Looks like Disneyland pin trading tables are gone for good

[docfish2u]

When we got back from our last trip to Disneyland a couple weeks ago I sent an email to Disneyland guest services and got really bad news. It appears that Disneyland no longer cares about us pin traders.

Here is the exchange we have had so far.

12/23/2013


Dear David

Thank you for your e-mail to the DISNEYLAND® Resort. We appreciate you
taking the time to share your experience with us.

We are concerned with the disappointments you mentioned in your e-mail
regarding the pin trading tables. As you are aware, our goal is to
provide the finest service. Please be assured we do take our Guest
comments very seriously, and take them into consideration when
evaluating our operation. Your remarks have been forwarded to the
appropriate leaders so they are aware of your experiences.

Disney Pin Trading continues to be a magical part of our Guest's
experience. Over the years, Disney Pin Trading expanded from just a few
tables to D23 Expos and special Pin Trading Nights designed to offer
Guests the opportunity to gather, trade pins and share stories about
their collections. In addition, Guests of all ages enjoy the
interactions with our Cast that pin trading provides.

In an effort to be consistent across Walt Disney Parks and Resorts and
as we continue our focus on Cast-to-Guest pin trading and larger pin
trading events, the pin trading tables at Disneyland Park will be
removed. We encourage our Cast Members to continue pin trading with
Guests as our events and opportunities evolve.


Again, thank you for contacting us. Comments such as yours are welcomed
in that they assist us in evaluating our operation and our success in
generating happiness for our Guests. We hope you will have the
opportunity to visit the DISNEYLAND® Resort soon and that our
attractions and entertainment will delight you in every way.

Sincerely,

Karen Taylor
DISNEYLAND® Resort
Guest Experience Services


Received date: 12/12/13



Original Message Follows:
------------------------

First Day of Visit: 12/03/2013
Length Of Stay: 6

We came down to Disneyland last April to pin trade at the resort. We had
so much fun that we decided to buy annual passes. We again came down to
Disneyland to pin trade December 3-8th and were very upset to find out
that you have removed the trading tables. We come down mostly to pin
trade. I went on 2 attractions while we were there each trip. For us it
is about pin trading. If you do not give the pin traders and official
place to pin trade there is no reason for us to come down. When we come
down we always do it at a time so that several other friends can also
come pin trade with us from all over the US. Again, if there is no
trading there is no reason for any of us to come to Disneyland. We will
not be renewing our passes and we will have to find other places to
visit for our vacations. I hope you reconsider putting back the pin
tables. If you have problems with certain guests please punish those
guests and not all of us!

david mayer

Here is what I replied to them today:
Hi Karin,


Thank you for responding to my concerns. However since the cast member lanyards are full of fakes and scrappers that is not enjoyable to us. I do not want to trade my good pins purchased through Disney for the obvious garbage that is currently on the lanyards. Which is why trading with other guests is so enjoyable. As for the pin trading nights, we book our trips months in advance and since you have not been consistent in planning these and letting the trading public know in advance when they will be that does not help us either. So by removing the trading tables I guess you are also removing us and our friends from needing to come to Disneyland at all. I guess we will be instead going to events in New Jersey to trade pins in person and Disneyland can not get our hard earned money. There is definitely no reason for us to renew our passes either.


I find this very frustrating to have something taken from us that we have enjoyed for so long without and explanation. If you were having problems with individual traders you should deal with them and not just get rid of the tables.


I hope you reconsider your stance on the trading tables. Until that happens we will no longer be coming down at least once a year.


I guess only some guests enjoyment matter to the people in charge of Disneyland.


David Mayer
former Disneyland guest
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With all of this crud going down at Disneyland I guess our trips to Southern California will now be pin party only. Which also works since there are so many great people down there it is totally worth it to come down for a party. I know for sure we will not be renewing our passes. If any of the locals hear anything more about getting tables back please let us all know.

Mark your calendars, the next 3D docfish2u, diablo, daWny party will be April 26th, 2014. Time and place to be determined. We are looking into hotels that also have conference rooms that can seat 100.

