How do YOU trade in the parks?

[scarsiandam]

Hello all :lol:

Mom and I are most likely going to be driving down to WDW for the weekend/a couple of days from good old Maryland. I was just sitting here wondering, now that I am much more serious about pin trading than when I was a child years ago in the parks!

How do you pin trade in the parks?

When you approach CMs to look at their lanyards, How do you feel?
Me, when I ask someone to look at their lanyard, sometimes I just trade with them just to trade, since they took the time to allow me to look! :lol: I used to just look for my collection (Lion King, Villains, etc.) and if they didn't have anything, say no thanks.

Now, after just recently getting off the Dream a few days ago, I approached a new way of trading with the CMs. I started trading for things that looked interesting (3D or Dangle pins) off of the CMs, even if they were not something I collected- I got a few Stitch and even Haunted Mansion pins, as well as some Event pins! I was hoping this would be the best strategy for trading to get things that are interesting that people may want to trade through pinpics and DPF.

SO I am looking for suggestions as how to BEST trade in the parks when I only have a few days there, my goal is to get a few good things that people may want. Should I pick up some rack pins too? I'm really at a loss, I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say! Or are Hidden Mickey's the best way to go? Please advise! :bowdown:

 

[btowndude]

I just returned from a week stay at WDW after the Love is Magical pin event, and had my best experience with the CMs. If you haven't read the FAO on trading at WDW, print it and bring it with you.

I was wearing my white DPF lanyard and it really made my traders stand out. Frequently, the CMs spotted me first and had brought out their lanyards by the time that I reached them. Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday mornings were the best times to find new/different pins on the lanyards. My best trades were with Scoop Sanderson. He has a lot of special pins, very few Hidden Mickeys. You can usually find him on Main Street on Monday and Wednesday mornings. If you can not find him, just ask the costumed CMs on Main Street. They were very helpful on locating him for me.

I loaded up on traders by stopping at the Walmart on 535, the Target on 192, and the Disney Character Premiere store at the Premium Outlets on Vineland across I4 from DTD.

My strategy was to look for the new 2011 Hidden Mickeys - the cute Yeti, the Orange birds, any silver or gold chaser, and the Retro series. [You can see the new Hidden Mickeys on the ODPT.com site at this link http://eventservices.disney.go.com/pintrading/event?id=38899 ]

After greeting the CM, tell them what you are looking for. One Cm did not have what I was looking for on her lanyard. But she knew that there was a cute Yeti on a spare lanyard that they kept under the counter. I would not have gotten that pin, if I had kept my trading wants a secret! I always smile, thank them and return the magical day wish.