New Pins Coming to Disney Parks in 2017

All images: Disney

Are you a pin trader? Trading and collecting pins at Disney can be a lot of fun. It can be one part treasure hunt and one part race when your family tries to hunt down that last pin to complete a collection. Disney recently shared a sneak peek at some of the new pins that will be coming to Disney Parks this year. It looks like there will be quite a few fun sets.

The Jungle Cruise 45th Anniversary collection will be released in Florida on May 11, 2017. The "Essence of Evil" and "Doorways to Disney" collections will be a shared collection between Disneyland and Disney World. The "Piece of Disney History" collection will only be available at Disney World, while the "Pin Trading Tales" and "Charming Characters" collections will only be available at Disneyland. 

A new Pirates of the Caribbean collection will arrive in Parks in mid-March. The pins, which celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Disneyland ride, will all be limited edition, with a special pin only available to Annual Passholders. 

The Emoji pins will come to the Parks in late summer. The characters, which appear in the "As Told by Emoji" videos as well as the Emoji Blitz game, include Anna, Elsa, the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, Minnie, and Stitch.

Which pins will you be searching for? I will be looking for the Pirates of the Caribbean pins. It's still my favorite ride!

Star Wars Pins

There are several new Star Wars pins that have been created just for this years Star Wars Weekends at Disney World. Several of the individual pins feature key scenes from the Empire Strikes Back including a dimensional AT-AT being circled by a Snowspeeder. A massive jumbo pin in the shape of the number 30 is filled with characters from the movie. A boxed set of six characters and there vehicles has been created. There's also a set of Muppet Star Wars pins, a R2-MK (like a red R2-D2 but with Mickey ears), and a special limited edition pin. My favorite is the passholder limited edition pin which features Han Solo in carbonite. Finally, there's a limited release pin featuring the logo for the Star Wars Weekends.

Pin Trading - Gear for trading

Once you decide to start trading pins, you'll need some gear to help you carry them in the parks. The easiest solution is to buy a lanyard that you wear around your neck. These come in many colors, styles and themes. They can be purchased at the Disney store, in the parks, at stores like Walmart, off the internet, or on Ebay. Some lanyards have a place to hang a lanyard medal at the bottom. A lanyard medal is like a giant pin. Some have a place to hang keys or other small items. My favorite has a small, zippered pouch that I use to store my ID, park tickets, and fast passes. It's great to have the tickets and fast passes in a place that's very easy to get at.

If you don't want the weight of a lanyard hanging around your neck or worry that you may lose pins this way, consider a pin bag. Pin bags come is several sizes, styles, colors, and themes. There are small bags that hold 10-20 pins and large bags that will hold up to 100. It just depends on how much you want to carry. Keep in mind that the more pins you carry, the more weight you will be carrying. For kids, I would recommend a lanyard or very small bag that clips onto a belt or has an across-the-body strap. They probably won't want to carry them all day, but the smaller bags and lanyards can easily be put into a backpack.

So, now that you've decided to start trading, pick a theme, find a lanyard, get out there and have FUN!

Pin Trading - Managing your collection

© Disney

Once you get started pin trading, you will probably have a collection of keepers that grows fairly quickly. Now you have to decide how to keep track of all those pins. How many pins are in a set? Which sets do you have? Which sets are you missing a few from? What do the missing pins look like? The answers to these questions can be found on several websites. 

 Disney's Official Pin Trading website lists all new and soon to be released pins and has good information with pictures of each pin. They also have a few printables to keep track of your cast lanyard collection, pins that can only be obtained by trading with cast members. 

Another great website, called Pin Pics, allows you to not only gather information about each pin, but create a profile that allows you to keep track of which pins you own, which pins you are still looking for, and, if you want, which pins you are willing to trade with other Pin Pics members. I don't trade over the internet, but I do use Pin Pics to keep track of my pin collection. Each pin has a photo and information about the original price, where it was available, rarity, and more. It is a great way to determine whether a pin is worth bidding on on Ebay, too. When you know the original price, you will know how much to bid without paying too much. (I usually don't bid more than 50% of the original price if purchasing from Ebay.) 

A great source of information about pins is Dizpins. They update their information frequently and always seem to know the latest pin news. Now you can easily keep track of your collection and keep up to date on the latest pin news as well.

Pin Trading - Getting Started

In the last few years, I have come to love collecting pins. At first, I didn't understand what all the excitement was about. But now, I love the added adventure of looking for that perfect pin to trade for.

I purchased my first pins off of Ebay. While many collectors complain that you can't guarantee the authenticity of such pins, I've found a few reputable sellers to buy from and haven't had any problems. The great thing about buying off of Ebay is that you can often get pins for $1.50 -$2.00, much less than the $6.50 and up that you would pay in the parks. I generally don't worry about which pins I get when buying from Ebay, after all, you can always trade for what you really want once you get to the parks.

I have several collections of pins that I have put into frames to decorate my home. I love Pirates of the Caribbean and have a frame that has pins surrounding a lithograph of a pirate ship. I also love the Haunted Mansion and have a set of pins surrounding a postcard of the Mansion. It's a fun way to display your collection. For extra pins that I haven't decided where to display yet, I keep them in a soft book with felt pages. Disney sells pin trading bags and books, but they can be a bit pricey, so I made mine. It keeps my pins safe and allows me to look through them quickly and easily.

Once your collection begins to grow, you'll probably want to go through your pins periodically and see if one that you had to have before is now one you'd like to replace with something new. New pins are coming out all the time, so there's always a new set to start collecting. My family likes to trade with cast members exclusively. While some Disney guests will trade with you also, the ones I've met just want my best pins without offering anything good in return. As a result, I just stick to the cast members, who will trade you any pin on their lanyard. You can trade 2 pins with each cast member, each day. This is great for those times when you see more than one pin that you just can't live without. I've gotten some really great, and sometimes rare, pins from cast members. They are a lot of fun to talk to and always willing to trade. Some only trade with children, which is great for the kids, but most will trade with anyone. My niece loves looking at all of the pins and trading with nearly every cast member we talk to, so her collection is ever-changing. She enjoys searching for Princess pins, and pins from her favorite Disney cartoons.

Pin trading is a lot of fun and can be very entertaining. After all, the search for that one perfect pin is a grand adventure. So, get yourself a lanyard and a few pins to get started and get out there, and let the games begin!