Is Disney slowing killing pins in 2015? Your thoughts?

[ethanwa]

Hi all -

The last few years I've seen first hand pin trading decline dramatically. But very recently, things in my opinion have taken a shocking turn for the worst, at least here in Florida.

First, MyMagic+ (which I personally love by the way) has changed the way guests utilize the parks and resorts. Before MM+, people would wear lanyards which would hold ID cards, Keys to the World hotel cards, credit cards, and FastPasses. The lanyards, in turn, would also hold pins for showing off and for trading. The lanyards were the DRIVER of the pin community.

Now guests have MagicBands. They have all of that same stuff on their wrist instead of around their neck.... minus the pins. Now you have MagicBand designs, MagicBandits, CoverBands, and other accessories. And you see that stuff in Florida now creeping in and taking over pin stations in a large way. Entire walls are taken up with the new collectable (and yes, they ARE collectable, I run magicbandcollectors.com and get 1000's of views on the site per day). And yes, MagicBands are coming to Disney Cruise Line and Disneyland in the near future, as confirmed last month in comments by Bob Igar, Tom Staggs, and the Orlando Sentinel.

Secondly, and I think even more telling, is the fact that Disney very recently stopped updating their website with new pin releases and now just puts out a flyer. It's lazy and shows a lack of caring, maybe because the staff got cut to do this work, or maybe it's not worth their money/time anymore? But what REALLY gets me is the amount of pin releases on the flyers. It's TINY! Where are all of the releases?

And last is the quality. Some of the pins for the 2015 years are just bad. You can tell they are thrown together to appease the casual buyer, to make a quick buck, and to move on. I feel the real gems and low LE's are few and far between these days, only given out at the Hollywood Soda store, or special DisneyStore.com releases. And the D23 events and such as well.

Combine all of this with things like tables being taken away, less events, the fiasco with PinPics, and people practically getting in fights at the few events they do have doesn't make the future seem very bright to me.

I just heard a comment the other day from Steven Miller, Disney Parks Merchandise Communications Manager (he worked in the pin department years ago), that when pins first came out they were a simple 18-month experiment. Disney expected to end the program within 2 years. That was what.... 20 years ago now? Maybe time is finally up.

Pin trading isn't DEAD yet... But it's on life support.

What do you think?

Ethan

 

[tiggeriffic]

Even if things slow down I don't see Disney pins as dying out. Disney pins existed long before the official trading began. It might end up being basic pins at the parks, but I don't see them giving up on that easy revenue. Pins are very profitable. There are still the other sources that you mentioned as well. Last weekend I waited about 4 hours in line for pins at the soda fountain. With lines/sales like that, I wouldn't expect that to end too soon.

I am curious about the magic bands, though. Could you explain those? I don't know much about them or the collectibles associated with them.

 

[tinkerbellfan117]

I doubt magicbands can replace pins. They look odd to me.

 

[Just1More]

I like "using" magic bands, but am not interested in the collectible aspect ~ at least not yet (?) They do seem to be acquiring a lot of shelf display space in Florida at the parks, though.

 

[ethanwa]

Do I think MagicBands will be like pins? No way.

I didn't mean to imply that MagicBands would REPLACE them. I just meant that they are another factor in what seems to begins disappearing... mostly because they take up so much shelf space!

 

[docfish2u]

Of course they are pushing the magic bands, do you know how much money they sank into this boondoggle? It is the reason that they didn't have money to do anything for the 60th at Disneyland like they normally would. So it stands to reason they will push those big time. To many executives have their necks on the line with that.

If my last week is any indication pin trading is not dead.

 

[tinkerbellfan117]

Look at Vinylmation. They started out with great designs and they messed with the nose mold. The other problem was with vinylmation was they took up too much space.

 

[ethanwa]

Vinylmation seems like another collectable that seems dead to me as well. Whatever happened with it? Will pins have the same fate?

 

[Romancing_Train]

I think that pin trading is going the way of Tokyo a bit, but pin collecting isn't being neglected. Look at Dsf, Paris and many of the big releases. Just because they went the way of flyers for the parks, and mind you EVERY OTHER VENUE already uses flyers; doesn't mean they're killing it off.

