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 am in a wheelchair and my Disney entertainment is to pin trade. Since cast member pins had the same pins over and over, I finally started trading with people. I love it. I have books with new and old pins of all levels. I have pins dating back 15 years or more and love to make someones day as they find a hard to find character. If someone is trying to trade a scrapper, I send them to the scrapper page (of pins people traded to me). I always explain that my book could (and usually does) include scrapper that I receive during the trip. I don’t let someone take a scrapper knowingly for one of their good pins. I also have a section of horrid scrapper pins with missing paint or wrong colors or sharp edges to educate people what to watch out for.
It makes me sad you said to avoid pintraders. There are some bad apples, but some of us are pretty darn nice.
Not sure if this was asked or if I skipped it somehow, but how do you tell what a “Real” pen looks like vs what a “Fake” one looks like???
The buyer that you recommend sell real pins or scrappers? Thank you
All recommended sellers in this article sell only fakes.
You will not find any real Disney pin selling for a dollar — expect only scrappers at that price.
Hi. My sister, brother and I are going to DisneyWorld near the end of May for his 50th Birthday. My brother has Down’s Syndrome and he loves all things Disney, so this is a huge deal for him. I was just wondering if you knew if the CM’s would trade our city pins for the Disney ones? We can get a bunch of free ones from our City Hall and he would be thrilled if he could trade. I haven’t mentioned this to him in case it may not happen. Love your posts by the way as this will be our first trip to Disney World and the biggest trip he has ever been on so all the info is so very helpful.
Cast members can only trade official licensed Disney pins! There are even scrappers that aren’t licensed they won’t trade for but this is rare. But any enamel pin will NOT do, they have to be Disney licensed for trading.
I wish I had known about fake and scrapper pins before I allowed my daughter to trade away all of her authentic disney pins with CM the past two years….I was completely neive to this fact until I started researching why CM lanyards are full of the same trading pins. It fries me that I spent a lot of money on starter packs for her to find out that 90-95% of CM pins are not the real deal…some of the pins she traded away for fakes are from 10 plus years ago….such a shame that Disney CM for the most part aren’t in tune to the fact they’re planting fake/scrappers on their own lanyards…..I’m very disappointed but glad to know that I no longer will allow my daughter to trade her authentic pins with the CMs.
I have read many articles here and this is by far my favorite Disney Parks blog. So it is a huge shock and disappointment to see an article here promoting the trading of fake pins and even directing people to buy large quantities of these counterfeits to trade in the parks.
This is not a victimless crime and I can personally attest to that. I started pin trading just over a year ago, but I have only recently become aware of the sheer volume of fake pins that are circulated in the parks. Since then I’ve been scrutinizing every pin trade I’ve ever done because those pins that I was so happy to obtain at the time may all turn out to be cheap, fake knock offs. So far, I managed to identify one in my collection as being fake for sure and 3 others as being suspect. All the pins I have ever purchased are from the parks and are authentic. I traded for these fakes unknowingly and it is not until I looked closely at them now that I notice how bad the quality is on them compared to the real pins! I would never have traded for them had I known they were fake. It is unbelievable and infuriating that so many people think it is ok to take authentic pins from the boards/CM lanyards and replace them with fakes! That is essentially laying down traps for other people to walk into. Even if some people/kids don’t care whether a pin is fake, there are people who DO care. How does one justify ripping even one person off? And justifying this behavior by blaming Disney for not doing anything is like justifying robbing someone by blaming the city for not having enough cops on the streets. Just because Disney isn’t being diligent doesn’t give people permission to take advantage!
I implore you to please take down this article that is promoting an unethical and frankly despicable practice in the parks that is ruining pin trading for a good portion of pin traders out there including me.
100% agree!!
I totally agree! I love this site and all your articles but this one makes me mad. I haven’t been pin trading long but I’ve done my research and I know all about fakes and scrappers and it is just so disappointing to see you actively tell people to buy from Amazon and eBay in pin lots. Saving money is great, but there are other ways to get cheap and authentic trading pins. There are several Facebook groups dedicated to this who you can trust to give you a great grab bag of pins, 10 pins for $25, that’s 2.50 a pin. The sellers are usually buying collections from people and selling off the pins. It’s a safe and easy way to know you are getting authentic quality pins. These groups even allow you to check the authenticity of the sellers. They have moderators who can help when you have questions.
Trading in the parks now is a little infuriating because of these ebay lots. The boards are ruined and the hunt can be very disappointing. It’s a fun hobby that has been ruined by these fake pins. I get the idea of saying the boards are already bad so what’s the harm buying them for your 5 year old who doesn’t know the difference. My argument is why waste any of your money on these trash pins. Just don’t take up the hobby because it’s a lot more complicated then it appears. If you want them as souvenirs, buy rack pins.
Please don’t advise people to buy from amazon lots or ebay lots. It’s very frowned upon in the pin community. I get it that people don’t know any better, but this is a pretty good platform to let them know. I really hope you do a little more research and revise this article.
