Pin Trading Help

[all41]

Planning an August trip and want to let the kids do some Disney pin trading. Where can you buy inexpensive “lanyards”? It doesn’t have to say Disney on it. I’ve not been able to find anything similar in style to those I’ve seen in the parks.

Any suggestions on where I could buy a dozen "generic" Disney pins for the kids to trade at the park?

 

[Stefffe]

Re: A plug for outlets

Originally posted by cm1988
The Disney Store at the Crossroads (Character Connection, I think it was called) closed a few months ago. It wasn't an outlet... more like a Disney Store but I think run by WDW rather than the Disney Stores.

There's a Disney outlet at the Belz Factory mall (or used to be, anyway!); also, I think there's one at the new outlet mall near the Dixie Stampede (other side of I-4 near the 535 exit.)

ty ty ty.....


~stefffe~:wave:

 

[Stefffe]

so how easy is it for the young ones (mine will be 6 when we get there) to trade.....are the CM's easy to deal with? do they make it easy for the kids to come up to them and ask to make a trade?

above all...i want my little girl to enjoy her time...and if trading is fun then i want her to be a part of it but if its a hassle... i dont wanna push her...


any advice ???



~stefffe~

 

[SpongeScott]

Originally posted by Stefffe
so how easy is it for the young ones (mine will be 6 when we get there) to trade.....are the CM's easy to deal with? do they make it easy for the kids to come up to them and ask to make a trade?

above all...i want my little girl to enjoy her time...and if trading is fun then i want her to be a part of it but if its a hassle... i dont wanna push her...


any advice ???



~stefffe~

I would imagine that if a CM has a lanyard with pins on it, then they are game to trade, even with a 6 year old. Just be sure she doesn't grab their lanyard and pull! I would imagine it would be a lot of fun on both ends. They will usually not instigate a trade with someone else. If you see one with a lanyard, ask them if they would like to trade and then take it from there. Enjoy and get to know the CM a little as you do it.

 

[Stefffe]

great advice!!!


thank you again

~stefffe~

 

[careship]

I also found out that there are some CM's with a different colored lanyard that are only allowed to trade with kids. I am not sure which color is which, but you can check at the pin trading station in DTD to find out which one is which.

 

[tigsmom]

Making a trade is easy...Walk up to a CM who is wearing a lanyard with pins. Ask them if they would like to make a trade.(someone once told me they are not allowed to say no). They will show you their pins (Don't touch!). Say "Can I trade this(point to yours) for your (tell them which one you like). If they don't have one already they will usually trade. Same method applies with other pin traders. My oldest tried to make a trade with another kid, but he didn't like any of her pins and she never tried again. My little one just walked up to every CM she could find and made a bunch of great trades! (she is NOT shy at all).:lol:

 

[careship]

Originally posted by tigsmom
Making a trade is easy...Walk up to a CM who is wearing a lanyard with pins. Ask them if they would like to make a trade.(someone once told me they are not allowed to say no). They will show you their pins (Don't touch!). Say "Can I trade this(point to yours) for your (tell them which one you like). If they don't have one already they will usually trade. Same method applies with other pin traders. My oldest tried to make a trade with another kid, but he didn't like any of her pins and she never tried again. My little one just walked up to every CM she could find and made a bunch of great trades! (she is NOT shy at all).:lol:

I also have heard and read that the CM's must trade if asked as long as the trade is for a Disney pin.

tigsmom.....your little one must take right after you...... Bets she could get us some chocolate....LOL

 

[tigsmom]

She could, but she dosen't share!!:lol:

 

[Stefffe]

Originally posted by careship
I also have heard and read that the CM's must trade if asked as long as the trade is for a Disney pin.

tigsmom.....your little one must take right after you...... Bets she could get us some chocolate....LOL

well i hope my lil girl enjoys it....im gonna have her ready and as long as the CM's are nice about it....ill let her bug any of them she wants. but with the pin trading...the autograph collecting...and the hidden mickey search....do i actually get to enjoy myself too on this trip? :lol:

~stefffe~

 

[tigsmom]

You will not believe how fast you fall right into this. I'm going to try pin trading this year myself. Just remember those magic words...please and thank you.(even when they say no)

 

[Dwarful]

Hey All41, if you haven't called the Disney Store at Union Station or the one out there at Mid Rivers Mall (the one out past Bass Pro Shop) then you should do that first off. We bought a lot of pins for about .50 each for our next trip next year. Also you could call the Disney Outlet in Branson and see what they have, we were down there in mid June, they had tons of options for pins, lanyards, cases, bags, etc.
Here is another tip, at 50 each, you should plan on buying as many as possible. on our first trip I thought the kids would like 5-6 each, but really they fell in love w/about 15! and 50 cents is alot cheaper than $6-$8 each which is the minimun you'll pay at wdw.
also at 50-1 each a trip to the mall will be cheaper than what you'll find online and you won't have to pay shipping & handling

you can pm me if you have any questions
carrie

 

[Dopey Dave]

If you want to spend hours if not days buying pins check out ebay. You can pick up some good buys there if you are careful. Of course there are people who are there only to make money and want outrageous prices. It does however give you an idea of what types of pins you may want to "specialize" in.

