"War" Stories from the Past
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So while reading some of the PODM release posts, and hearing the frustration about rudeness, I was reminded of some of the stories from the early days. I thought it might be worth posting mine, because although losing out and dealing with rude people is never fun, I think it's worth pointing out that they circumstances surrounding these releases is nothing new. Pin traders haven't suddenly lost their minds and their manners. Disney Pin Trading was born in this chaos. Lots of people claimed that the chaos was a requirement for a successful hobby. "If there was no chaos, the pins would have no value. Don't you want your pins to be valuable?" So on to the story...
My first visit to a park with pin trading coincided with the release of these 2 pins. Not the same day, so the scenario I present for you had to be done on 2 separate occasions.
First, let's talk about today's context. LE3000, 36T/27W for Pinocchio, 41T/85W. Recent ebay value: Pinocchio - both sold and not sold around the $8 area, Figment - not sold $4.99, $9.99 sold: $4.99, $8.99, $14.99. Recap: these pins are nothing special.
So what did one have to do to obtain them?
Arrive at Epcot early. Thankfully, there were no early AM lines. Because there was no line to stand in. Instead, the battle plan was to arrive at the turnstyle early enough to be one of the first people let into the park. I believe we got there between 7 &7:30. About 8:30, they would allow people to enter and go to a rope drop in front of Spaceship Earth. At the rope drop, were 4-6 people wearing aprons. They had the Artist Choice pins, $10 per pin, cash only, limit 2. But there was no line. You had to push your way to the rope, hold up your money and if you were lucky the apron people would grab your $20 and you would get 2 pins. Since there was no organized lines, you can only imagine the wall of people and the pushing and the shoving. It was one time my shortness was an advantage. I would find a tall person pushing his way through, get behind him, and come up under his arm when we reached the front, my DH dragging behind me. And once you got your pins, people didn't want to move out of the way because you wanted to still be near the front of the rope for the drop. So that was Phase 1.
Phase 2 began at park opening. The rope would drop and people would run, top speed to the Odyssey restaurant. Calls of no running were basically ignored. I did my best to follow the rules and would take off in sort of a fast walk, skipping motion. Once you reached the restaurant, there were thankfully LINES. But not orderly ones. They had several windows open, and a line behind each of them. But trying to find the end of a line, was again chaos. Walls of people, no real order, and no direction. Get to the window, pay for your 2 pins, and then push your way back out of the building.
Pins sold out by 10AM, and they only lasted that long because of the physical time it took to check everyone out.
Sounds like fun, right?
My first visit to a park with pin trading coincided with the release of these 2 pins. Not the same day, so the scenario I present for you had to be done on 2 separate occasions.
First, let's talk about today's context. LE3000, 36T/27W for Pinocchio, 41T/85W. Recent ebay value: Pinocchio - both sold and not sold around the $8 area, Figment - not sold $4.99, $9.99 sold: $4.99, $8.99, $14.99. Recap: these pins are nothing special.
So what did one have to do to obtain them?
Arrive at Epcot early. Thankfully, there were no early AM lines. Because there was no line to stand in. Instead, the battle plan was to arrive at the turnstyle early enough to be one of the first people let into the park. I believe we got there between 7 &7:30. About 8:30, they would allow people to enter and go to a rope drop in front of Spaceship Earth. At the rope drop, were 4-6 people wearing aprons. They had the Artist Choice pins, $10 per pin, cash only, limit 2. But there was no line. You had to push your way to the rope, hold up your money and if you were lucky the apron people would grab your $20 and you would get 2 pins. Since there was no organized lines, you can only imagine the wall of people and the pushing and the shoving. It was one time my shortness was an advantage. I would find a tall person pushing his way through, get behind him, and come up under his arm when we reached the front, my DH dragging behind me. And once you got your pins, people didn't want to move out of the way because you wanted to still be near the front of the rope for the drop. So that was Phase 1.
Phase 2 began at park opening. The rope would drop and people would run, top speed to the Odyssey restaurant. Calls of no running were basically ignored. I did my best to follow the rules and would take off in sort of a fast walk, skipping motion. Once you reached the restaurant, there were thankfully LINES. But not orderly ones. They had several windows open, and a line behind each of them. But trying to find the end of a line, was again chaos. Walls of people, no real order, and no direction. Get to the window, pay for your 2 pins, and then push your way back out of the building.
Pins sold out by 10AM, and they only lasted that long because of the physical time it took to check everyone out.
Sounds like fun, right?