 

[dopeydoc3]

just inexcusable…..

I feel sick…..

 

[pincrazy]

Thanks David for the update. It appears Disney Resorts doesn't seem to want to respond in a positive maninner or contemplate their actions. With the amount of dollars pin traders invest to trade and update their pins, seems foolish of them to only expect people to only trade at THEIR events that you have to pay an admission to. It's very sad to see Disney ignore the possibilities of a hobby they invested in. As you say the need can still be met outside the parks, it was just the extra perk that inside we were able to always have a place to meet and acquire and admire other's pins. You made a Grand effort and we know where we stand at this point. If anything changes we will definitely let you know...just very disappointing is all I can say.

 

[ALittleBitOfMagic]

Wow... As a business major, that letter looks like it was cut straight out of my old business writing textbook. (aka put all kinds of fluff around the obvious "no")

 

[Catz]

I know when we had passes... there were a lot of fights.. and petty arguments and unfortunately some people were taking advantage of others... BUT THE MAJORITY were not.. is this their solution to that ring of scammers? I can't tell you how many times i was called to witness.. and provide statements to disney. BUT they knew that Crystal and myself and anyone we were with... gave out more pins than we ever got! There were many times that we provided lanyards and a few pins to new passholders.. and showed them the ropes in pin trading.. which led to them buying pins and sharing the love. So i know they can see the good in it as well. And the $$ that we provide the parks..


Maybe we need more letters to them or another way to show our desire to keep the tables? I know we as a group have done some smaller scale things.. but maybe it is time for more of us to voice our opinions louder.. with respect.. but get the point across? and follow up.. SO ... what can we do as a group...with numbers.. and possibly sway their previous decision to remove the tables.. ? any ideas?

On the other hand.. it may be more fun to have triple D trading events.. or local ones and plan our own parties.. where we can control the locations and schedules..

 

[BamaBulldawg]

Disappointing. What issues did they have with the trading tables? From what I gather there were some traders causing problems? Thanks

Just saw the post above. Fights at trading tables? That's crazy!

 

[Romancing_Train]

Disappointing. What issues did they have with the trading tables? From what I gather there were some traders causing problems? Thanks

Just saw the post above. Fights at trading tables? That's crazy!

Since the Podms releases ((because those are the biggest pins I can remember)) there have been lots of fights, crowding and other safety hazards.


I never wanted the trading tables to go away but I think in the last year the way many pin traders have treated each others, other guests to the parks and especially cast members is horrible. I AM NOT SAYING ALL. But there was enough drama on a daily basis that this is probably Disney's best way to fix the solution.

Either that or ban every person in each incident involved, whether good or bad. And that would probably hurt them 100x more.


The thing is with or without the trading tables they aren't going to lose as much profit as one would think, BUT I do think that if we pushed hard enough they might be willing to let pin traders use another place or have special trading days inside the park as well as pin events.



BASICALLY What happened here is what happened in the Tokyo Disneylands. People got out of had so they stopped pin trading and started only promotig pin collecting because of bad behavior. I'm sure everyone will dissagree with me but I know not only first hand at the parks, but also at DSF and you can look online at how the behavior of peopel has been. And like the military, it's much easier to punish the group then try to find one dude who ruined it for everyone and punish him.

 

[Diablo]

That letter was such a "form" letter, I bet it has a file number assigned to it to make it easier for guest services to find when replying to guest complaints. In the minds of Disney leaders, the motto is: "the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many" which translates to "our needs outweigh the needs of our guests."

Give it some time and those picnic tables outside the parks will disappear too.

 

[bombardon3]

In an effort to be consistent across Walt Disney Parks and Resorts and
as we continue our focus on Cast-to-Guest pin trading and larger pin
trading events, the pin trading tables at Disneyland Park will be
removed.

This is code for "since WDW lost their tables so should DLR". Same reason Disneyland no longer has a holiday party for their cast members. I think the pin program in general has gone downhill since they consolidated everything and run it out of Orlando. DLR doesn't get artist signings (except for the occasional one at PTNs), has cancelled PTNs, and hasn't had a proper pin event in 2 years.

