Pin Trading Newbie

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

I remember seeing the pin trading room on our behind the magic tour. They had picture frames on the walls of the tunnel with all the pins, and the pin room was lined with bins of them!

A few pin traders in our group were drooling a'la Homer Simpson to get in there!

[Shorty82]

I remember seeing the pin trading room on our behind the magic tour. They had picture frames on the walls of the tunnel with all the pins, and the pin room was lined with bins of them!

A few pin traders in our group were drooling a'la Homer Simpson to get in there!

I bet they were! There's a bunch of cool pins displayed on the walls and in the room. We also can't make requests for certain pins, we have to take what they give us. There's a reason why that room is kept securely locked when Pin Replenishment is closed and why they keep good logs on how many pins someone has traded.

[Sarah Magdalene]

So you're in the area now? We have to meet up sometime soon.

I always have been "here", as in the Orlando area. But I only work part time. Oh yeah, we really need to meet one day. Love to meet more peeps from here.

[Shorty82]

I always have been "here", as in the Orlando area. But I only work part time. Oh yeah, we really need to meet one day. Love to meet more peeps from here.

For some reason I was thinking you weren't in the area. Don't ask me why.

[DisneyMom]

The belt clip is what I meant. I've always heard them called hip lanyards. I saw one of my managers on my way out tonight and I traded in my regular lanyard fora hip one.

While merchandise CMs have to pin trade (it's in our contract) they provide us with the lanyard and pins. We also have Pin Replenishment, a window in the tunnel (I assume the other parks have one somewhere) where we can go and trade up to 6 pins a day for better ones and get rid of fakes.
.

How are you finding out which ones are fake? I actually did end up with a bootleg pin from a CM's lanyard or book this past trip- Stitch with silver mouse ears
(they're supposed to be gold) I don't mind at all as I get pins for how cute they are, and this one looks perfect.

[Shorty82]

Well, mine were easy to spot. They weren't actually counterfeit but weren't valid trading pins. Two were of princesses but weren't Disney Pins, another was a Build-a-Bear pin, and another was from Seaworld. I didn't realize they weren't valid pins until after the guests had left. I was talking with the woman at the Pin Replenishment window and she told me we're supposed to just take the fakes and trade them in at Pin Replenishment. The fakes get melted down and made into real pins.

I don't know a damn thing about pins other than the little I've learned from trading and from working in Uptown Pins.

[Theme Park Where]

I used to love pin trading at DHS as a cm. We too were required as "super greeters" and PAC to wear lanyards. The DHS pin central location is in the costuming building. I had a fun lanyard one time. I traded with a little kid who gave me a mickey ears pin. Then another kid traded and gave me mickey shorts. Then another for mickey feet. I had all three lined up on my lanyard into a rather picasso-ean mickey mouse. I got more comments about that! I had a kids-only green lanyard, so I usually only had pretty run of the mill pins, but every so often I'd get a rare one. It didn't last long, but I kind of appreciated the parents who let their kids trade for what THEY wanted instead of getting all bent out of shape about how they were an investment.

[Shorty82]

PAC had to wear lanyards? Wouldn't that interfere with you doing your job of controlling the crowds?

[Theme Park Where]

Nope. We pretty much wandered our particular area and pin traded, played games, chatted, etc. with our guests. Then, when the parade started, we were no longer the center of attention and we could keep the crowds back without interference. The only position where I would discretely remove my lanyard was at Fant! - walking guests in wheelchairs to their seats and parking strollers. As a wheelchair walker, you had to maneuver through a pretty thick crowd and having people stop to look at your pins was impossible. Stroller parking required constant attention and the strollers would either get backed up or people would forget to take belongings off of them if you weren't watching. You couldn't keep an eye on that and trade pins.

[SWTexasBelle]

I don't trade pins - I have some on my backpack, but they are of the DVC resorts we've stayed at, plus a few special ones. My son has gone over to the dark side and trades - but he is 6 and has no idea of "value". In fact, he has traded some expensive pins we bought for what were obviously cheaper ones. But hey, he's happy. I got some really nice Princess pins on clearance - he of course HATED them, but I like to think some little girl was made very happy after trading with the cms who ended up with them. I only allow him to trade with CMs, and only when they aren't busy. It has been great for him - he's on the shy side, so I'm happy to have an activity that forces him out of his shell a little bit.