Stahp the Pinsanity!

The reasons that people are loosing their minds over DSF pins recently are multiple. The lack of competition from other Disney suppliers is the primary one. another reason is that they are just good characters, and popular movies. I totally understand this. However, the recent craze regarding the PTD's is just ridiculous.

A decent but not "awesome" PTD releases.... Jock is cool, people like Jock.
You get there, and someone says, "Hey it is gonna run out soon... Stick around.
The next PTD releases 1 hour later and you go OMG!!! It's BEAST!!!!!!!!!

You get your beast, and watch as the same people who told you to wait, start waiting again... WTHeck?
What do they know that you don't? Why are they waiting around? So, you wait too.....

As people arrive to buy Beast, because lets face it, he WAS pretty cool, you wait, and wait. 4 HOURS later, the DSF employees have handed out the last Beast, they have numb fingers and the start of carpel tunnel... But There is the line, full of the same people those poor folks have been seeing all morning, all day actually.
The next PTD is:: **drum roll please** Facilier!!! From PatF! Wait... Why all the exclamation points? This was not a crazy popular movie, or the coolest of villains. BUT since your here, and have been here all day, you may as well buy him too, right??? Right??? i mean if everyone buys one they will rotate out again and it might be... **gasp** A Tangled character or a princess!!!!

So you drive BACK to DSF, only to find you are in line with the same people you saw the day before. In fact, some of them never left last night, the knew the evil Dr would sell out this mornings, so they stayed.... YES, they stayed. In the alley or the car... whatever. ((I heard people stayed, so i assume this)) Heck theres a major line, so it might run out and flip before you would get home from the drive anyway. So after you buy your flynn PTD, and eat your ice cream AGAIN, you stick around.

Curiosity drives you now.What will be next? Will iot be worth the wait? Well heck, any PTD is worth the wait now, because its 1pp and you decided you want to collect them AAAAAaaaaaaaLLLLLLL.

The next one is Taffyta. Well, WiR collectors who have some of the older PTD's will want it so you buy it. There are sooooooo many people just loitering around El Cap, DSF and nearby now. So you say screw it and wait again. SOME folks go home. But many stick it out. This is like a weekend long campout now.

Surprise! the next PTD released that evening is::ARIEL!!!!!!!!
**totally worthy of exclamation marks**

The people who were driving home, get the text or call and turn around. The people on the forums all freak out. The people on FB panic and drive 90 MPH to get there in time.

so at this point, many people have resigned themselves to the fact that this PTD run is crazy awesome and not a single pin can be missed. So now EVERYONE is bringing friends and loitering in the alley for the next turn over. Everyone is on a sugar high, and in mob mentality, feeding off eachothers excitment. the Forums, Fb groups and phones are going nuts. And many many many people have completely forgotten that tomorrow is fathers day.

Who does DSF decide shall be the next PTD boc to be opened??? Mother gothel.

Wow.... 2 Tangled characters in one weekend????? Call your friends, call your friends of friends. Come over, eat ice cream, buy pins!!!! The run is to fantastic!

The next day, it is Fathers day. CM's are grumpy, Their scooping wrists are aching, they are tired of seeing the same 200+ people over and over. The ice cream supply is dwindling and tempers are runnign short.
this might happen at any moment.

Gothel runs out. Folks are like::


My point here, which I tried to make as gentle as possible with all the smileys. Is simpley this.

WE caused this maddness.
WE could have just relaxed and each one would have lasted a day or two
Not a Single other pin was a strong enough character or movie to have been sold out in hours.

Much like the disaster of the BT release, we, the pin traders could have just stayed level headed and they would not have had this massive run. They would not have limited us to 1pp if this had not already happened in the recent past.

Now, because of this, DSF has every cause to limit it to 1 PTD per day. TOTAL. And it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they did.

The people out there who are mad at DSF for "poor handling" or for the CM's getting rude need to take a HUGE step back and look at what DSF just did this weekend. None of this was the fault of DSF managment. ANY problems lay solidly on our shoulders for turning the PTD releases into MOB scenes and lines down the alley.

