Post #142459 by stuff-o-rama on Tue, Feb 22, 2005 2:48 AM

My Aunt is a serious Disney pin collector. She's one of those hard core Disney frequent flyers, she has a pass card lanyard that hangs around your neck that is literally covered with them. When people pass her wearing the same type of lanyard, they eyeball each other's pins in jealous admiration, looking for "that one pin they've been searching for," The Holy Grail! They look like two dogs circling each other to sniff each other's butts. On the last trip, my Aunt has been very ill and no longer has the stamina for Disneyland so I thought I'd surprise her with a new pin or two. I asked a "cast member" if there was any new hot pin she might not know about and he walked me over to a Tinkerbell with a cubic zirconia on her wand tapping the old submarine ride. As he tried to show me, 3 women overheard and damn near knocked us sideways as they stripped the display post clean before I could react to reach for one. The cast member was stunned too, so he went into the back and got me another one. He explained that they are huge on the eBay market as collectors that can't make it to Disneyland will pay top dollar. I asked him if they had a Tiki Room one in a moment of weakness and he said they sold out close to a year ago and he didn't know when they'd get more if they'd do a different one. That was back in September so obviously they've got new pins. I know he mentioned a bunch of 50th anniversary special edition pins would be released in May but you won't catch me near them as I bruise easily.