Trade City, USA - Trip Report

Hello again, everyone.

It's been a while since I did my trip report on here, so I thought this will be a good time to do it again. The trip this time will be a short one, and it is mainly to attend this year's Pin Celebration event at the World Showplace at Epcot. The theme of the Pin Celebration event this year is "Trade City, USA", and it also commemorates the 10th Anniversary of Disney pin trading. So it promises to be a lot of fun.

I fly out to Orlando very early tomorrow morning, and will be there until late Sunday. As with my previous trip report, I'll try to post each day's summary of all my activities whenever I'm back at my resort. This time, we will be staying at the Boardwalk, which will make it very convenient to go to the World Showplace. I've also signed up for the event dessert reception on Saturday evening, which will include a special viewing area for Illuminations.

If you wish to follow my "live" reporting, visit my Disney blog where I'll try to post reports and pictures as they happen. As for now, I need to go finish packing and make sure I'm not forgetting anything.

Zz.

 

[KnK]

I must be showing my age 'cause I got the reference!

 

[ZapperZ]

We just left the pin celebration event, which will end at 6 pm today. We still have the dessert reception to attend tonight, along with the viewing of Illuminations, but the pin event will be over today.

Tomorrow morning will be the vinylmation event, and then at 2:00 pm, the vinylmation and pin trading activities will be opened to the public. Usually, none of the limited pins that were put on the pin trading board during the event will be on the pin trading board at that time. But any of the pins that were sold during the event that have not been sold out will be released for purchase to the public.

It was a fun event. Due to the hunt for the street signs pins, I stood in line A LOT to get to the pin trading boards. All in all, we had a very good time.

They have already announced the pin events for next year. There will be a small pin event at WDW in Feb 2011, and then the pin celebration event next year will be in early September, and it will have a theme to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Magic Kingdom. That should be a lot of fun and something to look forward to.

Right now, we are cooling off at our resort before walking back to Epcot for the evening festivities. The dessert reception starts at 7 pm, and then we will be escorted to our Illuminations viewing area.

We check out of our room tomorrow, but we don't leave here until early evening. We plan on staying around Epcot, and then make our way to BLT for the DVC preview event. Our trip is almost over!

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Just got back from the dessert reception. It rained while we were in World Showplace, and then it tapered off to a light drizzle as we made our way to our special viewing area for Illuminations. Because of that, I didn't take any pictures.

In any case, here are some catch up pictures from today.

We arrived at around 9:10 am at World Showplace, and already there was a very long line of pin traders waiting to get in when it opened at 9:30 am. We decided not to stand in line and just waited.

Once inside, we resumed the pin trading board game and more pin trading with other traders. Here are a few more sights around the event.

[cont...]

 

[ZapperZ]

[...cont]

More sights and decor at this year's Pin Celebration event.

During the event, they picked many attendees to either win prizes, or play games. This is a game of Pin, Lose, Or Draw. All of those who got picked won wonderful gifts no matter the outcome.

OK, so now we come to the dessert reception. There were plenty of delectable goodies and I certainly stuffed myself.

Cupcakes! They had cupcakes!

So that officially ended our Pin Celebration this year. We're not attending the vinylmation event tomorrow morning, so we'll be hanging around Epcot for the morning.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

We're packing up this morning to check out of our room. We have an evening flight back to Chicago.

It's a rather sad goodbye, because for the first time in a long time, we have nothing planned to be at WDW during the next 12 months. Usually, we have 2 or 3 trips already planned each year. This coming months, we have none. Other than a loose plan on coming back to next year's Pin Celebration event, and a more definite plan for a Disney Cruise/WDW trip in December 2011, we will probably not be back for another year. I don't know how I will cope with the withdrawal.

We plan on doing Epcot this morning, and then head on over to BLT for the DVC member preview. In any case, this will be my last transmission from the Happiest Place on Earth. I will wrap up this trip report with a few more pictures after I get back and recover a bit.

Zz.

 

[dr_teeth90210]

:sohappy:Nice Report with some great pics. Thanks.

 

[corey154]

I love your report, I haven't been planning on going to the parks until october, but now i'm thinking I want to go sooner! Seeing your pics of the parks without the crowds is winning me over!

 

[Tiggerish]

I must be showing my age 'cause I got the reference!

Me, too! :wave:

 

[ZapperZ]

Thanks, everyone.

I got back very late on Sunday, chilled out all of Monday, and went back to work today. I'm still unpacking and sorting out all the pins we got on this trip, both from the pin event and the ones we purchased.

We spent a wonderful last day at Epcot, then made our way to BLT for the DVC member preview. I got selected in their game and won a DVC bag, a coloring book, and 2 super fast passes, each with 3 immediate fast passes to be used. After the DVC event, we went to MK and used up the fast passes. After that, it was time to leave for the airport.