 

[Speezard]

I agree with Carissa. While I agree that not showing ALL the pin releases is unbelievably annoying, I don't see the flyers as a negative.

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

 

[speedwaystar1]

I personally quite like the flyers , although as my local park is DLP I've had longer to get used to them . I do wish they'd include open edition releases too though , even if they came on a separate flyer once a quarter .

 

[Jabberwocky]

As I think I said recently in another thread, pins (and to a lesser extent vinyls) have followed the lifespan of beanie babies; they just lasted longer.

But does this sound familiar? Cute gift item finds niche following, becomes cult collectible, becomes widely collectible, becomes craze, company floods the market with product, resellers enter the market and inflate secondary value, fakes enter the market, various groups attempt to charge people to "grade and authenticate" their items, collectors get tired of fakes and secondary prices and flooding of the market, creating company slows down support as a collectible, people lose interest, item returns to being cute gift item once again and all formerly valuable "collectible" items lose all financial value.

Since I experienced all of this with the beanie babies craze, I went into pin collecting with eyes wide open and have watched as pins have followed the exact same pattern.

I've been pointing out Disney's waning support for pins (via less and smaller events, lack of monthly PTNs, disappearance of pin cruises and Scoop's daily pin talks long ago, lack of information of upcoming pin releases, no announcements of hidden mickeys yet for 2015 and it's already February, etc.) for a while now.

I don't ever expect Disney to stop producing pins - they're a moneymaker and will always be a great souvenir item. But the support for this 15 year old merchandise line as a trading hobby is definitely weakening.

The longtime hardcore collectors (and their collections) have long since disappeared for the most part. DizPins, the original great resource and community for pin collectors is long gone. PinPics stopped being an accurate and comprehensive website years ago.

The hobby isn't gone. But it's going. And watching the recent dissolution of vinyl collecting/trading should be a clear warning of how pin collecting and collectors can expect to be treated, likely within the next year or so.

 

[Disneycollector4994]

I don't think it's dying but maybe in the future it will.
Unless pin trading is replaced by something even better (not magic bands) then I don't see it going away any time soon

needs to be small and not like vinylmation

 

[Abyssinian28]

I agree with Jabberwocky, but only to a certain extent.

Beanie Babies is not the best comparison, for one. Because Beanie Babies were a craze unto themselves- once the craze died, no one had attachment to the items. But Disney ...that's a different story. There's nostalgia, and beloved characters, and active parks and movies. Out of all the collectibles out there, Disneyana holds value better than most for those reasons. So while the hobby might change, I'm not sure the values will completely crash.

I agree that Disney is pulling back from pins. But what's really funny is...I'm not sure why? Like, there was a bit of a dip in 2009-2011, but lately, things are strong. There's definitely a new and strong interest in them. But it's like the profit isn't worth the effort to them anymore. Which, you know, okay....scale back a little. But they've scaled back to the point where I kind of feel like they're hurting themselves. There's a fine line between flooding the market, and pulling back so much that you starve the craze and kill it prematurely.

And the sad thing is, with a little innovative thinking, they could cut back in some ways, solve some of their issues, and still keep us interested. But their solution seems to be throwing up their arms and going, "Oh, well!" and just giving up...even when there's profit to be had.

In any case, even if they get rid of all of the LE and hobby aspects, I think they'll keep OEs for souvenirs.

 

[kba41510]

I mean...the Disney blog did just post up that they have PTN's in the works for DLR and DSF has a pin trading event so often (although it's laughable how much they charge for those things now). And there are still pins coming out. LE's, Special editions, and the gala had TONS of pins that are getting released this year. Marvel Pins are coming. Frozen is still a thing. Star Wars will have a huge merchandise push coming in the winter as we get closer to Episode 7's release.

Dying in popularity? Maybe...but nothing lasts forever. Vinyl's aren't going to be traded in the park anymore though which i kind of figured was coming. I never did get the appeal of the vinyls...i don't think you'll see CM's stop wearing lanyards but i wish they were allowed to be a little more strict about what they can and they can't accept as a trade...

