Where does all the trading happen in Disney World?

I haven't been on here for quite a while, but I was just in Disney World for the first time in 5 years and started trading some pins again.

I noticed that they built a garden or something in place of the pin trading area that used to be beside the Pin Store in Downtown Disney. I'm assuming this is to stop the people that would urge you to buy a new LE pin to trade for their pin instead of one from your collection? IDK, just guessing.

Where does all the trading happen in Disney World now?

There is very little pin trading at WDW anymore. DTD removed the trading tables several years ago. To many tourist complaints. They have tables at the pin station at Epcot. Last year 1 pin event and 3 trading nites. Keep a look out on this site under gatherings. There are unsanctioned trading days at various places. Last moth thee was one at Saratoga springs in the food court. It was great.

There are people trading at DTD sometimes. They're just walking around though. A lot of people wear lanyards when walking around the parks. There are also the tables at Epcot at the pin station, as bretu mentioned. When I was there last in October there was always at least one person set up, and others looking at each others lanyards. You might also run into people at the various pin stores throughout.

That's too bad. Where do you people trade nowadays?

It would be so easy for Disney to just set up a pin trading area or pavilion in a couple parks or Downtown Disney. If they want to be away from a pin store then so be it. But at least give the people a place to trade for pete's sake.

What were the complaints about?

I'm at WDW right now and I brought some pins, not many. I know that besides DTD, the other main place for pin trading is in Epcot but I don't see many serious traders there (haven't heard of many either). I don't think so, but is there a pin trading thing going on this week at WDW? Anybody know?

PudgeTheFish said:

That's too bad. Where do you people trade nowadays?

It would be so easy for Disney to just set up a pin trading area or pavilion in a couple parks or Downtown Disney. If they want to be away from a pin store then so be it. But at least give the people a place to trade for pete's sake.

What were the complaints about?

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I don't know all of the complaints, but a lot of them were about very rude and aggressive traders - people breaking the rules, people manipulating new/young traders and parents, people trying to steal pins (from each other and the stores), etc. I even witnessed a fight almost break out between two traders (this was around 2010ish). When the pin traders are out at the tables at Epcot, you can see some of this, although I have not personally seen anything as bad as what I had witnessed a few years ago. Obviously the majority of pin traders do not participate in such negative behavior, but it only takes a few to ruin it for everyone. I understand Disney's thought process on this, though. It was too much of a risk to continue it as it was. As to why a new place has not been established, I would think Disney is still cautious in case it gets out of hand again. If they keep the tables small and only have a few of them at Epcot it is easier to monitor. Plus, they can still say they support pin trading by having the lanyards and pin boards around the parks (even if most are filled with scrappers).

Not too sure about WDW, but they removed the pin trading tables at one of the main spots at DLR... bummer

I always see people trading at the Pin Station at Epcot. But Im guessing they probably manage to set up a time to meet or something. But I always notice them there, plus its a nice open spot.