Fun post! My sister and I were introduced to pin trading by our cousin some years ago. We live in Ohio, so we started buying and collecting pins (
Disney Store, got them for presents, etc.). What a fun hobby . . . and a collection can sure grow quickly! We finally went down to visit family in December 2018, and that was our first time actually trading. We spent two days at Disney Springs trading and had an amazing time! Just got back from another visit, and we ended up going with various family to Disney Springs on six different days! It was the best!!!
Someone posted above about their "special" method of trading appropriate pins at the different parks. That's fun, because we did that! We had Star Wars all separated and traded those to all the employees in the Star Wars store, and the Nightmare Before Christmas pins traded to the employees in the Christmas store, etc.
My sister and I also loaded six lanyards with our trader pins (boy, those are heavy) and we would trade with any kids that wanted to trade. They could pick any pin and trade us any pin they wanted to trade. We just wanted to give kids a chance to trade with people who wouldn't be rude to them or scaring them with "value for value" assessment of their pins. It was really fun to see what a difference it made to the little kids, when someone actually offered them the chance to trade for anything they saw on the lanyard! We had an amazing time!
As far as collecting, we do Chip & Dale, UP, Beauty and the Beast, Minnie Mouse, Robin Hood and the Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. And, of course, various other things that you just can't resist . . . like Tsum Tsums.