Well, in the past ten years or so, that has begun to change. It was little things at first, maybe a bit more shopping. We started seeing the value in absorbing the atmosphere, rather than just riding rides. We began exploring the countries in Epcot, not just catching the ones with rides. We recognize that there is more to Disney than just their rides. I think we always knew, but we also knew what we were most interested in experiencing.
Years ago, my mother and brother started doing the pin trading at Disney. Mark and I traded a little bit, but we're rather slack about it. When we remember to bring our pins with us on vacation, we usually forget to take them to the park.
That being said, it is really fun to trade pins. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the activity, Disney sells pins, lots and lots of pins. Cast members wear lanyards covered in pins, and if you want one of their pins, you can trade one of yours for theirs.** It's fun. Some people will buy pins online beforehand to have a bunch to trade, as they are expensive when bought in the parks. Supposedly, there are fake pins out there that people buy, not knowing any better. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but I can believe it. Mark and I bought our pins from a yard-sale from some family that wasn't interested in them anymore, so ours were genuine.
Pin trading can add a whole new experience to your Disney trip. Since there are so many pins and so many cast-members, you could spend all day trading. Some shops even have a pin board, which opens up your choices even more. At the same time, if pin trading holds no interest for you, it doesn't impact you at all.***
Disney, in the past few years, has attempted to force another trend, Vinylmation trading. Now, Vinylmation are little plastic Mickey statues done up to look like different things, often Disney related. I never really got into them; very few actually appealed to me. I only own one.
Isn't he adorable??
Mark bought him for me, and I've never found another one I like as much. They have done different lines, ranging from theme park ones to job-centric options. Last year, in October, we saw one in a case that was painted up like a Disney road sign, and we wanted it****. Unfortunately, it wasn't for sale. You had to buy one out of a mystery line and hope to get it. I bought dad a Vinylmation out of that line for his birthday, and when he didn't get that one, we began trading.
This year, I planned on celebrating my dad's birthday when we were there, as I am not going to see him on his birthday. Since I have a problem, I made multiple visits to the Disney store. I want to say the Vinylmation sell for around fifteen dollars in the park. When I found some for $2.99 in the Disney store, I picked one up.
I gave it to my dad on the first full day of the trip, so he could get some trading in. Certain stores have black boxes with numbers on them. When you want to trade, you pick the number you want to see. If you like it, you trade; if you don't like it, most places will let you pick a second number to see. Some stores make you trade for one of the two; other stores will let you keep yours. Now, I could be crazy, but I think the smallest box I saw had twelve choices, but I want to say there was one with sixteen. I'm fully admitting I could have made that up in my brain.
In addition to the black box, most stores that did trading also had a clear box with two or three in it. You were free to opt for one of those if you didn't like the one you got blind. They actually didn't have that box at our hotel. What's neat is that they put those extra ones in the black box, giving us two when we traded one time.
There is no limit to the number of times you can trade during your stay, and the only cost to you is the initial outlay for your first Vinylmation. It's another way to enrich your trip. Last year, my dad ended up with Hoth Leia. This year, he got a Yoda one pretty early on, hence ending our trading.
The day we were supposed to pick up Mark from the airport, we went to Downtown Disney to eat dinner and kill some time.***** While walking past Marketplace Fun Finds, I remember that I had seen some Vinylmation marked down in there when we visited in the past. I told my parents I would be right back and ran in to check. When I realized they had some for under $5, I went and got them. We got one for each of them, so we could keep trading.
I feel like we've come a long way. We have become people that don't just equate a good trip with how many rides we experienced. It's more about the quality of our time. There are so many amazing things to do at Disney, and it turns out that the Disney trading trends are really fun. If you're going to visit Disney and have a near-by Disney store, grab a couple Vinylmations to trade. You can usually get them pretty cheap, and it's a fun experience.******
*I feel like I should make some sort of Arnold reference. It was a good movie, but I don't really have anything. Just insert random Commando flavored Arnie joke here.
**If it is a green lanyard, they will only trade with children. If you don't have any, just borrow someone else's. Be sure to ask first.
***That's not entirely true. If you have a pin trader in your group, you'll find that you occasionally lose them. My mom would stop to trade, and we wouldn't realize it. All of a sudden, we would realize she was a good twenty paces behind us, checking out pins.
****I'm sure most of you are wondering why a road sign Mickey would be a highly desired object. I have no idea why other people would want it; I only know why my family wanted it. We have video from years ago of us arriving on Disney property. This was after Mark joined our little crew, but I believe it was before we got married. Now, my family can be incredibly loud, and we're very open. While we aren't loud in public, the van we had just driven twenty hours in was a safe space. There was a sign stating that our hotel was the next left. Some yelling ensued, debating whether it was the immediate left or the one after. Mark weighed in, saying the sign was misleading. To you, that's not funny. To my family, it's freaking hilarious We will randomly mention the next left. I actually took the wrong left when I drove down two weeks ago, thanks to that sign.
*****Always take the bus to Downtown Disney. It might take longer, but we wasted just as much time looking for a parking spot. Seriously, we just kept driving in circles.
******Of course, the experience can be better or worse depending on the cast member. Even when we had some grumps, we still had fun. Sometimes, it's just fun trying to figure out what they're supposed to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment