Disney theme parks have endured for over seven decades in part due to the symbiotic relationship between Disney and its most loyal fans. Yes, a Disney vacation appeals to the masses, but its niches thrive on fandom: Disney provides a product packaged as storytelling, and guests emotionally connect with the story, buying into the product and thus funding the next cycle. What happens, though, when Disney creates a fandom it can’t control?
Pin trading, a fan-favorite Disney hobby, has spiraled into a phenomenon that Disney is struggling to control on its own terms. In this article, we look at the escalating popularity of an unlikely superstar in Disney’s merchandise empire, the dark horse spawning both community and chaos in Disney theme parks. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including Disney World’s priciest restaurants and the timeline of future rides coming to Disneyland.
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New Pin Releases Amass Huge Crowds
Pin trading is alive and well in Disney theme parks. Pins are still sold in many, if not most, stores in the parks, and several stores are solely dedicated to pins. For over a quarter of a century now, pin trading has endured, and right now it’s seemingly more popular than ever. But has it gotten too popular?
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Some of the most popular locations, where Disney regularly releases limited-edition pins, include Westward Ho Trading Company at Disneyland Park, Frontier Trading Post at Magic Kingdom, and Disney’s Pin Traders at Disney Springs.
Most new Disney pin releases happen on Tuesdays, so Disney dubbed that day of the week Pin-Tastic Tuesdays. Traders can find many new Pin-Tastic Tuesday selections available online through Disney Store, but the rarest items are only available in person at the parks. A handful of unofficial sites and Facebook groups post each week’s releases, sparking more interest.
Pin-Tastic Tuesdays have snowballed into something of a crowd-control issue. At Disneyland, they bring out the superfandom in full force. On a recent Pin-Tastic Tuesday, the pin collection pictured above sold out by 8:30 AM. One guest told us they had arrived at Disneyland at 3:30 AM to secure their spot in line.
The queue for purchasing pins at the Main Street Cinema spilled onto the street outside, with Disney placing tape on the ground to designate a temporary overflow queue.
Disneyland’s security gates open around 6:45 AM daily. Despite this, by 6 AM on another recent Pin-Tastic Tuesday, the security line had already extended several blocks down Harbor Boulevard outside the Disneyland Resort entrance, as seen in a post by @DisneyScoopsGuy on X, who shared with us that a recent Kingdom Hearts pin collection with recurring releases is especially popular.
It’s not unusual for pin traders to wait overnight in Disney Springs parking structures on the eve of a new pin release, as seen in a video by @pinvibe555 on TikTok. Officially, overnight parking isn’t allowed at Walt Disney World or Disneyland facilities, and parking services open one hour before a park’s opening time.
Chaos for new Disney merchandise drops is not exclusive to pin trading. Pandemonium often ensues surrounding new popcorn buckets or limited-time/dated merchandise. In those instances, there’s a history of Disney mitigating those issues by having systems in place to meet demand.
For instance, demand was so high for a Bluey sipper that Disneyland changed its purchase method to mobile order only. Similarly, for this year’s Star Wars “May the 4th” merchandise line, Disney’s Hollywood Studios opened a temporary pop-up store, solely dedicated to that collection and requiring a virtual queue reservation.
Pin-Trading Gatherings Out of Disney’s Control
As has been part of the phenomenon since the very beginning, trading is a huge component of Disney’s pin empire.
Benches outside of Westward Ho Trading Company at Disneyland frequently became overrun by pin traders sprawling binders full of pins across the seating. To rectify the issue and free up bench space, Disney dedicated nearby tabletops for pin traders, pictured above, but that pin-trading area will soon be for kids only.
As part of the change, Disneyland also banned guests from displaying pins on any tables, chairs, or benches anywhere on Disney property.
We’ve seen large, unofficial gatherings of Disney pin traders take over spots at Disney World, too. During a trip last year, I was working remotely from the dedicated business center at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort. As the workday wound down and dinnertime approached, I was shocked by the number of pin traders with huge collections who slowly began to populate the tables and seating. Eventually, the entire business center was filled with pin traders, all gathered on their own, not part of any official Disney event.
It was admittedly neat to see so many unique pins, but guests walking through the business center from Gran Destino Tower to the food court had to maneuver through all the people.
The unofficial pin gatherings seem to be a gray area for Disney, with its rules seemingly allowing them, but only to some degree.
