It All Started With A Pin!!!

A fantasy Jessica Rabbit/Grateful Dead pin...then I was hooked and managed to find myself as part of this incredible group/family known as DPF!!! :wiggle:

Amazingly enough, in one month from today, it will have been THREE years since I joined you all here, the rest is history! I have met some of the most wonderful people in the world, and have been very privileged to have made some of the best friends/family anyone could ask for in life!!! :hug: So many of you took me under your wings when I was new to it all, and have helped me so SO very much along the way...you all mean the world to me and I thank you!!! :hug: You all have brought me joy and happiness, and have been there during some of the best and worst times in my life! Looking forward to many more years of friendship with you all, and cannot wait for the day when I meet many of you in person!!! :x:

I will post pictures of my first pin later! What events/pin(s) led you to this magical group?

I was trading pins for many years now. I think about 13 or 14. We met many awesome people and traded a lot of pins on our yearly trips to Disneyland during those years. Including one trip where a trader and I sat down and just started swapping pins. By the time it was over we had traded over 40 pins. Ah the good ole days when you just traded because it was fun instead of worrying about what a pin was worth. Over the years I have had locals leave a trading table we were sharing because they "couldn't trade like I do". I have always tried to remember (especially when trading in person) that pin trading is supposed to be fun. I have done the attractions so for me pin trading is why I go to Disneyland. If I am not trading I am not having as much fun.

Judy (tiggermickey) invited me to join here and I did, but I never spent any time here. Then I made a trade with Mahrii and volunteered to help her any time she wanted. She was fairly new and by that time I was a old pro. Then she started asking me what she should accept in the trade auctions. Did somebody say trade auctions, I was hooked. That is what got me started in spending time here. Then Carissa (romancing_train) came along and RAK attacked me and that was the birth of the Grail Slayer. I found the joy of zapping other people.

Great idea for a thread Nate!!!

docfish2u said:

I was trading pins for many years now. I think about 13 or 14. We met many awesome people and traded a lot of pins on our yearly trips to Disneyland during those years. Including one trip where a trader and I sat down and just started swapping pins. By the time it was over we had traded over 40 pins. Ah the good ole days when you just traded because it was fun instead of worrying about what a pin was worth. Over the years I have had locals leave a trading table we were sharing because they "couldn't trade like I do". I have always tried to remember (especially when trading in person) that pin trading is supposed to be fun. I have done the attractions so for me pin trading is why I go to Disneyland. If I am not trading I am not having as much fun.

Judy (tiggermickey) invited me to join here and I did, but I never spent any time here. Then I made a trade with Mahrii and volunteered to help her any time she wanted. She was fairly new and by that time I was a old pro. Then she started asking me what she should accept in the trade auctions. Did somebody say trade auctions, I was hooked. That is what got me started in spending time here. Then Carissa (romancing_train) came along and RAK attacked me and that was the birth of the Grail Slayer. I found the joy of zapping other people.

Great idea for a thread Nate!!!

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I love you David!!! :hug:

I love to hear that folks are into trading because it's fun! I've been enjoying trading pins so very much since I started doing it this year. I have been collecting pins much, much longer than a year though. My first pins were purchased around 2002 when I was visiting Disneyland with my family as a teenager. I've lost a few of those early pins but I've miraculously kept a lot of them. I don't get to visit the parks a lot, so I didn't really trade until recently. I finally traded with another collector at WDW in September of this year and enjoyed it a lot. I was laid off shortly after, so I joined this forum to fill some of my downtime with pin trading. It has helped keep my mind off worrying and has honestly been a ton of fun. My BF has been encouraging of my enjoying my downtime while I search for a job as well, so I'm really taking advantage of this rare opportunity to have some fun.

It all started for me when I bought a safari hat at WDW in the year 2000 and it had four pins on it. I bought a few more to add to the hat and it hasn't stopped from there. I joined a few message boards (Dizpins, pinmania and I can't remember the others). I started to get to know some people, in fact that's where I met Judy (Tiggermickey). I went to a pin meet that Tom (Tomarts) put on at his house and my collection just kept growing! I also went to a couple of pin meets in Cleveland (That's where I met Big Dan, God rest his soul. What an amazing person, and we became good friends from there).
Then I found the DPF and got so many more amazing friends.
I've met some amazing people along the way through pin trading and I have the honor to call all of them my friends! I have to say, I'm a pretty lucky person to have all of you guys as friends!!!

I started collecting about 3yrs ago..I wasn't really into it Disney pins was just going along with it and watching my daughter and husband do it,,then I saw this little guy and well that was about 1,000 pins ago hehehehe..
My main collection is police,,security pins then my side collections are Stitch,,Star wars ,,Animal,,I do love Ariel but theres just too many Princess pins so I don't even try to start collecting her...Ive met some great people and finding someone who collects the same is hard but there are a few of us out there...

first pin

tried to add a picture,,but i guess i didn't do it rite,,oh well

pdgurl said:

tried to add a picture,,but i guess i didn't do it rite,,oh well

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Here it is! Fun pin!

Love hearing everyone's stories!!! :bigthumb: Thank you all for sharing!

