Best places to Pin trade from a WDW Cast member

[Captain_Fartbeard]

Hey y'all! I've been trading at since January and with the return of cast member pin trading, I wanted to share my favorite spots for pin trading as well as hunting. I'll be sure to update as I keep scouring the parks and finding great trading spots!

 

 While Epcot is by far the best park to trade in, my favorite spot since the return of CM trading has been Emporium at Magic Kingdom. (the big merch store on Main street) Not only is there a steady supply of Cast member lanyards, the flow of traffic is super high so pins are always swapping out. Furthermore, I feel like there's been lots of Pin traders at Emporium so it's been easy to find other traders. My favorite time to go is the after fireworks rush. I can check out lanyards on one side of the store, walk to the other side, and by the time I get back to the first side there's a whole new set of pins to look at. 

 

  Everyone knows about the pin trading store by Spaceship Earth but I've found Port of Entry/ Disney traders (at the entrance of World showcase) to be great sneaky spots to hunt for pins in.

 

  Resorts are also a great place to trade, since the lanyards there are less traveled and more likely to have new or unique pins. The downside is less traders frequent the resorts so it's difficult to find other traders. I've found that Port Orleans is my favorite resort to trade at, given the abundance of pinboards compared to the other parks. I've found 4 there so far, 1 at French Quarter and three at Riverside. It's been a good pastime of mine to go for a Jog at Port Orleans and bring a couple traders with me just in case I find something I like. 

 

  If anyone else has great trading locations at WDW, I'd love to hear 'em! (Also if you plan on park trading bring your Stitch pins as he's been very popular every time I've gone trading)

[lilfaerie_brat]

I'm going next weekend for an all pin trading trip. I was supposed to go when the lanyards first came back but ended up sick and had to reschedule. I've missed the lanyard hunts since covid. Can't wait for next weekend. Are you only finding that retail CMs have pins? I remember one trip years ago my best trade of that trip was with custodial in the bathroom the Carribean resort.

[Captain_Fartbeard]

7 hours ago, lilfaerie_brat said:

I'm going next weekend for an all pin trading trip. I was supposed to go when the lanyards first came back but ended up sick and had to reschedule. I've missed the lanyard hunts since covid. Can't wait for next weekend. Are you only finding that retail CMs have pins? I remember one trip years ago my best trade of that trip was with custodial in the bathroom the Carribean resort.

 

 Congrats on your trip! I completely understand going for pin trading, it's what I do on most of my days off.

  

  And also nope! Custodial is allowed to have them as well. Resort custodial CMs do have a higher chance of having better pins since not many people trade with them. I have a relative who's custodial at Disney's Pop Century resort, and he still has a lot of really nice pins on his lanyard. I've also seen some restaurant greeters have them, though I've only seen it at MK. Guest services staff are also a good source of pins! Leaders (people in nice clothes who walk around the parks and supervise, basically my bosses) also might have pins so keep an eye out for them as well. Quick service restaurant, Attractions, and "safety critical" roles are the ones that aren't allowed to have pins.

 

   Also, what sort of pins are you looking for? Maybe I'll bring my collection down if you happen to stop by Epcot. And what sort of pins are you bringing to trade? I'm finding it hard to replenish my stores of traders once they're gone

Edited April 19 by Captain_Fartbeard

[lilfaerie_brat]

12 hours ago, Captain_Fartbeard said:

   Also, what sort of pins are you looking for? Maybe I'll bring my collection down if you happen to stop by Epcot. And what sort of pins are you bringing to trade? I'm finding it hard to replenish my stores of traders once they're gone

I haven't done a solo trip since precovid so I'm really looking forward to a pin trading trip. I've got two days in the parks, Sunday AM my reservation is for MK and I was going to hop to epcot after I was done there over to studios. Monday Morning I've got AK reservations and hadn't decided what was my afternoon plans yet. Would love to arrange to meet up and do some trading.

 

I collect Dormouse, Fox and the Hound, Hidden Mickeys, Mr. Smee and Tink. My husband collects food and wine, star wars and Thanos. My bag right now is mostly  hidden Mickey's and mystery pins but I have room to add some other things. I'm an old school collector/trader from the west coast so most of my stuff is older CA pins. Don't check my traders list, it's not upto date.

[Captain_Fartbeard]

11 hours ago, lilfaerie_brat said:

I haven't done a solo trip since precovid so I'm really looking forward to a pin trading trip. I've got two days in the parks, Sunday AM my reservation is for MK and I was going to hop to epcot after I was done there over to studios. Monday Morning I've got AK reservations and hadn't decided what was my afternoon plans yet. Would love to arrange to meet up and do some trading.

 

I collect Dormouse, Fox and the Hound, Hidden Mickeys, Mr. Smee and Tink. My husband collects food and wine, star wars and Thanos. My bag right now is mostly  hidden Mickey's and mystery pins but I have room to add some other things. I'm an old school collector/trader from the west coast so most of my stuff is older CA pins. Don't check my traders list, it's not upto date.

Sounds fun! MK and Epcot are really good trading parks. I've found a lot of success there. AK is fine (especially the big merch shops by the tree) and I'm not sure about Hollywood since I haven't been there since lanyard trading opened up. If you've got hopper tickets and are only going for trading it would be easy to hit 3 parks in 1 day. (I've done it) I'd recommend on Monday hitting MK Emporium after fireworks, the rush brings a lot of traders and CMs! I can go in with 10-15 traders and have all of them gone in like an hour lol. Also are you planning on doing any resort hopping?

 

  I'm not sure what my schedule is those days (it currently goes to the Saturday before) so we'll see if I have off. If not I'll be sticking around Epcot since that's where I work. It would probably have to be earlier in the day though since my shifts can start pretty early!

 

  I don't have many of those pins but I do have some from the new Star Wars hidden mickey series if you're interested! It's also terribly out of date but you can check this post out for a general idea of what I have.  https://www.disneypinforum.com/threads/new-to-trading-thought-id-post-my-collection-here.78014/#post-1120494  I mostly collect Disney cats, cute animals, funny pins, and older pins. I love Fox and the Hound as well.