Everything You Need to Know About Pin Trading at Disney
On your last Disney World trip, you may have seen little kids (or even adults) wearing lanyards filled with pins. Or you may have seen a board filled with pins behind the register while you were checking out at a gift shop. Or you may have heard of pin trading. But what is it?
What is PIN TRADING?
Disney Pin Trading started as a part of the Millennium celebration (remember Y2K?) at Disney World and Disneyland. Cast Members were given lanyards of pins to trade with guests in the parks, and pins were produced and sold in merchandise locations across the parks. Since then, it has exploded as a hobby, it can be seen at all the Disney parks across the globe and the cruise line, and has even created Facebook groups and unofficial pin trading events.
HOW DO I PIN TRADE?
To pin trade, you approach a Cast Member wearing a lanyard or pin board and take a look. If you see something you like, you grab a pin you would like to trade from your collection and trade for it. Simple as that.
There are some rules, though (and these are dependent on the cast member):
You can only trade two pins per guest per Cast Member a day
You can only trade Disney pins (sorry, no Harry Potter or non-Disney pins)
If the Cast Member or the board already has that pin, you need to trade them for one they do not have.
You can technically trade the © Disney pins or lounge fly pins at the parks, but that is at the discretion of the Cast Member.
Pin trading with a Cast Member at a gift shop in Animal Kingdom. Most park gift shops will have a pin trading board. If you don’t see one, ask a Cast Member working at the gift shop.
Pin trading board at the Animal Kingdom Lodge front desk. Most Disney resorts will have a board for pin trading at the front desk, but you might need to ask a Cast Member to bring it out.
Where can I buy pins?
Disney sells pins at most merchandise locations. You can find pins you like based on your favorite characters or attractions and decide to keep those for your personal collection. You can also purchase pins you would like to trade. My recommendation is to buy a starter lanyard or mystery bag. These are usually the most bang for your buck as individual pins start at $10 a pin versus mystery park or started set pins are $6 - $8 a pin.
If you are headed to Disney World, there are also the Character Warehouses (Disney parks outlets) in Orlando. They sell discontinued merchandise at a heavy discount. You can also find pins for $4 or $5 dollars there, and those pins make great park traders!
ShopDisney also sells pins. I like to wait until they are running their sales to stock up on trading pins, and if you time it right, you can find pins for as low as $3 a pin, which is the perfect price for traders!
A word of caution. There are pin lots or bundles on eBay and Amazon (the telltale sign of them is they come in little Ziploc bags with a red line at the top). These lots usually advertise 25 pins for $25 (which sounds great right when pins at the parks are $8 - $13 a pop sometimes). If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. These are usually fake or scrapper pins which are pins that did not pass quality control at the Disney factories, or molds that were stolen from the trash at factories and used to produce lower-quality pins. Please do not purchase these lots; they only add to the problem of fake and scrapper pins at the parks. The only way to ensure your pins are authentic is to buy straight from Disney Parks or Disney outlets.
Throughout the Disney parks and resorts you’ll find pins in gift shops.
Gift shops also sell maps, bags, lanyards, etc. to store your pins in.
Common Pin Trading Acronyms
OE - Open Edition: These pins have been sold in the parks for several years and produced in mass quantities.
LE - Limited Edition: These are limited to a certain quantity, i.e., 500, 1000, etc. Only that number is made, making these pins a little more rare.
LR - Limited Release: These pins are only made for a certain time. So the Festival of the Arts pins is only out during that festival, making them a limited release pin.
Cast Lanyard/Lanyard/Hidden Mickey/Hidden Disney: These pins are given just to cast members to trade, although, over the years, you have been able to purchase some in the parks.
Fantasy Pins: These are pins made by fans in the Disney community based on their favorite movies or attractions. They are not licensed by Disney and cannot be traded in the parks.
AP/PP - Artist Proof or Pre-Production: The first proofs of pins before Disney mass produces them. These are hard to come by and usually, can only be found at the official pin trading events Disney hosts throughout the year.
Scrappers: A word used for lower-quality pins that did not pass Disney’s quality assurance checks or were produced without Disney’s consent (different than fantasy pins as these look like pins you can find in the parks).
These pins are lower quality and either did not pass quality checks or were produced without Disney’s consent. The telltale signs of these pins are borders in the Mickey pattern in the back, having no nubs in the back of the pin, chips or dips in the paint, the color is off (i.e., Tinkerbell being tan instead of pale), and a lighter feel to the pin. These are not all the signs but the most common.
WDI - Walt Disney Imagineering: Walt Disney Imagineering Pins are the cream of the crop. Usually LE of 250 and highly sought after in the pin trading community
DEC - Disney Employee Center: These pins are also usually LE of 250 and hard to come by, which makes them rarer and sought after.
DSSH - Disney Studio Store Hollywood: Disney has a store in Hollywood next to the El Captain Theatre. You can find everything from open-edition Hollywood-themed pins to limited-edition ice cream-themed pins here.
There are way more acronyms in the community, but the above are the ones that are used the most often!
Pin Trading After Your Vacation
If you have the pin trading bug after your vacation, several groups on Facebook do pin trading online. I am a part of several of them, but I am not endorsing any of them. As with anything online, use your best judgment and proceed with caution.
I can go on and on about this topic on things like buying pins online, packaging pins, storing your pins, etc. I have a collection that’s probably worth 30K, and I have been pin trading for the better part of the last 20 years, but you get the gist.
Let us know if you have any pin trading questions, and I would happily answer them!
Happy Pin Trading!
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Frances Sherlock
Shoreline Destinations Disney World contributor
Blog by: Frances Sherlock
Frances is an Orlando local who visits the Disney Parks weekly. She is a Disney College Program alum and a former Disney Store Cast Member. Frances is also an avid Disney pin trader and she and her fiancé enjoy trying new restaurants on Disney properties.
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