Disney Pin Trading Tips
Pin trading is a popular thing to do at Walt Disney World. It’s a fun way for kids to interact with Cast Members, collect souvenirs of favorite characters, rides, and more. This guide offers money-saving tips & tricks, offering a great entry point to trade without breaking the bank. (Updated March 22, 2024.)
Let’s start with a bit of background. Disney Pin Trading began during the Millennium Celebration. Since then, Disney Pins have become easily the most popular merchandise and collectibles in all of Walt Disney World (and beyond–pin trading is also now popular at Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, etc.) with the possible exception of Vinylmations, which are now rising in popularity.
While some fervent Disney fans scorn Pin Trading (presumably because they oppose good, clean fun), there is no doubt that Pin Trading has been embraced wholeheartedly by the general public and by legions of Disney collectors.
One downside to Pin Trading is that it can be very expensive, as individual pin prices start at $8.99 and only go up from there! When we first started Disney Pin Trading, it was relatively inexpensive. It can be super expensive if you are serious about collecting.
Let’s take a look at what you can do to maximize your Disney pin trading enjoyment!
Disney Pin Trading Tips
Pin Trading is relatively simple in practice: guests interested in the hobby and Cast Members stationed at pin boards trade. While Disney itself allows trading between guests, this is quite uncommon in practice. At present, Cast Members who trade are typically stationed by pin boards found in or outside gift shops and various locations around Walt Disney World.
One way to get the best pins is to trade early. Look for Cast Members by pin boards in the morning as they tend to have “fresh” pins. These pins get picked over during the course of the day (they are often replenished at shift changes), so your best bet is to trade early or hope to get lucky later in the day.
Cast Members are trading pins provided to them by Disney and they will accept whatever trades are offered to them regardless of whether it’s “fair” from the perspective of value.
The good news is that we have another update on pin trading protocol for 2024: Disney Parks has announced on social media that Cast Member-to-guest Pin Trading officially returns to all of Walt Disney World on April 7, 2024.
This follows an update last November that brought Cast-to-guest pin trading back to Disney Springs. Starting next month, it extends to all of Walt Disney World.
Here’s the original announcement of the return of direct pin trading: “Keep an eye out for cast with accessories such as lanyards and pin boards, and ask them how you can join in the Disney pin trading fun. We know just how much our fans have been looking forward to the full return of this beloved tradition of Disney pin trading and can’t wait for this pin-teractive activity to come back to even more merchandise locations across Walt Disney World in 2024.”
In case you don’t follow pin trading closely, the big development here is the return of proper lanyards. Up until now, it’s been pin boards for the last couple of years, with some Cast Members having little badges of pins on their waists. This marks the first return of neck lanyards for pin trading since March 2020!
In addition to trading pins with Cast Members, there are also some “professional” pin traders, but they’re far less common than in years past. From a value perspective, you are always going to save so much more money by purchasing pins in lots on Amazon before your vacation, so we don’t even recommend approaching these “professional” pin traders.
Beyond that, we think they sort of take the fun out of it. Pin trading is great if it’s with Cast Members or even other fans who are casual about it, but many of these pros take a no nonsense approach that’s abrasive and off-putting for pin trading newbies.
It’s unfortunate that a few bad apples give the hobby a bad name, and by no means is every guest who may ask you about trading in Walt Disney World doing it with negative intentions. Nevertheless, you might want to think twice about trades with guests with binders full of pins, as too many of them are overly serious and not particularly fun.
With that said, most regular guests who randomly ask you about trading have no such ill motives–it’s only the super hardcore who bring colossal collections into the parks who can be rude and condescending. While we recommend trading primarily with Cast Members, trades with other guests can be fun and a great way to interact with your fellow guests–most of whom share a common interest in Disney!
