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DSSH/DSF - Cinderella Royal Pin Trading Event - March 22, 2015

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DSSH/DSF - Cinderella Royal Pin Trading Event - March 22, 2015
TRIP REPORT

Okay, I am back. It was tiring. I forgot to take pictures (sorry) so here's the best I can do.

Sis (jadeites-lady) and I arrived at 8:30 a.m. to find out that we were #31 and #32 in line. #1-8 got there between 3 a.m. and 4:15 a.m. YOWZA! They wanted to be first for the trading boards because of the rumored great stuff on the boards.

Trading Boards: They were full of DSF PTDs, marquees, and other LE pins, but they also had DLR AP pins (the diamonds), Piece of Disneyland History, and WDW pins (Olaf Spring & Shields of Fantasy), along with plenty of OE pins. I never managed to get lower than 8th in line (neither did sis) but I still managed to get some nice APs. I'll take a picture as soon as I'm not tired, so probably in a few days and then post an update on the thread.

Traders: Most of the traders spent time in line at the trading boards. For the Royal Ball package guests, there were two trading boards and one LE barrel. When the Trading Event package guests came in, they expanded to four trading boards, but still only one LE barrel. I recognized a few from prior free pin events.

Food: For the Royal package guests, there was food. Eggs, sausage, bacon, roasted potatoes, belgian waffles (either limp or too crispy, I couldn't find one done quite right), pastries, Caesar salad, some meat, and desserts.

Drinks: Juice (orange and grapefruit), water, soft drinks, coffee, and tea. No milk. :(

I think that's about it. Between the two of us, we were able to get about 13 traders & keepers off the boards. I think we're keeping 2-3, and trading or selling the rest.

PTDS: DSF still had Gloyd, Frollo, and the 3 ducks, along with the Cinderella sundae pin. I picked up Gloyd, 3 ducks, and the sundae pin (for my sponsor). I left sis behind watching our bags cuz they were too heavy.

Raffles: They had raffles for the Royal Ball package guests of 10 pins/packages + the floral centerpieces on the table (I won a centerpiece) at about 11:30/11:45 a.m. (the regular trading guests were let in at 12 noon.) They gave out BTs (Pocahontas), marquees, PTDs and more. They also had a raffle for all guests at 2:30 p.m (it was supposed to start at 2 but it was delayed til 2:30 p.m.) They gave out PTDs, pin trading bags, Beloved Tales (Sleeping Beauty), and more.

I think that's about it.
 
I met up with Timeerkat (Tessa), CheshireCat26 (Summer), Polaris' hunny Grant, TheOtherSteve (Steve), Mayumi (no idea who she is on DPF), Louis (MASTER), Angel (Pin-A-Colada), Kilian (kiljoy667).

Ended up chatting with Mayumi as I recognized her from Mouseplanet.com's MouseAdventure quests from 2 times ago...when I saw her doing the quest, I was like, isn't that a pin trader? LOL.
 
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From what I saw I don't know if I would spend the extra 130$ for the event to have to spend another 130$ for the two exclusive pins.

THAT BEING SAID

The things the Royal Ball people got for breakfast (It was way better then what the flyer said, there was eggs, waffles, mini pecan tarts, mini fruit parfaits, lots of fruit and salads and alllll kinds of things, it looked delicious!) , the early entry (AKA not having to wait the extra 1 1/2 hours outside) Plus i believe they received a goodie bag of ghiradelhi chocolates (A giant box with 4 large bars inside, a huge mound of chocolates per table), an extra 10 chances in the raffles and getting to do the LE/AP boards with 150 less people to have to fight with?

If they do something like this again, especially if it is for pins /i/ would want to pay extra for (or if my sponsor wanted them) I would?GLADLY like the Royal ball for the CONVENIENCE.

What was nice though was something I hadn't REALLY seen before and that was they refreshed the trading boards AND brought out EXTRA BOARDS when more people arrived! Almost ALL the pins were AP or they were low low low LE from DSF. I went with a friend and stayed with Timeerkat most of the time and together I think between the 3 of us we pulled about 9-10 AP pins and they weren't half bad pins either!

There was also a booth to buy your sets of pins at YOUR continence! Not having people wait in line immediately upon going in kept the purchase line at no more then 20 people in line (and 3 registers with about 9 cast members working at all times to help out!!) When we got in line to buy our pins at about 1:30 there was maybe 6-7 people in front of us and we were already able to trade a see a pin board before we even went over there.

ALL in all; whether I get sponsor for next time or pay myself the way this event was handled was actually pretty fantastic. Valet parking also eased some of my pain since it was free and I didn't have to worry about find a spot and walking. I got every pin my sponsors asked for with absolutely NO trouble, I talked and traded and most people were in a generally good mood all morning.


