Pins heading your way in 2014. (Picutres included)

A couple of weeks ago, Disneyland Paris hosted their end of year pin trading event, as usual it was a chance to preview some of the fantastic new pins on the way in 2014. (Unlike at the Summer event, where the art work said 2014, but they were mostly released in the Autumn). Thanks to Disneyland Paris pin trading facebook pin trading pages, we can show you a few of these pins. Overall, the pins this coming year are very promising, and have two very clear themes: Dreams! and Paris. Paris is going to be everywhere in Disneyland Paris this year, and why not? Not every Disney Park can celebrate being that close to one of the world's most beautiful cities.

 Let's begin with what is, for me, the stars of the show. The wonderful attractions pins from 2013 return and get even better. We've already seen the release of the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster pin in December, January sees the release of the Pirates of the Caribbean, Tower of Terror and Crush's Coaster pin. Coming up are some even more amazing pins, Big Thunder Mountain, Alice's Curious Labyrinth, Blanche Neige et les sept nains and Flying Carpets over Agrabah. All of these are essential to my collection, what about yours? I know these have gone down very well with Disneyland Paris fans, which means we are perhaps likely to see even more after this.

 

Next up, are the Cast Member refresh pins, these are pins given to Cast Members wearing a lanyard with the aim of giving them to guests through pin trades. A good set this year, I really like the Sheriff Woody badge and the Flynn Rider pin. 

The next set of pins are of a Minnie Mouse dots theme, these are super stylish and could even be described as 'Parisian chic' beginning a bit of a Parisian year for Disneyland Paris.

So, this is the first set of true Parisian pins which are in the style of the Paris metro, they look fantastic and keep very much in the traditional Parisian style. Characters are featured from films including Aristocats, Hunchback of Notre Dame and 101 Dalmatians.

More Parisian pins here, this time in the form of Eiffel Towers, these are Eiffel towers with a very subtle Disney twist, the tip of the tower is made out of a Mickey head. Very nice design, a wide variety of Patterns, I'm sure most people will see at least one that they like. (I'm rather fond of the Cheshire Cat and Mickey ones).

From Paris to America now (with a little Union Flag to keep the British happy?). These pins look 'ok'. The idea is nice, the execution is ok. I really don't like the big rectangle shape one featuring Mickey and the three flags. On the other hand, the Main Street USA circular pin really catches my eye.

And Disneyland Paris come out with a new set which I really must own. These look very similar in style to the Dreams pin that came out last May, so I imagine these will be ever so slightly 3D. I really like them, that Rapunzel is going to be hard to find though!

And the Disney Store set continues here with two pins that are going to be park exclusives. The crazy nature of the Disney Store sales means that I won't be buying these - but good luck to those who do.

Finally, the Valentines Day pin for this year which features the Queen of Hearts (get it? It's funny.) I really like it, it's a pin on pin. It's going to look fantastic in real life.

So, what are your opinions on the 2014 releases that we've seen? Obviously this isn't all of them, but from what we can see, 2014 is a bright year in pin trading. All of the pins have artistic merit.  I can't wait to see more and add some of these to my collection.

Continue

Pin Releases - January 2014

We're heading towards the final week of the year, and so it's time for another new pin trading poster. And it's good news all round, this month sees some absolutely fantastic pins!

Saturday 4th January really is a bumper pin day in Disneyland Paris with no less than 7 pins released.
The first of which is a Paris limited edition piece featuring Quasimodo in front of Notre Dame, this is a nice looking pin, but is perhaps a slight bit underwhelming compared to the rest of the weeks releases. Another Hunchback pin will be released on the same day as the Disney Store's website collection continues over in Disneyland Paris (making completing the set for the majority of Europeans a much more difficult task - and a move I'm really not fond of). The pin itself is rather nice and features perhaps one of the most beautiful scenes of the Dreams! show. This will be very highly sought after. The final limited edition pin of the month is actually last month's Happy New Year pin, which will actually be released in the New Year - a move which makes a lot of sense.
The attractions collection continues for a second month with three stunning pins depicting Pirates of the Caribbean, Crush's Coaster and the Tower of Terror. Collectors will be pleased to see this beautiful collection continue to evolve. The final pin to be released on the 4th January is the traditional yearly sorcerer Mickey pin. One I'm sure many of you will be adding to your collection.

Saturday 11th January sees a Mickey and Minnie chef pin being released, excellently timed for the Ratatouille themed ride later in the year.