Those CM's put up with us, with the phone ringing constantly, with working in departments or area's they are not assigned and with all of us sugared up frantic pin buyers all weekend.

I would tell everyone to go eat some ice cream but i don't think at this point ANYONE wants that! lol so instead I offer this....

Yes.

And guys, don't forget to say PLEASE and THANK YOU even if the CM is rude. Those words go a long way and it really sucks that they are basically working 110% all shift long with no slowing down and still have to face demanding pin traders with a smile.

I had to wait for my ice cream (lemon sorbet, yum) when it came to Ariel because they had ran out and not one of the 12 people that were served while I was waiting ever said please or thank you. Those are the reasons they do not like our presence at DSF (though I'm sure they don't like loitering either).

I don't like any of your opinions on the PTD craze. I hope I can say that without you freaking out. If I want to sleep in an alley for a week for a pin....my money...my time....my body. No reason to compare me to a mentally ill person in a strait jacket.

This will be fun to watch...

I take no ones side. I agree with grapesode that it is their personal right to do as they please, and I agree with pin hunters about how a lot of people were rude to the cast members and acting like they are entitled. Yes it is their job but no they are not your servants and beneath you... They are human beings and should be treated with respect.

I can see where you are coming from too psycho pixie since I was with my family on Saturday for my bday and had people blowing up my phone telling me to rush to soda fountain. No I'm not doing that. My family comes first.

And last point.... I went to DSF on Sunday. No that doesn't make me a heartless person cause it's fathers day and I was there. I for one don't have a dad, so fathers day is just another Sunday. I had free time I collect tangled I drove there ( at the speed limit) parked, WALKED up to soda fountain stood in line, bought my pin, went outside talked to some of my pin friends, grabbed lunch, walked back to soda fountain. Ptd changed to Giselle, got in line and bought Giselle. Went outside and did some trading, ptd changed got in line bought vanellope, left had dinner and went home.

Not a single time that day did I deal with this so called craziness and mob riot thing you are speaking of everyone I encountered was perfectly fine, calm and in no need of a straight jacket. Yes they sold quickly. Oh well doesn't mean that their was a mob and chaos. It just means 300 people had free time or made free time for themselves and went and bought a desired pin.

Oh and a small side note***

You may not like princess and the frog but there are a LOT of people who actually do think patf was an absolutely amazing and stunning movie and that dr. Facilier is a great villain. I for one adore that movie Because it had wondetful characters and as an art student nothing beats pure hand drawn animation. So to me and the patf lovers out there probably think Facilier is worth exclamation points!!!!

I don't mind hanging out in the alley with my awesome pin trading community. It is one of the hobbies I have chosen to pursue, and as with most collectibles, there are crazes and waiting in lines. It is usually a fun time at DSF and it is nice to be with others who share my passion.

I agree that Ariel was going to be a scorcher. But, given the popularity/fanaticism of Tangled, can you honestly say that Flynn or Gothel were "supposed" to last 1-2 days?

colorwindpainter said:

Oh and a small side note***

You may not like princess and the frog but there are a LOT of people who actually do think patf was an absolutely amazing and stunning movie and that dr. Facilier is a great villain. I for one adore that movie Because it had wondetful characters and as an art student nothing beats pure hand drawn animation. So to me and the patf lovers out there probably think Facilier is worth exclamation points!!!!

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Thank you! I was about to post the same thing! Just because you may not think it's any awesome movie, or has as many fans as tangled and the other princesses/movies doesn't mean that PaTF isn't an exciting and popular movie.

I am shocked that people treat these CM so rudely! No "thank you?" Wow. I hope their pay is higher than minium wage because I would be so tired of working there with all this craziness.