 

[OlafOlaf]

I feel like pin trading is coming back. It's not Disney that holds the key to activity, it's the pin traders/collectors.

 

[Combatdre]

Pin trading is not dying yet, I've seen pin trends come and go throughout the years. Now selling seems to be more prevalent than trading, but everyone who has collected over the years has seen their collections as an investment. It is true that many older collectors/traders have given up on the trading part but that is mainly because they invested so much in a collection that depreciated in time and can't keep up with new demands. Examples such as Stitch, haunted mansion, Tangled, even the reveal conceal princesses have lost a ton of value in the new market with the introduction of Frozen but that too will get trumped by something eventually since disney is ever changing. The classics are what hasn't lost its touch, Ariel, BaTB, etc. Now the only reason people at places other than California seem to think that pin trading is dying is because of the influx of pins from the soda fountain and their classic low editions while elsewhere everything seems to be LE 1000+ thus leaving no room for competitive trading. However, sadly this is the trading community's fault, does everyone remember PODM's, DS.com releases, etc?? Remember how people used to complain to management, disney, collected signatures, sent letters in outrage about why the editions where so low and how they handled releases?? Anyone remember that?? Well the community got what they asked for at the parks and online stores that is the honest truth. So I don't think its dying but I do think it's changing and getting more relaxed which will ultimately drive out the investment competitive aspect of the hobby and make it fun like it used to be back in the day when hunting for hidden mickeys at the parks made your day .

 

[Carolilol]

I've been trading for only 4 months so I surely hope it doesn't die soon
I only have a newbie opinion but I understand what you say though, it seems that the greater pins with lower LE, true collectible ones are only released at DSF and it's hard to trade for them, I'm from Paris, we have multiple LE releases and events that are cool but it seems easier to sell those in order to buy pins from DSF, and I am surprised to see that there are not as much trading in pin trading as I thought there would be. It's actually why I joined here
I'm interested in this because I'm a major disney fan of course, but also for the getting to know people, expanding my horizon, the human part of it is the coolest and it is "scary" to see how many people are in it for business.
I don't think it's dead though, I've met great people already and I'm sure there are more I'm gonna meet, new people wanting to keep it going are gonna join this great community
I feel like I missed something though, I really would have liked the lanyard trading with cast members but it seems all they have now are scrappers, I'm scared to trade with cast members now and it must have been so fun when it was possible !

 

[hopemax]

I think it's just changing. Disney completely redesigned their open edition stock in 2014, and I don't think they'd do that if they were looking to cut back. I also believe the west coast port slowdown has been affecting release dates. A day or so ago, there was an article that Japan is running out of McDonald's french fries because the USA can't export them because of the slowdown. Many companies are moving shipping operations to the gulf and east coasts, but anything in the pipeline when the situation started was affected, so that's why I think we got series pins released out of order, and delays. I would expect the schedule to settle down and less of that in the future...unless Disney hasn't changed where their merchandise comes in.

The biggest thing is the trading events, and I'd guess that's more a function of the economy. Post 9/11, post financial meltdown, Disney lost a lot of convention business, so pin events filled in some of the loss. Now, I bet they are booked. Plus, nothing is free at Disney, so when one division, like merchandise events wants to use space, they have to pay the facility, just like anyone else. And I don't think that's an expense merchandise wants on its books right now. In order to prove that "My Disney Experience" has been a financial success, I expect there is enormous pressure on WDW management to show increased profits, so additional costs to run a free event...don't think they want it.

I guess I continue to see lots of releases that current collectors don't like, more OE, more mystery sets, less LE releases, but more predictable releases. So it's going to change the type of collector that is brought into the hobby.

 

[-em]

I'm with hopemax.. I feel like it's changing but I think there is more hope for pins now than I had 2-3 years ago.. The edition sizes are up and selling out which is great news. The sheer quantity and quality of new rack pins are great.

I think part of the issue with harnessing 'the collectors' is very intimidating for dis and the old 'owners of pins' had strong backbones the new 'owners' dont and have played by the "rule book" so long they don't want to deal with "collectors" who moan when things change and refuse to see other possibly even better events if it's 'different'.. and instead removes things to shut up the whiners.. You don't like how we do trade nights? Fine we won't do them. You'll complain the same and it'll save us time n money..

