Disney Pin Trading started about 10 years ago and is now a popular pastime for many people. Disney Pins are made in many styles, featuring parks, characters and occasions.
Pin Trading is the action of swapping a pin you already own for a pin from a cast member or another trader. Cast members have to trade their pins and you can trade twice with the same cast member. They will wear a blue lanyard and you must always ask before you look at the pins they have. They will only trade for an official Disney Pin. Cast members wearing green lanyards will only trade with children up to 12.
To get started in trading it is a good idea to buy a starter set which contain small pins and sometimes a lanyard. It is then great fun looking at all the pins on the cast member’s lanyards. It is interesting to see the variety and it is also a good way to start conversations. You may decide that you like to collect certain characters or films or you may just choose ones that you like the look of.
I originally started buying pins for my children as a souvenir. I chose their favourite ride from a park or one that showed the year we visited. We were all lucky enough to get a "Year of a Million Dream" lanyard as a gift and they store them on there. They then started to see people trading but did not want to trade their "memory" pins so they got a starter set between them and set about trading. It was a great boost to their confidence to approach cast members and enquire about their collections.
Sometimes they would swap a pin several times until they found what they were looking for but that was all part of the fun.
New pins cost about $8-$12 and there are all sorts of special sets and collectors additions that the more avid collectors are searching for. My children are happy with the cheaper end of the scale and they have had hours of pleasure from trading and just looking at their pins and talking about them. I like them as a souvenir because they can be kept and unlike clothes or toys they will not be grown out of.
If you visit Disney get yourself a pin and start trading!