“Animation Celebration” Pin Trading Event Report Card!

Last weekend was Disney World’s large “Animation Celebration” pin trading event, an annual tradition that takes place at EPCOT in the late summer. This year’s event was the first in many years to take place over four whirlwind days and we sent a reporter to cover (and grade) the festivities.

This was the 18^th event of its kind, a tradition that is almost as old as the official concept of Disney Pin Trading. Disney pins have a rich history, dating back as long as the parks have been open, but it wasn’t until 1999’s Millennium Celebration that Pin Trading became a tradition. Since then cast members have been wearing lanyards offering trading to children and adults alike, and while some trading traditions (like Scoop Sanderson and Vinylmation trading) have come and gone, the annual Epcot pin trading event continues.

The event is traditionally only two days, but with an early registration day at Coronado Springs on Thursday and a Public Trading Day on Sunday, this year’s event was extended to four days. On the Friday and Saturday a large convention hall is opened. The event includes a large area to allow traders from around the world to trade with each other, Disney run trading games and activities, a large stage floor that has a few lucky people participating in various trivia and games for prizes, a handful of characters wandering around and a large event store that sells exclusive (and not so exclusive) merchandise.

Speaking of merchandise, the registration (which costs about $150 per person) also includes participation in Disney’s RSP (Random Selection Process), allowing people to buy exclusive pins using a rather advanced lottery system. Participants receive a welcome pin, a pin set, a $30 gift card and a goodbye gift included in their cost. If all that already sounds intimidating, the actual event is even more intense as up to 1400 fellow pin traders fill room and clog up the lines with trading.

Theming: C

This year’s theme was “Animation Celebration”, an homage to the early years of Walt’s own cartooning. As you entered the show floor the colorful posters from such movies as “Fun and Fancy Free” regressed into the black and white posters of Steamboat Willie era Disney. The event was decked out in Black and White theming including a plane with moving propeller and other fun additions as characters Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horse-collar wandered around the floor for selfies and silliness. It was all fine, but completely average even with the inclusion of a t shirt-on-demand maker with exclusive designs. In year’s past guests were offered exclusive photo opportunities and character meet and greets (I once stood in line for merely minutes to meet Oogie Boogie) so this year seemed completely underwhelming.

 

Exclusive Merchandise: B+

This year’s pin catalog was solid with a range of characters. Gone are the years of forcing characters such as Figment and Orange bird on nearly every pin (don’t worry fans they still made an appearance) and instead this year’s merchandise had plenty of Mickey Mouse along with Cheshire Cat, Tinkerbell, Cinderella and event Maleficent! There was also a good range of price points from a single pin at $16.99 to framed sets up to $285 and a variety of Limited Edition sizes as low as 150, but staying around 500 to 750 pieces made for most items. This meant plenty of items were sold out during the RSP but a few items made it to the floor. An exclusive print and magic band, both of which were very limited, rounded out the store. This was nearly rated an “A” but there has been stronger theming in the past (Pixar and Villians come to mind) that could’ve allowed for some stronger pins.

Entertainment and Games: B

The masters of ceremonies have traditionally been two sisters whose wisecracking and hilarious routine (this year they were supposed to be animators instead of spinsters, but it’s easy to see which act they preferred) has come to be an event tradition. They ran the games, announced events, and generally had fun with the guests while on stage. Never one to shy away from a joke, each of them put on a predictable yet hilarious show and somehow it (unintentionally?) played into the 1930s vibe of the theming. Unfortunately for them the games that the lucky few guests were selected to play were retreads of the games from previous years. While the trivia games have gotten easier (thank goodness), the star of the show is STILL the “What’s in my Pin Bag” game were players are given a bag and told to fill it with 15 of their own pins and then asked to pull out pins they may or may not have. It’s the most fun for the players and certainly the most entertaining. (Disney take note; if there is a way to get MORE people to play in this game, do it!) The prizes for those that win are too nice to be called stale, but they’re certainly not as exciting as they used to be.

