Joey Minor, 26, is standing in line at Disneyland. He isn’t going to get on Splash Mountain or get a Mickey shaped pretzel. He’s standing in line for a Disney collectable pin; pins only Disney cast members are able to buy. Minor spends a lot of time at Disney. Whether its being “friends with Pluto,” which is Disney speak for “I am the person in the Pluto suit,” or roaming around the park for free on his day off. For Minor, he’s in it for the pins.
Minor has collected close to 200 Disney trading pins in the last three years. Cast members at Disney wear teal lanyards decorated with pins featuring Disney movies, icons, and attractions. These pins are available to trade with park visitors or purchase in kiosks. While this is really for kids between the ages of three and 12, it has grown into a thriving pin trading industry based on an honor system and a drive to collect them all.
What began as standing in line with a friend has turned into a sizeable collection that Minor has transported from California, to Florida, and to New York. Being a former Disney cast member, Minor was able to gain access to pins far more collectable, and expensive, than the usual $6.95[i].
Pin trading has been around since the birth of the parks, but it wasn’t until 1999 at the Millennium Celebration that pin trading at the resorts was introduced. Disney parks around the world each have their own traditions that are celebrated through their pins. Since becoming popular, Disney has banned cast members from accepting pins with a clasp style back, like those found on jewelry, as these were popular in the 1980s. Now, they only accept pins with the black-rubber Mickey shaped backing.
When first standing in the line, Minor wasn’t interested. But as he waited and talked with his fellow cast members, he found their excitement over something so small was captivating. He walked away with his first pin that day. His first pin was from the 60th Anniversary Diamond collection. “As I collected more in that series, I was like ‘oh I want to collect all these types of pins specifically,’” Minor said, his collection of that series is nearly complete.
Of his 200 pins, Minor’s favorite is from the Diamond Collection. It’s a stained glass diamond. On the pin itself is the Cinderella Castle, Haunted Mansion, and Tune Town. For cast members, these limited-edition pins begin at $12 and can go up to $20. Because of their limited run, these pins can go for hundreds to thousands of dollars.
Pins of certain characters, like Belle and Ariel, can go for $500-600. So, when Minor worked with Disney, he would jump on the opportunity to buy these pins to later resell for a profit. Less popular characters, like Oswald, are cheaper and easier to collect. A character like Goofy, for whom thousands of pins have been produced, is much harder to collect and is likely more expensive.
Within the pin trading community, Minor identified a group of collectors who don the name of Completists. “They will try to complete a specific character or a specific movie and try to collect all those pins,” Minor said. These avid collectors will often shame people who don’t have complete collections.
Since establishing the park trading system, Disney has released “Pin Trading Etiquette” rules for those who want to take part in the process. These etiquette rules include not pulling at cast member’s lanyards to get a closer look, offering a pin that isn’t on the cast member’s lanyard for trade, and only trading one pin at a time for a “safe trading experience[ii].”
Pin trading communities exist in the form of Facebook groups, eBay, and Instagram. Minor mentioned that he often buys pins from the app Instagram where people post pictures of the pins and their prices. Under a single hash tag, “#disneypinsfortrade,” there are over 67,000 photos of pins to be traded or purchased.
Disney itself holds pin-trading events. The most recent was in February 2018 at the Starcade inside Tomorrowland at Disneyland. At these events, they have designated pin trading areas, previews of upcoming pin releases, and a pre-purchase of select pins from, in this case, the Peter Pan 65th Anniversary Collection[iii].
Pins are also available to be purchased in the park and come at different pricing levels. These levels are divided into color levels. With green being $6.95, yellow $12.95, and lavender $16.95. Specialty pins are also available and can run around $75.
Big pin traders can often be found sitting at tables with their large pin books. They will sit and wait for a trader or for someone to come look at their collection. Collectors like Minor, would not dare wear his special pins as a cast member, risking someone offering a trade that by Disney rules, they can’t refuse.
After working at Disneyland in California for seven months and Disney World in Florida for a year, Minor now works at Starbucks where he says, “thanks a latte” and grins at customers made uncomfortable by his pun. Even in upstate New York, 1,089 miles away from Disney, he finds fellow pin traders.
One of the customers who goes to “his Starbucks,” is an avid collector. His name is Joe, no last name known, and will order a trenta black tea, with no water, half green tea, and raspberry syrup. Everyday he stands and waits for his drink. And most importantly, waits to talk to Minor.
“My wife would kill me if I spent as much as Joey does on pins,” Joe said as he stuck a straw in his drink. His eyes were wide and he laughed.
Minor’s most recent pin purchase was seven pins for $900. The collection included Ariel and Belle, Sally from “The Nightmare before Christmas,” and lesser-known characters like Eilonwy from “The Black Cauldron,” and Penny from “The Rescuers.” “But the most I have spent on one pin is $200. But in that case, the $900 one, I bought those so I could sell some and keep some too,” Minor said of his newly acquired pins.
Minor will use online opportunity raffles where people buy $10 chances to win a certain pin. He will then use a number generator to select the winner. In a raffle with 30 people, Minor walks away with $300. “Who ever gets the number, gets the pin. So you can pay like $10 for like a pin that’s worth $300,” he said.
Minor says that many cast members don’t partake in pin trading. Many don’t even know it exists.
From his time working at the parks, one trader stands out. Minor called him “Master Pin Trading Joe.” Minor would see him walking around the park wearing a jean jacket that from neck to waist was covered in pins. He imagines the jacket must be heavy being covered in so many pins. It is likely these pins aren’t worth too much.
Minor’s pins are displayed all around his apartment. One shadowbox takes up a majority of the wall and houses his Diamond collection. Others are housed in pin trading books in boxes or by the couch. Minor’s girlfriend, also a former cast member, has taken to making displays for him. The most recent one she made was “Walle” themed, a collection they are working on together.
The most expensive pins are those with a limited run. In some circumstances, there are only 200 in existence. “And any collector knows just how small that number really is,” according to collectivepop[iv]. Ariel with Carousel was limited to 100 pins and can be listed for over $1000. The Steamboat Willie 50 Year Service Award Pin is awarded to cast members with 50 years of experience. Pins like these can run up to $5,000. While expensive, it is hard to put an actual price on these pins with no dedicated space to price them out [v].
The pin sharing community is not without drama. Recently, Minor read, via Instagram, a story of two traders conducting a swap, when the price on one of their pins increased after shipment. The trader with the Ariel pin, whose price increased, demanded more pins to offset the trade. The other trader refused, saying he already sent a number of pins and the package was gone. The Ariel trader then went to cancel their shipment and never returned the other trader’s pin. In a community whose trade is based on trust, this has caused people to call on others not to trade with that individual. Meanwhile, Minor sits back and watches the pin drama unfold.
As Minor welcomes people to “his Starbucks,” he wears a latte themed Cheshire Cat pin, pinned to his green apron and has another coming from half way across the world. What started as waiting in a line has become a passion that crossed three states and joined in a larger movement.
[i] http://disneydose.com/guide-disney-pin-trading/#ax...
[ii] http://www.disneyparksmerchandise.com/parksauthent...
[iii] https://disneypinsblog.com/pin-trading-night-event...
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