Finally Saturday 25th January sees the continuation of the Good Luck/Bad Luck series that we have seen been released over the last six months or so. These pins have not proven to be the most popular despite their rather nice design.

Overall, a fantastic month for pins, and I can honestly say that it is a month in which I would buy all the pins given the opportunity. 2014 seems set to be a fantastic year for pins. See our preview of what's to come later in the week.

Have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Continue

Pin Trading Releases - December 2013

It's the final month of the year, and it's time for a brand new month of pin releases. This month sees a fantastic mix of pins, so without further or do, here are December's releases.

Saturday 7th December sees a huge day of releases, with the Christmas 2013 lanyard (that has actually been available in the resort for some weeks now). A Violetta pin, which is a Disney Channel television show - This one looks a tad plain but should satisfy fans of the show. Next up, is a pin I'm incredibly excited about - the Attraction series has returned! I'm not so much of a fan of this one, but it's still a must have as far as I'm concerned. A Paris Mickey pin which looks a lot like the Signature collection logo for the 20th Anniversary. Finally, the final seasons of 2013 pin for Winter seeing Sneezy with a snowman. I have all the Season pins so far for 2013, and I'd love to add this to my collection.

Saturday 14th December sees 3 princess carriage pins, featuring Merida, Mulan and Pocohontas. These are nice looking pins which will make princess fans happy. Again.

Finally, Saturday 21st December sees a big limited edition pin release. The final princess locket in the series (that began back in January) will be released featuring Tinkerbell (not that she is actually a princess). The Bonne Année pin looks simply amazing, it's very Dreams-esque. I will need to find a way to add this to my collection. Finally, a Frozen pin depicting Anna and Olaf, which is sure to sell out incredibly fast.

A good month of pin releases, with the return of the attraction pins, as well as the final season and Happy New Year pin.

Will you be adding any of these to your collection?

Continue

Disneyland Paris November 2013 pins

As we move away from the Halloween season and ebb ever closer to Disney's Enchanted Christmas and 2014, another set of pins are due to be released in the resort. As usual, the poster has been released:

Quite honestly, whilst I like most of this months pins, I'm not blown away by any of them I'm afraid. Let's take a closer look week by week.
Saturday 2nd November sees the release of the 2014 pins, each year Disney Parks creates a new 'look' for the year, and whilst I really like 2014's look, 2013 just had that bit extra. However, that doesn't translate into pins, and I really feel like the 2014 pins are very nice to look at. I especially like the use of the Sorcerer Mickey image in the pins, and like the 2014 'Disneyland Paris' pin, perhaps this is a collectible set across all the resorts? The booster set really catches my imagination, I really like the characters in front of various Disneyland Paris landmarks. I will certainly be adding that to my collection.
Saturday 16th November sees the release of another good luck/bad luck pin, this time featuring Belle. I'd be interested to see the good luck side if the 'bad luck' side is Gaston. The Beast makes both perfect sense and no sense since Belle never wanted to be locked up. I really, really like the Mickey Mouse birthday pin and hope it is still available the weekend afterwards when I will be in the resort, however I suspect it will not be. It looks to be a lovely pin, perfect for the Disneyland Paris audience.
The final weekend releases take place on Saturday 30th November and feature yet another Princess locket, this time featuring Merida from the film Brave. The final locket should be released next month (and will be Tinkerbell). Speaking of Tinkerbell, the Christmas limited edition pin will be released this weekend as well. I find it a rather uninspiring pin for a limited edition, despite it's nice design.

The Pascal pin is a preview release for the 'Rapunzel's Christmas' pin event which will take place in Disneyland Paris on the 14th December (poster below). Whilst this event will feature Rapunzel heavily, something bugs me about the price for what seems to be a very simple pin. However, an ebay search on release day will prove that it will be a very popular pin. (Rapunzel is VERY collectible in the Disney pin world).

Overall, I'm happy with the pins, but only one jumps out as a must have. What are your thoughts?

Continue

October 2013 Pin Releases

Another month down, and we head into the Autumn months and Disneyland Paris's spooky Halloween season, and some exciting Halloween pin releases! Umm... well....