I left with a lump in my throat. You see, I've been doing multiple trips a year to WDW since 2003. In fact, in 2008, we were at WDW on 4 separate occasions. So going there multiple times a year is something we are used to. But late last year, we bought a new house, and as you can imagine, we have things we want to do that will cost quite a bit of money. As reluctant as we are, we had to prioritize where we spend, and unfortunately multiple trips to WDW had to go. We decided that we won't be back until September next year at the earliest. If not then, then we've already scheduled for a cruise on the Disney Dream in early December 2011 that will include a few days at WDW. But all of these are at least 12 months away. So you'll understand why I left with some sadness. I looked back at Cinderella Castle on the way out of MK and in my heart I bid it farewell, fully aware that I won't be seeing it again for a year.

I'll post reports and pictures from our last day after I sort things out. Getting back to reality is requiring a lot of effort to get used to.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

This is the trip report from our final day at WDW.

We packed our bags, and luckily, everything fits into the bags, without any of them being over the weight limit (we LOVE Southwest!). We loaded up the car, and then went over to the TTC to park because we know that we will have to be at BLT later on. It would be easier to get to the car if we come directly from BLT, or MK if we have the time.

After parking the car, we took the monorail back to Epcot and spent the morning there. We got on one of the Tron monorail.

Epcot wasn't busy at all. We managed to get on Test Track pretty quickly.

The standby line for Soarin' was kinda long, and since we already did it already earlier in the trip, we decided to skip it. We went on Living with the Land instead.

After a quick lunch, we headed on over to BLT for the DVC members welcome at the Top of the World lounge. They served drinks, coffee, finger sandwiches, and cheesecake Popsicle! I kid you not! Those things were very good, and I had to force myself from stuffing my face with them.

After that, we had a chance to walk around and to take some pictures.

Since I won a super fast pass from the DVC event, we decided to make a quick stop at MK. We went on Space Mountain, and then headed on over to Buzz.

Immediately after that, we decided to rest and have a good laugh inside the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. It was a lot of fun.

[cont...]

 

[ZapperZ]

[...cont]

We then walked around Fantasyland to take a look at the progress in that talked-about improvement. Here are some pictures. Looked like they have done quite a bit.

The Winnie the Pooh attraction was open, but the front has been boarded up. It looks like they are building a tree in front of it also.

One last look at Fantasyland construction area.

We had time to ride the Teacups, which again, had almost no lines.

Soon enough, it was time to leave for the airport. We took the monorail back to the TTC. We had the monorail car all to ourselves.

It was a memorable trip.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

I've uploaded the video of our "farewell" ride on the monorail. Whenever we go to MK as our last park before getting back to our car at the TTC and heading to the airport, we always try to ride the monorail back. On such occasion, it has the saddest phrase uttered on WDW:

If this concludes your visit to the Walt Disney World resort, we hope you had a wonderful time and will return home safely.

Zz.

 

[DiPSU224]

I left with a lump in my throat. You see, I've been doing multiple trips a year to WDW since 2003. In fact, in 2008, we were at WDW on 4 separate occasions. So going there multiple times a year is something we are used to. But late last year, we bought a new house, and as you can imagine, we have things we want to do that will cost quite a bit of money. As reluctant as we are, we had to prioritize where we spend, and unfortunately multiple trips to WDW had to go. We decided that we won't be back until September next year at the earliest. If not then, then we've already scheduled for a cruise on the Disney Dream in early December 2011 that will include a few days at WDW. But all of these are at least 12 months away. So you'll understand why I left with some sadness. I looked back at Cinderella Castle on the way out of MK and in my heart I bid it farewell, fully aware that I won't be seeing it again for a year.

Zz.

I feel your pain. We haven't been back since this week last year. My husband and I aren't college kids anymore who can go to WDW on a whim a few times a year. We too have a house to work on and a family to start...which means no trips in sight for us.

Thanks for taking the time to write this trip report up so those of us who won't be there any time soon can still live vicariously through yours.

 

[erstwo]

I've uploaded the video of our "farewell" ride on the monorail. Whenever we go to MK as our last park before getting back to our car at the TTC and heading to the airport, we always try to ride the monorail back. On such occasion, it has the saddest phrase uttered on WDW:





Zz.

First: Thank you so much for sharing your trip! I agree with the OP who said "thanks for sharing with all the non pin traders."

Second - I've never done the TTC thing - I should try it! I loved the monorail video.

 

[ZapperZ]

First: Thank you so much for sharing your trip! I agree with the OP who said "thanks for sharing with all the non pin traders."

Second - I've never done the TTC thing - I should try it! I loved the monorail video.

Thanks!

If you like that monorail video, check out an earlier monorail compilation video that I did a couple of years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqTRXMUzCJo

You can tell this was done a while back since the BLT building is still not there, plus, you could still sit in the front cab.

Zz.

 

[Tiggerish]

ZapperZ, is the BLT member event done regularly? I thought they did the Welcome Home Wednesdays at Atlantic Dance, but it's possible they moved it.

If they are doing a weekly thing at BLT, I'd love to check it out during my October visit.

Thanks for any info.

 

[ZapperZ]

ZapperZ, is the BLT member event done regularly? I thought they did the Welcome Home Wednesdays at Atlantic Dance, but it's possible they moved it.

If they are doing a weekly thing at BLT, I'd love to check it out during my October visit.

