that was really pretty. love doing this if had the mney to thrwo away this would be my vice of choice. really do not need to make anything else from them just love seeing what is inside that shell. and standing and watching others does not feed my addiction and makes me want to try again. when I started doing pick a pearl they were $4.95 and they getting to high. told her last year need a deal like 3 for $25 or something and she just laughed and said no way her boss would do that.

 

[MickeyP]

How much are they now?

 

[GottaGetToDisney!]

In total agreement about picking the ugliest and hairiest. I watched my sister pick one on our last trip and this oyster truly did put the "ugh" in ugly. Her pearl was 9 3/4mm!! Too big to even fit into the Cinderella's Coach pearl cage necklace she brought.

Good luck with your pick!

 

[LockShockBarrel]

Last I knew Japan was around $18 including tax (which buys you the critter and the pearl inside, not any sort of setting.)

 

[Zooshoveller]

DH wants to know if you can eat the oyster?

 

[POB14]

DH wants to know if you can eat the oyster?

No.

 

[Minnie-Mickey]

We were just there last week it was $15 (actually some odd number like 14.97 or 15.97 felt like I was at Walmart with the weird price). We watched them. Of course DD said no she did not want to do it. Later she asked and they were closed. We saw 3 people get twins, a black one, and all were 6 -8 in size.

 

[jenjie]

I did it last week. I remembered they said to pick a big hairy oyster. well I got there and I didn't really find any to be as hairy as I had envisioned. LOL so I just picked one and got a beautiful 7 3/4 white pearl.

Total between picking the pearl, the setting and the chain was $54. If you have it set, allow time for them to complete it. It wasn't busy when I was there and it was a 20 minute wait. They need to give the glue a chance to set. Then they ask you not to wear it until the next day.

 

[LisaTC]

We did it in October...I thought it was like $14.95 + tax. Frankly, most of the oysters are ugly! However, pick a really gnarly looking one, I guess is the advice. We did, DD got a 7.2mm and I got a 7.5 -- they were too big for the Cinderella coach necklaces I bought. Will have them set. I think it was fun and I will do it again this December! I saw people getting pink ones, green ones, blue ones. Ours were white and yellow.

 

[MeggyK]

How do they know the oysters have pearls in them? I am sure this is dumb question but do they open each of them beforehand to check for a pear and then suet them out for people to pick them.

Pearls are cultured. That basically means that something small is inserted into the oysters which becomes a pearl. Almost all pearls which are used in jewelry are created this way.

 

[erincon23]

How do they know the oysters have pearls in them? I am sure this is dumb question but do they open each of them beforehand to check for a pear and then suet them out for people to pick them.

The oysters are "seeded" -- they put something inside the oysters that irritate them. The material that makes up the pearl is what the oyster secretes when it's irritated by the foreign object. This is what's called a "cultured" pearl.

 

[aaarcher86]

In Myrtle, the pick a pearl lady said they Xray the oysters as well to make sure there is something in there.