My favourite topic when discussing Disney. If a Disney vacation is a bowl of ice cream, pin trading is adding in the hot fudge and sprinkles.
I still remember researching online for our first trip and coming across a small article relating to pin trading. I was intrigued. It talked about the fun of collecting and trading disney pins for other disney pins. I dug a little more and found the disney's site of pin trading rules and etiquette (http://eventservices.disney.go.com/pintrading/page?id=getStarted). It sounded like fun.
I decided to buy 60 pins from an online store and thought we would give it a try. Considering our children were five and three, and barely talked to family let alone someone they didn't know, sixty pins seemed to be alot. I was wrong. They lasted two days, and the rest of the vacation was spent deciding on which pins we would keep and which ones we would retrade.
The biggest surprises were (1) the three year old had a full understanding of pin trading within the first hour in the parks, (2) the number of employees (the majority) were pin trading throughout the park (Florida), (3) the reduction of souvineer requests as the kids were busy trading pins rather than mulling through the shops, (4) the time spent by the Disney staff when trading pins with the kids and (5) instead of down time (waiting for rides, waiting on food), it is now filled with pin hunting.
Since our first trip, our pin collection has grown substantially (approximately 1200 pins) and pin trading is now a staple of our vacations.
Tip: From our experience the best place to purchase pins for trading is through E-bay. Stay away from buying a few pins here and there and purchase a grab bag of sorts. Remember the key is not what DISNEY pins you are buying since the goal is to trade them at the Parks. A fair price to pay is about $1.00 a pin (including shipping).
Tip: I would also recommend having at least 25 pins person who will be trading.
