Pin Trading Status

[garris3404]

My son and DIL are arriving in 2 days. Both are very interested in pin trading. Can you trade with cast members yet? Can you find any hidden Disney
(formerly known as hidden Mickey) pins on the trading boards?

 

[Obi-J Kenobi]

My family returned on 6/10. I am NOT a pin trader. My DD is hard core. I will do my best to provide information as I understand it. This ain't Gospel.

First, boards exist but are a bit harder to find. Next, you cannot trade out of the bins or cups that are adjacent to the boards. These pins are unsanitary? Third, two separate CMs gave my daughter a pin. One CM at the front desk of our resort (BC) gave my DW and DD a pin as they had lanyards on with pins. A second CM overheard my DD say she couldn't find a Figment pin (which should be criminal, IMO) and told my DD that she "dropped something" and gave her a Figment pin as well as the apparently a "dropped backing that was found near the pin too". My DD was not asked by the CM to exchange a pin from her lanyard. So, I don't know if that qualifies as pin trading or simply a little pixie dust.

I would go to your trip with the mindset that pin trading is limited. However, 2 days is a long-time with WDW "return to normal" so who knows. Maybe WDW will announce that my DD's fellow hard core pin traders can be let loose and scare the villagers?

 

[KyleAfterAWhile]

Pin trading is limited and every pin the CMs have are garbage scrappers.

 

[diskate10]

We were at WDW end of May and there were designated pin trading boards set up in each park and at Disney Springs. Wasn't able to trade with CM yet. The best board, by far, was the one in Epcot outside of Pin Traders. But when we were there, that location was only open 2-5pm and it also had a pretty nice line. Echoing what was said above about there being limited boards, they are mostly scrapper pins, and given all the WDW changes happening it could be totally different by the time you arrive in two days. My kids are both young so they didn't care if a pin was a scrapper pin - they just got excited when they saw characters they liked. It was still fun for them! Just not the same experience as before. We did find a few hidden Mickey pins.

We were also told all the resort gift shops had pin trading, but of the ones we tried: AK did, Contemporary did, and Wilderness Lodge did not. The boards were not on display at the gift shops. We asked for them and they brought them out from under the counter.

Have fun!

 

[diskate10]

Something I forgot: if you find a pin trading location in the parks, many of the CM are happy to circle the current pin trading locations on a map for you.

 

[r1lissa]

I am currently in the lobby of Carribean Beach and a CM has set up a trading station. You pick the one you want and give CM your trade (keep your pin back). They were legit pins.

 

[leannak]

Is there a way to tell real pins from scrapper pins?

What are hidden Mickey pins??

 

[Obi-J Kenobi]

Is there a way to tell real pins from scrapper pins?

What are hidden Mickey pins??

My DD is a total pin collecting and trading nutty. I'm not so take this for what's its worth and hopefully one of my fellow DD pin nuts can add to my thoughts or correct my statements as needed. I will take the latter question first.

A hidden Mickey pin has the outline of the Mickey face and ears somewhere in the pin. It is not necessarily easily detectable, hence the name "hidden" Mickey. So, just look at the pin from several different angles and depth perceptions to look for a Mickey shape somewhere within the pin or its artwork.

Next, a scrapper pin was an official Disney pin produced to be sold by Disney at the parks or at shops, but became defective in production. They can have discoloration or rough edges or some other similar issue that leads them to fail quality standards. You can usually find scrappers on Amazon, eBay, etc. I believe that there may be some black market pins too and I'm not sure if the black market pins are considered contraband or scrapper or both.