I just wish i lived close enough to go to one of these and see how it is lol it just might be worth the airfare lol

It's everyone's own money, and they have the right to do with it as they please. I completely understand that. Heck, I ran over there to pick up the Arthur PTD for my girlfriend, and now I'm watching PTD updates for Sword in the Stone characters for her. But this is what I don't understand. When and why did everyone start going crazy over these PTDs? And yes, crazy is the correct word to use. Going through 3 in a day when they used to sit for about a week is a drastic change. 2-3 months ago, you'd go by the updates posted on Facebook. The turnaround is so fast that they don't even post the new PTDs. In January, I was trying to trade for an OE pin at Disneyland, not super common but you could find it for sale on eBay for about $8. The pin trader wanted my White rabbit PTD, and in their eyes it was a "free pin". I doubt anyone would say that about PTDs now. And I'm very curious about this. Why did everyone gravitate towards PTDs? And please don't say that its because they're cute. They've been around a long time, and if they were cute you would have been after them for awhile. Within the past 2 months, a good portion of pin traders/collectors have focused their attention on these pins. Honestly, why did you start collecting PTDs? My guess (and not to offend anyone, and I've said this before) this is the latest pin fad. First it was PODMs, then BTs, and now this. And yes, recently there have been some popular characters released, but just because there are "hot" characters holding ice creams you are clamoring for them all? If anyone can shed some light on this, please do.

For those of you collecting the PTDs, good luck. And enjoy the ice cream. Or horde it. It's starting to warm up and with the rate that these pins are going, DSF will be out of ice cream soon!

One of the big changes over the past year is the significant increase in the number of new collectors / sellers. When I got there Saturday morning for Flynn leftovers, I walked to the back of the 80+ people in line and only recognized maybe 20% of the people in line...same for the Sunday evening release...a whole lot of new people who found out about DSF LE releases while pin trading at DLR. With the current 1 per person limit, many brought non collector family and friends to get extras so they could trade for other older LE pins that otherwise would be unobtainable. For people like me, who do not have non pin collector friends, I can only count on me to get pins for my collection and am mostly no longer able to help others out as I have done in the past.

I really do hope DSF increases the edition size and reinstates the 1 to keep, 1 to trade/zap/sell. Yes, I did include "sell" because, especially the younger collectors, cannot afford the hobby without a supplemental source of income. A larger edition size for DSF pins would probably also reduce the pure sellers since the return on investment would drop. This in turn, should result in pins lasting longer - but not too long.

I started with Hard Rock pin collecting in the late '90s (around the same time I started with Disney pin collecting) when collectors from around the world set up a PAC network (Pins At Cost) - back then it was easy to help out multiple people because the buying limits for LE pins at the cafes were higher and there were very few "purely for profit" people around.

As for other hobbies...remember Pogs / Beanie Babies / and anything that starts withe the letter "i" - not really a hobby, but still, who really need to get a new cell phone / tablet / laptop every 6 months :dunno:

YoSoyAhPuch said:

It's everyone's own money, and they have the right to do with it as they please. I completely understand that. Heck, I ran over there to pick up the Arthur PTD for my girlfriend, and now I'm watching PTD updates for Sword in the Stone characters for her. But this is what I don't understand. When and why did everyone start going crazy over these PTDs? And yes, crazy is the correct word to use. Going through 3 in a day when they used to sit for about a week is a drastic change. 2-3 months ago, you'd go by the updates posted on Facebook. The turnaround is so fast that they don't even post the new PTDs. In January, I was trying to trade for an OE pin at Disneyland, not super common but you could find it for sale on eBay for about $8. The pin trader wanted my White rabbit PTD, and in their eyes it was a "free pin". I doubt anyone would say that about PTDs now. And I'm very curious about this. Why did everyone gravitate towards PTDs? And please don't say that its because they're cute. They've been around a long time, and if they were cute you would have been after them for awhile. Within the past 2 months, a good portion of pin traders/collectors have focused their attention on these pins. Honestly, why did you start collecting PTDs? My guess (and not to offend anyone, and I've said this before) this is the latest pin fad. First it was PODMs, then BTs, and now this. And yes, recently there have been some popular characters released, but just because there are "hot" characters holding ice creams you are clamoring for them all? If anyone can shed some light on this, please do.

For those of you collecting the PTDs, good luck. And enjoy the ice cream. Or horde it. It's starting to warm up and with the rate that these pins are going, DSF will be out of ice cream soon!

