Tip for new collecter please

[DisneyDreamer13]

Hi all,

my two boys want to start collecting pins ready for their first trip to WDW next year. I have never dealt with anything to do with it and want to make it as good as i can for them.
How do i know which are 'official' pins when i get them?
How many would be a decent number for them to take each day on a lanyard?
can kids trade with all cast members, i read something about different colour lanyards for kids?
And any other tips would be great x

[seriouslydw]

If you have a while to go before your trip, a good place to stock up on good pins just for trading is ebay. A lot of sellers sell big pin lots for cheaper than you could get them in the parks. That way they could have a lanyard and then some full before you leave for your trip.

Once you get there, any cast member with a lanyard will trade pins. The only thing is cast members wearing a green lanyard only trade with children under 12. Chldren can also trade with the other cast members, it's just the green lanyards are excusively for children.

Also if you keep your eyes peeled, the resorts sometimes have pin trading nights where they'll have special events for children and in the parks they sometimes have pin trading games (I know the Mouse Gears shop at epcot has these periodically).

Hope this helps, and let me know if you have any more questions.

[disneydame2004]

You might find this site helpful for getting started: http://eventservices.disney.go.com/p...?id=getStarted

[Kellie19891992]

or try www.pinfinder.com they have a lot

[wdw4us2]

If you buy pins on ebay, be careful that you don't buy them in lots of the same pin. These are known as "scrappers" and they're very hard to trade with CM Lanyards because most of the Cast lanyards already contain those pins. You're better off purchasing a trading lot of 10 different pins.

Dizpins and PinPics are two sites that offer a lot of information regarding pin trading. Here are links to both sites:

http://www.pinpics.com/tour.htm
http://www.dizpins.com

Neither of these sites are official Disney sites, but they offer the most current information regarding Disney pins.

I would recommend 8 - 10 pins on a lanyard depending on the age of your kids. This should be enough for an entire day in a park, so long as they don't trade them all away within the first hour you're in the park like my son used to do!

Cast Members wear lanyards as well as trading pouches on their belts. I believe the CM lanyards for kids only are green (my kids are too old now, so I can't remember). Make sure your kids seek out custodians wearing lanyards - we have found that they are among the friendliest traders and often have some very nice pins.

Feel free to email me if you have any questions. We have been pin trading since it started back in 1999.