Disneyland has reigned in “professional” pin traders who bring thousands of collectible pins to the Anaheim theme park by extremely limiting the amount of time, number of pins and trading locations where the decades-old cherished Disney tradition is permitted.
Disneyland has updated its Guest Pin Trading Etiquette policy to help enhance the overall visitor experience, according to Disneyland officials.
“We regularly evaluate and adjust our policies and operations,” according to Disneyland officials. “Pin trading is a fun, magical activity for our guests and these updated guidelines will create a designated location near Westward Ho Trading Company in Disneyland park during specific times, which will enhance the overall guest experience at Disneyland resort.”
Pin trading displays are now permitted only in the “extremely limited” designated trading area near Westward Ho Trading Company in Disneyland.
Use of the Westward Ho pin trading area is restricted to specific times between park opening and 3 p.m. daily.
Pin traders are permitted to bring only one pin trading bag measuring 14 by 12 by 6 inches to the park and can’t use lights or signs.
Pin traders are prohibited from using park benches to display their pins. Disneyland has begun providing high-top tables for pin traders to use near the Westward Ho Trading Company.
Pins can’t be traded for money, gifts, vouchers or receipts. Visitors suspected of abusing the guidelines may be removed from the park, according to the Disneyland website.
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Pin trading using lanyards is still permitted throughout the parks at any time. Disneyland employees can still trade pins using display stands at select retail locations throughout the parks.
For years, pin traders have taken over the park benches near the Frontierland entrance with large binders and bags filled with collectible pins, according to MiceChat.
“While Disney has not discouraged ‘professional’ pin traders in the past, it has caused issues with guests not having any place to sit,” according to MiceChat. “Pin traders will have dedicated places to trade — a significant compromise that allows pin trading to happen without blocking the benches for other guests.”
The “long overdue” rules will discourage commercial pin traders and clean up the Frontierland entrance, according to MousePlanet.
“While some kept their activities within reason, others had basically set up shop inside Disneyland with displays that resembled a flea market,” according to MousePlanet.
In the past, hard core pin traders often packed strollers full of binders with thousands of collectible pins to display at the parks.
“You have no idea (of) the insanity,” pin trader Karin Bergmann told the Orange County Register in 2010. “We call it pin-sanity.”
Collectors regularly camped overnight for limited-edition pin release events at the theme park resort before Disneyland finally put a stop to the practice.
In 2009, obsessed pin traders dressed in camouflage and hid in Downtown Disney trash cans to be among the first to purchase new releases, according to the Register.
The Disney pin trading tradition was born after then-Disneyland Resort president George Kalogridis returned from the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan where pin-trading areas allowed visitors from around the world to interact and communicate without being able to speak the same language.
Kalogridis helped introduce pin trading in late 1999 at Disneyland and Disney World for the Disney Millennium Celebration. A decade later, Disney boasted an ever-changing selection of nearly 50,000 pin designs.
“The guests won’t let you stop it,” Kalogridis told the Register in 2010.