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:like:
I just hopped on the band wagon and started collecting them! But now I'm thinking to myself, "Eh". Is it worth the gas money to drive up there? For some people maybe it is since they live close. But I live in the northern Long Beach area, and it takes a good $15 worth of gas to make one trip to DSF, then I have to buy the pin ($13), then pay for parking ($2), and with it being one per person, it makes it even less desirable to go. I did go for Ariel because I thought she'd be worth the trip, but some of the pins I would've been better off just buying the pin here or on ebay... but then you don't get the ice cream

It was really crazy that we went through so many PTDs in ONE weekend! Especially with it being one per person. Yes, how people spend their time is their choice, but remember, it's DSF that is producing these pins and the staff that is putting up with us, and at any point they can stop pins all together if this gets even more out of hand!

I never reply to rant because they never apply to me personally, or to any of the people I know. But I had friends over there during the course of the weekend.

I sense a lot envy from you, don't take it personally but I remember you posting that you hoped no good PTDs would be released this week because you could only go Thursday or something, maybe that's why? Because, had you been available, I know you woulda been there.

I'll admit that I got every pin this past weekend but I don't remember anyone sticking around all day. All (well most) just went home or went to dlr or wherever to wait until the inevitable text arrived that it had been changed.

This weekend was mostly about getting the pins, not only for ourselves but for some friends too. And even without pointing fingers to an individual (because you can't, I mean you weren't there) a lot of people that were there were my friends. So please do not generalize the pin trading community like that. Or at least the ones that went to dsf.

I'm not here to make enemies and I hope you didn't take any of this personally but i understand if you get upset.

The only ones I'm collecting is Beauty and The Beast and Tangled. I still need Cogsworth and Chip. And I only buy one for my collection, who can afford two. Well, some can and that's great.
I do feel bad for the CM's, they must all be wearing wrist sprints.

YoSoyAhPuch said:

It's everyone's own money, and they have the right to do with it as they please. I completely understand that. Heck, I ran over there to pick up the Arthur PTD for my girlfriend, and now I'm watching PTD updates for Sword in the Stone characters for her. But this is what I don't understand. When and why did everyone start going crazy over these PTDs? And yes, crazy is the correct word to use. Going through 3 in a day when they used to sit for about a week is a drastic change. 2-3 months ago, you'd go by the updates posted on Facebook. The turnaround is so fast that they don't even post the new PTDs. In January, I was trying to trade for an OE pin at Disneyland, not super common but you could find it for sale on eBay for about $8. The pin trader wanted my White rabbit PTD, and in their eyes it was a "free pin". I doubt anyone would say that about PTDs now. And I'm very curious about this. Why did everyone gravitate towards PTDs? And please don't say that its because they're cute. They've been around a long time, and if they were cute you would have been after them for awhile. Within the past 2 months, a good portion of pin traders/collectors have focused their attention on these pins. Honestly, why did you start collecting PTDs? My guess (and not to offend anyone, and I've said this before) this is the latest pin fad. First it was PODMs, then BTs, and now this. And yes, recently there have been some popular characters released, but just because there are "hot" characters holding ice creams you are clamoring for them all? If anyone can shed some light on this, please do.

For those of you collecting the PTDs, good luck. And enjoy the ice cream. Or horde it. It's starting to warm up and with the rate that these pins are going, DSF will be out of ice cream soon!

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Want to know why all this craziness took off all of a sudden??

Lets just say that the master PTD post didn't help much. Before that post, people who didn't live near dsf weren't always aware of the available pin, and some didn't even know what PTDs were. All the demand for any of the pins was written in that thread, that's when people started thinking about selling for higher amount now that there was more of an awareness for the pins. It's how it happens with everything.

Comic book and baseball card markets crashed in the 90s because that when the Internet boom happened. Now someone in California could sell items to people that weren't from the same state. That's when people realized how much there was of everything and the bubble popped.

The master post had the same effect. As long as there is a master post and people keep tabs on it the mass hysteria will continue.

