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!
Disney started my addiction to pin trading. We were given our first 2 pins for free when we stayed on property. I now have a collecting addiction to all Beauty and the Beast Pins. All 4 of my kids collect pins .As of November 2016 my very first granddaughter started her name is Austyn Belle yes Belle for grandmas favorite princess. We are coming in December for my oldest daughters honeymoon it will be her new husbands first time have already started to buy lots of pins from eBay . That way it’s a lot cheaper because when I was there last time I don’t want to say how much I spent on new pins with the new Beauty and the Beast movie coming out . But they are mine and I will always love them.
This is a fantastic article, although I will say that you will have to be careful about what pins you try and trade if you go the cheap route and buy from eBay or Amazon. It seems like a huge chunk of the article is a bit older and cast members seem to be a bit more selective in catching fake pins. Some more recent reviews on Amazon seem to highlight this.
I used the Amazon seller found in the link here a while ago, and on a few of the pins, my daughter was flat out denied trades because they were so obviously fake to the cast members (and I was more oblivious to quality then). This article leads you to believe that some of the pins in these lots are “scrappers” (which many are), but some are also just blatantly fake and it appears Disney is cracking down on this a bit more. I will say that some of the pins looked perfectly normal too, so it might be luck of the draw.
Although buying in bulk like this is still a great deal even if some are indeed fake, I think it diminishes the hobby and definitely diminishes the quality of pins out there on the trade market, especially since some cast members don’t care or aren’t as discerning. One of the reasons the advise here tells you to get to the park and trade early or around shift changes is because so many guests are trading crap pins, that eventually a cast members lanyard might be all junk.
Part of the problem rests with Disney itself though. They allow the practice, and when the cheaper pins start at $8 or $9, its hard for people to want to part with pins they’ve purchased at Disney properties for a premium, especially if the risk is you might be trading it for a junk pin someone bought off the internet. Their pricing policy allows a cycle that increases the demand for junk pins that people then hope they can trade in for superior quality stuff.
In the end though I have to say the advice in this article is pretty sound, if Disney doesn’t seem to care, why should we? My only real advice would be that if you buy pins at Disney properties, you’re better off buying ones you have no intention of trading, which might be hard for younger children to understand.
Thank you so much for this post!!! I’ve just started to collet pins and had wanted to know the “rules” of trading back when we went in September (2016). But I couldn’t find anything on the Disney World website.
The only people I saw trading with cast members were kids so I didn’t want to ask about it and feel silly. The Green lanyard verses other colors information is really helpful! I will 100% be trading on our honeymoon trip!
Also, when in line with nice kids, hand a cheap trader or two to their parent. Or if someone has a birthday badge. Or for any reason.
Handing out a free pin that costs you less than a buck generates so many smiles, it is a 1000% return.
That’s a great tip–and a really kind way of paying it forward! 🙂
This is an excellent idea!
This happened to us on our last trip & I actually cried. My son & I were trading with a Cast member, specifically looking for Goofy, when a lady walked up and asked if we’d like one of hers. She then said the pin we were offering in exchange was “much too nice” and wished us a magical day. Even the Cast member was shocked by her generosity.
My son started pin trading on our last trip. However, we had a really hard time with the backs falling off while they were on his lanyard and either losing the pin or getting poked by the pin. Has anyone else had this trouble? Is there a different kind of back that can be purchased? We have the black Mickey shaped ones.
Yes, you can buy more stable “permanent” backs at the parks (gold cylinder shaped backs that are tightened with a small, provided, wrench). They won’t come off even if someone tugs on them (I have a friend who displays pins on a backpack and people constantly touch and/or try to remove them when she is not paying attention), downside is that they are time consuming to remove so I would only recommend them for pins you have no intention of trading.
Look for Locking Pin Backs on eBay. They are easier to use than the gold ones (which require a tool) and don’t fall off. Haven’t lost a pin yet.
A couple of caveats though:
We had one break, and we needed pliers to remove it. No harm to the pin at all.
Also, they won’t release, but the fit is less snug than the rubber Mickey ones, so the pins will rotate more freely. Some pins aren’t weighted well, and won’t stay right-side-up, but most have the pin near the top and are fine.
My five year old son loves pin trading. We just found out about it on our last trip to Disney World. While waiting in line for a ride, an extremely friendly couple saw my soon oogling their pins. They were more than happy to give him five of their pins to get him started. After that, my son looked for every cast member with a lanyard to trade with. We’re heading back in September and we just bought about 50 pins on Ebay. He was so excited when they came in the mail. It definitely saved us a ton of money compared to buying them at the park. We each got a lanyard and I’m looking forward to it also.
It has saved us so much money in stuffed animals. Each day, we buy our kids one special pin while we are at the parks and that satisfies their desire for stuff. We buy in bulk ahead of time and we all have so much fun trading in the parks!
Pin trading has been the most wonderful experience for my kids. We purchased our trader sets online prior to our visits, they divided a set of 50 up and then went to town in the parks and hotels.
We have had so many wonderful interactions with cast members as a result of this. My 4 yr old spent 20 minutes with a cast member at the the general store on the boardwalk who pulled out the collection book and helped him see which pins he needed to look for to complete his sets. (For some reason he became obsessed with the character footprint series)
My older son keeps a few lanyards of special event, ride and hotel pins that will not be traded but then has great time trying to track down Muppets and Donald pins. They know whenever they find a good Cheshire Cat pin that they have to get it for me.