Honestly, the folks complaining that scrappers hurt “the children” are ridiculous. Kids don’t care about authenticity they care about the pins. Also, guess what the folks that really do value the first run pins won’t trade for them. Scrappers make pin trading affordable and their for accessible for “the children” who are as likely to lose their pins as trade them. $10+ per pin makes them the providence of adult collectors and children who don’t understand the value of money. Some rethinking may be in order for the purists out there.
Yeah, Tyler!
Speak for yourself. When I was a kid, I definitely cared if my collectibles were authentic. The quality on the fakes is just NOT the same. Obviously, I would have preferred to have anything at all over nothing, even if it’s fake, but if I had been given an authentic item by an adult and then unknowingly traded it away for a fake, I would have been heart broken for sure. You’re just kidding yourself if you think this is a victimless crime.
Agreed!
for the disney trading pin color guide for the prices (green, silver, yellow, blue, and pink) how can you tell the pin you are trading is worth the price of a green, silver, yellow, blue or pink pin price according to the pin pricing legend.
Hello!
I am new to pin trading – have a question.
I have several pins from the 2017 Pin Trading Fun Day – are these tradeable?
Thank you for your help!
Absolutely. As long as your pins are authentic Disney released pins, it doesn’t matter how old the pin is. Have fun!!
Enjoyed your article on pin trading. My daughter’s addiction started with two free Magical Express bus pins. We now have eight binders full. We get a lot of enjoyment from trading and cataloging the pins afterwards. You did a good job telling both sides of the story concerning the purchase of pins. As you said in your article, If Disney wanted to do something about scrappers, they would. But they have not.
Thank you for this information! I am a newbie to pin trading and don’t know what to expect. I bought my pins off of a FB page and used these guidelines to determine if they were scrappers or not. I don’t know about eBay though…..
Please don’t buy these lots of pins. What you are buying are called scrappers and while they are stamped Disney they are a far inferior quality of pin and have really tarnished pin trading in the parks. There are a ton of sellers on ebay that are legit. Look for starter packs that are still sealed or join a group on FB. Yes you will pay slightly more than $1 per pin but you also won’t be bringing garbage into the park.
If my boyfriend and I are going to the parks later this year and will only be there for 6 days is it a hobby that has to be done separately or is it easy to do while you’re also enjoying the parks? Will it take up extra time to hunt for them or these lanyard holders are easy enough to be found? I saw the Tim Tracker do a video with his wife and they looked like they had so much fun doing it so I’m also interested in the extra fun of finding them. But they set aside a whole day of doing it and I don’t know if that’s required or not.
KJ, Depending on how you purchase your trip (AAA, Costco, etc) you may have a coupon to get a free pin and lanyard. I didn’t know about pin trading until a friend got each of my boys a lanyard and a starter set (probably from Amazon, maybe 25 pins between the 2 of them). The boys have fun approaching cast members who wear lanyards, or stopping at the pin boards in some of the shops and making a trade. It’s easy to work in as you walk around the parks, and doesn’t need to take up a lot of time…now we mostly buy one pin as a reminder for each trip (1-2 trips/year between WDW and DL). These pins we keep and don’t trade! Have fun!
Cheaper set of Disney Trading Pins can be found at Disney Store Outlets costing USD6.99 for 6 and I traded them at Disneyland without any issues.
Which outlet? Where is it located?
Its very frustrating to see such a popular blog recommending pin purchases off ebay and amazon. 99% of those bulk lots are poor quality fakes. The majority of cm lanyards are full of these fakes. Cms cannot decline a trade, even if its an obvious fake. There are plenty of legit sellers on fb groups and ig that sell at less than park retail prices. Please update your pages information advising that these ridiculously cheap lots are fake. Fakes are ruining pin trading!!
Quick question: are lanyards required to trade pins? Or could my friends and I display our trading pins on hats, backpacks, and things like that?
You can display your trading pins anywhere you would like. I would highly recommend the locking pin backs especially if you will be displaying your pins on your backpack so your pins won’t be stolen or fall off. You can find the locking pin backs at any Disney store in the pin section.
I’m a huge fan of the blog but was really sad to see your endorsement of trading counterfeit pins. When a parent buys fake pins for their kids to trade, the person they end up hurting is almost always another kid. It’s completely legitimate for a kid to feel utterly ripped off when he buys authentic pins with his allowance or souvenir budget and gets home to find he traded those pins away for the counterfeits your readers knowingly bought on eBay or Amazon and brought into the Parks. Sure, Disney can and should be doing more to prevent this. But, in the interim, parents, please don’t rip off other people’s kids. If you want to pin trade, do the right thing and buy real pins.
Park members throw the fake pins into a bin at the end of each shift so that they don’t continue to circulate, and are issued fresh ones. My sister did an internship there, and the fake pin box was her favorite place to rummage through.
I recently picked up the Disney pin trading addition! It inspired me to create my own pin display banner for my Etsy store.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/583037343/pin-display-custom-wall-banner-pin-badge
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.
Before we left Disney World I bought a toy shield from the Magic Kingdom to put my pins on. They look really great on it and it makes a very cool conversation piece. So this way I have my pins and aPrince shield?
Have a Magical Day
The one thing I forgot to say was I decided to buy one of the toy shields at the Magic Kingdom
. We brought it home and I put all my pins on there they stick right in do not hurt or bend them and it looks really cool. A nice conversation piece