Trade Night Elsa.. A Pin Collectors Nightmare

It started out being what would feel to be a great day… at 6:30 am in the morning.  I used to live about 45 minutes to an hour from Walt Disney World, and I was an annual pass holder and would go over often.  Since I am a pin collector, I figured why not go over to the Elsa Trade Night release/event, so I did just that.  Here is the story on the journey of the event.

I arrived around 7:30, only to find that I was about 325 people back.  They originally told us that they weren’t going to give out wristbands until around 3pm and they would require us to stay in line all day to get a wristband.  From this point on, people kept on cutting and if I remember correctly, the line grew another 200 people just from people cutting in with their friends.

All of a sudden, at 11am, 2 cast members were walking around just giving out wristbands, in numerical order.  They had a new wristband color for every 100 people.  A few people were starting fights, and getting upset because of cutters.  I think around 12pm I got my wristband (I was yellow the 5th group back) so it was determined we would get the Trade Night Elsa but maybe not the 2 Trade Night vinylmations being released later that day as well.

Once we got our wristbands, we were told we could leave and come back.  Unfortunately while that happened, the people at the back of the groups were all of a sudden in the front.  It was sad, because everybody from that point was guaranteed a pin.  Another thing some people were doing was going to Office Depot and Staples to buy colored wristbands to cut the line.  We decided to leave at around 12:30, to go grab some lunch (as everything at the ESPN complex was closed).  After about a 2 hour lunch, we got back only to find out that about every yellow cut us, even though earlier we were within the first 10.   Fortunately for us, one of our friends was kind enough to hold a spot for us (I don’t call it cutting if we were in the top 10 anyway).

From that point on, there was a lack of security, and tons of people fighting and arguing… not to mention quite a few collectors scamming kids.  Of course, the pin sharks that nobody likes were at the front of the line as always.  I was fortunate enough to make a few trades with people from this point on.

Finally, the doors opened and when we got in they wanted everyone bringing big bags of pins to just leave them outside while we go inside to purchase pins.  This started several arguments as some of the people that brought pins had thousands of dollars in pins in those books.  Anyway, when we got in the room was tiny!!  I found out from a friend a few days later, that they got fined by the Fire Marshall for exceeding the maximum occupancy.

We got to the top of the checkout line when we heard the 2 Trade Night Vinylmations were sold out, but the Jessica Rabbit Trade Night Pin and Elsa Trade Night Pin were still left.  I was fortunate enough to be able to get the Jessica Rabbit, and Elsa since they were allowing people to buy 2 Jessica’s.  I got up to check out, and they forgot to cut off my wristband.  It was tempting to get 1 more Elsa, but to be fair I packed up and left and asked a manager to cut off my wristband.

Now Disney is reinstating Trade Nights, and plans to do them with pins, which was announced at the GenEARation D pin event back in September.  What are your thoughts on trade night pins returning, and the Elsa trade night?  I would love to hear in the comments!  Happy trading!