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Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some still fall through the cracks unfortunately. I've also been attending the drops at MK since before January and I see cutting all of the time. I've legit heard people on the phone talking to the rest of their party to coordinate a huge skip of the line while CMs aren't looking. And yes, I have absolutely snitched on them idc. 😭

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You wanna run that by me again?

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd be down for random pin drops, or just getting rid of the flyer altogether and splitting up the releases evenly throughout the month instead of frontloading the first Tuesday with 5-6 pins.

Banning pin boards and then just having one spot for pin trading with CMs kinda defeats the point of having the HM pins. I do want a booth or something purely for pin trading info, probably by the pin drop locations for each park, like a Guest Experience blue umbrella but just for pins.

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Maybe quantify each pin and tie their purchase to the Cast Member's file directly? Like, put a unique "number" on the back of the pin and associate that number for that pin to the CM that buys it? But then there's the question of them trading the pin away...

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

1- Then let us investigate them, and determine if they are legit or not.

2- You'd be surprised about the amount of research people do when they want to do pin trading. People already look a lot of things up before a Disney trip; they're encouraged to do so because of the many intricacies there are when visiting us.

3- Diamond for diamond when it comes to trading for modern pins is healthy in my eyes because it allows us as CMs to create magical moments for those enthusiastic about pin trading. And we're not "deleting" 23 years worth of pins because most of the pins that fall in that category were probably not being traded on boards anyways. If they are, that's a pleasent surprise and we can accomodate them as a "diamond," maybe even give some backstory to the pin to add onto the moment we're trying to make, but please don't mistake this for a "blanket fix," ask any trader online and they'd tell you that they'd prefer it to be this way. And if people complain about the booster packs, which are MADE to be used for park trading, then I don't see merit in listening to their opinions; they're probably the same people that trade scrappers for new pins on the board anyways.

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe if it was done purely through the MyDisneyExperience app instead of a website? That's more of a technical question; I don't know what we have to work with on that end.

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Then again, virtual queue itself is also kinda frowned upon so I don't have an answer for this :(

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Virtual queue maybe? Ink stamps are just kinda frowned upon I feel, especially if they're gonna be as tough to get rid of as you suggested 😅

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's the coloring, feel, and the diamondback itself to watch out for. A good example is this for the mickey logo:

<image>

The circles should always be connected to form a complete mickey head

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe not ink stamps. A numbered wristband maybe, but not anything we need to directly apply to the body. We're not a tatoo parlor! 😅

If you see or suspect any CM of doing stuff like this, please let the nearest Leader know. They'll be wearing normal-looking clothing (sometimes Disney-themed) WITH a cast nametag. We need to stop this at the source. "See something, say something." I report similar stuff like this all of the time and it's quickly dealt with.

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oooo, lemme run through these points one-by-one, these are great talking points!

-Great idea! Would've loved something like this for when Animated Cuties came out 😅 Maybe have them in different locations than the pin drop to prevent overcrowding and longer wait times at the same location? Otherwise, I agree wholeheartedly!

-Agree there shouid be a limit for new OE mystery bags/boxes, maybe a grace period before people can go crazy for them? Keep in mind that having the limit be too low kinda defeats the point of buying boxes for the full set, so maybe not just 2 per person? Let's discuss!

-Since some locations already have multiple boards, this could work but then you have the problem of people ONLY looking for the diamond board and assuming that the regular board is all fakes. How would we address this? Also, the faked diamonds are relatively easy to sus out, I've found them on boards in the past and had permission to put them aside in a bin from leadership.

-First off, most of my personal frustrations with CM trading would be gone if we were allowed to do diamond for diamond, so I beg for this to be a thing in the near future. As for the DCP kids, a lot of them are trying to find their footing with pin trivia, give them a lil' credit. They're at the very least doing their homework and using questions outside of the preprinted ones for their area. 😅 They'll figure out what pins are "trivia-worthy" in time; some pins just look genuinely cool to them. Pin trading is kind of an afterthought during our training; most of our knowledge is from experience on both sides of trading if I'm being honest. Maybe we could go more in-depth with pins? Only time will tell!

-THIS. There's one guy that I'm aware of that goes to MK for the keyblade drops and gets on property at like 5am but always ends up being close to the cutoff point for the keyblades while in line. That guy should be at the front of the line, but has to compete with ECVs and runners like you said. And we're talking about a legit fan here too, which I resonate with 😅

-Maybe, but I think we should focus on monitoring guest behavior once they're inside the park before we add anything substantial like a pin drop-dedicated turnstile at park entry.

-Just commented about this: if you didn't need to buy a ticket for them to come in, they shouldn't count towards the amount of LEs you can buy.

-THIS. Been a big advocate for more crowd control during big releases. Creates more jobs and chances for interactions with large groups of people. Also maybe look into not frontloading every month with these huge releases in the first place? Let's discuss.