To add to marvelariels post it's also because right now DSF is basically the only Disney company pumping out highly wanted le pins with their 2 to 3 releases a month and people don't want to wait months between releases to collect pins. I've been pin trading for almost 5 years now and I can honestly say when I use to go to DSF for releases ( I don't anymore cause me personally I don't like sleeping over, I'd rather trade ) but when I did I would go buy my pins and hop over to the ice cream station and buy a ptd if I thought the character was cute or if I thought my little sister would like it. ( her collection would probably make half you ptd collectors jealous! Like I said been doing it for about five years so she has a lot of the cute older characters everybody wants, but she doesn't pin trade so the edition size on those pins are le 299 now ;p)
but anyway the reason PTDs got popular.... They're convenient. You don't have to wait for a certain Friday or Saturday of the month. You can pop over there Monday thru Sunday and buy an ice cream and get an le 300 pin that may or may not have a character you enjoy. But it's part convenience and part the fact that lately they've been pumping out really hot characters or really obscure characters like Olivia, wart, and jock who you don't see a lot of pins of normally. Makes them kinda desirable that now with the limit of pin sources you can buy a pin for $13 AND get ice cream versus going to Disneyland and paying $13 bucks and getting what? A rack pin. That's what the hype is about.

Me personally even with this ptd hype. I still do the same thing. I collect the characters I like and if it's not a character I want I pop it in the pin book for trade. Cause of its a Disney character you'll always find that one person who collects it.

asteriskos said:

Thank you! I was about to post the same thing! Just because you may not think it's any awesome movie, or has as many fans as tangled and the other princesses/movies doesn't mean that PaTF isn't an exciting and popular movie.

I am shocked that people treat these CM so rudely! No "thank you?" Wow. I hope their pay is higher than minium wage because I would be so tired of working there with all this craziness.

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I know I personally squealed when Louis and Facilier PTDs came out and don't get me started when ray came out before all this. Haha

I take no comments made on this post personal nor does it effect how i feel about anyone. I still love you all very much.

Not remotely envious, I could have gone on Friday and Saturday, and if it had been something my husband or i needed for the collection, we might have changed plans and gone Sunday. Heck, Saturday and Sunday we could have gotten 3 of each if we went. We didn't need those characters, so we left them for others. We go to DSF if we need something else from there, such as the Fathersday pin, or the upcoming June 29th release.

If the flynn had been anything but pint sized, he might have been worth the fast sell out, but my opinion stands, Gothel and Flynn could have lasted a full day under normal circumstances. I didn't bash on PatF, I indicated that the collectors of PatF are not numerous enough to have warranted the sell out.

My point was that this weekend was a result of hype and "group frenzy." It would not have flipped so often if we had not been calling, texting, posting, tweeting, Facebooking etc.... And there were people who just stayed in the area. I saw some of the posts on FB complaining about CMs and DSF and eBay prices and it just frustrates me to see a series of pins that used to take days, or even a week to sell out... turn into this mess.

It's hard to blame those who live close to any of the parks, dsf, or wdi who grab up all of the le pins. Most of us would if we could. They do it for any of the following reasons ...1) they want the pin 2) they want to sell the pin 3) they want to trade pin for something that until a year or so ago would have been completely unrealistic. If you're one of these people, congratulations. You either have a great collection or are making lots of $. IMO there's less than 50 people who completely have control of the dsf pins. We've all heard the stories of people bringing many friends to a release and have seen the pictures to prove it. With regards to dsf specifically, it's obvious. Dsf only releases at their location and each pin is usually only an edition size of 300. It doesn't take many people bringing friends to obtain a large percentage of the pins. This is what makes disney pins a very unique hobby. The pins are only released at (for the most part) 5 locations (DLR, Wdw, dlrp, dsf, and wdi). Looking at baseball cards and comics, items that are Le are put in packs or distributed in stores throughout the WORLD. It's completely different. It's kinda like the golden ticket analogy from Willy Wonka. It's almost impossible to obtain more than one of something of an le size of 300 AT IT'S ORIGINAL COST. Let's say 20 people end up with 60 pins of one design from a release of 300 pins (I don't think that's far fetched). That's 20 people having 1/5 of the pins! If they're smart and working together (which I think could easily be happening), they can completely set or alter the value of the pin. Think about it. How many of the 300 pins available are to be kept 100? 150? 200?. Let's say 150 are kept. That leaved 150 for trade or sale. If those 20 people with 60 pins work together, now they have 60 pins of the 150 available to trade or sell...ALMOST HALF. Think about it.

