Back from wdw

Just back from WDW, where we pin traded for the first time, and we had a blast. My son was on the hunt for villian, and me what ever caught my eye. He found it to be like a treasure hunt and loved it!!! We found most CMs had pins (though alot of the same ones) that make it even better when we found a pin that we liked. Now a know some of what we got were scrappers, but I knew that going in and I was not going to let that damper my sons fun. Every one was so nice to my son, and would also give him stickers, they also brought out pin books or boards for him, I guess the benifit of being a kid. The best thing we found was when we were leaving MK about 5:30pm on sunday, by the boat launch 2 CMs were out there with 3 large pin boards and wearing vests full of pins. and let us trade unlimited. Also the consierge at our hotel had a pin book and we stayed club level at the beach club and they also had a large pin book. Again we had a great time, I had done alot of research and it paid off.
here is what we got trading ( This does not include pins we bought)

That is a great pin haul! Congrats!

SUPER great haul for trading with cast members! I see some of the "best friends" pins, and I LOVE your Toy Story pins too!! Awesome!

P.S. My son would DIE for the buzz lightyear mickey head. Wanna trade!? Bahahahahaha!

mylittletyguy said:

P.S. My son would DIE for the buzz lightyear mickey head. Wanna trade!? Bahahahahaha!

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LOL, my son is not letting it go, we got that one off the pin board at the polynesian, both best friends pin we got off a CMs lanyard.

That is so exciting- your first trip as pin traders

I must admit, the "treasure hunt" of pin trading at the parks is my single most favorite part of it all. The first year I was at WDW as a "pin trader" I barely noticed that there were also rides to be enjoyed, food to eat, shows to see! I just kept on the move (much to my family's annoyance) looking for lanyards. Constantly scanning the horizon for cast members. I did not trade with every one I stopped, but I did not want to miss out on any opportunity!

But after the first 3 or 4 years of pin collecting/trading, I found myself getting burned out on it. Between PinPics (and the Trade Assistant), Dizpins, eBay, and WDW, it was pins pins pins all the time. Plus, the scrappers really started to become prevalent. So at that time I put the pins aside, and decided to only bring them out close to the time when would be going on vacation to WDW.

Since I decided to do that, it has been great. I get totally excited about pin trading all over again about 2-3 weeks before we go, drag all the pins out of storage, aggravate my husband because there are pins, bubble envelopes, & 3-ring binders spread out all over the living room, and go through everything in preparation of the upcoming trip. I look at my previous "finds" from cast lanyards from previous years, all with great memories, and just love it.

I do also get back on PinPics, Disney Pin Forum, & Disneypins.com (leads to Disney website) to do research, too. I agree that it definitely helps to do research beforehand. I think if I did not look at the current Hidden Mickeys in advance and take the time to decide what I really like, I would simply trade for them all, and regret it later. I still remember the excitement of finding a cast lanyard pin (before they were called Hidden Mickeys), and that excitement is still there. They were very hard to find at first. They did not put out nearly so many. And of course, that was waaayyy before the days of scrappers. (Anyone remember when the evil Sedesma pins were the scourge of pin trading?)

It is wonderful to hear that you both had such a good time "on the hunt." I am so happy to see your picture of your treasures, and hope that you & your son have many more wonderful trips!

Erin

So glad you had a great time!

Great haul there I hope I have that kinda luck in a few days when I get to wdw

Wow, that is quite a robust number of pins for one visit to the parks and I love the Mickey as the Ghoul pin, extremely festive and fitting considering we are less than a week away from Halloween.

kupo1121 said:

Wow, that is quite a robust number of pins for one visit to the parks and I love the Mickey as the Ghoul pin, extremely festive and fitting considering we are less than a week away from Halloween.

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We were there for 9 days, and pin traded everyday. I had put aside pins for months and had several booster packs that I had collected. I still had to buy 2 booster packs while we were there. My son really loved it and I did not want to limit him or myself.