 

[sosai x]

What killed it was the small number of people at the tables that were observed selling pins and using cell phone card swipers to collect payment. The tables are just a guest courtesy that was abused, and so discontinued.

 

[docfish2u]

What killed it was the small number of people at the tables that were observed selling pins and using cell phone card swipers to collect payment. The tables are just a guest courtesy that was abused, and so discontinued.

If this was the case then Disneyland has nobody to blame but themselves. It is against the rules for guests to sell pins in the parks, if they observed people doing it they could ban them and cancel their passes. Problem solved. After banning a few people then the word would get around and it should solve itself.

It looks to be the dawn of the next Isner generation. Don't worry about guest satisfaction, they will come back no matter what. No I won't. There are other places to go to spend my money.

So when are the New Jersey pin events anyway. It might be time to go to one of those and spend some time with the people!!! After our next party of course.

 

[dis22]

This is a shame. We've met a lot of very nice people at the tables. For every 1 bad experience, we've had 99 positive ones at the tables. I miss the almost monthly pin trading nights that were announced months before (not 2-3 weeks before). Now those seem to be down to 3 or 4 a year at DLR. Disney is about bringing people together. How better than to use disney pins as an effective avenue to bring people together. Why take this away? If dland doesn't want us to meet at the parks, I'm all for meeting elsewhere. My daughters and I thoroughly enjoy going to pin meets at other locations (Livermore, Mama Coza's, My d pins to name a few that we've been to). The turnout at the last Livermore meet was outstanding. I'd say that during the 5 hour meet around 40-50 people showed up...and that's in Livermore, CA...about 7 hours from dland. Anybody want to come to Paso Robles, CA? We're smack in the middle between Livermore and dland .

 

[Elysandrra]

I'm so sorry everyone. I can see how devastating it is that we don't have a designated area to trade, and I'm very new to trading. We can continue to send in letters however- just to let them know that this is what we want and really it's not unreasonable! It makes me sad that you aren't going to be renewing your passes. I feel like they've extinguished some of the magic. But David- it's so great that you are going to be coming back down for another party! That I think is a great way to cope with this loss.

 

[tokyodisneydad]

BASICALLY What happened here is what happened in the Tokyo Disneylands. People got out of had so they stopped pin trading and started only promotig pin collecting because of bad behavior. I'm sure everyone will dissagree with me but I know not only first hand at the parks, but also at DSF and you can look online at how the behavior of peopel has been. And like the military, it's much easier to punish the group then try to find one dude who ruined it for everyone and punish him.

Well yes and no....there were never any fights or even arguments in Tokyo Disney. What happened there was two fold....one pin swap meets were being set up on blankets in random spots throughout the park. This was due to no space being provided for trading and it also caused congestion problems. The other problem was when overseas guests would come in they would bring tons of fake pins and because of the language difference this caused Cast members problems.

My one hope for DL and WDW folks is that pin trading doesn't end up like it has here ...almost impossible and non existent

 

[docfish2u]

I'm so sorry everyone. I can see how devastating it is that we don't have a designated area to trade, and I'm very new to trading. We can continue to send in letters however- just to let them know that this is what we want and really it's not unreasonable! It makes me sad that you aren't going to be renewing your passes. I feel like they've extinguished some of the magic. But David- it's so great that you are going to be coming back down for another party! That I think is a great way to cope with this loss.

Don't get me wrong, I won't let Disney spoil my fun pin trading in person. I will always come down at least once a year to throw a party if that is the only way to do it. But instead of Disney getting my money it will be going to other local places. Also instead of 2 trips to Disneyland I am thinking a trip to socal and a trip to Jersey. Heck I might even set up some time at the picnic tables outside of Disneyland so anybody can come and not have to have a pass or ticket. There are other alternatives that Disney doesn't get my money. Well at least my money for things other then pins. :lol:

 

[reeneibakini]

This is a shame can they stop people from setting up their own area in the park to trade?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[tinkerbellfan117]

Not everyone was bad. It's too bad that a few bad traders ruined the fun.