Its like i me I love how they put out the new 'rules' for the sept pin event months before registration and all are perfectly fine and reasonable yet I'm sure they got dozens of angry worded emails and I bet 90% are not affected by the rules AT ALL..

I don't see magic bands as a replacement for pins and don't see them being collectables at all and as more n more of the 'extras' for them show up on clearance I don't think I'm alone..

-em

 

[jadeites-lady]

It's evolving.

 

[Romancing_Train]

You don't like how we do trade nights? Fine we won't do them. You'll complain the same and it'll save us time n money..

This. ALLL OF THIS.


I don't think i'm considered a new pin trader anymore..And I've been collecting for a few years now, i've been to trade events and DSF before it blew up with the UP V-Day pins.

Each time someone did a bad trade, or somthing didn't go their way they went to the staff and complained.

Complained the trade boards werent good enough or the preview boards werent big enough or there wasn't enough tables when they were already taking up three.


EVERY year there is a thread that happens after a giant Disney event about how abusive pin traders are to the employees. And how someone has a million and a half bags.

Disney isn't like beenie babies, where you just go in a store and theres not a community watching you. There's a whole body of people to abuse behind it...


I mean look at UK, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong; their pins are to die for. The OE Frozen girls pin on pin from hkdl? It's gorgeous! Paris still has thier events and everyone is constantly jealous of the pins that come out of them; and they have thier ptn pins too which people love because they're nice quality.

It looks like Disney is taking their money and designs and giving them to the people who appriciate them more.

We'll always get dsf; but look at the quality in the last few years; it's pretty iffy and consistently inconsistent.

 

[hopemax]

I mean look at UK, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong; their pins are to die for. The OE Frozen girls pin on pin from hkdl? It's gorgeous! Paris still has thier events and everyone is constantly jealous of the pins that come out of them; and they have thier ptn pins too which people love because they're nice quality.

Right, when the update went up on the blog about events, and people interpreted it as the end of the free events, there was some upset comments. But if the US parked started charging for quarterly events like the Paris ones, would it really be the worst thing in the world? Pin quality obviously matters, so if releases were as nice as the Paris ones, it would get something worthy in the hands of WDW people for a change. And there is historical precedence for that at WDW, because the original pin events were $25, and they rotated locations.

 

[Chusaurus]

I kind of like where it's going these days. I traded with an old collector at Epcot the other day, when all I've seen there are the new wave of collectors that just like LE's and pins of value. It was probably the most refreshing trade I've done in a while. We traded like 13 pins and I for one enjoyed trading pin for pin, instead of worrying about their Pinpics or Ebay value.

As for the parks releases: yes they leave something to be wanted for transparency, but I don't mind how it's changing. I'm always willing to see where it goes. I still miss the days of the pin book at Epcot telling me all the releases coming up. WDW needs something similar to DSSH to keep up with the demand, but there's been rumors that Ghirardelli is getting an expansion with the Disney Springs redo.

 

[Romancing_Train]

Right, when the update went up on the blog about events, and people interpreted it as the end of the free events, there was some upset comments. But if the US parked started charging for quarterly events like the Paris ones, would it really be the worst thing in the world? Pin quality obviously matters, so if releases were as nice as the Paris ones, it would get something worthy in the hands of WDW people for a change. And there is historical precedence for that at WDW, because the original pin events were $25, and they rotated locations.

This so much.

I mean right now the DSF is pricey...but you get a PTD (16$), A PTN pin (I guess they consider these half jumbos since they're 2" - 2 1/2", which the PTN at dsf usually run 18$), general addmission ticket for cinderella (16$), and valet parking which at least for me is a massive stress reliever.

So 50$ (give or take for the ptn but still about 50 if tax) of the 90$ is actual goods + parking AT the hotel you'll be at.

So in reality you're putting out 40 for the pin event I guess? And that helps to pay for the venue and other costs. Plus peace of mind for people to guess what? If you get a ticket..you get pins. that simple. no epic line from hell, no numbers or wristbands, pushing shoving..craziness.