Disney World and Disneyland’s property rules prohibit “unauthorized events, speeches, or use of any flag, banner, sign, or other material for commercial purposes, or as part of a demonstration.” Pin trading gatherings not organized by Disney are “unauthorized events,” but most of the time, they’re not for “commercial purposes.” However, there are occasionally instances of guests trying to exchange pins for money at these gatherings. Professional traders also sometimes take advantage of people when trading to get a rarer pin.
Disney prohibits “obstructing sidewalks, entrances, driveways, patios, vestibules, stairways, corridors, halls, or landings.” Do the crowds at some of the unofficial pin trading events qualify as “obstructing” these spaces, or simply inhabiting them?
In the early years of pin trading, Disney World hosted weekly pin trading nights at multiple resort hotels and even offered an official pin gathering at Magic Kingdom four days a week called Scoop’s One O’Clock Pin Talk, hosted by a streetmosphere character.
Today, Disney occasionally attempts to satisfy the demand of the pin-trading community with official events, like a Walt Disney World Pin Trading Night this June in a Coronado Springs ballroom, which quickly sold out. The frequency of these events, though, is minimal. The next advertised official event is in September at ESPN Wide World of Sports.
A Fandom of Disney’s Own Doing
On the one hand, enthusiastic pin traders are engaging with the product exactly as Disney intended when pin trading first began: purchasing Disney merchandise and building community.
The tradition was started after Disneyland Resort President George Kalogridis introduced it for the Disney Millennium Celebration after witnessing pin trading at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, according to the Orange County Register.
At the start of the pin trading era, Disney’s vacation campaign slogan was “Celebrate the future hand in hand,” and the company encouraged pin trading between guests and cast members as a positive symbol of goodwill.
Many cast members wore lanyards filled with pins, distributed by Disney for use on the clock. Guests could approach any cast member and request a trade. The cast member had to say yes, as long as the guest’s pin was an official Disney pin.
In keeping with the ideals of the Millennium Celebration, pins would serve as a conversation-starter. The interactions might begin with pins, but they often lead to friendly discussions about hometowns labeled on the cast members’ nametags, or with guests asking additional questions about their park day. Kids ages 3-12 could look out for cast members wearing green lanyards, designating that their pins were for trading with young guests only.
The initiative was a success, and pin trading stuck around after the Millennium Celebration concluded. Pins seemingly depicting every Disney character and theme park attraction imaginable lined the shelves of Disney gift shops. Some stores only sold pins.
Disney cleverly invited new guests to join the trend with pin trading starter packs, which came with a lanyard and four pins: two pins of each of the same design, encouraging the guest to keep one and trade the other.
I purchased my first Disney pins at 10 years old, and as a shy kid, the starter pack encouraged me to initiate conversations with cast members. When I later participated in the Disney College Program, pin trading with guests was one of my favorite parts of the job.
Over the years, Disney has attempted to duplicate pin trading’s lucrative success with other tradable products. Vinylmation, vinyl figurines shaped like Mickey Mouse, had a moment in the early 2010s, but its popularity eventually faded, an emblematic memory of the peak hipster era.
All of that being said, the massive crowds that pin releases and pin trading attract are placing increasing stress on other areas of Disney’s operations.
Going forward, how will Disney enforce new rules for pin trading compared to other unsanctioned gatherings or banned items on its property? Will pin trading continue to be an exception to multiple policies, and if so, would Disney ever acknowledge so in writing through its official rules?
This is no longer a topic that Disney can ignore, and new rules and official events are clearly attempts to rein in the issue, even as baby steps.
For one, the idea of relegating some aspect of pin trading as a kids-only activity is not new. Cast members’ green lanyards of yesteryear provide a precedent for Disneyland designating its trading tables for kids only.
While official Pin Trading Nights provide a formal opportunity for pin traders to connect with others and show off their collections in an environment Disney can supervise safely, months-long gaps between events are clearly not enough to meet the demand. For the two upcoming Florida events at Coronado Springs and ESPN Wide World of Sports, it’s interesting to see Disney experimenting with different venues, likely conducting intentional debriefs afterward to evaluate each space’s effectiveness.
We’ll see in the coming weeks, as Disneyland’s new no-display and kids-only rules, described above, take effect, how those impact any additional procedures, and/or if those same policies will make their way to Walt Disney World.
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