Before we took our first trip to Disney World, I did a lot of research. I wanted to learn about rides so that we could schedule Fast Passes, restaurants so that we could make reservations and anything else that we could learn to make our trip easier. One of the most interesting things I learned about was Disney Pin Trading. We tried it out so here are our tips for the Disney Pin Trading Newbie.

Disney Pin Trading: Frugal, Space-Saving Souvenirs

I read online that Disney Pin Trading is apparently a huge thing. People even come to Disney World for the sole purpose of trading pins. I love trading things, in general, and I love the idea of cheap souvenirs, so I knew this would be something I would love to try.

Be Careful Of Pin Buying Online

So, I went on Amazon and bought some souvenirs to start my collection out and have pins to trade. One note: please be careful and only buy from reputable sellers. There are apparently tons of sellers online selling fake pins to cheat you out of your money. There are many ways to tell if a pin you have is real or fake. I am definitely no expert in this area, but one good place to look and see if your pin is a fake is Pin Pics.

There are also rules to Disney Pin Trading. Be sure that you know them before trading with Disney Cast Members. You can trade with any cast member that has pins on them {on their lanyard or around their waste}. We each took pins to trade and we each traded almost our entire collections. I only came back with like 3 pins that I went to Disney with as I loved the ones they had and just kept trading until I got only ones that I wanted to keep. You can trade in all the parks, at the Disney hotels and even in the Disney stores.

Lanyards For Disney Pin Trading Do Not Have To Cost A Lot

The best way that we have found to pin trade is to carry your pins around on a lanyard. You can buy these just about anywhere on and off Disney property ranging from about $3.50 to $5.00 or more, but the cheapest place that we have found to buy them is at Dollar Tree for $1 each. Dollar Tree has a nice variety of Disney themed lanyards, too, so that you can stay with your theme. We picked up Monsters University, Disney Princesses, Disney Planes and Mickey Mouse and Friends. Dollar Tree lanyards also come with the clear holders that you can put your tickets in {which were not available with the more expensive lanyards that we found}.

You Can Find Deals On The Pins, Too

We also bought a lot of pins. I bought a few Stitch pins, a Finding Nemo collection of pins, a Dumbo pin and an Olaf pin. My husband also got a really nice set of Star Wars pins. All of them came from either my Disney hotel, the parks or a Disney store with the exception of the Dumbo pin that came from Walmart. I did find that if you check the Disney Stores in the surrounding Orlando area, you can find some great deals on the pins. I also bought a really nice Disney Pin Trading case at the Disney Character Store at one of the factory outlets.

There are many videos on YouTube about Disney Pin Trading and some people have some collections that are really worth a lot. There are also people who come to the parks and trade with each other. I, personally, only traded with Disney Cast Members this time so that I could get the hang of it my first time around. Also, right now, I am only trying to trade for pins that I like with no real emphasis on what the pins are actually worth – so I assume that my collection doesn’t have a huge monetary value yet. That might change once I get a nice collection going, though.

Have You Ever Done Disney Pin Trading? What Did You Think