Top 6 of DW: Don't Stick Yourself

            Webster's dictionary defines collection as an accumulation of objects gathered for a study, comparison, or exhibition.  Thanks to my mom for getting me started, I have been "accumulating" Department 56 houses for over 10 years, but I only get to "exhibit" them at Christmas time.  My daughter "accumulates" Webkinz (30+) and they are on "exhibit" in a pile in the corner of her room.  lovely.  And my son "accumulates" garbage that he finds when we go shopping (unbeknownst to his mother) and it is on "exhibit" under his bed.  You must see it.  Really, it is the loveliest collection of price tags, small hangers, and plastic do-dads you have ever seen.
           On our recent trip to Disney we started a new "accumulation".  The trip started innocently enough.  We had always seen people with lanyards covered with pins around their neck and never questioned it.  Until the 3rd day we were there and Sissy sat next to a girl on the bus who explained every one of her pins to her.  That is where the bug hit.
          Sis said she really wanted one and I murmured ok (and gave her the good ole' Mommy-ignore). "Let's go get fast-passes to Toy Story Mania!"  But it was while waiting in line for Aerosmith's Rock-N-Roller Coaster that I relented.  Sort of.
         Sis didn't want to ride.  Ok, it was much more dramatic than that, but (don't flame our parenting skills here) we knew she would LOVE this ride.  All her life we have had to, ahem, force her to try things that we knew she would love to do...and she always did love it.   So of course we were forcing her to try this ride.  And by forcing, I mean bribing (such a dirty little word, isn't it?)  So we bribed our daughter to ride the coaster for a lanyard and 2 pins.  Shame on us.  Like you never bribed your kids. shush.
          It started with 2 little pins and then we bought the "special anniversary pin" for a $1 more.  And then we were on a hunt to get the perfect pin from each park.  Guess which one she picked from Hollywood Studios?

Can ya give us a big pat on our backs for introducing Sis to her favorite ride of the week?

      Soon after Sis started collecting, Brody wanted in on the action.  We didn't have to bribe him to get his though.  That kid is a thrill-seeker.   His favorite pin?

His all-time favorite ride

        After the 5th day we were there, we learned something unique about these pins.  The whole concept was started with trading in mind.  Huh?  I don't want to trade the $$$ pin that took 2 hours for my daughter to pick out.  No way.  Until we got smart.  Sort of.

       Remember those cheap anniversary pins?  We grabbed a handful of those and started trading.  You can trade with anyone who has pins.  But Cast Members (that "employee" in Disney lingo) have pins that are to be traded on purpose.  You can ask any CM to trade with you and unless they have it already, they have to trade you.  Pretty cool huh?

      The las few days we hunted...and I mean hunted... for 1 specific pin.  An "M" for Sissy's name.  And guess where we found it?  The gift shop at our hotel, of course.

the cast member who graciously gave her his "M"

    

        The last day was spent looking for the perfect pins to trade.  Sissy found some great Mickey head pins:

   do you see the tiny mickey heads on them...more "Hidden Mickeys"

         And Brody found some he really liked too:

Mom's Favorite

         So, of course this wound up being an expensive way to commemorate our trip, but we had a blast finding all the right pins.  We happened to get a bit of advice for future reference too.  Before going to the parks, buy some pins on eBay and then you'll have ones to trade with for a fraction of the price.  They were right.  I just found the M pin for $.99.  figures.

       Have you been keeping up?  We have one more Top 6 of Disney World to reveal and plan on doing it Wednesday.  Please come back to see our favorite thing about our trip to Disney World!