If you just want to go the 90$ is worth it. If you want more time to trade, food, and much more convenience do the higher end one even if you don't want the expensive exclusive pins because you know; someone else always will!
 
Damiens pins said:
Is there any photos of the event I would love to see them and did they have any preview boards! Hope you all got the pins you wanted and done some awesome trades
Click to expand...

I forgot to take photos, sorry :( I know I should have but things were so hectic. I took pictures outside the hotel, of the footmen, and that's about it. There were no preview boards for upcoming pin releases.

I will say that they cram too many people (300) into the ballroom with the tables. There was no room to walk between tables if people were seated in their chairs.

DSSH earned $33,750 for the Royal Ball package holders ($225 @ 150 people) and $13,500 for the Trading Event package holders. The breakfast and the room should have cost no more than $12,000 ($40 @ 300 people). Gold marquee cost (it was a pretty heavy pin) so let's say $15 x 150 = $2250. The PTE pin $5 x 300 = $1500. The other pins were sold, not given away.

Cost of the 35-50 raffle prizes (including centerpieces) was no more than $2500 (50 @ $50).

About ten DSSH/El Capitan employees, let's say they they average $25/hr in salary & benefits for 10 hours = $2500. I have no idea how much Disney pays their employees, but I'm figuring some make minimum wage, while others earn more.

So, I'd say DSSH netted $26,500. If they reduced the capacity of the room to 200-250 and spread out the tables a bit more, it would have been better.

I do have a picture of the centerpiece, as I did win one (during the Royal Event portion of the raffle.) I'll post it shortly.

I did enjoy the event, but if I had to pay for it myself, I doubt I would go. Thank you to my sponsors!

*NOTE: However, if there is a similar event for the Beauty & the Beast Live Action, I would probably go since sis does collect BATB....well, unless we are out of (stopped collecting) pins in 2 years, that is. :lol:
 
Here are my thoughts on the event:

~ It was awesome to meet Romancing_Train (and her friend) in person! And to see Starry and jadeites-lady again. I saw a bunch of people that I recognized from DSF releases and park trading. So the non-trading-hanging-out aspect was nice.

~ For the amount of people in as small of a space as it was, everything was organized really well. I do agree that fewer tables would have been great, as it was really hard to navigate between them, especially carrying a large bag of pins.

~ I did not trade with a single other attendee, as I spent the ENTIRE event going to pin boards and the LE mystery barrel. They were really on the ball with changing out the pin boards, and it seemed like every time I turned around a board was changed out. As a result, I got about 12-16 new pins, a good deal of which were APs and/or LEs. BUT that also means I spent the entire event carrying around a large heavy bag of pins, that I really didn't have to.

~ They gave you 30 seconds at each board to pick out two pins for trading. I can understand why they did that, and fully support it, but it was somewhat of a sensory overload to take in an entire board in 30 seconds. As a result, there were pins I noticed on the board that I didn't see in my initial 30 seconds that I would have liked to get. I'm very happy with what I pulled, though.

~ The purchasing table was really well handled and well-manned. Since everyone was guaranteed all pins, people spaced out the purchases throughout the day; as Romancing said earlier, there really wasn't much of a line and we got through purchasing fairly quickly.

~ Free valet parking was definitely a plus.

I also didn't have a chance to take photos. I don't recall seeing any previews for upcoming pins. But I did watch the TV screen at the artist's station for a bit and saw sketches of a Baymax PTD and an ice cream cone hot air balloon with Baymax in the basket.

All in all, I had a great time. I will definitely try to get in to the next event they have if it is handled the same way as this one was. Between the two packages, Royal Ball was probably the better deal (breakfast - oh my goodness, I was STARVING when I got there, and walked into the ballroom and smelled all the food; extra raffle chances, first crack at pin boards, the extra marquee pin and chocolates, etc.).
 
Wow- that sounds like a fab event. We got to see Cinderella pins @ the DSF yesterday.
I was totally drooling over the jumbo!
(I got an extra turquoise 60th ann. diamond pin @ DCA lest Thursday if anyone thinks that this would be a fair trade, I would love to swap for it :drool: )
 
It was a barrel with about four dozen little tan canvas bags inside, each containing an LE pin. You gave the cast member an LE pin (any LE size), and you got thirty seconds to rummage around and feel the bags. Once your time was over you picked a bag and got the pin that was inside. So it was a surprise swap, since you couldn't see the pin you were choosing. You were allowed to do two pins at a time.
 
The event sounds like it was so much fun! I would like to try and go to one in the future (maybe the a Beauty and the Beast one I'm sure they'll have?) Sounds like it was very organized and had a lot to do. The cost of gas and admission was just too prohibitive for me this time. I'm going to the PTN this Friday. It would be cool if they had trade boards, though I'm not sure if that is something they do at PTNs and I'll be late anyways. So glad for everyone who had fun and was able to trade/pull for some new things!
 
timeerkat said:
It was a barrel with about four dozen little tan canvas bags inside, each containing an LE pin. You gave the cast member an LE pin (any LE size), and you got thirty seconds to rummage around and feel the bags. Once your time was over you picked a bag and got the pin that was inside. So it was a surprise swap, since you couldn't see the pin you were choosing. You were allowed to do two pins at a time.
Click to expand...

That sounds really fun. For anyone who had LE pins they didn't want, it could be a good deal! :tigger: Thanks for the description, timeerkat!
 
PersinettePins said:
The event sounds like it was so much fun! I would like to try and go to one in the future (maybe the a Beauty and the Beast one I'm sure they'll have?) Sounds like it was very organized and had a lot to do. The cost of gas and admission was just too prohibitive for me this time. I'm going to the PTN this Friday. It would be cool if they had trade boards, though I'm not sure if that is something they do at PTNs and I'll be late anyways. So glad for everyone who had fun and was able to trade/pull for some new things!
Click to expand...


Unfortunately, DLR stopped doing trade boards at least three years ago (when they also decreased the number of PTNs). Originally, it was supposed to random which PTNs they would do the trade boards at, but the first PTN after they announced the change had a trade board and no other PTN had it since :(
 
starry_solo said:
Unfortunately, DLR stopped doing trade boards at least three years ago (when they also decreased the number of PTNs). Originally, it was supposed to random which PTNs they would do the trade boards at, but the first PTN after they announced the change had a trade board and no other PTN had it since :(
Click to expand...

Shucks. Well, as cool as it would have been to get some new traders, I think I'd spend my whole time in line to do so as well (too tempting!) so I'll look at the positive side and just enjoy socializing! I just wish my traders weren't so limited right now, haha. Im tempted to bring some of my collection must in case I find something special... This is my first PTN so no idea what to expect. I'm hoping to stop by DD and buy some OEs I'm missing and get dinner at La Brea bakery. I think the Trading Hut and restaurant should still be open around 7:30/8:00? That's still pretty early for a theme park.

The DSF events sound like a lot of fun though! I will definitely try to go to one in the future. I'm glad everyone seems to have enjoyed their time at Cinderella's Pin Ball.
 
The DSSH Cinderella pin event was my first Disney sponsored pin event. I came out from Seattle to visit family and go to the event on Sunday. I had a lot of fun at the event. I had a Royal Ball Ticket and I don't have regrets for paying the extra amount. I didn't eat the breakfast until about 15 mins before they closed it down, but the selection at the buffet was pretty good and the food was good. I was too busy going to the 2 pin boards and LE barrel to eat earlier. It was nice to be able to go through the boards when it was less crowded before the rest of the group was let in. It gave me the opportunity to try to figure things out a bit before it picked up speed.

I met Starry_Solo and others who were awesome and very helpful. They gave me lots of good pointers to help me make the most of the event. Thank you again for all your help Starry_Solo.

Overall, I spent more time at the pin boards then I had expected. I thought I would go through the boards twice and then trade with traders. However, as mentioned earlier, DSSH refreshed the boards a couple of times. Each time there were really good pins from DLR Diamond pins and Marquees. I was lucky twice to be close to the front of the line (7 or 11 spot) after a refresh. I didn't get any of the super popular pins, but there was such a great amount of good pins that there was still some nice pins to pick from. At the end, I ended up with 10 artist proof pins with 5 of them being Alice themed. I didn't realize how many artist proofs I had until I looked at them tonight to see the stamps. I was really surprised at how many Alice pins were on the boards. I was not expecting that since not too many Alice pins had come out. (I will post photos of the pins in the Pins showroom, so not to clog up this thread.)

When it was winding down before the final raffle, I was able to do 2 in person trades for 2 nice Alice In Wonderland pins. I was a little hesitant doing in person trades, but both traders were very nice. Also, I was able to get my gold Cinderella Marquee signed by the artist. The line for the artist had lessen to something not too long, so I was able to get my pin signed. It is a nice keepsake for my first event.

I thought as a first timer that the event was handled really well. It was nice they kept changing out the boards often and that there was so many artist proof pins on the boards and older DSF pins. It kept everything moving and I was trading with the boards majority of the time. I agree the room was pretty crowded with the tables, it would have been nice with maybe 1 or 2 less tables and that would have given some extra room. But I was able to manage around the tables.

I had a blast, I would probably do it again if it again was something I collect. I probably would not go if it was not a theme I am interested in. Not sure if they would do something of this caliber for AIW 2, but if they did I would defiantly go.
 
It was a good time. I think if I do another event like this, I'm just bringing my large purse filled with pins for the trader boards and the LE barrels.
 
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