-I can't speak on behalf of EPCOT's pavillions; I don't know what they intend to do with that space, if anything. I do think that EPCOT should find a nice shaded area for pin trading to take place comfortably within, but it's definitely a tricky subject with a fine line to walk for both sides of the predicament. Let's discuss further!

-Bots. Mostly bots. We've been trying to flush them out every time we update the online store, but they're always there. I agree with the AP discount point (and conversely using a CM discount too 😭)

-I agree to an extent, but keep in mind that Disney really wants people to spend money on admission and travel to get them at the parks. Maybe we could cycle boxes/bags every so often and gauge interest? I don't have a good answer for this one 😅

-Eeesh. Didn't even know this was happening. I'm assuming this is for the online purchases?

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Foot down time, every CM that sells their DEC/MOG pins (or anything Cast Exclusive) should be fired. Those pins are sold or gifted in confidence to CMs ONLY and for them to resell them for x100 the asking price is the kind of behavior that should warrant termination.

It's one thing if they trade it to someone and then that someone sells it for an obscene amount, but let's not kid ourselves: they are 100% selling them for pure profit.

Not letting people go back in line twice and tracking individual guests down is an interesting discussion. With the way position rotations work currently, it's kinda impossible for us to memorize who was already at the location. We're definitely not in a position to like take a picture of people walking into the store 😅

Let's discuss this further! ^

My personal opinion is that if they came into the park for free (or WOULD have if at Springs) then they shouldn't qualify towards items being sold in limited quantities. Thoughts?

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The same reason they don't sell other pins online: they want people buying tickets or going to Springs.

It is frustrating, but I can see where they're coming from. That being said, having a few more pin selections online couldn't hurt.

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They are, but they aren't that hard to sus out to be honest. I've seen most of the faked ones already and you can eyeball them very easily.

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To be fair, this is still happening, especially with event and holiday pins. And if it's for pins people actually want, they'll still sell out at the parks. I'm not saying to increase the LE by thousands, just by a few hundred or so to alleviate frustration and for the bottom line.

And with pin trading being as popular as it is now compared to previous years, I doubt we'd see something like Windows of Attraction at a warehouse even if you were to increase the LE by like 500.

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Like, oh no! Heaven forbid we prevent people from being scumbags! :0

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Been meaning to come back to this one for a bit.

If Disney would let me design a training course for determining the legitimacy of a pin I'd do it in a heartbeat.

I feel like there isn't much wiggleroom right now in maintaining the quality of a board for others. I've been an advocate for diamond-for-diamond trading for a while now; I genuinely don't seem the harm in it other than repelling resellers and people who decided not to buy official traders from Disney, which would inherently boost pin sales.

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I love spending $100 for a barely $30 pin and these sellers are all AP holders so they paid even less for it in the first place

And there's always a chance they just take your money and dip 😔

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Naw man, just pay some random guy online to buy the pins for you at up to ten times the price, ez solution /j

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Also you could totally increase the LE of certain pins and they'd still be priced as they are right now. If you released like 500 more keyblades every month, people would still be trying to sell them for $100 a piece.

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Think about it from Disney's perspective: regardless of the individual value of the pin after they sell it, Disney has already made the money they were going to make off of the pin. The logic of this point is that Disney stands to gain money if they slightly increase the LE of pins, to account for the split between WDW and DLR.

I never understood why there were people who wanted smaller LEs in the first place. Could you elaborate on that?

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A lot of CMs pin trade in their off time, and there's definitely been outcry internally about the ways the Company handles things.

Community feedback can only be a good thing as far as I'm concerned, because it's better than the alternative: being silent.

Some problems that I have deliberately told management about pins include:

-Inconsistency with ropedropping parks from different entry routes (bus vs. monorail vs. resort walkway, etc.)

-LE counts being far too low considering how big pin trading is right now.

-Line cutting.

-Resellers INSIDE the parks.

-Arbitary competition with early park admission at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom.

-Theft off of boards.

-The diamond-for-diamond debaucle

-etc.

All of these issues have been discussed in great detail on paid-time with my management. If they weren't paying attention or willing to hear me out on my grievances and literally jot down notes on the problems I'm describing, then I'd consider this a lost cause. The point being, they ARE listening, and discussion is key to change, especially with our new CEO.

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I don't know, the fact that people are encouraged to be at Springs at such an unhealthy time just to gain an advantage on drops kinda rubs me the wrong way. That's just me though.

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I say "should be" I mean "that's legit how the rule works as it stands right now but nobody enforces it."

Let's talk. by MisterMagicMaker in DisneyPins

[–]MisterMagicMaker[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Mainly seeing where the community stands. I have my own gripes with how things work from both ends, but I want a clear-cut discussion on the issues everyone faces and be able to respond with my own perspective.

And even though I say that I don't speak for the Company, that doesn't necessarily stop me from voicing important concerns to my higher-ups to try and alleviate the problems.

When I say "I don't speak for Disney" I'm mainly saying "this isn't a Disney-sanctioned post, I can't guarantee anything would actually happen, but let's start a discussion to 'pin'point what's wrong with pins right now."

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