 

[tigsmom]

I got 2 retired pins on ebay for Lil'mermaid to complete her set.
I didn't have to pay all that much (less than retail).

 

[all41]

Originally posted by Dwarful
Hey All41, if you haven't called the Disney Store at Union Station or the one out there at Mid Rivers Mall (the one out past Bass Pro Shop) then you should do that first off. We bought a lot of pins for about .50 each for our next trip next year. Also you could call the Disney Outlet in Branson and see what they have, we were down there in mid June, they had tons of options for pins, lanyards, cases, bags, etc.
Here is another tip, at 50 each, you should plan on buying as many as possible. on our first trip I thought the kids would like 5-6 each, but really they fell in love w/about 15! and 50 cents is alot cheaper than $6-$8 each which is the minimun you'll pay at wdw.
also at 50-1 each a trip to the mall will be cheaper than what you'll find online and you won't have to pay shipping & handling

you can pm me if you have any questions
carrie

That's great advice. I'll shop around the Disney Store's first and see what they have. You are absolutely right about the cost. I bought them a few in May at WDW to get them started with each pin costing at least 6.50 each. Going back in August, I'd like to save on the front end. If I can get them for 50 cents each, I'll buy a boat load.

What the kids like is going up to the CMs and interacting. They aren't into "collecting" as much as the fun of trading.

 

[wdwguru]

For Christmas last year, I bought both DDs (6 & 8) starter lanyards sold at the Disney Store that included trading pins. It had duplicates of each pin so the kids could happily trade and keep the other.

Our past trips had been dedicated to autograph collecting, especially the elusive ones. This last time (Jan) my girls went happily from CM to CM looking for trades. They really got the bug.

When we came home we got pins on sale like everyone else has mentioned from the DisneyStore. I also have seen some on sale through the catalog and Disneystore.com. I know they sell the starter lanyards at the parks, or at least they did six months ago. My recollection is $20 includes lanyards and 6 pins, two of each so you can keep one and trade one. My 6 year old traded all six of hers and my 8 year old kept only two.

Be careful it's addictive!

25 days and counting!

 

[jstarman]

Originally posted by careship
I also found out that there are some CM's with a different colored lanyard that are only allowed to trade with kids. I am not sure which color is which, but you can check at the pin trading station in DTD to find out which one is which.

I saw on another discussion board the color of the special CM lanyard is green.

:wave:

99 days 22 hours and 2 minutes till Disney Time
WL here we come!:sohappy:

 

[all41]

Thanks to Dwarful (carrie), I stopped by the Disney Store at Union Station in St. Louis and picked up a bunch of inexpensive pins (32 total at @ 1.24/piece). This will allow my kids to do alot of trading when we go in August and it saved me about $170 over the cost of buying pins at WDW (6.50/piece). Since I got them from the Disney Store, I don't have to worry about ordering online and whether they'll be "official" or not.

The CM at the store figured out what I was doing and said I could probably trade for some more expensive pins at the parks. Honestly, I'm not trying to make money on this. I could care less what my kids trade for when they approach CMs at the park. I have no idea what is valuable. They trade based soley on what they like and do it for fun. I've no doubt we'll buy some pins in the shops that they see and like. (I might even start collecting "villians"!)

Now I just have to figure out how to get some inexpensive lanyards!

I'm saving these to surprise my kids on the first day we go to the parks! Since they only have a few pins and these are all ones they want to keep, they'll have to worry about which one of these to consider trading!

 

[tigsmom]

See what happens when you ask a question!:lol:

Have fun of your trip and good luck trading.:sohappy:

 

[Dwarful]

Hey, congrats on your bargains All41! I thought about you today as I was driving my mom, my two kids and my niece & nephew home from the zoo today. (the kids have been begging to go and it wasn't 100+ today so I decided today was the day to go.) We were driving past UnionStation and the kids were begging to go to the Disney Store and I wondered if you had made it over there. Anyway, glad they still had some deals for you. Your kids will be thrilled when they find out what a clever mom they have!

 

[all41]

I wanted to give you credit for great advice! Saved me from worrying about ordering online and whether or not I'd get "official" pins. Can't wait to surprise the kids.

p.s. The STL Zoo is great! We go whenever we can.