Money Saving Tip

If you've never been to Disney, get ready for pin trading! Everywhere you go, you are going to see not only cast members with pins, but also guests with lanyards full of pins around their necks.

The concept is simple. You have pins, and someone else has pins. You have a pin it wouldn't kill you to part with, and someone else has a pin you are dying to have. So, you simply go up and ask them if they would like to make a trade.

There aren't really too many rules to it. Cast members HAVE to trade, and they often have pins on a little square display thing that is attached to their hip. If the square thing is a green one, those are for children only--so unless you're a youngun, you won't be able to trade with those cast members.

My husband and I LOVE pin trading, but I warn you, it's pretty addictive, as are just flat buying the pins. I love them as a souvenir, because they don't take up a lot of room and aren't terribly expensive. They start around $6.95 and go up from there. Hard core collectors purchase really expensive sets, because often they are limited editions, and some are even numbered and limited in size run!

I like to wait until the end of my trip to select one or two pins that represented that trip. Last October, my niece was really angry with me and my sister because we ducked on Splash Mountain and she got soaked. She was chewing us out all the way into Tomorrowland. So, I got a Splash Mountain pin.

I have amassed quite a collection, but I don't ever want to trade them, since they all have memories attached. So, I started buying pins ahead of time at Goodwill, off e-bay, and off Craigslist. You will get them at a fraction of the cost. Last year I bought 20 pins for about $25 off e-bay. With shipping, they were still under $2 a piece. And they weren't pins I cared to own, so they were easy for me to trade for ones I wanted. That's the good thing! It doesn't matter what pins you get, because you

If you are going for the first time, you might consider buying 5-10 and giving trading a try. I can almost guarantee you your kids are going to get into pin trading, so if you show up prepared with pins, it could save you a considerable amount of money. 10 pins at $7.00 a piece vs 10 pins at $2.00 a piece is a $50 savings! Worst case scenario, nobody in your family wants to trade pins and you sell them on e-bay or craigslist yourself.

I always say that the easiest way to save money at Disney is to be prepared ahead of time and come with as much stuff already purchased as possible. If you think pin trading sounds like something you want to do, or it's something you saw last time you were in the parks and it looked like fun, give it a go. Just search for Disney pins on E-bay or Craigslist or keep an eye out at your local thrift store. You'll save a bundle having purchased before hand!