Pin Boards/Games: A

Usually a source of grumbling, the Disney sanctioned pin boards and games really hit a high mark this year. Disney enacted the “four time per day” rule by using tabs a few years ago, but the lines didn’t seem to reflect it as they were packed for most of the day, but that fault cannot be found with the event organizers because the pins that were pulled all day were the reason people stayed in lines! Artist Proofs and Pre Production pins were found during ALL times of the games, quite literally there were so many good pins on the board that for the most part there wasn’t enough time between refreshes to completely wipe everything out. Some of the best pins pulled included D23/WDI Galaxy of Heroes pin, a jumbo Rapunzel pin that hadn’t even been released yet, and a set of hidden Mickeys that haven’t been released to the public. Kudos all around.

Trading Room: C

The trading room was as chaotic as it always is, and while that may not be Disney’s fault, the organizer’s did nothing to prevent it despite promising to do so. This started with security not being prepared to accept hundreds of traders in with suitcases full of pins and continued with disorganization out front by telling guests there would only be one line, but then allowing two lines (it was quite easy to skip from the longer one to the shorter one!) Inside it was no different. The idea of a placard with your name on it to allow one seat per person was a great one, but it was literally completely unenforced. One family had to create a table out of left over chairs on Friday to try to trade with others in the room and not a single cast member that walked by uttered a word to them. This score could’ve been lower, but the saving grace was the free public pin trading day, in which non-participants could come in and trade. This did create some awkward moments as the transition to trading hidden Mickey pins with cast members to trading pins worth hundreds of dollars is quite jarring, especially for children. However, for the large part this day was the best day of trading! After three days of fellow pin traders looking at expensive pins it was refreshing for someone to want to trade common pins for common pins just based on their favorite characters or the pin quality, rather than strictly value.

5 things Disney got right:

1. The pins. Disney had a great blend of LE pins for this event. Attendees typically were able to walk away with several pins with a limited size of under 1000.
2. Letting us in early on Saturday. While the sun was brutal, the line outside still grew longer than the one for the Frozen ride. It might have been only 6 minutes, but it was the best 6 minutes of my life in that moment.
3. The Sunday Public Trading day. This day felt so great, and reminded me of why I started trading in the first place. I made twice as many trades in these four hours than I did the previous 3 days.
4. The logo. As boring as the overall theme was for Princess/Villain collectors, the logo was great and looks even better on the exclusive merchandise.
5. The auctions were back and better than ever. Lunch with the artists? THE ABILITY TO DESIGN A PIN FOR NEXT YEAR’S EVENT? Priceless.

5 things they could’ve done better:

1. Better naming. ONE major issue is that this event needs to have a similar NAME every year, it’s hard to talk to others about this event without a true naming convention. I love the themes, but it’s so much easier to talk about annual events like San Diego Comic Con because of the name. Silly but true. Something like PTE (Pin Trading Event) that could be used for EVERY event would help.
2. More non-pin merchandise. I hoped and prayed for an exclusive Funko Pop! Just like when Disney combined pins with Vinylmation, they need to realize that a LOT of pin collectors are collectors in general. A major pop was released on one of the days of the event, and many missed out because of it. Having a pop, or other merchandise available as a surprise (like this year’s Magic Band) would be great.
3. Return of the countdown pins! While removing the board pins has made for a less stressful event, the removal of the countdown pins means there isn’t much to do for the event until the day is here. Having some pins released throughout the year can get collectors pumped up.
4. More time to plan! Since next year’s even will be sooner, we need to know sooner than April. Hotels, flights, other vacations are all hard to plan around – let us know SOON about next year’s event.
5. More of everything else. More room for traders would alleviate problems in the room, more trading boards would lessen the lines and more people playing games would be fun for everyone.

In the end the event was a very large success, and the announcement of next year’s theme “Fairy Tails” left many people excited about the future of these events.