trading pins

[1204]

We will be staying @ OKW and I understand that you get 2 lanyards and 2 trading pins (one for each lanyard). I would like to know if everyone starts off with the same pin? Also if you dont start off with the same pin do you get to pick your own pin? I have one more question where inside WDW can you get more trading pins for the cheapest price? Thanks for your help
1204 and her daughter!

 

[JoNo]

Ah, the great sport of pin trading! Some consider it more of a sport than others, but it's still fun! When you said you are getting lanyards, where are you picking them up from? you can get them throughout the park with different pins on them. The best place I can personally think of is inside the contemporary on the bottom floor, there's a HUGE pin station there, and you can get pretty much anything you'd like there! Keep an eye out though throughout the park and you'll find little stands with pins that just might not be anywhere else.

a little insider tip is to look at cast members' pins and see what they have. If you see something you like, you can ask them to trade, and by the pin-trading code, they're pretty much obligated to trade with you. You might have to plead a little bit sometimes, but you'll more than likely walk away with what you want.

 

[1204]

We booked a package deal through AAA. We will get 2 lanyards and 2 pins when we check in. We are looking for inexpensive places to purchase more pins at WDW. I also have bid on a couple of sets on e-bay.

 

[JOC]

Check out the Collectors forum on the boards...lots of pin trading advice there.

 

[BevS97]

I think you will get the same pins. when we got pins as part of our package we all got the same one's, as did 1000's of other people.

The CM's will trade anything with you as long as they don't already have that pin on their lanyard. This is so that they don't end up with a lanyard full of identical pins.

We bought quite a few pins at the Character Warehouse which is at the Premium Outlet mall, they are older pins (I assume) and were cheaper. The pins throughout WDW are the same price depending on style, I think they start at around $6.

Bev

 

[becka]

OK let me see if I can help you with this one. I have about 25 pins or so in my pin collection but DH started collecting on our first trip in 1999 and he now has several hundred and spends hours pin collecting on each trip.

We started our collection out by buying 10 pins at our local Disney store before our trip since the Disney store pins are cheaper than the pins you can buy in the parks. Another way that DH gets some of his traders is to buy on E-bay. You can often get several of the "rack pins" on Ebay for cheaper than you could buy them in the parks.


You then put your pins on your lanyard and you can trade with CM's or guests. CM's are required to trade any Disney pin for anything you want on their lanyard...no begging required (One exception was that on our last trip you could not trade a CM for a pin they already have on their lanyard...it used to be that some poor CM's would have 8-9 of the same pin on their lanyards). Guests are not required to trade with you and begging can be involved in those transactions depending on what pin you want. There are a million (well maybe not quite ) different pins for just about everything - characters, resorts, rides, special events, etc.. There are standard "rack pins" that are unlimited in number but there are also limited editions, cast member only pins, etc. The LEs and CM pins are often times more highly prized and you will not see too many of them on CM lanyards.

DH and I are pretty casual pin traders and we just trade for fun. We only collect certain things that are of interest to us. I like Dalmations and Eeyore so I have several of those pins but I also get a pin for each resort we stay at or a pin of a ride we really enjoy, etc. My DH collects Disney mice other than Mickey and Minnie (especially Timothy Mouse but also the Rescuers, Great Mouse Detective, etc.).

I hope this helps. My biggest tip is to just have fun with it. Enjoy the time you spend talking to the CM's while you trade.

Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.

 

[1204]

Thanks a bunch to everyone! This info really helps my daughter and I. We are ready to have a blast with the pin trading! My daughter likes Tinkerbell and dogs so that is what she is looking for in the way of pin trading but my son is not really getting to excited about it yet. Thanks again


______________
Hi ho hi ho to disneylandwe go, it'll be much fun for everyone hi ho hi ho hi ho hi ho

 

[mcnuss]

DD started pin collecting (she does not like to trade much) on our May '01 trip to WDW. She got to pick one pin per day and those are her only sounenirs. We loved it bc it eliminated all the whining for stuff, but it did mean we stopped at every pin station in every park! We did this again in May '02.

We went on the Disney cruise in November '02 and she decided before that she might like to start trading. I was worried that she would not want to trade the pins she had so carefully selected, so on the advice of a friend, I went to eBay and was able to get her about 20 pins as traders. I had never used eBay to that point, so I watched the sales for a few weeks, and then took the plunge. I paid an average of $3 each for them (inc. shipping). They are not "good" pins, but that was not the point. I knew that she would not trade with strangers on the cruise, but figured she would want to trade with CMs and since they have to trade per their rules, the fact that the pins were not "good" would not be a concern.

Anyway, the funny thing is that she did not make a single trade on the cruise, she was too shy. She did end up with 6 new pins (one for each day, same as at WDW) and loves her collection.

