(This will be my last regular "Wacky Wednesday" post. I have been posting them for a year and a half and am ready for something different. Starting tomorrow you will find a "Thankful Thursday" post every Thursday. I will still write the occasional Wacky Wednesday post because... well, there are just so many wacky things to contemplate!)
Mickey Mouse ears, the popular black hat with the iconic ears attached, are the most popular Disneyland souvenir of all time. More than 84 MILLION have been sold at the park since it opened 60 years ago. I admit I have bought a pair.. or two... or more... myself. After all, embroidering your name on the back is included for "free" and they are just so... festive.
We used to see hundreds of people at Disneyland wearing their Mickey Mouse ears but in the past decade or so we have noticed a new trend gaining momentum - pin lanyards. You know, a fabric lanyard with Disney character pins attached. At first it was primarily the kids - pins were available soon after Disneyland opened in 1955 and they were a very affordable souvenir. But pretty soon the adults got caught up in it and the real fun began as Disney realized they had a gold mine.
We thought it was kind of funny when we first started noticing adults with lanyards full of pins clanging as they walked. And sometimes it was hard not to stare at all the pins. I found myself chatting with people about their pins while we were waiting in line together. And I discovered that "pin people" were really friendly and enjoyed sharing stories about their pins. I learned it was about collecting pins but also trading them.
After the Millennial Celebration at Disneyland, cast members began trading pins with guests. Each day certain cast members were issued lanyards loaded with pins to trade. And, of course, guests can trade with each other. However, within the park, there are some rules: 1) Cast members MUST trade if a guest asks to trade a pin 2) Guests are not required to trade 3) Money or gifts cannot be used in trade for a pin.
My sweet hubby got his first lanyard last year and began collecting Toy Story pins. And Pluto pins. And then ride attraction pins. And a Monorail series. It's a fun hobby - talking to people, trying to complete a set, and looking at them when you get home and remembering the good times all over again.
A few of his favorite pins - mostly "keepers!"
Soon after he began collecting pins, we went to a D23 (the official Disney Fan Club) Mickey's of Glendale Shopping Event. It's where the employee store for the imagineers is located and they have official Disney merchandise (including pins!) you can't get at the parks. We arrived two and a half hours before the store opened to get in line. People were friendly and the time went by fast.
After we got in line we learned that they were releasing a very limited edition (300) Frozen pin set (one giant pin and nine regular pins) priced at $200. For comparison, the most expensive regular pin at Disneyland is $15.99. The first 450 people in line got a ticket that enabled them to draw a piece of paper out of a bowl. If your paper had Elsa on it, you were allowed to buy one pin set, if it was blank, you got nothing. So you could have been the first person in line and not been able to buy one, or the 450th person in line and able to get one of the 300 pin sets. If you drew an Elsa paper, your name was written down and only you could buy it - you couldn't give the paper to someone else.
To the amazement of the people in line around us, we had absolutely no intention of buying a Frozen pin set for $200. We quickly realized these were not the average pin traders at the park but were professional pin traders and sellers. They buy/trade for pins they like but they also buy/trade for pins they think will increase in value. It is almost a full-time job to constantly monitor pin-trading websites and groups to know when pin values peak. Several people told us they have made as much as $750 on a pin sale. Crazy, huh?
The women behind us in line was friendly and answered my many questions. She and I quickly became friends. She told us that these Frozen pins were predicted to skyrocket in value because of the popularity of anything Frozen, the exquisite workmanship of the pins and the very limited edition number. She was hoping to buy two sets (her daughter was with her so she got two chances for the Elsa paper). Since we weren't buying any, I told her she could have ours - or rather, we would buy it since we had to and then sell it to her for $200.
We finally got to the head of the line to draw our papers. We drew one Elsa and one blank. My new friend drew two Elsa's. And she bought my pin set (yes, she came with cash!) - so she had a total of three. When I asked what she would do with them, she said she'd keep one for her daughter who loves Frozen and sell the other two.
Once we were inside the walled-off patio area, there were places to sit and relax. This was when the real fun began. We had another two and a half hours to kill before our time to go in the store (they limited the number of people allowed in since the store is relatively small). Suddenly pin binders opened up everywhere, white gloves came out and people were ready to trade.
The professional pin traders keep their pins in their original packaging and only handle them with gloves. They all seemed to know (and like!) each other. It's not a competition and they don't try to undercut each other. Rather, they help one another find the pins they want, jointly find accurate values and build relationships.
We learned about "scrappers" (pins that are flawed or don't make the cut in production and are scrapped) and "fakes" (knock-off pins usually made in China, where, incidentally, the official Disney pins are also made) and how to spot them since unscrupulous people will buy them to sell or trade. We learned the history behind some of the older pins. We learned some of the short-hand they all seem to speak. It was a fascinating experience!
We finally got inside the store, found some cute gifts and several pins that will be keepers, not traders but will not be worth any more than what we paid for them. As one of the professional pin traders told us, it's not about how many pins you have or how valuable monetarily they are. It's about enjoying the experience, the people and the pins you like.
Remember the Frozen pin set that originally sold for $200? Less than a year later it's listed on eBay for $900! Really crazy, huh?
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