For some Disney fans — and most likely some retired Disney Park Cast Members — pin-laden lanyards bring back a lot of memories. Collecting Disney pins and partaking in Disney pin trading has been a staple for many enthusiastic Disney Fanatics since the 1999 Millennium Celebration.
Unfortunately, it sounds like Disney’s pin trading is actually on the way out in a permanent sense! Even though pin trading is still technically happening in the Disney Parks on an international scale, and Disney itself still hosts Disney pin trading events, the buzz around the classic Disney Park activity has definitely faded.
Don’t believe us? Just ask the Disney fans who have started a discussion about Disney pin trading on Reddit; judging by these experienced Disney Guests or former Cast Members, pin trading really is on its way out!
In the conversation, which is entitled “Pin Trading Isn’t Really Fun Anymore,” Disney fans are taking a look at just how low the pin trading system has sunk. So far, pin trading does still seem to be popular in Disneyland — but in Walt Disney World Resort, there is (unfortunately) a different story.
One big factor in modern-day pin trading seems to be Cast Members’ lanyards (or lack thereof). During the pandemic, the lanyard pin offerings were removed — and this may actually have been positive news for Cast Members, who had to contend with rude pin traders who tried to grab their lanyards violently while they were still wearing them.
Trading pins with Cast Members was meant to be a calm, cheerful, and whimsical endeavor — but having pins torn from around their necks was certainly a disturbing experience for the Cast Members wearing the lanyards, and many Reddit users mentioned this experience in the aforementioned discussion!
Violence during pin collecting in Disney Parks has actually been such a big issue in the past that one Disney Resort, Tokyo Disneyland, actually banned the trading system!
However, violence during pin trading was not actually viewed as the main cause for Disney World’s decrease in pin collection excitement. A decrease in the quality of the pins, and the presence of fake pins, were also mentioned.
“Once the CMs started consistently having blind-box leftovers as their trading pins, it pretty much was over,” one pin trader wrote. “A person might get lucky…but 95% of the time, you don’t find anything good.”
The disgruntled pin trader’s declaration that “the CMs treat it more like an interruption than a fun interaction” these days also seems to have contributed to the negativity around the Disney pin collection system!
Pin trading isn't really fun anymore.
byu/isthatyourpie indisneyparks
Do you think that pin trading has become “boring” and underwhelming in Walt Disney World Resort? Have you seen Disney fans happily trading pins in other Disney Parks, including Disneyland?