 

[colorwindpainter]

I'm really sad about the tables... My boyfriend and I use to come almost every Sunday to pin trade and that was our "thing"... Now since the tables were removed we haven't gone to the parks once and my boyfriends pass has expired and he has no wish to renew it without pin trading.... Very sad.

 

[Suzziesue]

Very disappointing. Trading is such a big part of this hobby. As others have mentioned, why should I renew my pass if there is no place to trade? We need to have more get togethers in our local areas but even that is hard because we keep trading with each other. The tourists brought with them a nice variety of different pins. I feel deflated and wonder if I want to do this anymore.

 

[docfish2u]

This is a shame can they stop people from setting up their own area in the park to trade?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was told when we were down there that most of the time when traders were there (mostly Sundays) that they set up at the Mexican restaurant inside Disneyland. That is where we set up as well on Thursday. Thursday is a pin release day also and there were quite a few traders. But if the restaurant fills up and they need the tables, they could kick you out.

I'm really sad about the tables... My boyfriend and I use to come almost every Sunday to pin trade and that was our "thing"... Now since the tables were removed we haven't gone to the parks once and my boyfriends pass has expired and he has no wish to renew it without pin trading.... Very sad.

I am told that people do still come and trade on Sundays, either at the Mexican restaurant or the yacht club behind the Matterhorn. We left on Sunday so I can not confirm. Be sure to let Disneyland know that since the tables are gone you don't come to the park any longer!!!

Very disappointing. Trading is such a big part of this hobby. As others have mentioned, why should I renew my pass if there is no place to trade? We need to have more get togethers in our local areas but even that is hard because we keep trading with each other. The tourists brought with them a nice variety of different pins. I feel deflated and wonder if I want to do this anymore.

Don't let them win!!! There is still online trading thanx to Ethan and his work on Disney Pin Place. He is working on the compare feature so it will be much easier to use and the site looks fantastic!!! Also we will be coming down for a pin party at least once a year, I know that isn't much, but it is a lot of fun when we do!!! Also be sure to let everybody here know if you plan a party so you can draw in people who don't normally come. I hear the MyDPins events are great for trading. So that means there are people out there that do have pins you have not seen as often.

 

[KT07]

there used to be a picnic pot luck Pin party each month of summer b4 last. It was always at the picnic tables and had lots of good food and nice pins. I do not know of there ever being any trouble. Some of the most fun trips we have had as a family was while going to the pot lucks. Disneyland rocks and when you add in lots of home made food and friends. Its just that much better.

:wavey::wavey: Side note.... I am still open to setting up some trade events here in Bakersfield. Its easy to get here from north or south. 99 and I-5 will be a strait shot here. We can have a bbq pool party in summer and there is a park across the street from our house. I also have friends with shops we could use. Maybe a pizza party. Oh do not forget that we can go to Dewar's for the yummy ice cream that used to be sold at the original DSF. We could even set up a tour if people like. There is many fun things I can help set up for us all if there is enough people that would like it. :wavey::wavey::wavey::wavey:

 

[kba41510]

This is kind of sad. my girlfriend just came back from the park and even she admitted that while she had fun, she definitely missed being able to pin trade at the tables and found maybe 2 good pins on cast members the entire day she was there. And the last time i went, one of the highlights of the trip for me was the 10-15 minutes i traded with other guests who were also looking to trade as I made some fantastic trades there...this is a bummer

 

[Psycho Pixie]

I have dropped off 5 letters at main st guest services. Every time i get the usual rehearsed "Gee i am sorry your unhappy, we will give this to someone who can help" response. Every attempt to find someone to speak to directly in person has been met with avoidance and brush off.

My letter this morning via email was rather pointed, and blunt, about the loss of revenue Disney will face when hundreds of pin traders stop buying AP's or gracing the park with our need for food, drinks and pins on a weekly basis.

 

[bombardon3]

It might be helpful to see if one of the Disney fan sites is willing to pick up on the story.

 

[pinbum]

I let my pass expire there is no reason for me to go to DISNEYLAND !!!!!!!!!We all know who ruined pin table trading.You know who you are...