Common Types of Disney Pins
One of the fun aspects of Pin Trading is that there are so many pins (if you’re a completionist, this can be a drawback). This means that you can go for certain categories of pins (my favorite are pins with the Epcot character “Figment” on them), and there will be plenty of different pins within that category for you to collect. Some fun options include:
- Hidden Mickeys (These are semi-common pins with small mickey heads hidden on them that are available in a series that are unique because they’re not available for sale in stores, and can only be found with Cast Members)
- Characters (Choose your favorite character and trade for as many pins containing that character as you can)
- Series (These are groups of ~4-8 pins that have a similar theme but are substantively different)
- Retro Disney (Pins featuring Disney attractions, characters, and films from years past)
These are just the basic common categories. There are tons of specific series, including ones that are only available to Annual Passholders, Disney Visa Cardholders, and LE Pins for special events. There are even pins made specifically for special pin trading events! The number of Disney pins available is quite mind boggling!
Pin Trading Controversies
If you buy pins from third party sellers, the pins you purchase might be “scrappers.” We think of these as being like factory seconds or production overruns, which is essentially what they are. Hardcore pin traders view them as bootlegs or counterfeits, and not worthy of being added to their collections.
However, all Cast Members accept scrappers for trades. Walt Disney World had no official policy against scrappers, and the pin trading boards you encounter around the parks and resorts usually have scrappers on them. Nevertheless, we advise against purchasing scrappers like the large lots you’ll find on Amazon or eBay for $1 to $2 per pin or so. Although they’re significantly cheaper than the real deal, they are fake. Just like we don’t recommend buying bootleg mouse ears, we don’t recommend scrappers.
Scrappers are controversial with hardcore Disney Pin Trading fans, and you’ll see many complaints about them in the comments below. Scrappers exist because Disney produces pins at factories that are known for producing overruns and counterfeit items. If Disney wanted to put an end to scrappers, they could easily do so by producing the pins elsewhere. Disney has made a business decision to allow them to continue, likely because moving production would cost more money and would be bad for business. Regardless, we do not recommend rolling the dice on scrappers. It’s simply not worth the savings.
Using Disney Pins?
If you’re collecting Disney Pins, you probably know what you want to do with them. You have cases or some method of displaying them. Of course, if you already collect pins, you probably don’t need an article like this introducing the hobby of pin trading to you.
However, if you’re a novice or a parent who is contemplating buying some pins for a souvenir, you might wonder just what you can do with Disney pins. Unlike shirts, hats, or other souvenirs you can wear, although you can wear pins around on a lanyard or hat, most people don’t actually wear lanyards full of pins in the real world. So pins might seem to have less practical purpose than other souvenirs you can buy at Walt Disney World.
However, we’ve found a great use for Disney pins, and that’s pin boards. Move over, Pinterest, because these are real life pin boards that you can hang up around the house. The boards can serve a practical purpose (such as posting notes or messages) or can be purely for novelty or fun.
Pins are great for dressing up these boards, and are a great way to display them. All you need are pins and a cheap tack board. We use our pin board for fun, pinning Disney countdown calendars, old park tickets, and other paper goods we’ve collected from the parks. It’s a great reminder of your Disney trip and great way to look forward to the next one! There are plenty of potential unorthodox uses for pins besides just storing them in boxes or cases, so get creative.
Our Disney Pin Trading Story
We were once avid pin traders. Pin trading allowed us to interact with more Cast Members than we ever did prior to trading, we’ve had more fun hunting pins than Hidden Mickeys on attractions, and it even got us selected as the “family” of the day in the Jammin’ Jungle Parade!
Moreover, I have found that pin designs are by far the most unique merchandise in all of WDW (extinct attractions, attraction anniversaries, rare characters, you name it). If you do it right, it’s an incredibly cheap hobby, and it provides you with cheap souvenirs, especially in comparison to those costly and large Big Figs I had been collecting.
The size of the pins is a big deal for us. We love to collect things, but if we continued to accumulate large items at our pre-Pin Trading pace, we would have needed to invest in a large warehouse to store everything. I have boxes upon boxes (we have storage rooms reminiscent of Citizen Kane or Raiders of the Lost Ark) bursting with Disney items that are just waiting to be unleashed, upon our future home. In this regard, especially, pin trading has been a good hobby, as our entire collection can be condensed into just a shoe box!
That said, we haven’t become nearly as addicted to Disney Pin Trading as many others have; it can become just as expensive and space-consuming as collecting other Disney pieces, as Disney churns out tons of pins on a monthly basis all with varying price points, designs and edition sizes to satiate all of those interested in Pin Trading.
We pretty much stopped buying new pins once we had enough to fill our pin board, as we didn’t want to pins in boxes and not look at them for years. Disney Pin Trading has become so popular that Disney holds special conventions dedicated to Pin Trading each year, and even a few websites devoted to following the Disney Pins exist.
While you certainly don’t have to become so invested in the hobby that you have thousands of pins, sometimes it’s difficult to resist. I’ve heard of many unassuming Disney fans getting hooked and spending substantial amounts of money on the hobby. So, be warned. But if it’s something you end up enjoying a lot and it isn’t really “dangerous,” do you really need a “warning”?
Ultimately, if you commit to only buying a limited number of pins to trade, and stick to that plan, you can have fun without getting hooked. You’ll also spend a lot less money on souvenirs and it will enhance your Walt Disney World or Disneyland vacation as pin trading is almost like an interactive game!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
What do you think of Disney Pin Trading? Are you a fan of it or not? If so, which pins are your favorites? What are your Pin Trading tips? Do you buy the lots on Amazon or eBay for you or your kids to trade on vacation? Let us know your thoughts or questions in the comments!
I have bought packaged sets of pins on eBay that appear to be authentic. They are much different than the mixed scrapper sets I bought before understanding what they were. The packaged sets pins seem like they were likely unsold/outlet. The metal is thicker like retail pins. These make great trading pins although many are so nice you might not want to trade them.
I’d like more details on how to tell if a pin is a scrapper. We have tons of pins; the backs all have the logo that supposedly means it’s legit and they all have the mouse ears pin back, many have the “waffle” or sandblast back, and the enamel and weight seems uniform, but I see some of you on here saying things like all day in the parks, you only found one “real” pin. Saying it “looks a little off” doesn’t really tell us anything. So what should we look for, besides the things I listed here?
Personally, we only trade real pins that I purchase. You can watch shopdisney.com closely for sale pins and if you are a DisneyVisa card holder, D23 member, or annual pass holder, you can often get additional discounts. I can frequently buy pins for about $2 per pin this way. They are often in multi-pin sets, but when you do the math they are about $2/pin, so $6-$10 per pin set ( 3-5 pins/set). I will buy multiple sets of the same pins. So, I now have quite a variety to give my kids to trade when we go on Disney vacations. I do this for other guests because it is a real treasure when you find a “real” pin on the board. It is also exciting to see something different than the same 10 scrappers/fakes (to me they are the same) over and over again on the boards.
My 15 year old is savvy and knows the difference between a pin purchased in a large lot from Amazon or Ebay and a real pin. She will only trade her real pins for other real pins. Often times she will only find 1 real pin during a day at the parks. That is ok for her because it is truly a “hunt” for a decent pin. And she enjoys that. Occasionally, she will find a scrapper/fake she likes in spite of knowing it is a crappy pin and she will trade one of her scrappers/fakes that she has gotten previously from a board.
My 6 year old, on the other hand, just trades for whatever he likes and that is ok. So he gives up his real pins for scrappers/fakes. As long as I didn’t pay more than $2-3 for the pin in the first place, I am ok with it. But I will not supply him with scrappers/fakes from Ebay/Amazon out of principle.
Once you start pin trading and find that each board and each lanyard has the same scrappers/fakes over and over again, you will see how frustrating and not exciting it can be.
It takes some time on shopdisney to find the deals, but they are there! Character Warehouse also has discounted pins often for $3/pin.
