A Fun, Lighthearted conversation

Just thought this forum could use some fun and time to just relax and think about where it all started.

What do you collect and why?

I collect a variety of different Disney movies and characters. For example Lilo and Stitch, Sleeping Beauty, Alice In Wonderland, ETC. I think it all goes back to my childhood and watching Disney movies and which ever ones I really liked or enjoyed as a child I collect now. I guess I usually have to fall in love with the movie to collect pins based on the characters/movie. I also think I only collect Disneyland specific pins is because my parents would take me to Disneyland all the time and it's the only park I know. Same thing goes for rides if I love it I collect it. Such a fun topic!! Would love to hear other people's reasoning's!!

This is a fun conversation! Although I collect pins from so many different Disney films that it might be easier to list what I DON'T collect :lol:
Here's a breakdown of my many collections:

101 Dalmatians: It has always been my favorite Disney movie and so it is my largest collection, currently sitting at about 120-130 pins.

Princess & the Frog, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Black Cauldron, Great Mouse Detective: These are some of my other favorite Disney movies and so they make up my other main pin collections. They are very much underappreciated films and I show my love for them by collecting the pins!

Villains: For some strange reason I have always been one to root for the bad guy :dunno: My villains collection consists of one pin of the main villain from each Disney movie.

Princesses: They are a HUGE part of Disney, so I decided to have one pin of each princess.

Nightmare Before Christmas, Frankenweenie, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, James and the Giant Peach: I LOVE Tim Burton!!!

Brave, Robin Hood, Oliver & Company, Enchanted, Toy Story, Planes, Rescuers, Song of the South/Splash Mountain, Emperor's New Groove, Fantasia, Atlantis, Tarzan, Tangled, Lilo & Stitch, Frozen, Pocahontas, Bug's Life, Treasure Planet, Incredibles, Dumbo, Oz, Lone Ranger, Muppets, Wreck-it-Ralph: More films I love that make up my much smaller side collections.

Tower of Terror: My favorite ride!

Star Wars: Because...it's Star Wars! Need I say more? :lol:

Wow Pinkeeper, that is a lot of collections! I don't know how you keep track of them all XD

I first uncovered Disney pins when I was busy collecting Lion King merchandise... It has always been my favourite movie and I'd become a bit obsessed. I bought one or two pins online that I liked. I was fascinated by how expensive some of them were, having no idea there was such a community behind it!

Then, for Christmas a few years ago, my parents surprised me with a gift they'd been putting together all year - maybe 30 or 40 lion king pins pinned onto a cushion! All of a sudden I had this load of pins and I knew nothing about them! So I joined DPF and the rest, as they say, is history :rofl:

I opened a couple of side collections as the pin addiction spread...

Jock - because I love the movie, and my dad is Scottish, so this collection reminds me of him
Djali - because Hunchback is probably my second favourite Disney movie, and I just love this plucky goat plus there aren't many pins of him so I felt this would be an easy going collection.

I think it's easier to say what we don't collect.. As over time more and more collections are creeping in and using the group established parameter of 10 pins= collection I think we have over 40..

as we get to a 'complietest' point we find something new to start to keep the hunt alive..

but the big collections: memories (things we've done) monorail/train/transportation, Minnie dressed up, lilo, Tarzan, dumbo, tic toc, Olaf, wilderness lodge/fort wilderness, contemporary resort (2 complete collections) jungle cruise/tiki/adventureland, thunder/frontierland, tomorrowland/space, small world, chef/food n wine, animal kingdom, California adventure, patriotic, piglet, and a whole bunch of complete sets like bear n the big blue house, pirate n princess party etc

and the newest:, Jessie, tiana(green dress only), Ellie, lion king,

Yay for fun and lighthearted! Great thread!

I've always loved Disney. Going to WDW as a child is my fondest childhood memory. When I went back for my honeymoon (2003), my husband and I decided to buy a pin to commemorate the trip. When we went back five years later, we got another. Then two years ago, when we were about to take our children for the first time, I thought they might enjoy pin trading. I didn't know I'd get so hooked!

For the sake of my sanity and my wallet, my collection is limited to Mulan (just the character, not the whole movie). I love so many Disney movies, but Mulan is the one I can watch over and over and always enjoy. She's a wonderful character, and for a legend that dates back centuries to center around a woman is extraordinary. I also have a lanyard where I display pins near to my heart--those first two I bought, one my late mother bought, a few zaps and gifts, and a pin from each trip I take. I also have a very small (eight pins or so) Robin Hood and Maid Marian collection because my husband and I both love that movie.

::throws off the lurker cloak for a fun thread::

I collect a few things pin wise:

Stitch because he's a little trouble maker. One of my favorite pins is the OE Stitch with Nani's bikini top on his head. That scene in the movie made me laugh so hard. Plus, he's cute. On a more serious note, he's a flawed character who tries to be better, even though he's still mischievous. Plus, I love how he translates so well as both Yoda and Sith characters.

Bad guys, namely Chernabog, Hades, and Malificnt. I'd go for Scar too, but I figure three baddies are enough to actively search for. I have a few other random baddies such as an Izma hidden Mickey tie.

Jessica, because who doesn't? Actually, that was always one of my favorite movies as a kid. In high school one of our homecoming themes was movies and for our parade my class did WFRR. I was rather bitter they picked a taller, more popular girl to be Jessica as opposed to someone who had a much closer build to her (namely, me ) I love my Disney Soda Fountian Shop Jessica gumball and Malificent pins (I also shoot got cross overs).

Donald because my dad, who LOVED Disney and going to WDW was one of his favorite places to go, liked Donald. Plus, Donald is a sailor, as was my dad and several members of my family. And I enjoy that he's excitable. Actually my circa late 80s WDW autograph book had Donald on it, I might start to try to fill that up again.

Event and holiday pins. I go to an event, like Wine and Food or the Garden festival, I get the pins. We learned though, for the super LE pins, we have to go early. I got lucky twice, I found the cranberry bog Stitch last year on the last weekend of the festival and I got an Anna and Elsa Garden Festival pin out of the last few left. Also, if I run a race, I get a pin or two or three. Super excited to be adding the WaF half pins this year and I'm planning on Princess and Tink for next year. Coast to coast baby!

I'm also a sucker for blind bags and boxes. Matryoshka pins? Got them. Tsum Tsums? Debating if I want them all or if I'll be happy with just trading a friend a Tiana matryoshka for his extra Stitch. After all, I did get Donald in the first bag I bought. The excitement of not knowing what you'll get is a little bit of a rush for me.

Star Wars. Mostly the bad guys though: Vader and Maul are my favorites, though I adore Darth Goofy and Storm Trooper Donald (also Donald/Darth Maul).

Princess wise, I'm also a fan of Pocahantas, and slowly am warming up to Anna and Elsa (though I still do not like the movie, the character designs are pretty). Sleeping Beauty also might happen, but it's not a priority.

I also enjoy slighty darker pins, like the good luck/bad luck series and Nightmare. Plus, if I pick a ride to collect for it'll be Haunted Mansion. That's one of my favorite rides. I love the pins that are inspired by the portraits. I might have to hunt down the ones that came out before the villains' portraits ones came out. I bet we'll see some Hat Box ghost pins soon!

But, where it started? A 2009 spinner year pin from when mom and I went up there before I left to work in Alaska for five months. It all went down hill from there! I even took my new car from the dealership in Tampa to Downtown Disney just for pins the day I got it. I always know I got my Pony and my Donald Cinco de Mayo pin on May 5th 2013.

And... Finally, ultimately if I like the pin I get it, even if it doesn't fit into any of my other collections. Three Fairies from Spectromagic piece of the parades? Check!

Been a Disney fan since the 1950's. Grew up on the Disney TV show on ABC and only dreamed about going to that far off place in CA called Disneyland (living in NJ). Finally got there as part of our honeymoon 41 years ago!!

I collect VILLAINS and have the curse of being a completest and I am doomed to never finishing my quest LOL!!

We started trading/ collecting as a way to teach our son (3 years old at the time) to interact politely with adults. (Before that, we had picked up a few random ride pins). My son discovered hidden Mickeys/ cast lanyards, Chip and Dale, and Stitch- and the rest is history. We were watching The Rescue Rangers and Lilo and Stitch on television a lot at the time, plus, at the character meals, Chip and Dale were always hilarious. He liked the hidden Mickeys because they were only available at the parks and resort, so it became a type of treasure hunt. Over the years, I started adding to his collection- and it is now sort of "ours." I also collect a few random characters, etc. that I like, so I have a few Pooh and friends, the Fab Five, and Alice pins. Also, we have always picked up the Star Wars weekend pins and some Figment pins. We also have a few of almost everything else- we pick up random pins that we like.