This has become a part of the trip that they really look forward to and as a Mom I would much rather spend the time and money on these as souvenirs rather than other items that just create clutter at home.
I agree!! I love the interactions between CMs and my kiddos (last trip they were 5 and 3, and both grew in their confidence taking initiative to ask to see their pins, etc, I was very proud of them!). We use pins we got on eBay for trading and then special pins that we have bought full price (or sets they have traded for- my oldest loves the Duffy pins) we display in a shadow box type frame at home.
My wife and I engaged in a bit of pin trading our last two trips. Both at WDW and on DCL. Had a bit more fun with it on the cruises, as we did a good bit of trading with kids who seemed to really appreciate some of the pins we were willing to trade.
More then that though we like buying a couple of pins to remember each trip. We will typically buy one for the resort we are staying at, and another one or two that will remind us of something we did or just that we like.
I’m not sure I approve of scrappers, as I’d be worried someone trading with me was offering a “fake” pin. :p but then I’m unlikely to do any in-person trading, so it’s not a huge concern.
I’ve collected a number of the “attraction poster” pins, and have covered a vest with them (using the “locking” backs to help them stay on the thick fabric), which has led to some nice compliments at Disneyland (and a couple offers to trade for Haunted Mansion or other hard-to-find pins, which I always quickly rejected, heh).
The thing about scrappers is that 90% (if not more) of the pins on Cast Member lanyards are scrappers. So, if your kids (or you) are wanting to trade pins with Cast Members, you are going to get scrappers. That’s just a fact of pin trading now–or at least pin trading with Cast Members.
It seems silly to me to spend exponentially more on pins from the parks when you’re just going to get scrappers in return. That’s just me, though. I know it’s a controversial topic among hardcore pin traders. (The one party capable of changing this is Disney, and they seem pretty content letting the scrapper market thrive.)
Fair point! Fortunately for me my pin interest is very narrowly focused–and I’ve pretty much filled up my vest anyway–so I can afford to ignore most of the controversy!
We did pins for the first time last week and I didn’t know to buy pins in advance. Each kid (I have 2) got 2 starter sets which was $100 after the AP discount. It just killed me that every trade they made was for a much cheaper pin. The CM lanyards didn’t have pins as nice as the ones for sale in the shops. In the future I’m only going to let them trade with the scrapper pins.
My mom went to Disney a few years back and said that many cast members denied trades. Have the rules changed?
I’m traveling from NYC to Japan in February and doing a day in Disney. I’m probably going to buy pins before I go. Is traveling with them in a carryon a bad Idea? will customs/TSA take them? Im trying to travel without checked luggage.
Tokyo Disney does not allow pin trading at its parks last I checked. So it might not be worth it.
I have found that if I check a bag with pins, I would always get the TSA “we checked your bag” notice and have been asked to open my carryon if pins are in there. Therefore, I just now make a habit to have them in a ziploc bag and pull it out at security, similar to liquids. I’ve never had any checks or security after I started doing that.
However, I average taking 50-100 pins; smaller numbers than that may not need this step.
How do I tell if I have all the pins in a collection of it doesn’t say the numbers on the back?
Has anyone else ordered pins from the ebay link probided for $1 per pin-what did you think?
I bought 100 pins for around $40 and while most were fake pins I don’t care because I will be trading for better ones. They were okay in quality and look real to the untrained eye, so that’s nice =)
Is it me or is any pin with Piglet in it rare? I tried on my last three visits to buy a Piglet pin, but no luck. I love collecting certain characters.
The ebay link you have sends out all fakes but somehow they have 100% positive feedback. I ordered some then did a major inspection and lots of research. All 15 of them were fake. I obviously tried to give negative feedback but it wouldnt let me. Kept saying I needed to enter additional comments…. yet I had filled everything out.
my son is only started pin trading on our Disney cruise. We are going to MNSSH. Will cast members be pin trading at that event?
Hi there,
I am heading to Tokyo Disney Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland in a few weeks, and I was curious if Cast Members pin trade there and if it works the same way it does at Disneyland. I love pin trading at Disneyland.
Have to say that I’m torn on where to buy Disney pins. All of the links you provided for Amazon and Ebay have comments from buyers saying they are scrappers. So that makes me want to buy our pins directly from Disney. But, then when we trade them in the parks with Disney CM’s their lanyards will undoubtedly have scrappers on them from people they’ve already traded with. So do I buy authentic Disney pins and then somehow ask the CM’s to only trade authentic Disney pins with us or do I just buy the scrappers since that’s probably what’s being traded all over the parks anyway? I don’t want to pay full price for pins and then trade them for scrappers and I also don’t want to buy a lot of cheap pins and be a guest that is propagating the scrapper problem… what to do, what to do. 🙁
Love your blog though, It’s given me plenty of great tips for our upcoming trip!
By recent estimates, 50% or more of the pins on Cast Member lanyards are scrappers. Most of the time, a Cast Member isn’t going to know which pins are scrappers, so I don’t think asking them is realistic, either. You could inspect the pins yourself and not trade ones that look like scrappers (so long as you can tell the difference) though.
I am wondering what the best type of lanyard would be to buy? The one with the card display or the pouch? We will have the disney bands, does that mean we won’t need to display a ticket?
My very first pin came from an amazing kid who saw my 1st visit badge and handed me a pin. I tried to explain that I didn’t have anything to trade and he said “That’s ok. I just wanted you to have a great day!”
Pin traders are really great people!
How do you get a 1st visit badge
Go to city hall on Main Street
That is just amazing. That’s why I [L°o°\V/E Disney!!