I encourage people to try this approach to add to the “magic”.
Great run down on pin trading, and I’m so pleased to see it making a comeback, but I’m not sure Vinylmations are still rising in popularity, as suggested in the second paragraph?
We are visiting 3/31/24 through 4/6/24 – does that mean there is NO pin trading at MK while we are there? TIA
Sheri P, there is definitely pin trading there, just not from lanyards. Ask at a shop counter to see their pinboard. We traded pins with shop pinboards on our last trips in Jan and March, no problem.
Thank you so much!
Not too long ago I got a pin from ShopDisney that had a defect. If I showed it to you, you would say it is a scrapper. It was not. Scrappers are hard to determine. And if they are made at an official Disney factory, they are not fake, just flawed. Pins have gotten super expensive. If we don’t buy those cheap lots on ebay, what are we supposed to trade with cast members? $12 pins we got at the store? I think not.
Just wanted to share some perspectives on the psychology of pins and why it benefits Disney from a financial perspective to allow guests to take part in what amounts to a multi-day scavenger hunt. No one is trying to push these scrapper pins as original high-quality entities. This isn’t like counterfeit money. It is very obvious that all of the boards are filled with scrappers (even though they have Disney imprints and mickey eared backs), and that the quality of the pins for sale in the parks are exponentially of higher quality. People happy about pin discoveries will tell people about pins and convey that Disneyworld is a great place to pay to go to. The more activities that distract guests from crowds and wait times, the more positive the experience will be. Why go around Animal Kingdom or Epcot for stamps and stickers when you can take a more substantial and interactive souvenir home? There is also a sense of adventure, magic, and self-efficacy when walking up to a board and seeing exactly the pin you were hoping for. The pins hold power and memory, something tangible to hold and admire for the pilgrimage that Disney represents from a symbolic perspective. It is about the characters and timeless narratives that we associate with Disneyworld.
We purchase at least a hundred bulk pins on e-bay and in our countdown to leaving we put them in a mystery box and pick a few a day. Not only does this increase our excitement about any upcoming trip, but in Disney allowing us to do so it actually makes us more likely to spend money in the parks. The happier guests are, the more money they will spend in parks and in future visits on pins and everything else. We went to resorts and shops that we never would have stepped into were it not for the pin hunting. We keep the ones we like and bring the rest to the parks. If we hadn’t started buying the ebay pins and trading, we wouldn’t have any interest at all at buying in-park pins. With high-quality pins going for $15 and upwards, we actually tend to buy a hundred dollars worth of pins in the parks because they ARE so much better than the pinboard pins. It is more enticing to buy the in-park pins because we feel like we are buying exactly what you want and getting something truly special. Many of them have moving parts and more rare characters. As far as some of the discrepancies in writing, Tom does his best to present a balanced view of Disney issues and policies, so this accounts for some of the ambiguity. It wouldn’t be a financially viable pursuit if Disney saw him as suggesting things that were strictly prohibited. This is not a reddit thread, this is a very particular type of blog.
Great points, all around.
And for what it’s worth, I’ll resume actively recommend scrappers in a few months if Disney doesn’t actually do anything. I’m definitely not going to encourage breaking rules (implicit or explicit), but if they don’t clarify or strengthen the policy on pins (and I suspect they won’t), I don’t see any reason not to recommend scrappers.
You do an excellent job explaining why the controversy is so dumb in the first place. I think some of the diehard traders are missing the forest for the trees on this issue. More kids (and adults, for that matter) get into pin trading when it’s more accessible. Isn’t people getting into the hobby a GOOD thing? Today’s scrapper-trading 10 year old could be tomorrow’s serious collector. That doesn’t happen if the hobby is cost-prohibitive for most guests.
Well said!
How canDianne HD I tell if a pin is a scrapper ?
The pin might just seem “off” somehow. You can also check the back of a genuine pin and compare it to a scrapper; you’ll see the differences.