What are Disney Pins?
Today I’m going to start a new segment called (drum roll please) PINS!!!
Disney does this neat little thing called “Pin Trading” This is exactly what it sounds like Disney makes these “Pins” and you “Trade” them! All around the world in Disney Paris, Disneyland, Disney World, every one of them has stores and in those stores are pins, special Disney pins. People buy these pins and trade them with many different people; you can trade these pins with Cast Members (Cast Members means Disney workers) Random people you see in buss stops, or friends and family.
On the back of each pin there is the official Pin Trading stamp, which is a Mickey head with a ribbon across it saying “Official Pin Trading” plus the year the pin came out. A close friend of mine told me how I can tell if the pin I just traded for is an Official Disney Pin or a fake. The way you can tell is to flip your pin over and hold it up and look at if from the side. If you see a surface that looks bumpy or looks like it is covered with millions of little dots then it is an Official Disney pin but if it does not then it’s a fraud. If you did this little trick and still can’t figure it out then ask a Cast Member or simply some one you know who likes to trade.
There are so many different types of pins I’m not just talking a Winnie the Poo pin or a Snow White pin (well that to) but I mean types as in a Disney Store pin or a Cast Lanyard Pin and what’s the value of each. If you want to go and trade with one of the "big time" pin traders, that have thousand of pins you need to know what your asking for, if you want to trade your Tinker Bell cast Lanyard for a limited addition Mickey Mouse pin there gonna say a flat out “No”. Why you might ask? Because this isn’t a FAIR trade you would be getting an awesome pin that is very rare but the other person would be getting a pin that he/she could find any where. Now if you were to trade a Cast Lanyard pin for a Disney Store pin that would make a pretty even trade. Some times you have to give 2 pins for one you really want or the other way around.
Cast Lanyard Pin: A Cast Lanyard pin is a pretty neat little pin Disney has created a pin that no one can purchase ANY WHERE the only way to get it is by trade. The way that you can tell if this pin is a special Cast Lanyard pin is looking for a little Mickey head or what Disney calls them HIDDEN MICKEYS if a pin has a silver HIDDEN MICKEY then it’s a Cast Lanyard pin. Ever morning new Cast Lanyard pins are introduced to the public. But remember a Cast Lanyard pin is only found on a Cast Members Lanyard and they are NOT limited addition.
Disney Store Pins: Disney Store Pins are only found IN a Disney store on the back of this pin you will se Disney Store printed on it.
Special Addition: Most Special Addition pins come from special thing you do if you go to Illuminations you get a special pin that only people that go to that dinner can receive. Or if you go to a special Pin Trading Event you can purchase pins there, that only a certain amounts were made (example 750 pins were made of Tiger with a yellow flower). These pins you have to be careful with, and what you trade for. Don’t trade you Chip n’ Dale 100 pin for a Sleeping Beauty Cast Lanyard pin that’s a rip off on you’re side!
Pin Sets: For Cast Lanyard pins and others there are sets with a certain amount of that type of pin in that certain set. With a HIDDEN MICKEY pin most of them are in sets if you turn the pin over under the Official Disney stamp there will be a number (example 4 of 6) then you know what pin number you have and how many are in the set. This can help you decide weather or not you want this entire set or just that one pin.
Where to buy pins? If you want to go out and buy pins there about $ 6.00 per pin, so be careful the best way to buy pins (if you want them brand new) is to buy them in sets but don’t buy a set of pins that you like then you get attached to them and wont trade them! Buy pins that you don’t like that way there is no attachments. One of the cheapest way to buy pins is in lots on E-bay. This can get crazy don’t ever bid more then what it is worth, if you are buying a set of 10 pins don’t pay $ 30.00. Remember that each Disney Pin is six dollars so add it up is this pin worth it or not? If you do bid on an item be on E-bay a half hour before the bid ends that way if some one bids you up by 10 cents you can go higher BE CARFUL DON’T GO CRAZY AND GO OVER YOU BUGET!
Where Can I Trade? Cast Members are every where in every Park, in ever Resort, in ever Water Park, and in Down Town Disney, in Orlando air ports, in Disney Stores, EVERY WHERE!
Disney has a website called DizPinz.com where you can go and check out the latest pin that just came out that month or special Pin Trading Events it’s a great place to look at new pins.
Trading On Line? There is this website called PinPics.com where you can go through list of pins and find the ones you have and put them up on line as you’re TRADES, WANTS, and COLLECTION, then people can ask you over E-mail if you want to trade so and so pin for so and so pin. There are safe ways to do this go to DizPinz.com and click on “Reference Center” then click on “Check Reference” then type in the E-mail of the person who offered you the trade if there are references then this means people are please with this person and the trade. The way you receive pins from on line trades is though mail. Make sure if you make a good trade to leave a good reference.
The number one thing you have to remember about Pin Trading is to have fun! Sure you can go and become one of those big time pin traders but the main point is to have fun and at the end of you Disney trip you are satisfied with what you have.
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