Pin Trading/Buying

cvaska

Future Cast Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2017
So I have a bit of an addiction to buying and trading pins. I like to buy a pin each night of a Disney Vacation. How’s the pin selection in the shops? Is there any trading to be done? This is important because I have 4 extra sets of the pins from my Adventures By Disney trip to Washington DC from a few years back.


Thanks

Edit: 7 night western on the Fantasy
 
Last edited:
There should be at least one Officer Trading Night. It'll be listed on the daily schedule put in your cabin nightly.

I have no clue about anything else about pins.
 
They have pins for sale on the ship (on the Fantasy, anyway). It's nothing like the spread you'll find in the parks, but there is a selection and a few that are unique to DCL and even one for the ship itself. There was a binder on the counter in the store that sold them that seemed to be for trading, but I don't do that and didn't see anyone trading. It was open, so I guess people could look through it. I can't imagine what else it would be there for, other than trading.
 
My daughter loves to pin trade on the ship. As previously noted, they normally have a pin trading event with the officer's one of the evenings. In addition (on the Wonder) there are binders for trading at the gift stores & guest services. This is free as long as you actually trade the pins. There are also crew members who have pins to trade-you just have to look for them. We have stumbled across groups of guests who did pre-arranged pin trading get together's and they never had a problem letting my daughter join them. Have fun!
 


There are also unique to Castaway Cay only pins available at the gift shop on the island
 
Check out youtube. There are videos of people trading on the ships. My son is interested in starting so we were checking these out the other day.
 
They also sell mystery pins. Maybe each set is around for a year or so. I try to get all 6 pins in each set.

The pins are sold in small black plastic bags, so you do not know which pin you get. I forget the cost, maybe $4.95 each when you buy so much merchandise in the store.
 


They also sell mystery pins. Maybe each set is around for a year or so. I try to get all 6 pins in each set.

The pins are sold in small black plastic bags, so you do not know which pin you get. I forget the cost, maybe $4.95 each when you buy so much merchandise in the store.
Also, it is important to note that the merchandise does not have to be purchased in the same transaction (or at least my understanding). Someone in my stateroom made a purchase, and I wanted a mystery pin so I took the receipt and the CMs accepted it.

To answer OP's question, there is a Officer Pin Trading night, in addition to the binders at GS and all of the stores, CMs lanyards, and possibly pin trading in the atrium. There are DCL exclusive pins in the shops, and it is possible (though unlikely on the Fantasy) to find Limited Edition pins from special itineraries or events in the binders. On the Magic, I have found NYE and Mediterranean Itinerary pins from previous years
 
So I have a bit of an addiction to buying and trading pins. I like to buy a pin each night of a Disney Vacation. How’s the pin selection in the shops? Is there any trading to be done? This is important because I have 4 extra sets of the pins from my Adventures By Disney trip to Washington DC from a few years back.

Thanks

Edit: 7 night western on the Fantasy

I can't speak to that particular Disney cruise, but the other ones I was on, it was just so-so. Mostly typical things you'd see in the parks, some DCL exclusive pins.

How do the ABD pins look like? I don't know that I'd want to give up my ABD pins on a cruise.
 
I have close to 1000 DCL pins and am a Platinum cruiser. Most trading done on the ships unfortunately does not involve DCL pins. When the officers come out for the trading event they are given a lanyard. that lanyard will contain 2 maybe 3 DCL pins on it, so unless you are one of the first people to trade with the Officer chances are that all they will have is non DCL pins. CM's and the binders will rarely have cruise line pins but you should check every day. I have found some on occasion. Nothing wrong with trading the non cruise line pins just personally I only collect DCL pins.

P.S. anyone interested in trading for DCL pins is welcome to PM me:3dglasses
 
We were on the March 3rd Fantasy cruise. I started collecting pins, but love them so much that the idea of trading them is meh. Anyways, on our cruise the office pin trading night just sort of happened - we came upon it by surprise in the atrium, it wasn't in the navigator (I checked later on) and none of my 3 children were there with me. Unfortunate, as we were basically there when it started, and each officer had a large Star Wars pin to trade. I would have bought a pin for 9$ just to get that one!

We must have bought close to 20 pins on the cruise. Most were cool Star Wars day at sea related ones. We had also hit the Pin Trading Outpost in Disney Springs the day before our cruise, and they had way more there (but no DCL ones). We got some real cool Star Wars collector ones that are HUGE. As always, Castaway Cay ones are unique - but there are some on the ship itself. We also saw some New year 2018 ones still on the ship.
 
So I have a bit of an addiction to buying and trading pins. I like to buy a pin each night of a Disney Vacation. How’s the pin selection in the shops? Is there any trading to be done? This is important because I have 4 extra sets of the pins from my Adventures By Disney trip to Washington DC from a few years back.


Thanks

Edit: 7 night western on the Fantasy
If you are on a themed cruise, there may also be a pin unique to the theme. Our last cruise was a Halloween cruise, but all of the Halloween on the High Seas pins sold out the first day, according to the staff when we went looking for one later. On our upcoming Star Wars Day at Sea cruise, I plan to take my pin collector daughter shopping on the first afternoon to be sure she can get something special.
 
We were on the March 3rd Fantasy cruise. I started collecting pins, but love them so much that the idea of trading them is meh. Anyways, on our cruise the office pin trading night just sort of happened - we came upon it by surprise in the atrium, it wasn't in the navigator (I checked later on) and none of my 3 children were there with me. Unfortunate, as we were basically there when it started, and each officer had a large Star Wars pin to trade. I would have bought a pin for 9$ just to get that one!

We must have bought close to 20 pins on the cruise. Most were cool Star Wars day at sea related ones. We had also hit the Pin Trading Outpost in Disney Springs the day before our cruise, and they had way more there (but no DCL ones). We got some real cool Star Wars collector ones that are HUGE. As always, Castaway Cay ones are unique - but there are some on the ship itself. We also saw some New year 2018 ones still on the ship.
Don’t trade the ones you buy from Disney. Go to eBay and search for Disney pins. People sell “lots”of them, 25,50,100. They are usually in good shape and very cheap, a lot of 100 around $45. We buy a lot, look thru to find ‘keepers’ then put a few of the ones we didn’t like on our lanyards to trade. We always have traders and keepers on our lanyards (we use the locking backs to prevent keepers from being traded or lost)
 
Don’t trade the ones you buy from Disney. Go to eBay and search for Disney pins. People sell “lots”of them, 25,50,100. They are usually in good shape and very cheap, a lot of 100 around $45. We buy a lot, look thru to find ‘keepers’ then put a few of the ones we didn’t like on our lanyards to trade. We always have traders and keepers on our lanyards (we use the locking backs to prevent keepers from being traded or lost)

Please do not do this. If your pins lots are under $2 per pins, you are almost certainly supporting someone selling counterfeit pins. This practice has made pin trading much less fun.
 
Please do not do this. If your pins lots are under $2 per pins, you are almost certainly supporting someone selling counterfeit pins. This practice has made pin trading much less fun.
They are not counterfeit. The pins I received are authentic Disney pins with the Official Pin Trading symbol and Disney trademark
 
They are not counterfeit. The pins I received are authentic Disney pins with the Official Pin Trading symbol and Disney trademark

Unfortunately, that does not guarantee they are authentic. Many pins are made in China. Disney will order a certain number of pins to be created. After that, the mold is supposed to be destroyed. Dishonest producers will keep the mold and run more pins, but they tend to have small discrepancies, errors in color, rougher edges and other issues. They then sell the extra counterfeit pins to dishonest people who put them into lots and sell them at very low prices. I have enjoyed pin trading for many years. The lowest price I have ever seen Disney sell a pin for was $1.50, and these were discontinued pins at the Character Warehouse. Especially prone to counterfeiting are the Hidden Mickey pins as they tend to be smaller and less ornate than the pins Disney offers for purchase.
 
Unfortunately, that does not guarantee they are authentic. Many pins are made in China. Disney will order a certain number of pins to be created. After that, the mold is supposed to be destroyed. Dishonest producers will keep the mold and run more pins, but they tend to have small discrepancies, errors in color, rougher edges and other issues. They then sell the extra counterfeit pins to dishonest people who put them into lots and sell them at very low prices. I have enjoyed pin trading for many years. The lowest price I have ever seen Disney sell a pin for was $1.50, and these were discontinued pins at the Character Warehouse. Especially prone to counterfeiting are the Hidden Mickey pins as they tend to be smaller and less ornate than the pins Disney offers for purchase.
Hear Hear!
Lots of information exists about scrapper pins out there. Disney Pins Blog has an ok primer here. It is comical to go to the trading book on the cruise ships. You would think that Disney only made about 20 pins, EVER because you see so many multiples of the same design in there. In fact you can really tell the scrappers. They will be the same design 4 times, and all 4 will look slightly different. I'll try to grab a picture the next time I sail of it. Scrappers are fine for kids who don't care, but make it a pain for those who are collectors. Well unless all you do is buy pins at retail.
 
It is comical to go to the trading book on the cruise ships. You would think that Disney only made about 20 pins, EVER because you see so many multiples of the same design in there.

I recently watched a video someone made of going through the pin books on a 2017 Magic cruise and you are not exaggerating the amount of repetition. I may not even put it as high as 20!

The crew lanyards had some good stuff though.
 
Unfortunately, that does not guarantee they are authentic. Many pins are made in China. Disney will order a certain number of pins to be created. After that, the mold is supposed to be destroyed. Dishonest producers will keep the mold and run more pins, but they tend to have small discrepancies, errors in color, rougher edges and other issues. They then sell the extra counterfeit pins to dishonest people who put them into lots and sell them at very low prices. I have enjoyed pin trading for many years. The lowest price I have ever seen Disney sell a pin for was $1.50, and these were discontinued pins at the Character Warehouse. Especially prone to counterfeiting are the Hidden Mickey pins as they tend to be smaller and less ornate than the pins Disney offers for purchase.
So I guess I was duped and now priced out of this hobby.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!








Top