You see people walking around the Disney parks, decorated like a Christmas tree. You can’t help but wonder what kind of virus would so adversely affect seemingly normal people. But there they are, wearing their hobby and passion around their neck. You don’t understand it: How someone could become addicted to something so simply blasé.
They are bought, sold, traded, hoarded and collected. So what are we talking about?Disney Pins, of course! And if you get started, it’s hard to stop.
Melvin’s Disney Pin Collection
This simple idea that began in 1999 in Walt Disney World has caught on through all the Disney parks and venues. The pins usually represent a Disney character, place, attraction or event; hence people collecting them as a relatively inexpensive way to commemorate their Disney experience, trip or vacation. You can find one pin to remember that special moment, or a whole collection that seems to never end. And that leads to our collection (or should we say Melvin’s).
It all started innocently enough in 2005 when our daughter, Krista purchased a couple of pins as “thank you” gifts following her visit to Disneyland. Then in 2008 when Melvin saw people wearing lanyards with pins, he purchased his first trading lanyard that was a “Pirates of the Caribbean” theme which contained two of each pin; one to keep and one to trade. He traded out the duplicates, then other pins began to catch his eye. In 2009, we discovered a series of Villain bowling pins, and that began our first quest to acquire a complete collection. By 2011, his first lanyard was full, so he had to add a second. Then in 2012 it became three and continued to grow from there. There was a short period where he was collecting WAY too many pins that didn’t have any significant meaning to him, so he decided to start scaling back to those that were truly special. These include certain Limited Editions, Piece of Disney History or D23.
Themed Lanyards – Disney on left, Made by Debbie on right
One dilemma to all these pins is something to put them on. So Melvin started buying lanyards and putting the pins together in themes. And when he couldn’t find a lanyard to compliment the theme, Debbie would make one for him. The drawback of lanyards is the weight of wearing more than two at a time. For a short time, he did wear as many as three lanyards, but that was too cumbersome. Now just wears one themed lanyard and usually carries a display bag filled with pins for trading. Some of his pins have wound up as framed art with one from the Tiki Room 50th Anniversary that was created by Disney, and one that was created by Melvin featuring the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Car Ride using limited edition pins and a lithograph signed by Disney Imagineers.
Debbie has her collection as well, but it is much more limited. She likes those with sewing themes or lots of bling, but lately has been adding Tinkerbell and princess shoes to her lanyards.
Tiki Room 50th Anniversary Pin
Pins come in all shapes and sizes; and some are so extreme that there is not really any realistic way to wear them. This Tiki Room pin pictured here measures approximately 3″x3″ and is quite heavy. Yes, it is a pin, with 3 posts in back! Pins like these lend themselves to becoming art to display on your wall or desk. There are also pins that are issued by Disney that are not available for sale. These are worn on Cast Members’ lanyards and are “hidden Mickey” pins. Somewhere on the pin is a small set of Mickey ears. Disney has done a good job of making these into themes/sets and are very hard to complete the collection. The best we have found is to actually purchase any missing pins on Ebay.
One of our favorite aspects of Disney pins is their inherent ability to start conversations. We have met many people from around the world simply because they admired our pins or they wanted to trade. And not to mention a conversation with a Cast Member that started a great friendship.
Trading is simple; you can trade with Cast Member or other guests. Cast Members are required to trade, Disney guests are not – but many will. You may trade up to 2 pins per Cast Member per day. But you must be trading an official Disney pin (and you won’t believe the number of counterfeits out there. For more information on counterfeit pins, you can do an internet search on this topic).
We highly recommend buying a few pins for yourself and wear them, even if you don’t trade. You never know the conversation that might be started with a very interesting or special person.