From scrappers to treasures: What Disney fans should know about pin trading

USA Today

05-05-2025

From scrappers to treasures: What Disney fans should know about pin trading
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Marvel to Mickey, Disney's D23 dazzles fans with themed merchandise
D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event showed off new products, ranging from limited-edition pins to Swarovski crystal figures.
I told my friend Tarah I was kind of into pins on our most recent Disney trip.
My framed collection at home would disagree with my measured enthusiasm.
As we stopped at nearly every pin trading board we encountered in Magic Kingdom and Disney's Hollywood Studios, Tarah soon learned the same.
I wasn't lying. I genuinely don't think of myself on the same level as serious collectors, but I've always liked collecting pretty things: stamps, postcards, ornaments, mugs. For me, it's just fun.
Turns out, that's all you need to be into pin trading.
Here's what you should know about the popular pastime in Disney parks.
Is pin trading still a thing?
Yes. Disney pin trading is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and it's as popular as ever.
Now, Disney carried pins long before trading came into the picture, and pin trading existed outside the parks well before that, namely at the Olympics, Steven Miller explained. But in 1999, he helped introduce the activity to Disney World as a way for guests and cast members to connect during the Walt Disney World Millennium Celebration, and it has since expanded across Disney experiences.
'What better way to do that than trading pins, because you're literally exchanging hand to hand?' said Miller, who has changed roles and is now a senior manager with Disney Corporate Social Responsibility. 'We quickly discovered that people really liked pin trading. It was immensely popular, not just popular with our guests, but our cast members, too.'
'It just starts this great conversation with the guests that's unique to them, which is our ultimate goal,' said Bridget Gall, general manager of Merchandise at Disney's Animal Kingdom.
I started collecting pins during Disney World's 50th anniversary, which kicked off in 2021. I liked how the pins were little works of art, and I wanted to commemorate something personal to me: one of my first big events as a travel reporter. Bit by bit, my collection has grown with other milestones and mementos.
'The one thing I know I tell my team consistently is that this is somebody's memory,' said Jessica Willis, senior manager of product design for Disney pins.
Are pins worth collecting?
Some pins can be worth thousands of dollars, but value is in the eye of the beholder.
'I have pins from '99, 2000, 2001 that are specific to the memories I had here with my family,' said Willis, who pin-traded as a guest during the Millennium Celebration. Her pins weren't particularly expensive or exclusive, but for her, 'they're memories, and so I will never trade them. I will never give them away.'
Other pins are literally priceless because you can't buy them. You can get them only by trading with cast members. Once known as Hidden Mickey pins for having tiny Mickey heads on their pin face, they've now evolved into Hidden Disney pins with different icons depending on the pin's intellectual property, like Pixar or Marvel.
'They kind of come out in these waves or these releases, and it gives a reason for our guests – even those who may be local or who may come back time and time again – something new to go after,' Willis said. 'For a limited time, guests can only get those pins through that (cast) interaction, and I think that makes it even more special.'
Many guests try to collect all the pins in a specific set or series.
How many types of Disney pins are there?
Four types of Disney pins are available to the public.
The most widely available pins are called open edition.
'Those are the pins that you'll see just about everywhere. There's no finite number or time that those pins are available,' Willis said. 'They'll probably have the broadest range of characters, so you'll see the most variety within those open editions.'
Next are limited-release pins.
'The limited release are pins that may be a little bit more what we call embellished, or the make of them might be a little bit higher than that open edition pin, but they're out for a limited time,' she said. There are also limited release pins tied to specific park events like festivals or after-hours events.
The rarest pins are limited edition.
"Limited-edition pins actually have a quantity stamp to the back of it. Maybe there's a limited edition of 4,000 of those pins, and that's all we'll create,' Willis said. 'Now, I'm in the collector space, and I see that as a collectible value, and I want to hang on to that.'
The fourth type of pins are those Hidden Disney pins that come from trading with cast members.
How to start pin trading
Disney sells starter sets and booster sets with multiple pins to get guests started.
Mickey-head-shaped trading boards are scattered across Disney World and Disneyland. There's usually one at the front desk of resort hotel lobbies, at Guest Services kiosks, sometimes in shops. On my last Disney World visit, I was surprised to find a pin board poolside at Coronado Springs Resort.
Many cast members also wear lanyards or pouches with pins for trading.
'You can have one or two pins on your lanyard flipped around. Sometimes they call it a blind trade,' Gall said.
Cast members may have guests answer trivia for the chance to trade those pins. At Animal Kingdom, she said, the questions may be tied to the animals. 'Now, whether they answer the trivia right or wrong, we still trade,' she said.
Guests can trade up to two pins per cast member or a specific trading board per day.
'I've heard so many parents say it opened the door for their child to walk up to a cast member and and learn a conversation and say please and thank you and have this ability for them to collect what they like and what was important to them and be able to showcase their personality,' Miller said.
Addes Willis: 'It's a way, especially in a digital age, that you're having those interactions, and you're having to talk to someone face-to-face, eye-to-eye, and have that open dialogue: What's your favorite character? What's your favorite memory? And then they ask the same of us.'
Can Disney cast members say no to pin trading?
Yes.
According to guidelines posted on Disney World and Disneyland's websites, cast members may determine whether a pin is tradable at their discretion. As long as it's an official Disney pin, they will gladly trade.
Fellow guests may be more particular and decline to trade if the pins you're offering in exchange don't interest them.
What are the rules for Disney pins?
The pin should be an official Disney pin in good condition.
'Metal pin bearing a ©Disney mark, so on the back, the copyright,' Miller specified. 'That means it's a Disney pin. And then the trading guidelines are still two pins per cast member per guest per day.'
Can you buy Disney pins online?
Yes. The Disney Store sells pins online and adds new ones regularly.
Some guests also buy pins from third-party resellers through online sources like eBay, Amazon and Facebook Marketplace, but watch out. If the pins are suspiciously cheap or off-color, they may not be authentic.
For perspective, Disney pins typically start at $9.99 retail.
How do you tell if a Disney pin is a 'scrapper'?
Collectors often refer to knockoff pins as scrappers.
PinHQ by GoPinPro, a Winter Garden, Florida-based business that sells officially licensed pins and trading gear, shared several telltale signs via Instagram:
Scrappers may be made with soft enamel, with dips in paint, instead of hard enamel, which would be polished flat.
Mickey head patterns pressed into the backs of official Disney pins go all the way to the edges, while knockoffs may have a border.
Scrappers may also appear duller, rougher or generally lower-quality.
I don't worry too much about authenticity. I purchase the pins I want directly from Disney, but I also buy extra pins when they go on sale online. If I see something I like on a pin board or a cast lanyard, I'll trade with the latter. That way if I do end up with a scrapper, at least it's pretty.