Pin Trading: Not Just At Disney

With my husband occupied with work, I bundled up my three-year old-daughter and decided to give this whole Olympics thing a try. We hopped on a bus and headed up to Main Street, Park City (only a few miles from our home at the time). The Olympic mascots were parading up and down the street, everyone was decked out in Roots gear, and there were jugglers, live music, food, even people carrying hot chocolate dispensers on their backs! Not the Main Street I had frequented for the last 10 years.

I was soon drawn to a colorful, lively display outside an enormous tent put together by Coca-Cola. Inside, little groups gathered around tables, a nice place to have a Coke but it didn't seem there was much else to it, until we looked closer. Everyone was carrying or wearing felt squares, bandanas, hats, scarves -– all filled with pins. My daughter and I moved in to get a feel for what was going on. Ah ha! Pin trading!

On our next trip up to Main Street our pins were neatly organized, tucked away in the fanny pack and ready to trade. First step, learning pin trading etiquette:

- Never interrupt a trade

- Never feel bad if the person you ask to trade says no

- Always ask where the trader is from and chat a bit

- Always offer up extra pins to people who are new to pin trading and explain to them how to get started.

Second step, learn what pins are "in." The current Olympic pins are the hottest items. Pins from the last Olympics are "out." The FBI, CIA, local police and fire all have their own pins and these are hard to come by. To me they may as well be Olympic Gold!

By the end of the week I had recruited my best friend into the hunt for pins and our target was law enforcement. On our quest, we met hundreds of fascinating people. (My best friend beat me out by collecting 7 CIA, FBI and law enforcement pins. I got five and yes, I did find time to go to many amazing Olympic events as well!) My three year old daughter also got into the action and learned how to say hello in many languages. Pin trading opened the door for conversations that would surely have otherwise been missed; a man at his third Olympic games here to watch his daughter compete, a surly CIA agent from Pennsylvania watching out for our safety, a talkative family from my hometown in New Jersey. It was wonderful!

Though the treasure hunt to find the best pins, especially security ones, was an absolute addiction, I was mostly attracted to pin trading as a conversation starter. Both children and adults, especially those from many different cultures, were now meeting and exchanging stories. This is what the Olympic Games are all about!

Pin Trading Lanyard
Example of Disney Pin Lanyard - photo by Belle*

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Of course, there is the commercial aspect to pin trading both at the Olympics and Disney. Pins are expensive and starting even a small collection can cost big bucks. I recommend purchasing some pins on eBay before you leave for your Disney trip. It's best to buy pins that you won't become attached to (avoid your favorite character) and make sure that they are official Disney pins so that you can trade with park employees. (Look for the Disney logo on the back of the pin.) Beware of bulk pins, however, which make be fakes.

You don't need many pins; our total collection consists of about 15 pins. What differs from the Olympics is that Disney park employees (cast members) always say yes to a pin trade as long as you are trading an official Disney pin. If your child wants one of the pins on a cast member's lanyard it will always be exchanged for whatever Disney pin you offer, no haggling. One park employee searched for a pin for my daughter because he knew she was looking for Simba. He tracked us down in the parade crowd to give it to her! Magic!

Each year we choose a pin trading theme. On our last visit it was The Incredibles and our quest was to collect all of the characters. This year my now seven year old has decided to change the theme and trade out The Incredibles for anything to do with horses or dinosaurs. That should be a challenge! It may be hard for me to give up Edna Mode but I can always get her back next year.

I encourage my children to go beyond a quick trade and start a conversation with the cast member or fellow trader -- it's a wonderful way for kids to learn the art of conversation, manners and as an added bonus the ability to recognize who to go to if they are ever lost. Pin trading also gets the whole gang to slow down and look beyond the next ride and explore more of the magic of Disney!

Tip: Carry Pins and Bottles
Instead of buying the expensive pin lanyards, we bought beverage bottle lanyards to put our sons' pins on. They have their pins to trade and can carry a bottle of water, too. Also, since my youngest son was smaller, we tied a loop of the lanyard behind his neck to shorten it -- that is until he had too many pins to fit and we had to lengthen it to fit more! - tip contributed by Tami
Save This Tip

Official Disney Trading Pin
Example of official Disney Trading Pin - photo by Belle*

About the Author: Justine works in education, has two outgoing daughters and looks forward to spending a week in Disney each spring!

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Reader Comments:

Does anyone know....Can the pins you purchase from DisneyDirect.com be used to trade at WDW? I see the pin sale is going on and I was thinking of buying some to trade on our upcoming trip.

     luv2sail on August 21, 2006 @ 8:46 pm

They look like they should be okay. They have to be enamel cloisonne pins, with the Disney copyright stamped on the back. Here is a link to Disney pin trading etiquette that may be helpful:

http://eventservices.disney.go.com/files/Etiquette122004.pdf


and the official pin trading site:

http://eventservices.disney.go.com/pintrading/index

     DyanKJ130 on August 21, 2006 @ 8:56 pm

I would imagine some folks might not be too picky about their pins, JMO.
noreen

     DogLady on August 21, 2006 @ 10:26 pm

The Disney Direct pins are fine -- if they have any left. I have a friend who is an avid pin trader and always uses the Disney Direct sale to stock up on her trading inventory

     Carousel96 on August 22, 2006 @ 9:37 am

although, unless the disney guidelines have changed, they actually don't have to be official disney pins (although you may run into some trouble if they aren't). i believe the rules specifically state the design must be representative of disney characters and/or related to the WDW resort in some manner. i'm paraphrasing of course.

     bradk on August 22, 2006 @ 10:21 am

Pins from DisneyDirect.com are official pins, acceptable for trade. DisneyDirect is part of the Disney organization. Just don't be surprised if the bargain pins you get there are not of much interest to serious pin traders, since those folks are very much aware of what pins are being liquidated by Disney.

However, bargain pins are great for trading with CMs, since they're obligated to accept any legitimate Disney pin. It's a good way to trade up, even if you're trading up to a basic, $6.95 "rack" pin. Lots of folks use this strategy, though, so when pins are being liquidated, you suddenly see a whole lot of those pins hanging from cast lanyards (following a trade).

There's a basic distinction between trading with CMs, who are obligated to trade, and trading with fellow guests.

CMs, since they're required to accept any legitimate Disney pin, will look for the Disney copyright stamped on the back of all official Disney pins. Yeah, sometimes they don't bother to look, and there are also some counterfeit pins floating around out there (even counterfeits can have a false copyright stamped on them).

Disney does not police trading between guests. If you want to try trading Olympics pins, pins representing your hometown or home state, PassPorter pins (we've produced several over the years) or even Warner Brothers characters (heaven forbid!), that's between you and the other guest.

     Dave Marx on August 22, 2006 @ 2:33 pm

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Updated 03-14-2011 - Article #601 

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