Yes it did all start with a pin one of the older ones with a pin back, Kodak had just sponsored and I got from an Uncle the one with Mickey on it, and it has been about 13-14 years as well for trading, I have traded with Dave(docfish2u) for years and have been a member here for a long time as well and on Pinpics, when it was easier to use still am member but not many people on there, now I have a wall full of pins in frames that I have done, last one done is the Villains from the 2013 Halloween party Mystery set

It started for me with another more generalized collection that some pins had easily made their way into, and the discovery of those pins lead me to information on this more specific hobby. I was only going to buy and collect what I wanted, but reading about the trading that others were doing really made me crave getting into that aspect of it as well - so much fun! Unfortunately, I don't live near any parks, so it's pretty difficult to find the means to obtain good traders without totally losing money in the process (but I still try to do it anyway, haha)!

My first pinnerversary is coming up next month and I can't wait to post photos of what I have obtained so far (not nearly as much as most people, I fear), as well as share some of my more fun experiences and thank the friends that I've made so far!

Disney pins has opened up my world a little more and brought me a lot of joy during depressing times!

Absolutely makes my day to read everyone pin histories!!! :bigthumb: I appreciate everyone sharing!

glad you got that pin and found your way here. We started out with pins while on a trip to DLR. A real nice lady gave us a talk about pins and than gave us all a pin to start out with. That was all it took to get us going. We have had to take time off over the years but we always find our way back to the mouse. Its nice to be part of such a good group of people.
Thank you all
KT

Thanks KT...so happy to have met you guys and that this hobby has brought so many of us together!!! :bigthumb:

It started for our family back at the beginning - I had been sick and the family needed a break so we went to WDW They were getting ready to have their 1st Pin Event at DTD (we had been curious after purchasing some of the Disney pins here and there). So we got in line and the rest is history!!! I also was awarded one of the first CTT pins. I remember a CM Manager awarded it to me, I remember meeting people in line with us (who later became friends of ours) and during the rest of the day I told them the story of how a Manager had given me a pin, she asked to see it and when I showed it to her - she was screaming and excited and took me to the artist that day to get it signed....I felt like I won the Disney Willy Wonka Lottery - lol But that got us hooked. Now to make the story ever more awesome!!!!! I was also the person way back who had the first Disney Pin Cruise, then Disney took them over, but we had formed a pin group and all went on the cruise, through the years a family that joined in way at the beginning had a son and we had a son and daughter around the same age, so through the years our families became close friends - well all these years later and ALL BECAUSE OF PIN TRADING and how we all met, their son and our daughter are getting married this year!!!!! and our son is the best man!!!!! So who ever knew the destiny of Disney Pin Trading for our family - and this little piece of metal!!!!! So we are all beyond excited and LOVE the way our families chapter has unfolded - all because of Disney Pin Trading!!!!! Love the thread and Happy New Year to everyone!!!!!!!

My pin trading addiction started so innocently. We had gone to Disneyland a couple times (once per year) with the kids and our travel company had given us a couple pins each time. We didn't think much of them the first year. The second year we saw someone ask a cast member to see their pins as we were waiting to make the mad dash from Small World to the princess meet and greet line (where Mickey and the Magical Map is now) for our princess crazy (at the time) 4 year old. We watched them and then asked the CM what it was all about and they told us about pin trading.

The next year we brought the 4 pins that we had stashed away from our travel company. We got up the nerve to ask to see pins and I made my first trade. I found out later that it was a scrapper, but I have since found an authentic version of it and the 2 pins sit side by side on my pin board. Anyway, a CM asked me if there were any specific pins I was looking for and I asked if there were any Russell pins. They said that there were but they were hard to come by. I bravely talked to some non-cast member pin traders in Frontierland about Russell pins and one trader had one but was NOT going to trade. I was new, I understood. She was really snoogie about even showing me the pin and I got a really bad first impression of pin traders. So much so I vowed to only trade with cast members. I did find the Carl and Dug OE pins and bought those.

Anyway, when I got home I started searching a certain auction site for a Russell pin. I found the Carl, Russell and Dug 3 pin set but on my way to finding them I found that there were a lot of really cool pins out there! I bought a pin here or there (I thought $7 for a pin was really expensive back then and either passed or just lost auctions for pins that I still kick myself over) and my hubby bought me the Vue Cinema Up house pin. My addiction to and love for Disney pins was slowly forming. I kept looking for a Russell pin that looked more like him in the movie and bought the Russell PTD which became my very favorite pin. In searching for and researching pins I learned about authentic vs fakes and scrappers and in my searching I came upon this amazing forum. I made an account and started commenting and asking questions.

People were so amazing here that my first impression of pin traders was immediately and drastically changed. (I know, there are snoogie traders out there but I haven't found them here.) I love this forum and the people here. I still remember my first online trade and how patient she was with me. I have received totally undeserved zaps that have come at just the right moments. My pin collection brings me joy because I look at each pin and remember its story.

Anyway, since this is a novel. The long and short of it is, I fell into this hobby and it's been a wonderfully fun and fulfilling ride.

Oh, and I now have more than a couple Russell pins.

Loving all your stories! :bigthumb: