My name is Halo and I have an addiction...
...to Disney pins.
Oh my god. I had forgotten about the whole culture that surrounds the Disney pin collecting craze when I went to Disney last weekend. I forgot about the huge pin shop at Downtown Disney and what goes on outside that shop. I knew you could trade pins with cast members that work at the individual shops and resorts if they were wearing a lanyard with pins on it. What I did not know about was the huge culture that goes on with the individual collectors. It's just as bad as a comic book convention.
People like me will go to Disney and visit the parks, ride the rides, go to the resorts, and see the shows. Then they'll get a pin as a badge of honor that they "conquered" an intense ride. I picked one up for Space Mountain because I felt I deserved a personal reward for sitting in the front seat of the rocket car. Everywhere you go you see pin stands and displays at the shops connected to the rides and attractions. However, the Pin Traders at Downtown Disney is whole different atmosphere.
At the large pin shop people from all over the country and the world come in on specific nights just to set up a table and trade pins. They come on the same night every single year to do nothing but trade pins. They don't stick their pins on lanyards. They can't even fathom people doing that. They have special binders and messenger bags where they display their collections and oh what collections they have. You can't just go up to one of them and say, "I'll give you my duplicate series one handstand Vinylmation Mikey for your German flag Mikey head." Oh no they have specific things they're willing to part with but only if you have that one specific pin that can complete their sets and only if you're willing to give it up. In the end it's not worth it to try and trade with them if you're not as serious a trader as they are.
That duplicate series one Vinylmation handstand Mikey that I wanted to trade off no serious collector would even touch it. They hate the $10 mystery boxes. Reason being people like me are fools for taking their chances on something when they should be getting a complete set. Call me a fool for buying two boxes and getting two handstand Mikeys and two "costumed wrestler" Mikeys. I at least got rid of the extra handstand Mikey at the pin stand at my resort hotel for a "pissed off" pirate Donald from a stater box.
Oh my god. I had forgotten about the whole culture that surrounds the Disney pin collecting craze when I went to Disney last weekend. I forgot about the huge pin shop at Downtown Disney and what goes on outside that shop. I knew you could trade pins with cast members that work at the individual shops and resorts if they were wearing a lanyard with pins on it. What I did not know about was the huge culture that goes on with the individual collectors. It's just as bad as a comic book convention.
People like me will go to Disney and visit the parks, ride the rides, go to the resorts, and see the shows. Then they'll get a pin as a badge of honor that they "conquered" an intense ride. I picked one up for Space Mountain because I felt I deserved a personal reward for sitting in the front seat of the rocket car. Everywhere you go you see pin stands and displays at the shops connected to the rides and attractions. However, the Pin Traders at Downtown Disney is whole different atmosphere.
At the large pin shop people from all over the country and the world come in on specific nights just to set up a table and trade pins. They come on the same night every single year to do nothing but trade pins. They don't stick their pins on lanyards. They can't even fathom people doing that. They have special binders and messenger bags where they display their collections and oh what collections they have. You can't just go up to one of them and say, "I'll give you my duplicate series one handstand Vinylmation Mikey for your German flag Mikey head." Oh no they have specific things they're willing to part with but only if you have that one specific pin that can complete their sets and only if you're willing to give it up. In the end it's not worth it to try and trade with them if you're not as serious a trader as they are.
That duplicate series one Vinylmation handstand Mikey that I wanted to trade off no serious collector would even touch it. They hate the $10 mystery boxes. Reason being people like me are fools for taking their chances on something when they should be getting a complete set. Call me a fool for buying two boxes and getting two handstand Mikeys and two "costumed wrestler" Mikeys. I at least got rid of the extra handstand Mikey at the pin stand at my resort hotel for a "pissed off" pirate Donald from a stater box.