Psycho Pixie said:

My point was that this weekend was a result of hype and "group frenzy." It would not have flipped so often if we had not been calling, texting, posting, tweeting, Facebooking etc.... And there were people who just stayed in the area. I saw some of the posts on FB complaining about CMs and DSF and eBay prices and it just frustrates me to see a series of pins that used to take days, or even a week to sell out... turn into this mess.

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Here is the problem. There are many series of pins that USED to last several days, even weeks. Early PODMs were not hot right away, lasted over a week, and even made their way to disneyshopping. DSF marquees lasted weeks for a while. Same for Beloved Tales. So its hard to compare the trajectory of PTDs popularity without realizing that all "hot" pins go through the same pattern. Sometimes it just takes some pins longer to explode. The difference here is it is an endless series with no firm release date. They are low edition, fairly priced, nothing out now can complete with them, and are no longer the same recycled characters. If these were marquees or beloved tales, with no release dates and a complete surprise of which movie is next, no one would question why people were camped out all day waiting for the flip. And I do think the managers are to blame somewhat. They created more demand it seems by limiting them to 1 per person. They are now selling at the same rate as 2 per person.

Although, I think the low edition sizes and unique characters, plays a role in getting the ball rolling, I do not think it's the primary motivator for things like this. I think it's much more basic, people really want to be a "have." Whether it means owning the "right" style of shoes, or label on clothing in middle/high school or driving a fancy car, or this. Think about all the things you either did or saw others do in school, that only started after a few of the popular kids starting doing them. It's the same thing. If you have it, you're somebody. Or at least you're not one of those schmucks who isn't a "have." Everyone wants to be the first person to get a new design, so they could be the first one on Ebay, or facebook, or here. So no one left. The pin itself, is actually secondary. Which is why it stopped being about what character it was, popular or not. It's the feeling of knowing that only a select few can have it, and you are one of them. But very few people will actually admit that about themselves. That they want something, just because other people want it or could be the "first on their block" to have the new whatever.

If something "hotter" comes along, the reaction will turn on a dime, and DSF will be so yesterday. 2-3 years ago everyone was going nuts over Paris PTNs. Nothing really changed, in terms of price, or characters, or availability but no one talks about them with the same intensity as they did. Remember the Alice in Wonderland release at DL? What happened after that? A month of working everyone up into a frenzy and everyone was an Alice collector in desperate need and the pins came out and now they're where? Certainly, there are still Alice collectors, but they were the same people who collected before the insanity of that release.

hopemax said:

Although, I think the low edition sizes and unique characters, plays a role in getting the ball rolling, I do not think it's the primary motivator for things like this. I think it's much more basic, people really want to be a "have." Whether it means owning the "right" style of shoes, or label on clothing in middle/high school or driving a fancy car, or this. Think about all the things you either did or saw others do in school, that only started after a few of the popular kids starting doing them. It's the same thing. If you have it, you're somebody. Or at least you're not one of those schmucks who isn't a "have." Everyone wants to be the first person to get a new design, so they could be the first one on Ebay, or facebook, or here. So no one left. The pin itself, is actually secondary. Which is why it stopped being about what character it was, popular or not. It's the feeling of knowing that only a select few can have it, and you are one of them.

If something "hotter" comes along, the reaction will turn on a dime, and DSF will be so yesterday. 2-3 years ago everyone was going nuts over Paris PTNs. Nothing really changed, in terms of price, or characters, or availability but no one talks about them with the same intensity as they did. Remember the Alice in Wonderland release at DL? What happened after that? A month of working everyone up into a frenzy and everyone was an Alice collector in desperate need and the pins came out and now they're where? Certainly, there are still Alice collectors, but they were the same people who collected before the insanity of that release.

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+1 had not thought about it that way.

the question we should be asking is, what's next after ptds? :anxious: