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...and Pinned
We found ourselves at Downtown Disney because we had been notified via Annual
Passholder newsletter that the entire month of February was our chance to get a
free pin trading lanyard and two free Disney pins, just as a perk of being an
Annual Passholder. Since the requisite clause of "while supplies last" was
present, we figured we had best not wait til the end of February.
I'd classify these as
‘forgettable pins'
And when we actually found the info booth in the middle of World of Disney
for the free lanyard, we saw that they just checked our tickets and handed us
the pre-packaged lanyards. Um, no swiping of cards? No writing down of our
names? Is there anything to prevent people from returning here, week after week,
collecting all these free pins? We're just honest enough not to do it, but I
speak from experience when I say that there are frequent visitors to Disney
parks who would not bat an eyelash about returning over and over again for the
free perk.
I'm still just an amateur -- my pins all come from trading, not buying limited
editions. But just around the corner, at the Pin Trading Central shop in the
MarketPlace, I got a real education about "true" pin collectors. I had not
bellied up to the tables often before to look at these pins, and I was amazed to
see how very different the premium pins are to what you see on the CM lanyards
most of the time. More colors, more rarity… I had seen essentially none of these
pins before. Neat.
It must take a fortune to amass a real collection.
Actually, the entire pin trading enterprise continues to rate fairly high in
my book. I found myself absently spinning the racks inside the pin store, and
discovered I was face to face with Haunted Mansion pins. Lenticulars, that
changed appearance and mimicked what you see in the attic nowadays.
It occurred to me that pins are some of the most creative, most park-specific
merchandise you can find nowadays. The stuff that they sell which is NOT pins is
generic, geared for the widest audience possible, and frankly usually pretty
bland. The stuff they make FOR pins is the opposite: niche market, rife with
inside jokes, and specific to the attractions. I'm so far resisting the itch to
jump deeper into this hobby (it would cost a complete FORTUNE to think about
buying all the pins for even one attraction, let alone all of the rides), but
that itch is getting more insistent all the time.
If the attic doesn't please you, there are other pins nearby
with pieces (dust) of actual old attractions captured in bubbles.
One investment we made is to purchase locking pin backs. Thanks to the
readers who jumped in and offered suggestions (Ron W., Louise H., Marc L., Greg
O., Paul D.) on finding locking backs; I went with one suggestion and looked up
eBay seller disneypatriot. We found his lot of 50 backs to be price-worthy (we
paid $15 before shipping) and they truly work as advertised. Our kind require
you pull on the post to loosen it (they won't come free just on their own; it
requires human agency and your fingers), but they aren't hard to get off when
you want them off. By contrast, the Disney-sold locking pin backs (you can get
them at all the pin trading central stations, it turns out) are harder to use,
requiring a little wrench that comes included in the package. Plus they were
more expensive.
One more pin-trading note, this one courtesy of reader Alan P.:
I read your recent article about pin-trading and I thought I would share
with you a game my family plays. We are far from obsessive
pin-traders, but when we go to the parks my wife and kids usually each sport
a lanyard. After a while we came up with an idea to make the process
more competitive, by assigning a theme to the day's pin trading.
For example, we might say that the person who trades for the most
"pirate" pins will win a prize. We've also selected specific
characters (of course, nobody easy like Mickey -- Jiminy Cricket works
well!). Usually I get to be the judge (does it count as a pirate pin
if it's Captain Hook? Absolutely.) The introduction of this game
actually reignited my kids' interest in pin trading, so I call it a good
idea. I'm sure it's not unique, but your family might enjoy it as they
get more experienced.
While hovering in the store, I noticed the new ‘weights' sold for the
lanyards, designed to make the necklaces heavy enough that they always face the
‘right way' with pins displayed out. We had bought a Pirate Mickey one for our
son a while back, but his kind featured some elements that dangled below on a
few golden-colored links. Well, those links broke on the first day, so we were
able to get a replacement. The replacement links broke quickly too, and some
really amazing CMs let us trade in for a different kind of lanyard weight
altogether, this one without any dangling parts. Lo and behold, on this trip we
saw the same Pirate Mickey, now offered without any dangling parts. Looks like
we were not alone in experiencing problems.
If you can believe it, there was still more new at Downtown Disney to
explore. The Guest Relations lobby, over by Ghirardelli, has recently undergone
a makeover. The revised facility abandons the cartoony colors of yore in favor
of a classy, Grand-California-Hotel kind of feel (the arts and crafts movement,
for the uninitiated). In the same building, the revised PhotoPass location was
doing a brisk business. Sales must be hopping here since the nearby Bibbidi
Bobbidi Boutique opened up.
The kiosks made mention of PhotoBooks. I didn't investigate,
but they sounded intriguing.
Over in the corner of the Marketplace was the other recent addition: the
expansion of the Art of Disney store into three separate stores: Art of Disney
(just the artwork, not the books), Disney's Wonderful World of Memories, and
Design-A-Tee by Hanes.
The former home of the bookstore.
The Wonderful World of Memories holds stuff like scrapbooking supplies and
the like, but what really drew my eye was the "build your own" mouse ears
display. It's been available in Anaheim for some time, but the snap-on mouse ears
really seemed like a winner to the visitors who came by when we were nearby.
Continuing the customization theme next door, the Design-A-Tee shop lets you
choose from pre-set selections (color, logo, theme) to craft your own t-shirt.
Most of the store is self-service kiosks.
It's not true customization; you only have so many logos to choose from. But
you can customize your own message on the shirt, which is a very nice touch
indeed. The shirts are $25 or so each, depending on your size.
Not the most original name for a shop, but it's functional.
It wasn't my thing, as a local, but I can well imagine that tourists on a
once-a-year visit (let alone a once in a lifetime visit) would value this kind
of keepsake, so color me neutral. Certainly it's better than a shop selling
recycled Tween market merchandise!
You can see a preview for your shirt as you build it.
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