Top 10 Past Pin Events

Hey Everyone!
I am doing a little research into the history of pin events and I wanted to get your opinion on what you thought the top 10 past pin events were. Specifically I'm looking for events that had the biggest impact on the hobby, both personally and collectively.

I want to know the events that caused the most hype or had the best surprise pins. I want to know which events caused a certain character to explode into popularity, if this even happened. I want to know what events had the pins that today no one can ever find and wished they had been there to snag them up at cost.

So, in your opinion would you be able to give me a list of AT MOST 10 pin events that were THE BEST pin events in the last 12 years of the hobby and maybe a little something on why any particular one was so good.

Thank you for all your input!

Austin (snazzybowtie)

I've attended very few events, and most of the ones I attended weren't very good (PTU Epcot event) but ones that seemed to generate the most buzz: The first, I'd say 3 Epcot pin celebrations. One of them, had a place where they were selling pins cheap including the leftover Millennium Village CM pins. Also, the Disneyland Divas merchandise event. DL had had a couple of merchandise events in the past (Pirates, toad) but that one was after Pin Trading had really taken off and when people found these as "gifts" people went bonkers.

Also, I remember people thinking the events at Animal Kingdom (Parti Gras, Adventures in Pin Trading, Pin Route 498) were always the best managed pin events. Good boards, good gifts, good food, short lines.

Oh, and an "infamous" event. The "gift" for the 2003 Happy Haunts Event, was not a pin, but a cheap plastic red cup. The next year they revisited it by releasing a pin of the cup.

WDW, also used to hold small quarterly events. They would be used to release some LE event stuff, but also first chance to own some park things. That's where a bunch of the maps came from with spots to hold pins. The one with the most "in demand" releases now, may have been the Princess Ball pins http://pinpics.com/cgi-bin/group.cgi?group=394

I'm so new I haven't really been involved with any pin trading events, but I can tell you it was the Sci-Fi academy that launched me in to the LE world. I just lived in HM-land until that event. I scooped up a lot of the merch after the event and the follow on releases at the park.

Star Wars Weekend is annual now and is definetly a big draw for WDW. Too bad the pins seem to be getting worse every year.

Thanks for all the info so far!

I may be a little biased being a collector but The Search for Imagination in 2002 had some of the best pins ever and some nice gifts.

This would be a great question for Figgy! She attended all the WDW pin events from very early on, up until a few years ago. If you haven't talked to her yet (ehh, you probably have), be sure to shoot her a PM.

Not so bad.Something to look forward to.

I can only comment on events from "Where Dreams Happen" and on...

I'm not sure that many of them had more of an impact then others, really- most of the people attending are already "in the know" enough to find their way to registration, and the events really don't seem to be too different from year to year. Every year seems to come down to two factors: whether or not the pins are a success or failure, and which way Disney has screwed us out of another $25/event day/item.

I do regret missing those early years- they sound like much better events.

My favorite events so far:

Where Dreams Happen 2007 (my first event)
Expedition: Pins 2008 (more for the neat aspect of being in the park- the pins were bombs)
The Museum of Pin-tiquities - Disney Pin Celebration 2009
Love is Magical 2011

Every year, I spend less and less at the events- I basically go for the excellent trading and to see friends. Disney can't seem to be bothered with pin designs for these anymore. Trade City, Florida Project, and now Mickey's Circus were all opportunities squandered, IMO.

In no real order ,

Mickey’s Parti Gras! at Disney's Animal Kingdom
This is Love Event at the Magic Kingdom
The early 999 Events
The early EPCOT Events
DCL Pin events

Basically anything before 2007 , after that the Pin Event team changed and it want down hill.

Paul

This has been so helpful. Keep 'em coming!

Unfortunately, I didn't go to the DLR Haunted Mansion O-Pin House event itself, but from what I've observed online, it looked great! I LOVED all the O-Pin House pins that were released! By far, the largest HM pin releases within 4 months that I can remember! And it centered around the Hat Box Ghost.

I attended all the ones at Animal Kingdom and LOVED them all. I quit going to the one at Epcot several years ago, I don't like the atmosphere.

This has been so helpful. Thank you guys for all your input. If anyone has more, feel free keep it coming!

Although the Happy Haunts Balls were "merchandise" events they were AWESOME! You really had to be there to appreciate it. Ballroom ghosts dancing with guests, tarot card readers, ghost stories on the riverboat. Yeah, they had their downfalls as well, the red cup, but if you were a Haunted Mansion Fan there was nothing like it and there's been nothing like it since. The 40th Anniversaries on either coast did not come close to the HHB's.

I also agree with Paul that it was around 2007ish that the Epcot pin events started going downhill. We started getting less gifts, the games went away, eventually there was no live auction, and the price goes up every year.

The events are about the people though. I go to the events to see people I might not see but once a year. Where else do you have 1200 pin traders in one room for a whole weekend from all around the world?

My Short list...

1) Disneyland Divas -The event that all events are compared to - with price, gifts and merchandise to love.

2) First Haunted Mansion Holiday - dinner, great gifts & merchanside from the first change-over -cannot compare to any other Nightmare event.

3) All Started with Walt -gorgeous designs, well organized.

4) Villainous Voyage - creative designs, well organized, a lot of fun.

5) Sci Fi Academy Disneyland Event - Low attendance made it friendly, small and charming. Gave me new hope for pin events (then they stopped having them... grr...)