Are you impressed by the variety of pins the Cast Members have?

[Volksjager]

What makes pin trading at the parks fun is that you never know what you could find. Are you satisfied with the variety of pins that each cast member has throughout the day? Do you see too many scrappers or sedesma pins?

Do you have a favourite park or location to trade at? If so, share your secret with us

[CanadianWDWFan]

I never really new about the Lanyard pins before this trip. But we spent all trip looking for the 3 Hitchhiking Ghosts and we only found the one. But some of the other pins sure are pretty neat. We were really impressed by them.

[Volksjager]

That is part of the fun of it. I remember looking for the last monorail for a few days to finally find it with a DVC rep at MGM...what a rush to actually find the last one!

My son has about 35 Goofy's so he is always excited to find a "new" one to add to his collection. He was also tinkled pink when a CM at the bus depot for DTD just GAVE him the last bus he needed to complete his 5 buses collection!

I think AK is one of the better parks to find interesting pins, but you have the search out the less visible CM's, like those who park the strollers for the big shows...

[JPL]

I have to say I wasn't overly impressed with the pins I saw on lanyards on my most recent October trip. It is definately a hit or miss situation. In june I saw CMs with 2 - 3 pins I wanted and this trip I only traded for like 6 pins in for days.

[ariel03]

My DH was very impressed with the pins. He started pin trading this last trip and was able to complete an enitre collection before we left. He found his last pin on the last day with a CM at MGM. He was so excited about it and had to show everyone like a little kid.

[The Flying Dutchman]

I'd have to agree, alot of it is hit or miss. However, once you find that one CM with the very pin you want, it makes it all worth while!

[CandleontheWater]

I've found some really awesome pins on cast lanyards, but lately I think that unless you get to the parks at opening, most lanyards will be stripped and they'll be left with cuties. I tried to ask a cast member what they do with all the pins that no one wants, like those small cuties that come in the trader set, but I didn't get a clear answer.

[chrisb26]

I just started pin trading this last trip and I must say I wasn't overly impressed with what I saw. I did find some good pins but it seemed that most I found where on the Green Lanyards that I couldn't get pins from.

The other thing that annoyed me with the green lanyard was I went to DTD the last day of my trip and was at WOD and after walking around looking for CM with pins I noticed that all but 2 had green lanyards on. I dont know if that is normal or not but I don't think it was entirely fair to people who can't get pins from that lanyard.

[PrincessEmmasMommy]

True, most of the better pins were on Green lanyards, but I think this is later in the days. If you look when you first arrive at parks instead of running for FP's you will do better. I agree with what has been said, check early, check CM's that aren't visible, etc. We also found some decent pins on CM's at Animal Kingdom and in the shops in the countries in WS at Epcot. My DD4 did great with the green lanyards. Good luck!
Oh yeah! We did very well at WODNY. Lots of rare pins from CM's there. Even a LE50 pin.
Have fun!
Jen

[JPL]

There are noticeably more grenn lanyards in DTD to help combat the pin sharks. Since it's free to enter DTD alot of people were buying cheap pins trading for better at DTD and the selling them on Ebay leaving very little for other collectors.

[DisFan01]

HERE'S A SECRET THAT A CAST MEMBER TOLD ME:

They said if you go to the cast members that have the red ribbon saying "Earning my Ears", they usually give those people the better pins.

So, that's what I usually do now!

[MickeyMousse]

This trip we were disappointed with the CM's lanyards....they weren't of anything too impressive. One very nice CM near Expedition Everest gave both of my sons a pin from his lanyard-older safari pins-for nothing. My son's really do not like to part with any of their pins-they become too attached to theirs!

I will remember the hint about the red ribbon CM's-thanks!!

[#1donaldfan]

Our DS is really the only one with a stash of pins and likes 'em all. I can't get him to trade any, he just want's new ones .... I guess he's too attached......

[jpH/keD]

Our whole family loves it! Hey its cheaper that a t-shirt! As for selection, so far so good! We dont have any repeats yet!!

[kriskay]

I had the BEST pin trading experience in November of 2007. I found the ghost cast member full set, the fab 5 intertube full set, and the chip and dale food full set!! We especially had good luck with janitorial staff at our resort (All Star Movies) and Downtown Disney. We went to Downtown Disney and found a CM emptying the trash his lanyard was NOTHING BUT CM pins!! We were so excited. Came back the next night to find the same CM with a lanyard REPLENISHED WITH CM pins only! Was so cool!!

Also had a really good time visiting the different resorts pin boards. Port Orleans Riverside was great....there we saw some pins a lady on the boat (which we took there) said that she was wanting....
We saw them and then walked around looking for so that we could tell her. AND WE FOUND HER! She was so excited and CMs there gave us the Tinkerbell "Million Dreams" pass it on pin..or whatever. One for each of us to keep and one for each of us to pass on. WAS SO COOL!

Also enjoyed the pin trading game at MouseGears in Epcot. Basically, you chose 3 pins you were willing to trade. You got 30 seconds to look at a board and pick which 3 you'd like. Got a great Fab 5 pin there.

So basically, I was VERY pleased with the selection and the fun of pin trading!

[TinkRocks]

I was lucky to find hitch-hiking ghosts pins from a couple of CMs in MK's Tomorrowland last year, which was cool.

As others have said, it's usually easier to find the CM pins early in the morning. I do notice that the cutie pins do appear more on the CM lanyards as the day goes on.

Out of curiosity, how many of you like the cutie series? Personally, I'm not a fan of the cutie pins. I'm just wondering with the observation that cutie pins appear on a lot of CM lanyards, that these pins aren't as popular as Disney thinks they are. I'd be interested in everyone's thoughts...

[Aurora's Spindle]

The CM lanyards have been hit-or-miss with me over the last two years. I'm not huge on pin-trading ... I get too attached to mine ... but if I see a better one I'll snap it up and then rebuy the one I traded.

When the pins first came out, however, there was a specific Sleeping Beauty pin in which she was wearing the blue dress -- not the pink. I saw it in a pin book and HAD to have it. We searched far and wide, asking all the CMs if they'd seen one. Finally, we found it on Main Street with the help of a whole bunch of CMs. They told me there were only four of them left in the entire park.

Even though I don't always find pins I absolutely need to have, I have always found the CMs to be very helpful.

[CaptainJessicaSparrow]

I have to say, being someone who works at the World, the best pins are almost never out at any certain time, especially not Hidden Mickey or Cast Lanyards.

It all depends on the CM's - they choose what color lanyard to get (I have blue) and they choose when to refresh their lanyards (it can be every day, it can be every month). It all depends. Also at MK, the Pin Refresh Station is open from 10am -6pm, which means at park opening....the pins are the leftovers from the night before. Plus, every CM starts at different times, continously throughout the day, and some will refresh before they start (I usually arrive early to work to get there before 6 and refresh) or they will refresh on their break (like a lot of our openers do whihc is around 12-1pm).

"Earning my Ears" CM's get the same pins as the regular CM's - they just spend the majority of their first few days walking around, learning to ropes and interacting very little with Guests so they tend to keep them longer. Starting lanyard has 12 pins, 6 Cast/Hidden Mickey pins. They can then refresh for 6 new pins - 3 Cast/Hidden Mickey, and three other (can be TDL, HKDL, DLP, DLC, DA, LE, DCL, open edition, etc).

With that being said, I think CM's get plenty of amazing pins and I've been fortunate enough to complete many sets because of Guests trading me the pins I need.

If you're looking for anything in particular, I love Jessica Rabbit, Nightmare, Cheshire Cat, and Jasmine....I can probably get stuff for you if I find them.