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!
Just wondering if you know of a website that would act as a database for pin sets. We purchased some at Downtown Disney last year as well off eBay as you’ve suggested above. Now we’re trying to figure out which pins that we currently own are part of sets and which are worth trading away. Thanks.
Pinpics.com
I am disappointed that you recommended Ebay as a way to get pins. Unless a seller has a pristine feedback record…EBay is NOT the way to go. Recommending Ebay is exactly the reason trading with Cast Members sucks now…all of the lanyards are full of junk pins! This was a rather good article despite the part I disagree with though.
This will be our first time at WDW and it’s a total surprise for my girls (ages 7 & 10)! I wanted to get them some pins so they can trade during our stay (July 2016). We are only doing one day at each park and every day is packed with trying to get it all in. I’m wondering if you had any suggestions for how many pins per day I should start each of them off with? I’m not sure what’s a reasonable amount of trading they’ll do while we’re out there. Thanks for your help!
You can trade as many pins as you are willing to carry. There are actually cool pin bags that can carry 100 or more. Probably best just to fill up a Lanyard with the pins they want to trade though. Careful of pin backs falling off and losing them from the lanyard – another plus for pin bags.
If they really like pin trading, it will be a little disappointing to get 10 pins you are unwilling to part with and not be able to trade any more for most of the day. I recommend a lot of 50 tradeables from eBay for each kid at the least. It sounds like a lot, but when you lay it out, it just doesn’t look like that much.
I loved trading pins at our hotel. We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge, and not only did we have an official Pin Trading kiosk in our lobby, our gift shop cast members and front desk cast had lanyards filled with pins, as well. My family and I learned a lot about the various cast members and where they were from, and we soon found ourselves saying ‘hi’ to all the cast members we had traded with. I fell in love with the rainbow Pascals (the lizard from Tangled), but unfortunately, I couldn’t find any to trade for. We had bought lots on eBay prior to our trip, and I ended up keeping a few, because they were Oswald the Lucky Rabbit-themed. I love the pins, and I even ended up buying a few because they make great souvenirs and gifts.
Can you trade older pins (1990s) now?
Where do I purchase a lanyard prior to my trip? I would like one that has a plastic pouch for ticket to fit in…thanks!
I just bought one for my son from this eBay site. It came a couple days later. They have a bunch to choose from and it does come with a plastic case. I bought one of the Kingdom Hearts ones and my son loves it! http://www.ebay.com/sch/pumpkinandbabycakes/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=
What do the Cast Members do with pins that are traded to them? Since it’s always a 1:1 trade they never run out and yet they get new ones to trade with people. So where do the ones people trade to them go? Just curious.
WDW sells them on e-bay? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That would be the Circle of Life, pin trade style.
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Tom, based on your Tokyo Disney Sea experience, is pin trading an activity in that park? Or is it more of a US park activity. Can you still trade with cast members, etc.
Thanks!
There is no pin trading in Tokyo Disney Sea or Tokyo Disneyland unfortunately. But I’m pretty sure all other worlds have it.
Thanks for all the tips on pin trading. My family is going to Disney World in April and I’d like to buy some pins for trading, how many do you think would be good to start out with?
At least 25. My son and I bought a lot of 25 pins for a trip last year. There will be some you may wanna keep, a few might get lost, and as you start trading you’ll probably end up wanting to keep most of them as well. We didn’t even do much trading, and it seemed we had just enough.
If you have more kids, or plan on doing alot of trading, buy 50+
Love you article ! I collected many pins when I was younger and love them so much that i dont want to trade the ones i have !
I would like to add that it’s just good manners to be polite to the cast member you are trading with. I have witnessed so many rude adults trading pins with people who work for Disney. They just walk up, interrupt the cm when they are talking to another guest and bark “that one”. Just this week at DS I saw a grown woman get very upset with a cm because the guest couldn’t get her own ziplock bag open to get her pin put. Right in the store she was screaming for her husband to come open the bag and glaring and mumbling at the cm. I was embarrassed just watching the whole thing.
Wow, that is really sad. I can’t say I’m too surprised, but you’d think people would be more respectful and polite, especially given that they *want* something from those Cast Members.
Agreed! Back when pin trading first became a big thing my sister was probably around 8 and we did the trading and collected a lot! When we flew home to Buffalo, we noticed her pins weren’t anywhere to be found. What ended up happening was she dropped them in the All-Star Movie lobby and another guest found them and returned them to the front desk. My mom wrote our last names on the lanyards so looked us up, and sent the pins in the mail with another little bonus pin they added on! But I’m sad to say I don’t know if now a days they would be handed in with how greedy I’ve seen some people get at the park. We still have our pins and love them! I am actually using one that my Grandma bought me when I was 12 and we went there, on my wedding bouquet. It’s a gold pin that says Our Wedding on the front then you open the two doors and it has Minnie and Mickey getting married on the inside, since she is no longer with us it’s such a great Disney way to remember her!
hello everyone,
First off, Thank you for this article, it really helps with how to start and what to look at!
I personally am a big fan of disney and would love to try to go for pintrading, but i am not sure yet. there are a couple of things i am worried about that hold me off from pintrading:
– the variety and amount of collectible pins make it hard to choose what to collect f.e.
– living in Europe, the pintrading market is much lower here, i am not even sure i can trade pins with Cast members in Paris..
do you guys have any tips for me?
One thing about pin trading is that it becomes a living souvenir. When I went in 2010 and began trading at that time, I had sets that I started and then completed when my wife and I went back a couple years later for our Honeymoon… of course, at that time I started some new sets, some of which I completed on our most recent trip. And during that trip…
So a pin collection becomes a souvenir that evolves with every new stay at Disney! And that’s awesome.
Great article! Between the article and comments, I now have a good idea of what pin trading is all about. Might have to give this a try on my next trip!
Love the website Tom! Keep up the good work!
I would have to disagree on your analogy of the Pin Sellers. If a person owns a pin they, and only they, get to determine what that pin is worth. The person who wants the pin has to decide if what the owner wants is a fair trade. Sometimes this can mean multiple pins for one higher valued pin. For example, two LE2000 pins for one LE500 pin.
That same owner also knows what it is they want in trade. If the person who wants the pin doesn’t have that item then they will need to acquire it somewhere either thru trading with someone else or by purchasing it from a store or other seller. Once the person goes and buys the desired pin they return to the trading partner. At that point each of them owns a pin that the other wants and it becomes a legitimate trade.
Disney’s ban on selling pins is just like in a store. They do not allow you to outright sell a pin and take money directly in trade while on their property. In this case there is only one pin involved and not two. A pin is not being exchanged directly for another pin or pins which is a requirement by Disney rules. Of course that is strictly on Disney property and all rules are off when the pins leave there.
I don’t know how many times now I have been involved in multi-pin trades where there are three or more people involved in the deal. Person A wants my pin but has nothing I want from them. Person A finds person B who does have something I want. Person A trades with Person B to get the pin I desire and then trades with me.
Also, contrary to your statement about guest to guest trading, out here in DLR/CA that goes on frequently. Pin Trading nights, D23 Expos, around the park are all common areas to see various traders setup with their pin books ready. Even the Disney Studio Store in Hollywood got into the act and has held their first PTN this week.
It’s mostly an informative article and will help a lot of new traders get into it but there is a bit more research that should be done to be totally accurate…
Tom, appears one of your photos of your pins is being used to sell pins on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Disney-Pin-Trading-Collectible-Authentic/dp/B00VR1MT3W/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1431381237&sr=8-6&keywords=disney+pins
Um I am going to Disney world can you send me some pictures of pins to look for my gmail is ashestoapples gmail.com
How much are the mystery/discounted bag of pins?