If you are planning a visit to Disneyland Paris, then you need to know about Disneyland Paris Pin Trading.
At Disneyland Paris, Disneyland, Disneyworld and any of the related parks, nearly every shop will sell pin badges. These can range from little mouse ear badges to big shiny ones with spinning BB8 attachment. They’re usually ranged from 5 to 12 euros.
There are thousands of badges existing, so it’s unlikely people will be able to find the exact ones they want to buy in a shop for a reasonable price. But luckily, the parks have a system of ‘pin trading’ set up.
Many of the staff and cast members wear lanyards round their necks, and these will be covered in Pin badges. If you speak to them, you can offer to trade a pin you have for one on the lanyard, meaning that if there’s one you really like, you don’t need to spend lots of money getting it, you can simply trade it for one of your less important ones.
The rules for Disney pin trading are:
You must be under 12
The staff member must be wearing a lanyard (As they will put personal pins on their uniform that they won’t want to trade)
You can’t trade for a pin that they already have
Some members may have their own rules, as they might only trade a large pin for one of a similar size, but usually they’re happy to do any swaps.
The best advice for pin trading is to find some that people are selling online, or ones that are sold in larger packs, so that you can trade them for ones that you really want.
When we arrived, the three children went into one of the numerous stores throughout the parks and each chose a lanyard, Eowyn’s was pink (obviously) with Tinkerbelle all over, Neva went for one that showed the characters featured in the Disney Dreams light show, and Kaide chose Star Wars, each costing €9.99.
If you are really organised you could purchase a specific lanyard that your child requires before you go to Disney from sites such as Amazon or Etsy
There are numerous packages of Disney badges that you can buy before you go on sites such as Ebay, and because you are aiming to swap them it really doesn’t matter which badges arrive in your package, although some of them the children loved and refused to add to their lanyard for trading!
Each have a card on the lanyard with the instructions for those who have not read this post!
It’s as easy as 1-2-3
- Meet a Disney Cast Member wearing a pin trading lanyard or accessory.
- Find a Disney pin with your favourite Disney character, attraction, movie or design. Pin must be metal and display Disney on the back.
- Trade your Disney pin with the Cast Member.
What they thought of Disney Pin Trading
Eowyn (age 7): It’s really fun and you get to keep the badges you like
Kaide (age 10): It’s really good, especially when you spot one of your favourite characters on a cast members lanyard, but ALWAYS have your lanyard with you or you might miss out, as the cast members also have them at your hotels.
Neva (age 12): Check all the different shops and carts selling things, we found some of our best pins in the quietest of places.
All of the children loved looking for their favourite characters and it certainly gave them more confidence. they were very shy at the start of the holiday, but by the end, they were walking straight up to the cast members and asking if they could look at their pins, it is a brilliant idea and they all loved it, and got some pretty amazing Pins too.
Have you visited Disney, have your children taken part in Disney Pin Trading ?
I never heard of this before but I love it. What a great way to get different pins and to boost children’s confidence talking to new people. They also learn great bartering skills… hmmm I sure parents might regret this skill in the end come it comes to organizing bed times. Ha ha ha.
What a great way to keep them occupied and interested. Sounds like great fun too- I’ll need to remember this when my son is old enough and we finally make our way there!
I have a friend who does pin trading, I have to admit I think it is something I could really get into. x
I remember doing this when I was younger x
Aha yes! I’ve visited Orlando a few times and seen the cast members and little ones with the Disney pins. Looks a fun thing to collect
I hadn’t heard of these before but I’m sure my children would love them.
I can honestly say ive never come across this and am wondering why because my niece would love it x
I have never heard of this what an interesting idea and concept.
I am going to Disneyworld in 2018 and I want to get loads of these x
I bet the little ones loved it. Sounds like a lovely idea.
I have heard of it before, as I have a friend who is obsessed with doing this.
When I was little and we went to Disney this had just started and we loved it so much I still have all my pins somewhere x
This is a fantastic idea, never thought of anything like this!
We’re going to Disney in September and I am fully planning to buy the boys a bundle of pins from Ebay to get them started. H x
The problem we found was half the ones we ordered, they wanted to keep before we even went!
I have never heard of pin trading before but it sounds like something I would enjoy. Oh how I want to go to Disneyland!
Sounds fun for the kids. I know mine would like this.
This is such a cute idea! I’d never heard of it before but shame it’s only for under 12s :'( haha
I’ve never heard of this before but we have never really experience Disney yet. I love that it increases confidence as they learn to swap their pins.