Disney Pins for the official opening of Aulani Resort

The official opening of Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa at Ko Olina, Hawai'i will take place on August 29.

This next pin will be sold only to Disney Vacation Club Members who present a valid DVC identifcation card.

Finally, we have an image of a boxed set set featuring Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale and a Menehune.

  Guests visiting Aulani should stop by Kalepa's Store where they can trade pins from a specially designed pin trading book.

Some Disney Pins from D23 Expo 2011 [Star Wars. Sorcerer Mickey & More]

Here is a look at some pins coming to the D23 Expo. The artwork for these 2 pins below was created by Adrianne Draude.

The first pin features a Piece of D23 Expo History. The first expo was held in September 2009 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. Several banners were displayed outside this venue to market the event. This pin contains an actual piece of the banner featuring the beloved Jiminy Cricket. The pin will have an edition size of 1,000 and a retail of $12.95. 

The second pin Adrianne designed celebrates Star Tours. The pin has an edition size of 2,000 and a retail of $15.95. Each pin contains an acutal piece of the mural from the side of the Starspeeder 3000 vehicle from the original Star Tours attraction at Walt Disney World® Resort. Not sure what we mean? See the image below. 

This is a piece of that hand painted mural that was cut up to add to each pin. The mural was once affixed to a Starspeeder 3000 vehicle in the attraction. Awesome!

The newxt pin was created to celebrate Disney Legends Induction Ceremony. This limited edition pin has an edition size of 750 and a retail of $15.95. The artwork for the pin was created by Quynh Kimball from Disney Design Group. 

The Disney Legends program was established in 1987 to acknowledge and honor the many individuals whose imagination, talents and dreams have created the Disney magic. The awards are given annually by Robert Iger during a ceremony at The Walt Disney Studios. 

The Disney Legends award has three distinct elements that characterize the contributions made by each talented recipient.

The Spiral - stands for imagination, the power of an idea. The Hand - holds the gifts of skill, discipline and craftsmanship. The Wand and the Star - represent magic: the spark that is ignited when imagination and skill combine to create a new dream. The actual award (which is rather heavy!) was created in 1987 by Andrea Favilli. The awards are cast in bronze and hand-crafted each year by the artist that characterize the contribution made by each talented recipient. This is the logo pin that was designed by Monty Maldovan from Disney Design Group. This pin has a retail of $10.95 and features Sorcerer Mickey and the D23 Expo Logo as a pin-on-pin element.  The next pin was created for D23 Members only. It features a classic image of Mickey Mouse in front of a red glitter-filled shield. This pin will have an edition size of 3,000 and a retail of $12.95. D23 Members must present a valid D23 Member ID in order to purchase this pin. This is a Disney Passholder exclusive pin that celebrates the D23 Expo. This pin features a sculpted metal image of Sorcerer Mickey on a magnificent blue background (it REALLY pops!). The pin has an edition size of 1,000 and a retail of $12.95. Passholders must present a valid Annual Pass in order to purchase this pin. Alex Maher will be appearing at the follow times and locations: Friday, August 19, 2011 - 1:30 - 3:00 p.m. at the Product Showcase and Trading Area Saturday, August 20, 2011 - 1:30 - 3:00 p.m. at the Product Showcase and Trading Area Sunday, August 21, 2011 - 12 Noon - 2:00 p.m. at the Product Showcase and Trading Area

Pins that will be released at D23 Expo

With less than 10 days until the start of the D23 Expo, we are giving a closer look at some of the pins that will be released for this event. 

We start with the logo pin that was designed by Monty Maldovan from Disney Design Group.

This pin has a retail of $10.95 and features Sorcerer Mickey and the D23 Expo Logo as a pin-on-pin element. 

The next pin was created for D23 Members only. It features a classic image of Mickey Mouse in front of a red glitter-filled shield. This pin will have an edition size of 3,000 and a retail of $12.95. D23 Members must present a valid D23 Member ID in order to purchase this pin. 

We've added something new this year to the assortment - a Disney Passholder exclusive pin that celebrates the D23 Expo. This pin features a sculpted metal image of Sorcerer Mickey on a magnificent blue background (it REALLY pops!). The pin has an edition size of 1,000 and a retail of $12.95. Passholders must present a valid Annual Pass in order to purchase this pin. 

We also have some exciting news for fans of Disney Design Group Artist Alex Maher. He will be attending the D23 Expo this year and will be participating in a meet and greet session.

Alex will be appearing at the follow times and locations: 

Friday, August 19, 2011 - 1:30 - 3:00 p.m. at the Product Showcase and Trading Area 

Saturday, August 20, 2011 - 1:30 - 3:00 p.m. at the Product Showcase and Trading Area 

Sunday, August 21, 2011 - 12 Noon - 2:00 p.m. at the Product Showcase and Trading Area 

Alex along with Quynh Kimball from Disney Design Group created the artwork for this awesome jumbo pin celebrating the 45th and 40th Anniversaries of the attraction at Disneyland® Resort and Walt Disney World® Resort respectively. The pin will have an edition size of 250 and a retail $44.95. Here are a few additional images of this pin. 

The pin contains a spinner element that rotates to highlight either the 45th or 40th anniversary. 

See more of the D23 Expo assortment on this page.

Exclusive Pins for Epcot International Food and Wine Festival 2011

New pins being released for the Epcot® International Food and Wine Festival this year.

The Passholder exclusive pin. Edition size: 2,500  

The Disney Vacation Club Member exclusive pin. Edition size: 1,000

Are 3-D Vinylmation pins accepted for trade?

How about the Disney Pin Trading guidelines specifically related to the 3-D Vinylmation™ pins. 

Are these pins accepted for trade? The answer is: YES! 

We believe the confusion may come from a long standing trading guideline that dates back to the year 2000. This guideline reads - "Plastic pins, rubber pins or other non-metal pins are not accepted for trading." 

At the time that guideline was written, it was addressing pins that were all rubber as seen in the image below (which is still not accepted for trade). 

Knowing this guideline has existed for many years, Julie Young, who developed the 3-D Vinylmation™ pins, made a modification to those pins that meets the basic trading guideline - "The main criteria to judge whether a pin is tradable or not is that it must be a metal pin bearing a "©Disney" mark on the back that represents a Disney Event, Place or Location, Character or Icon." 

The key words in that guideline are "metal pin." Julie had the manfacturer add a metal base to the 3-D Vinylmation™ pin as seen in the pictures below. 

Front of the 3-D pins
Back of the 3-D pins. Notice the metal backing.

So that was a long story for a very short answer. But we hope this gives some insight as to why we consider those 3-D pins acceptable for trading.

Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse and Goofy in the Stretch Room

This jumbo pin is one of the many pin offerings at the "Room for one More" event and features Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse and Goofy in the iconic Stretch Room from the Haunted Mansion® Attraction. For a look at the preview catalog for this event click here. We will have a complete catalog with many additional surprises available closer to the event date.

Happy Birthday, USA!

Red, White and Blue Disney Pins

posted on July 2nd, 2010 by Steven Miller, Merchandise Communications Manager

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With the Fourth of July this weekend, I dug into the Disney Pin Vault for a retrospective on pins celebrating Independence Day. I found lots of pins featuring famous Disney characters, flags, stars, stripes and three colors again and again – red white and blue.

There were only a handful of pins celebrating the Fourth of July made prior to the start of Disney Pin Trading in October 1999 (many of them were issued to Cast Members as a form of recognition). In July 2000, Guests saw the release of retail pins at Disney Parks, and the annual Fourth of July pins were born. In Florida that summer, a pin was released at each Theme Park each with an edition size of 7500!

Throughout the years, many designs featured familiar faces such as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Tinker Bell, Stitch and others. I personally enjoy, however, pins that featured characters you don’t see often. Some great examples include Ben Franklin and Amos from 2003; a patriotic looking Cheshire Cat from 2004; Jiminy Cricket also from 2004; and finally Mr. Incredible from 2005.

One of the more rare Fourth of July pins was sold at auction during Disney Pin Celebration 2008 at Epcot. Could we add any more details to this pin (pictured left above)? I have to admit – it wasn’t our best design (which is probably why it makes it so unique and why I put it up for auction). The final pin from 2008 (pictured above right) looks dramatically different. There is something wonderful about simplistic designs (opposed to adding everything but the kitchen sink).

Of course, I have a few of my favorites from the Vault. I love the pin featuring Donald Duck painting Spaceship Earth from 2004. I served as an Attraction Manager in World Showcase, and The American Adventure was one of the pavilions I managed. I love that show (and the Voices of Liberty – “That’s the Banjo.”). I even had the opportunity to meet the late Dallas McKennon who voiced Ben Franklin in the show. Awesomeness!

I also like the Disney characters reenacting the famous scene of George Washington crossing the Delaware. Such a classic image! It was a surprise pin released at Disneyland Resort in 2005.

The final pin I chose was also a surprise pin released on July 4, 2003, at the Walt Disney World Resort. While it doesn’t feature the words “Fourth of July” or “Independence Day,” it screams America to me. What is better than Mickey Mouse and those famous colors of red, white and blue?

Happy Birthday, USA!

Walt Disney World - Liberty Square Boxed Set

Ariel's Undersea Adventure Opening Day

Ariel's Undersea Adventure pins commemorating the opening of this exciting new attraction at Disney California Adventure® Park. The release included an opening day dangle pin seen below:

There is also a tiered collection with individual pins featuring Ariel and Flounder, the Turtle from the Under the Sea scene, Sebastian, Prince Eric and Ariel, Ursula, and King Triton. This is the set cover which was inspired by the attraction poster artwork:

"Piece" of Alderaan History [Sci-Fi Academy - Postcard and Pin]

Name: "Sci-Fi Academy - "Piece" of Alderaan History"   Release Date: 07/09/11   Location: Disneyland® Resort   SKU: 3134670   Retail: $15.95   Edition Size: 1000

Join us for an 'out of this world' pin release & signing as we celebrate the debut of these limited-edition Sci-Fi Academy themed Disney pins. This pin features Darth Vader with a "piece" of the planet Alderaan. The home of Princess Leia, Alderaan was once a peaceful planet with no weapons. Tragically, Alderaan met its untimely demise in Star Wars™: Episode IV A New Hope when Grand Moff Tarkin decided to demonstrate the power of the Death Star by destroying the entire planet. This pin contains a representation of the planet Alderaan, not an actual piece. This pin will be released at Little Green Men Store Command at Disneyland® Park in conjunction with the online wristband process. Registration will open on June 17. Click here to register.