Pin Trading With Tinkerbell By Tink on - Updated Oct 15, 2011
When our family went to Disneyworld in 2005, I started my collection of Tinkerbell pins. (Did you think I would pick any other character?!) I received a black lanyard with a Disney pin attached when we checked into the Pop Century Resort. I had never heard of pin trading on any of our trips to Disney before. Apparently they had just started the tradition of trading pins with cast members and other guests in 1999. I wasn't thrilled with the free lanyard I received so I set off to find a special one at the park.
I went to one of the gift shops at Disneyworld and found a Tinkerbell lanyard. It is purple and has a cute picture of Tinkerbell on the bottom. It has green stars that say "Tink!" I also purchased what they call a "starter set" of pins to trade. I bought some Tinkerbell pins as well as some Mickey Mouse pins to trade. I picked the Tinkerbell pins that I wanted to keep for myself and decided which ones I was willing to part with. Okay, ready, set, GO!
I know that if you approach any cast member and ask to trade pins with them, they must trade with you. They are allowed to trade up to two pins per person, per day at the parks. You can even trade with the hotel employees if you see something you like!
The pins are displayed mostly on lanyards, but you might find some displayed on a belt worn on the cast member's waist. There are also special colored lanyards that only children can trade their pins. It is a green lanyard. Of course the children can also trade with anyone wearing a regular lanyard too.
If you look at the back of the Disney pins (see picture above) you will see it is a Mickey Mouse! Isnt' that cool ! When you trade pins make sure you take yours off and put the back on before you hand it to the other person. If you don't see a Mickey back on the pin you are trading, I'd ask to keep the one you have. This has only happened to me once, the pin I was going to receive had a gold metal back, I asked to keep my Mickey back and they agreed.
I love trading my pins at Disney, but if you have alot of them on your lanyard, it is going to get heavy! I look forward to trading more pins and finding some really pretty Tinkerbell ones this September!
About The Author:
Disney Tinkerbell Pins Purchased at: Disney Price: varies
We have a few stray pins we have gotten for free over the years from hotels and stuff but lucky for me this is one Disney collectable, my family did not get into.
Tink, my oldest daughter has been trading for Tinkerbell pins for years. Her secret is to buy Disney pins in large groupings from a seller on ebay which makes these pins much cheaper to trade with versus buying them at Disney. When we are down at Disney she loads up her lanyard with these and trades for her Tink pins. Pin trading and collecting has gotten to be a very big thing to do and I love watching the kids trade. It's really nice that Disney has special castmembers that can only trade with them. Thanks for sharing!
I agree with your statement, that if you have a lot of pin the lanyard will get very heavy. My son did not want to carry his lanyard around in the June heat! I like collecting the Disney pins but I have a very hard time trading them. I usually just buy ones I really like and keep them for myself :)
My sister and I pin trade all the time when we are at Disney! I've even dragged my boyfriend with my to downtown disney (since I only live about 35 minutes away) when we have nothing else to do and I make him walk around and hunt cast members down to trade with! LOL it's so much fun!
What a fun thing to collect! Such adorable Tink pins :)
I love the Disney pins! We bought a few when we were at DisneyWorld, but never did any trading.
What fun! It provides an added layer of interest to your trips to the park.
I have a few of the Disney trading pins and I have glow in the dark Mickey Lanyard that I keep them on. I haven't been brave enough to actually trade any yet. I do usually pick up a few new pins on my once a year trip to Disney World though.