Lets see, I've always loved Disney as a child, My favorite Disney movies are Snow White and the seven dwarfs, Cinderella, the little mermaid, sleeping beauty, and live action Cinderella. one of my earliest memories was watching Snow White and getting scared during the forest part lol! I collect the 17 in limited edition dolls, even though I only have two of them. I first knew of them when me and my sister were on YouTube and she wanted to watch videos about the rapunzal dolls, so then I noticed the le rapunzal doll but I didn't think much about it, and that was approximately around 2010 or 2009. Then later I think that year my family and I went to the mall to look for clothes and I found the Disney store! I used to go there when I was little, but then we stopped going and I just forgot about it completely. So then I knew about the Disney store and my sister would get the classic dolls and sometimes I would look up the dolls online so that's when I saw the limited edition dolls. Then about two or three years later I got the le aurora doll then after that le live action Cinderella, so here I am now lol.

I started collecting a few years ago when I'd stumbled across a Great Mouse Detective pin; it's part of a song series, can't remember the name, but it has the title Let Me Be Good to You on it. I'm a huge Great Mouse Detective/Basil of Baker Street fan so I went on to find more pins for that movie. When I realized there were tons of pins for Disney characters and movies and such I decided to broaden my collections to other favorites. I also collect Treasure Planet and Donald Duck and I started collecting Disney Marvel pins; I'm a big Marvel fan, particularly Captain America, and I had to have those pins to go with my Cap collection. I have most of the Captain America pins from Universal (only missing that dang LE350). The LE300 pin that was an exclusive to PinPics a while back is a MAJOR grail of mine right now (I've got the Iron Man but no Cap =_=).

I've decided to try collecting The Rocketeer memorabilia since that was one of my favorite live action films as a kid but there are so few pins for it. Other than that I pick up an odd pin here and there of various favorite characters from films or shows that I don't really want to have a huge collection of (I'm trying to wait patiently for all the Lost Boys from Peter Pan; as a kid my siblings and I each had one that represented us. I want to get them their respective boy and I'm waiting for more Slightly pins. I only started doing this this year when my younger sister suggested it).

I started collecting back in early 2000 after my first trip to WDW. My main things that I collect are:

Haunted Mansion: What guy doesn't like spooky / haunted things!

Pirates of the Caribbean: Again....What guy doesn't like pirates!

Anything dealing with space or the future....Yep, guys like that kinda stuff too...lol.

I also like mechanical pins because I think they are just cool and really any other pins that catch my eye.

I started collecting on my 2nd trip to DLP. The first time I went for free with a promotion they were doing for people's birthday's here in France. Then I got an annual pass after that. Then I was hooked, it's been a little over 3 years now I believe.

At the beginning I wasn't sure what to collect so much except just going for things I liked.
Now the focus is much more direct!
-Tron
-Rocketeer
-Treasure Planet
-Atlantis
-Gargoyles (Very specifically.)
-All Disney Afternoon Shows

Then that trickles down to other things or collections I'm doing for my family members. n_n

I am focusing on Haunted mansion, Peter Pan/Captain hook, and Jumbo castle pins.
Having more fun helping my daughters with Tinkerbell, Dwarfs, Evil Queen and Maleficent though!

Fun thread! The quick answer to "what do I collect" is "I collect pins that I love".

The longer answer is Up, Brother Bear, Emperor's New Groove - focused on Kronk. I also collect Hathi Jr., Roo, Baymax, Robin Hood, Merlin, Hitchhiking Ghosts, Nemo (this collection happened entirely by accident), a sprinkle of random characters and other pins that I fall in love with. My family collects (which means I collect for them) Jungle Cruise, Doofenshmirtz, Rafiki, Star Wars, Wall-e, Jake and the Neverland Pirates/Captain Hook, Minnie Mouse, Tinker Bell, Muppets, Chip and Dale, Three Caballeros, Oswald, Monsters University/Mike Wazowski, and a slew of hidden mickey pins (we have fun hunting them down when we get to go to Disneyland).

I'm sure I've missed something but you get the idea.

I collect Lion King first and foremost because it was a) my first collection b) the first Disney movie I ever saw (premiere when I was 2) and c) I love it to pieces. My love for Lion King will be even more pronounced when simba is tattooed on my body in August

I have a few other small collections. I collect Small World pins because of the meaning of the ride. Dwight D Eisenhower teamed up with Walt Disney to create this ride because he promoted global friendliness. He started a program called People to People, which lets students be ambassadors to other countries to increase our cultural awareness of one another, learn about other cultures and cultivate friendship. I was able to go on two People to People trips as a teenager.

