With hundreds of thousands pins in Walt Disney World, you don’t want to be trading your pins for just any old design that doesn’t really speak to your personality or interests. There’s a bunch of things that you can do or locations that you can visit in order to grow your chances of success for landing the best pins!
Post-Pandemic Update
Coming out of a time-period that focused on social distancing for guests and cast members, the Pin Trading program has been severely toned down and absent in many forms.
It’s always hopeful to see things go back to a pre-pandemic world, but the current ‘Pin Trading’ program looks at mystery trading and pin boards.
Past Advice
With things constantly changing and evolving, I’ll be leaving the rest of the tips underneath as the advice was discovered over years of vacations and research.
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ASK TO SEE THE TRADING BOARD
When you’re visiting a merchandise shop, there’s a good chance that as a way to grow guest interaction, they’ve been provided a pin trading board. If it’s not busy, just ask the cast member if they have a board and then you can take your time to see if there’s anything on it that you want to trade for.
TRADE WITH LEADERS
Cast Members come in many different versions, especially when you’re in a theme park. From merchandise to attractions, custodial and entertainment…and everything in between, you’re able to usually spot a CM from a mile away.
The specific cast member that we’re suggesting that you pin trade with are the Retail Guest Service Managers…also known as the folks with blue id badges who are usually dressed in business casual attire and holding a garbage picker in their hands.
They are great to trade with because their guest interactions are a small percentage of an on-stage cast member because they are performing a role which involves lots of walking around and never standing still.
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RESORTS OVER PARKS
Some of my favorite pins have been traded for at Disney’s on-site resorts! We’ve gone to merchandise locations at the resorts to get the best pin boards on property…but sometimes you have to think outside the box.
DISNEY VACATION CLUB
Remember that DVC cast members have pin lanyards. Because they’re not on the regular checklist of pin traders, you’re able to sometimes sneak a great trade!
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MORNING VS EVENING
I’ve found that the best trades happen first thing in the morning. This is because when a cast member starts their shift, they’re “replenished” with pins that were either lost or needed to be replaced for what ever reason.
I’m a huge fan of Pin Trading at Walt Disney World! If you’ve got any additional trading tips, please let me know over at our Facebook Page!