Disneyland is changing the rules about a hotly debated guest behavior

May 15-One of the most controversial activities at Disneyland centers on one of the park's most benign souvenirs. The company's souvenir pins have a huge fan following: They're cute and collectable, with some sold as limited editions only available for a short window. People also love to trade pins among themselves, often inside the theme park.

But despite the pins' popularity, the culture surrounding them - especially when it comes to pin trading - is problematic. Now, Disneyland is making another move toward cracking down on the trouble.

The problems with pin trading are twofold: Trading itself sometimes takes up so much space that it disrupts the broader fan experience, and resellers engage in unsavory behavior that breaks Disneyland's rules about how and what to trade.

Disney has already made significant improvements to the first issue. The most die-hard pin traders would come to Disneyland with huge boards filled with rare and collectible pins. But for the average guest, those boards can be disruptive: People often set up elaborate displays on benches, taking up entire benches when seating throughout the lands is already very limited.

In 2023, hearing fan complaints about not being able to rest on the valuable bench real estate, Disneyland cracked down on the pin-trading sprawl. The park changed its pin-trading rules to specify "no use of benches." An area in Frontierland had been a specific pain point: Traders would occupy the benches by the Westward Ho Trading Company, just inside the gates connecting Frontierland to the main hub.

Instead, the traders were required to stay confined to one small area near that shop. "Benches or any other structures for the display of pins will not be permitted. Benches are for seating purposes only," the new rule read at the time. Traders could bring only one bag of pins, and "no additional decorations or collateral (e.g., lights, signage, displays, etc.) will be permitted." In addition, all tradable pins were required to be displayed on lanyards or small displays, not on large boards.

At the time, fans - even passionate pin traders - responded largely favorably. "As a pin trader, I'm super excited about this! Those bench squatters were giving us all a bad name," one user wrote on Reddit.

The problem with resellers, though, is harder to crack down on - not just with pin traders, but within the park at large. Many pass holders hoard the most coveted souvenirs and resell them on sites like eBay, artificially inflating the value and creating shortages for other park guests. (They also sometimes sell absolutely ludicrous "souvenirs," like water from Splash Mountain taken on its last day before it closed to become Tiana's Bayou Adventure.)

Resellers keep a close eye on pins, because some of them can be incredibly valuable. A rare Donald Duck pin is currently selling on eBay for $75,000; seldom-found "holy grail" Jessica Rabbit pins are selling for $45,000 to $50,000. They will often comb amateur traders' collections for high-value pins, offering multiple pins as a trade, or sometimes even cash.

That was already against Disney's pin trading rules. "The following may not be exchanged or in any way used when making a trade for a pin: Monies, Gifts, Vouchers, Receipts, Multiple pins for one pin," the site specifies.

But to further crack down on resellers, the park is making the rules even stricter. As reported by the Orange County Register Thursday, Disneyland is circulating a flyer to park guests outlining those changes. As of May 19, "guests will no longer be able to set up stationary pin trading spaces in front of Westward Ho Trading Company in Disneyland Park or other areas around the resort," the flyer specifies. "Guests can continue pin trading using a lanyard or other small handheld pin trading accessory."

Additionally, that Westward Ho pin-trading area will become a kids-only trading spot as of May 22, according to the flyer. It's part of Disneyland's Kids Rule Summer, which includes a $50 ticket offer for kids through the upcoming season.

Instagram user @pintradingapp posted the flier on May 12, and the response from followers was positive. "Anything that makes scalpers mad is good to me," @its_sam_my_dude commented on the post.

"I'm glad they put it back to all the kids," @gdbchagolla added. "There was too many adults just trying to make money and it wasn't fun for the kids. Kids should trade with kids."

"The rules they put in place going forward," @booostahhh commented, "I hope bring back the joy of pin trading."

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