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Soon to be in Disney Springs on the hunt for new HMs

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Soon to be in Disney Springs on the hunt for new HMs

Pibbman

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Hello,

I was wondering about some specific information. I'll be in WDW soon for a family trip and I am really interested in the new stylized attraction hidden mickeys, so I had some questions...

1. Is there a specific time of day that works best for getting the new hidden pins? Part of me is thinking right when stores open in Disney Springs may be the best. We heard somewhere that CMs will only get one new HM to put on their lanyards each day...

2. Do the new HMs appear anywhere on property or do they tend to just stick around Disney Springs near the beginning of release and then slowly spread out?
 
The HM pins can be released anywhere. Good times of day are whenever there is a shift change. So opening can be good, but later in the day can be too. The more important factor is how much the area management cares about pins. Good areas, managers or the assigned CM will refresh often. Bad areas, the pins will never be refreshed or very infrequently. New employees, who are "earning their ears" are given fresh lanyards with all HMs at the very beginning. Of course, once the guests reach them, they disappear, and so don't assume that if you see a CM who is earning their ears, they will automatically have them. But if you see a group of wide-eyed newbies, being shepherded around by a Trainer, it's a good idea to go say hi. Traditionally, I have had poor luck at Disney Springs, and much better luck at the Resorts. Parks are hit or miss. AK used to be good, but I think Pandora has upset the balance.
 
You can purchase the HM Pin mystery packs at the stores or at the Pin Station.

I was under the assumption that the brand new hidden mickeys that just came out are only tradable with a cast member and not something you can purchase?

The HM pins can be released anywhere. Good times of day are whenever there is a shift change. So opening can be good, but later in the day can be too. The more important factor is how much the area management cares about pins. Good areas, managers or the assigned CM will refresh often. Bad areas, the pins will never be refreshed or very infrequently. New employees, who are "earning their ears" are given fresh lanyards with all HMs at the very beginning. Of course, once the guests reach them, they disappear, and so don't assume that if you see a CM who is earning their ears, they will automatically have them. But if you see a group of wide-eyed newbies, being shepherded around by a Trainer, it's a good idea to go say hi. Traditionally, I have had poor luck at Disney Springs, and much better luck at the Resorts. Parks are hit or miss. AK used to be good, but I think Pandora has upset the balance.

Thank you! This is all good to know! I am not opposed to resort hopping!
 
The "brand new" HM Pins just released ARE only available on Cast Lanyards but, there are Mystery 2 pin Packs of prior years HM with Completer pins mixed in. Pink is for 2015 with the Epcot Spaceship Completer and the Studios Costume Gangster Completer (what I'm looking for), among others. I'm not sure of the other colors. There is NO guarantee that you'll get a Completer pin, but they are genuine. :)
 
Hello! I just got back from WDW and here's my observations. Check both airport Disney stores. When I arrived on Thursday they didn't have any of the new HMs but when I popped in last night the older airport Disney Store's pin board was almost all 2018-2019 HM new releases. I got the Nautilus and Sebastian and Scuttle. Then one of the CM's at the new airport Disney Store had Pain and Panic and the ice cream characters. I didn't see any new release HMs at Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom. HS had a big board out in the morning but it was all scrappers. AK didn't have any boards. I found one at Epcot but someone beat me to it. Magic Kingdom now has pin games around the park at different times of the day but you only get one pick. There is one at noon (and I forgot where they told me it was), one at 2 in the Circus gift shop that had GREAT stuff, and one at 4 in the gift shop by Philharmagic but it was a blind pick game like the one at the exit of the Mickey M&G in Town Square.

I stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and they'd randomly refresh with one new pin in the middle of all the others. I got two chasers from the new set and one from last year's release.

Hope that helps some!
 
Hello! I just got back from WDW and here's my observations. Check both airport Disney stores. When I arrived on Thursday they didn't have any of the new HMs but when I popped in last night the older airport Disney Store's pin board was almost all 2018-2019 HM new releases. I got the Nautilus and Sebastian and Scuttle. Then one of the CM's at the new airport Disney Store had Pain and Panic and the ice cream characters. I didn't see any new release HMs at Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom. HS had a big board out in the morning but it was all scrappers. AK didn't have any boards. I found one at Epcot but someone beat me to it. Magic Kingdom now has pin games around the park at different times of the day but you only get one pick. There is one at noon (and I forgot where they told me it was), one at 2 in the Circus gift shop that had GREAT stuff, and one at 4 in the gift shop by Philharmagic but it was a blind pick game like the one at the exit of the Mickey M&G in Town Square.

I stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and they'd randomly refresh with one new pin in the middle of all the others. I got two chasers from the new set and one from last year's release.

Hope that helps some!

We just got back as well. Epcot was terrible for pins. We didn’t go to AK or HS this time. We did hit up the ones in MK though. We had a lot of success in DS as well.


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This was my haul.

9bb4adb696aa213535a525def31a7385.jpg



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@MischiefMade - Some advice that I can give you...

Magic Kingdom, hit up the "pin events". You should find a "board" setup by the door outside of the exit of Mickey's meet and greet from 10:00 to 10:30 AM. There is another event at Big Top at 2:00 - 2:30 and one other event from 4:00 to 4:30 at the exit of the Princess hall meet and greet. They have awesome hidden mickeys at these including the brand new ones.

Disney Springs is also a good spot, but some places suck there... World of Disney is just a bust every time we went in there. The Co-op and Once Upon of Toys are great when you check there. We had a lot of success there. Pin Trader's pin vault is a gold mine. Supposedly, they dont tell you when the pin vault will come out because it comes out at random times. However, some cast members gave us the "dirty details" and said that the daytime workers 10AM to 6PM almost never pull out the vault. They will "usually" pull the vault out shortly after the new shift starts at 6 but around 10 at night is also the other time they usually bring it out when it starts to die down.

Value resorts are also another great spot. We found a cast member at Sports one time that had NOTHING but new 2019 HMs on her lanyard. Make sure to check the pin board in the shop and behind the check-in desk. The cafe also has a board at Movies.
 
@Pibbman

Thank you so very much for all your helpful tips. This is the first time ever that I'll be trading at all. I just started in October where I picked up a few pins to commemorate my first trip to DLR and since then I have gone a bit pin crazy. I had no idea that there were so many spots to trade, any of the rules of pin trading, or that there was such a big community until only a few months ago when I started looking in to why they were selling all the pins in the park. Everyone has been so helpful and your advice is definitely going to get used for our day in Magic Kingdom.

I've heard that the trading at Epcot isn't so great so I was hesitant to bring my pins to the park that day since I'm staying off property on this trip, but I will be in Disney Springs a lot because my family just loves the atmosphere so I am glad to here that there is a lot of trading to do there.
 
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