Thanks for any info.

The BLT event is separate from the Welcome Home Wednesday, which we also went to on this trip. The BLT event is more of an introduction to Aulani and to get you to buy more points (of course!). It is held at 1:00 pm each day, and you have to sign up for it in advance because the number is limited. Go to any DVC kiosk and they can sign you up. I don't know how long they will have this.

Oh, did I also mentioned that you get a DVC pin at the end of the presentation?

Zz.

 

[mrpygmypuff]

Actually, the crowds have been rather light. The event is adding only, at most, 1200 people or so, since I think that's around the limit for the registration.

And yes, I've been meeting a lot of cool people. After coming to one of these since 2005, many of the faces become familiar. So it's almost like a yearly reunion where old friends meet again. There are also many pin traders from outside the country, especially Japan and the UK. So it is truly an international crowd.

Today, we get our parting gifts. If it is on the same level as our welcome gift, it will be good. The welcome gift is causing the biggest news of the event so far. In one of the MOST EVIL AND BRILLIANT MOVE that Disney Pin trading event has ever made, the welcome gift is enticing those of us who did not want to buy the street sign mystery pin set to scramble and buy them, along with trying to find the rest on the pin trading board. If you haven't read my blog, let me explain....

The mystery box being offered this year is a number of Trade City Street Signs.

http://eventservices.disney.go.com/pintrading/pin?id=51817

I first looked at it and didn't think I want to collect all of them (there's only 2 randomly selected pin in a box).

But then, our welcome gift is THIS:

When you open it, the inside reveals this:

The top left and bottom right are pins. The rest are just images of street signs. If you compare the mystery pin and the images in the box, you'll notice that 10 of the pins are represented here. The rest you CAN ONLY get from the pin trading board game at the event! So it caused many pin traders to scramble and stand in line for the pin trading game in the hope of getting the rest of the pins. That's why the lines for the games have been very long.

But that's not all. You'll also notice that in the mystery box set, there is a question mark. This is the "chaser" mystery pin. While all the other pins are "limited release pins" of the same edition number, the chaser pin is limited edition of ONLY 100. This means that there are only 100 of the chaser pins around, and you can only get one by luck! Since there are more than 100 of us here at this event, it means that the majority of us will NOT get it and will therefore not get a complete set! You can just imagine the "feeding frenzy" among the pin collectors in not only buying the mystery box to try and get one of these chaser pin, but also the furious trading going on just to get as many of the street sign pins to match the images in the box. Even someone like me who didn't plan on buying the mystery pins is being sucked into it.

Like I said, it was an evil and brilliant move all at once. And it is cause quite an excitement among the pin traders. Each year, there's one pin or one thing that creates the big news. A couple of years ago, it was the Mickey's Scoop Sanderson pin. Last year was almost a dud since there wasn't anything that caused any excitement other than the Figment/Dreamfinder jumbo pin. But this year, hands down, the mystery pin set IS the biggest talk-of-the-town here. Whoever thought of doing this struck gold for Disney.

Since I'm talking about the welcome gift, I might as well show you the t-shirt we got as part of our registration:

So far, what most of us thought that it could be a ho-hum event, is turning into a very exciting one.

Zz.

you forgot to mention that you could only do 4 rsp for these mystery pin sets which means you could only get eight pins, hello, their are eleven. I got all 4 rsp and the chaser and still don't have the full set, so many people were ticked off about this whole thing. I even had a manager in merchandising tell me they were on the boards and I wasn't looking hard enough, I've never been talked down to by a cast member before. Talked to Steven about the whole thing, he told me they realized their were some problems with it, but told me they would do it again, he then went off on to talking about Vinylmation. Just goes to show what he's really thinking about these days.
Side note: the trading boards were awful, same pins you could get off a cast members lanyard in the park.

 

[ZapperZ]

you forgot to mention that you could only do 4 rsp for these mystery pin sets which means you could only get eight pins, hello, their are eleven. I got all 4 rsp and the chaser and still don't have the full set, so many people were ticked off about this whole thing. I even had a manager in merchandising tell me they were on the boards and I wasn't looking hard enough, I've never been talked down to by a cast member before. Talked to Steven about the whole thing, he told me they realized their were some problems with it, but told me they would do it again, he then went off on to talking about Vinylmation. Just goes to show what he's really thinking about these days.
Side note: the trading boards were awful, same pins you could get off a cast members lanyard in the park.

This is a bit late, but YOU GOT THE CHASER?! Holy cow! I'm sure you realize how much that pin goes for on ebay, don't you?

Yeah, after chatting with a lot of people who have some "inside information", they know that they screwed up big time. Not only did they missed an opportunity to make a boat-load of money off us, but they have turned something that should have been fun into something that's frustrating to the collectors.

If they are going to do this again next year, with the same level of frustration, they can count me out from even trying to get the collection.

Zz.

 

[DecWDW]

I don't know how I lost track of the rest of this trip report, but thanks for all the great pics. The funny thing is, I recognized someone from your dessert party! I see her pin trading at DCA all the time! Small world, right?