Pin trading, not as popular as it used to be??

[mjrich73]

My daughter did a lot of pin trading, when we came 10 years ago. Today we were having trouble finding workers wearing lanyards or having pin boards. Are we experiencing an "off" day or have things changed?

 

[wdwlver]

Oh I hope there is still a lot of pin trading, my kids love it. I hope it was just an off day

 

[CAS239]

It's definitely not as popular as it was 6 or so years ago, but it's definitely still around and prevalent. As long as you keep an eye out you'll be able to find plenty of cms that have pins to trade.

And if you want to trade with other guests, there's usually some hardcore traders that set up shop at Epcot right in front of the pin tent that's behind spaceship earth. You can find hundreds of pins there

 

[Ladyfish77]

I am by no means an expert or even very knowledgeable about pin trading, but I know when we went about 8 years ago we ran into what I would call "professional traders". My DS (about 10 at the time) wanted to just trade, and these folks were hanging around one of the pin kiosks (in Epcot, I think). He tried to trade with one and they told him they would, but he had to go buy the pin they wanted. That was a huge turnoff to the entire thing.

The good news is that the CM's all will trade with you and the resorts usually have a pin board in the shops. It can be great fun for the kids!

 

[Texasscuba]

I hope there is trading, my daughters relished the experience in past holidays. I guess we have 100 plus pins, some quite rare. My mother and sister lived in central Florida for a time and would go to the magic several times a week. They collected many pins over time. Sadly both are gone, but we have the memories (and pins).

 

[Disney_and_Wine]

1. Still a "thing".
2. No longer as big a "thing".

 

[maryj11]

We have done it the past 3 years. We usually end up buying at least 3 new pins while there.
I always try to find one for the resort we stay in and some of my favorite rides. I wont trade those though, but have a bunch of others that we use for trading.

 

[Hisgirl]

We were there in April and saw a good many CMs (not wearing a lanyard) wearing a square thing with about a dozen pins. For the most part, the pins were not good ones. At all. The folks who set up in Epcot have books filled and they love to trade.

 

[DWillowBay]

When I was there in February, there were 2 ladies (very nice) with HUGE books full of pins for trading. They were by the pin place (I'm sure it must have a name) by the fountain in EPCOT. They were "pros" and obviously looking for specific pins, but it was really fun to see all they had collected. I did trade with them for some uncommon pins.

 

[dprincessmom]

There end of May and no trouble finding pins to trade. Several stores now have pin boards and as another has said several cast members have switched to the square hip pouch. Every park also has a book(s) so while you may have to look for them, there are pins to trade.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

I hope there is trading, my daughters relished the experience in past holidays. I guess we have 100 plus pins, some quite rare. My mother and sister lived in central Florida for a time and would go to the magic several times a week. They collected many pins over time. Sadly both are gone, but we have the memories (and pins).

Sorry for your loss

 

[Budzooka]

Still a thing. My father-in-law bought pins for all the grandkids and they all had a great time with it. All I could think is what a racket.

 

[bmalonef45]

We were just there in the past couple of weeks and there were plenty of cast members trading pins. Both our kids enjoyed trading with them both in the parks, at Disney Springs and at the resorts. We also were on the DCL Fantasy and there was an actual pin trading event one evening and it was PACKED!!!! We purchased a 100 pins off of eBay and they split them up and kept what they wanted and used the others to trade. Of all the pins we got, they were all authentic Disney pins and it was a great way for them to get some other pins to trade.

 

[bashuck]

Most of the easiest to find pin traders are working in the shops, you can probably see 50 pins in 4 minutes on Main Street early in the Day when it isn't too busy. Usually the pins are on their waists.

 

[lauris87]

We were just there a couple weeks ago, and my 9 year old son got into pin trading for the first time. There were PLENTY of cast members to trade with. Kiosk workers....in the retail shops......heck, even some custodial workers had on lanyards. My son was looking for them all.. and had a wonderful time

 

[mamamelody2]

I am looking forward to doing lots of trading when we go in November. Last September, I did some trading, but I wasn't able to do nearly as much as I hoped. That is because I was in charge of our extended-family group of 13, and it was like herding cats. I was so busy keeping track of them, I didn't have time to look for pins.

Next trip is just me and DH, so we should have plenty of time to search out pins. I can't wait!

 

[123SA]

My kids love to trade. They keep their pins on cork boards at home. Before each trip, the three of them decide as a group which pins they are willing to trade. I usually buy a lot from ebay to stock them up. Then, they divide the traders in 3 groups so they each have their own set to trade. They try to trade at least 5 times each day. (They don't always make that goal, DS14 never does, DS11 picks up his slack) They don't really care so much about what they get; they just like the whole trading process. They wouldn't know a valuable or rare pin, but they know enough not to let a little kid trade an expensive pin with them. Two trip backs their greatest trade was for Statler (muppets) They were overjoyed and probably no one else in the whole park would want that pin! They are trying to get the whole set of The Epcot countries Mickey Icons through trading.

They have had some great experiences trading with all different kinds of employees, at resorts, bus stops, shops, custodians...everywhere and other disney guests (although trading between guests seems rare).

 

[AngiTN]

I have yet to see a CM without a lanyard or a pouch of pins to trade so I think they are just as easy to find as they have always been.
Now, do they have as good a pin to offer? That is a much harder question to answer.
We still enjoy doing it when we feel like dragging pins to the parks. We never trade with guests or bother with the "pros" at Epcot. We aren't serious enough for them

 

[mousehockey37]

I wanted to pin trade. Then I started buying pins. Neat pins. Ones I didn't want to trade. I don't pin trade, lol.

If I were to get some discount pins (not ebay lots but actual Disney clearance pins), I could forsee using them to start trading.

I just love the variety of the pins and the chance at getting the limited ones.

 

[DoulaMel]

My kids love to trade. They keep their pins on cork boards at home. Before each trip, the three of them decide as a group which pins they are willing to trade. I usually buy a lot from ebay to stock them up. Then, they divide the traders in 3 groups so they each have their own set to trade. They try to trade at least 5 times each day. (They don't always make that goal, DS14 never does, DS11 picks up his slack) They don't really care so much about what they get; they just like the whole trading process. They wouldn't know a valuable or rare pin, but they know enough not to let a little kid trade an expensive pin with them. Two trip backs their greatest trade was for Statler (muppets) They were overjoyed and probably no one else in the whole park would want that pin! They are trying to get the whole set of The Epcot countries Mickey Icons through trading.

They have had some great experiences trading with all different kinds of employees, at resorts, bus stops, shops, custodians...everywhere and other disney guests (although trading between guests seems rare).

Do you ever worry about buying from eBAy and not being able to trade them? Where else do people purchase pins?