 

[JoNo]

A little note though for trading with CM... Keep an eye out for the CMs with CM only pins... Those are the hardest to get ahold of!

 

[JoNo]

Sorry for not posting this earlier, but go here and this will also help out TONS with pins, it even has an area where you can search for pins & such : Dizpins.com

 

[TandyR]

Last year was our first time we planned to pin trade before the trip and I bought a bunch of traders from cheappins.com. At the time they had starter packages of 24 traders for $24 or something like that...it was 2 each of 12 different pins. We kept one each of the couple we liked but used most of them for trading. So you might check cheappins.com, but I haven't seen a deal like that from them in awhile.
BTW both my 6 year old DD and my 3 year old DD love pin trading. DD6 would go to the pin station at WL and would look through the trading book and make trades. She is too shy to go up to a CM to make the trade, but quitely looking through the book worked out really well for her. DD3 just got into Disney pins a couple months ago....of course the year we don't go down...but she has her own pin bag that is like her sister's and a few pins that we picked up between 69 or so cents and a dollar something at The Disney Store and the girls now pretend they are at WDW and trade each other for pins.

 

[Ratpack]

I was also going to recommend www.cheappins.com. They have a set that is 13 pins for 22.22. I got started last year and my thought was to just get a couple and let DD and I try while we were there. One warning, once you start, it will be hard to stop.

 

[Memaw2Wm]

Last summer we rec'd "100 Years of Magic" pins with our reservation and were told that we could trade with CMs to get a different one. But we were/are collector's not traders.

We bought the kids pins to represent things they done at Disney ... like a Pirate Mickey pin for William who'd particapated in the Pirate Cruise at the Grand Floridan. And Fort Wilderness pins b/c we stayed at FW! We also found pins with the kids names!

 

[MaryJ]

A little note though for trading with CM... Keep an eye out for the CMs with CM only pins... Those are the hardest to get ahold of!

How can you recognize which pins are CM only pins? It's not as though there's a book out there that shows you every pin that was ever made. And even if there was, it would be out of date very quickly since new pins are coming out all the time.

 

[frannn]

Do you have to keep your own pins on a lanyard if you want to trade with a CM, or can you keep them in a ziploc? DO they get to choose what they want from your pins, or can you give them whatever pin you want?

 

[TandyR]

What I do and what one of my friend (who is a major pin trader) does is keep our traders in our fanny packs and our special (showy) pins on the lanyard. From what I understand a CM has to take what you offer as long as it is an ok trader has a copywrite Disney on the back and the CM doesn't have the same pin somewhere on their lanyard.

 

[KDawnLily]

In Feb.'03 I started to trade pins. We too booked a Dream Maker Package and received our first lanyard and pins.
My son is a big PUMBA fan(all those bodily noises) and I am a Tigger Nut. Well one CM had a pumba pin and I asked to trade with him for it. He said how about for tigger?
I said sure, as I was taking the pin off I started to giggle saying it was funny how I was trading my fav. char. for my son's..
The CM asked if I knew the tigger song, I did.. "can you sing it?" he asked. I looked around the crowded shop we were in and promptly started to sing... a couple of guests joined in with me and at the end there was applause and the CM smiled and handed over the Pumba pin saying.. you keep that tigger pin for yourself.
Trading pins has now become one of my fav. pasttimes! Hope you get the same enjoyment from it.

 

[cookie2001]

Both of my DDs enjoy pin trading. I bought several pins when they were on sale at the Disney Store and am giving them out as rewards so they will have some traders for our upcoming trip. Reading the last post about the CM and the Tigger song made me think about how we got our first pin. I dropped my DD's hat on the Peter Pan ride and the ride manager went around a couple of times to try and retrieve it. Finally he told us to just go on and he would send it to City Hall when he was able to get it. When we picked up the hat at City Hall it had a Tinkerbell pin on it with a note that he had gotten a little help from Tink. Of course then we had to buy the other DD a pin. And so two new pin traders were born.

 

[JoNo]

Originally posted by MaryJ
How can you recognize which pins are CM only pins? It's not as though there's a book out there that shows you every pin that was ever made.

Well a lot of cast member only pins have (crazily enough) little or nothing to do with disney other than a logo for WDW, DL, etc...

Check this link HERE for always updated info on CM only pins & the like

 

[MaryJ]

I know about pinpics.com and other internet pin sites. However, I don't have a computer with me when I go to the parks. So I guess my question is: How can I get up to date info about CM pins and new releases while I am at WDW without internet access?

Also, I often see pins refered to by number. Where can the number be found? I have looked on the pins themselves, but don't see anything unless they are part of a series (Disney Store, Magical Musical Series, for example.)