Decoding Disney: Pin Trading

One of my family’s favorite things to do when we visit Disneyland (or Disney World) is pin trading. Pin trading is when you exchange Disney-themed pens with other guests or Disney cast members. At the parks, many cast members will wear lanyards or other accessories to display the pins they have to trade. You can then exchange a pin you have for one that they have that you like better. There are pins with just about every character, movie, or theme park ride or attraction, so you can collect ones that fit your interests.

Instructions taken from a pin trading lanyard.

The other thing about pin trading is that it tends to come with a lot of accessories. From a Disney marketing standpoint, this is pretty brilliant (especially since we know that just about anything sold within the boundaries of a Disney park will be at least twice as much as it costs outside the “Happiest Place on Earth). And while the pins themselves aren’t terribly pricey by Disney standards (you can buy a set of 7 pins for about $25 or $30), they generally aren’t bought in isolation. For example, you can buy sets of pins based on a specific movie or franchise (Disney princesses or Mickey and Friends are pretty common), as well as fancier (and more expensive) individual pins. There are also lanyards, books, etc. that you can purchase for the purpose of wearing/displaying your pins. They also have a large enough following that they are collector’s items, so Disney can get people to come back and buy more.

That being said, pin trading is still a lot of fun for a couple of reasons. As said above, there’s enough variety to customize your collection to fit your own Disney interests. Looking for specific pins or characters that you want can also be fun since it’s a bit like a scavenger hunt. Pin trading is also a bit more interactive than your average Disney souvenir and can be a recurring activity that you pick up again on your next park visit (again, smart marketing by Disney).

Here are a couple of pin trading tips and tricks.

Aside from being on the lookout for cast members with lanyards, there are other places you can exchange pins with cast members. Many of the hotels and gift shops have larger pin boards. Because the boards are so much bigger than lanyards, they can hold more pins, so you get a larger variety of pins to pick from.

Another fun thing to do with pin trading is to look for Hidden Mickey pins. These pins have a small Mickey on the front. This indicates that they are part of a set, and if you look on the back, you can see how many pins are needed to complete the set. Hidden Mickey pins cannot be purchased. They are released to cast members for the purposes of trading with guests. New pins and sets are released every year, so there a quite a few of them floating around.