I collect Barrel from NBC because he's so stinking cute! Seriously. That's it.

I collect Electrical Light Parade because I miss it. Because the pins are awesome. Because I love light up pins and there's a few of them there

Finally, I collect Inside Out because of a HUGE STRONG personal connection I have to the movie, that I got the first time I saw it. I've seen it three times now. The whole idea of emotions, was amazing. I've struggled with depression for almost 10 years of my life, and this movie spoke to me, and made me feel less alone in a cheerful way. Yeah, I sobbed my way through parts of it. And yes, I'm planning on seeing it again this week.

Collecting pins has brought me friendship, happiness, the opportunity to belong to an amazing community and it gets my competitive side out when I'm trying to find my grails! I love waking up every morning and seeing my pins proudly displayed in my room, especially now that I live in Illinois and can't go to DLR every week!!

Personally, it is more if I like the pin or not than what movie or character it is.

I mainly stick to themes, the main 2 being Christmas/Winter and Patriotic (with a small classic mickey and winnie the pooh collection)

I collect some Alice, some Pirates, (I display them on a fishing net hanging in my Pirates of the Caribbean themed kitchen!) but mainly I collect Haunted Mansion pins to go with all my HM collectibles. I like the HM because of my love of the horror genre.

I'd love to see pics of the fishing net display and the PoTC Kitchen! It sounds cool!

I started buying pins in 2000. My first two pins are from the Disney Store millennium pins. Mickey with Walt and the Mickey Mouse club pin. As my beloved mother told me I was addicted to the Mickey Mouse Club at the age of 2.
She was cooking dinner and I was in the old wooden playpen with wheels. She said, I scared the day lights out of her with a blood curdling scream. She ran to see what was wrong and there I was with the playpen bounced to the opposite side of the room screaming Ickey Ouse! She had no idea how i even knew whom that mouse was.
My very first pin at WDW in 2000 was from a coupon I cut off a Kellogg's cereal box. Mickey holding balloons staring My First Disney Pin. My favorite set is actually my husband's the 2001 Main St Electrical Parade set of 3 pins. I have many vintage pins that I love.
I eventually became a Tinkerbell fan. I collect Tinkerbell and Frozen.
I am not a completist. As Scoop says: collect what you like and leave the rest behind.

I'd have to say that my main collections consist of Mr. Toad as I love the movie and the ride, Piece of History due to the fact that it's owning a small portion of the ride, and Epcot as that is my favorite park!

The first pin in my collection (actually a set) was a Chip and Dale from my best friend. The first pins that I actually bought myself were a Figaro and a Haunted Mansion portrait featuring the tightrope girl and the alligator. (The stretching room in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland has been my favorite part of the park for as long as I can remember. And that particular portrait has always been my favorite.)

After collecting a bit more, I began to focus my collections on Figaro and characters from Peter Pan, a story which has always had a very special meaning to me.

Here's a list of all my collections, and why I collect them:

• Peter Pan - One of my favorite stories of all time. (I do believe in faeries! I do, I do.)
• Figaro - I've been obsessed with Figaro since I was 3 years old - He looks just like my first cat, Oreo.
• Chip and Dale - My childhood heroes. Still my favorite characters to see in the park.
• Classic Disney Animals, esp. dogs and cats and the characters from Bambi - Cute animals are cute.
• Alice in Wonderland - Another favorite storybook. I love Alice, Dinah, and the Dormouse.
• Characters reading - Have you noticed yet that I have a thing for books?
• Robin Hood & Sword in the Stone - My brother and I both LOVED these movies.
• Halloween pins - One of my favorite holidays. I really like pumpkin-shaped pins.
• Hanukkah pins - My other favorite holiday. (As a Jewish girl, I find it so cool that these pins even exist!)
• My favorite DL attractions - Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Small World, Tiki Room and Tower of Terror.
• A few pretty princess pins - Some sets I love, and a few BATB pins - My fav movie, my fav princess! <3

I have a lot of side collections, but most of them are very small, because I'm very picky about them. (Otherwise, they would take over!) I think I have around 75 Peter Pan pins, and about 50 Figaro's, but most of my side collections are 10-15 pins at the most.

Like TinkerBelle 1956, I started collecting the Disney store pins in 2000. Those of us buying the pins would meet outside the mall store before it opened on Saturday mornings and trade to complete the set of pins. Since then I have been a collector of sets, things like pins of the month, pin pursuits, DVC, and passholder pins. I also collect some holidays and opening day pins as well as Donald and Chip and Dale.