So, no new Halloween pins, however I understand that last years pins will be put back on sale, and we go straight into Christmas. I adore the 2013 Christmas visuals and this years booster set looks fantastic, the two stand alone pins are Chip and Dale and a Mickey and Minnie Pin (This one being remarkably similar to last years). Duffy is hugging a Mickey gingerbread man in his pin.
This months Princess carriage is Snow White, and looks nice (if you like princesses). The fantastic Phantom Manor lanyard has arrived, perfect for your attraction collection pins! I really like that the Phantom Manor spooky wallpaper has been used on the lanyard, I know there are lots of fans of this attraction and so this is going to sell very well.
Moving onto the end of the month and Frozen, Disney's 52nd Animated Classic makes it's debut in the pin trading circles. The Olaf pin is going to sell very well (and I think he'll be an incredibly popular character), especially since he will be hosting 'Disney Dreams of Christmas'. The Princesses Anna and Elsa appear on their own pin as well.

The good luck/bad luck series continues with Snow White, those of you who follow my pin posts know I'm a huge fan of this series and would love to add this to my collection as well.  The princess lockets continue too with Pocahontas being released later in the month.

And that's it for another month! I hope some pins on the poster catch your interest, I know I'll be buying those Christmas pins!

Continue

September Pin Trading Releases

That's all folks! The Summer holidays are over and we're back into Autumn and another month of pin trading releases. We've been blessed with great pins so far this year, with some fantastic collections appearing on the poster each month, is September any different? Of course not!

Whilst the princesses continue throughout 2013 at Disneyland Paris, they have been joined by an excellent looking Halloween Duffy, which looks an utterly charming pin. These Duffy pins of late have been very well designed. The usual Dwarf season pin, this time Doc will be welcoming us into Autumn and it's beautiful yellow-orange colours. Dusty the Plane will be flying into Disneyland Paris boutiques in an open edition pin that's sure to attract the childrens attention. The excellent good luck/bad luck spinner series continues with this Aladdin/Genie pin.
Thought the Princess Medallions were finished? Of course they aren't, this time Mulan will be getting her medallion, Disney Dreams! is finally getting a lanyard featuring all the beautiful images and characters from this specatcular night time show. Fans of the Nightmare before Christmas will be happy as well, with three pins dedicated to the film, perfectly timed for it's 20th anniversary.

We love this month's pins and lanyard, a real must for our collection is the Autumn Doc pin (Seasonal pin collection!), as well as the Nightmare before Christmas 20th anniversary pin. We'd also love to add that lanyard to our Disney Dreams! pin collection.

What are your opinions, tweet us @dlptownsquare or leave a comment below

Continue

2014 Pins revealed! (UPDATED!)

UPDATE 01/01/2014): Despite the  2014 dates, these pins have now mostly been released, for an updated 2014 pin release preview: Click Here
Here at DLP Town Square we are huge pin collectors, and knowing that a large portion of Disney Park fans are pin collectors, we felt we needed to share these new pins! At the Indiana Jones pin trading event yesterday, a few pin sneak peaks were given. Here is what to expect for the rest of 2013 and in 2014. Amongst the big news is that the hugely successful attraction pin series will continue and even extend into lanyards, as well as the 2014 Disney Parks imagery pins.

We start with this good luck / bad luck series, 4 pins will be available in this set which started in July 2013 with the Cinderella pin, it seems that this set could continue until October 2013 with one pin per month. The set is a double sided spinner set with one side depicting an element of good luck in a Disney film (such as Cinderella with the fairy godmother) and another side featuring bad luck (such as Aladdin with Jafar). My personal favourite in this set is the Aladdin pin. This really is a classy set that we love!

Next up is the big news of the event is that the wonderfully designed attraction pins are set to continue into 2014, with the addition (finally!) of an Adventureland pin in the form of Pirates of the Caribbean. We really like this pin, the imagery on these are reasonably 'grown up' and up to present there are not any especially 'adult' pins with a pirates imagery. We then move into the Walt Disney Studios park with another fantastically designed Crush's Coaster pin, the Rock'n'Roller coaster pin looks very much like the one currently on sale. Despite the fact Disneyland Paris has a lot of Tower of Terror pins currently on sale (and most of them very well designed), they have seen fit to release another pin. We are once again fans of this set and cannot wait to add these to our collection!

More princesses! If you like princesses these carriage style pins are beautiful and features the more rarer princesses of Pocahontas and Mulan. It also features the princess branding with Merida, in what is a Disneyland Paris first!

If you are enjoying the current wave of Phantom Manor merchandise, here is yet another to add to your collection. Fans of this classic Disneyland Paris attraction will be wanting to display that Ravenswood Manor wallpaper round their neck with the spooktastic pin collection!

Isn't it crazy that we are already thinking about 2014? Disney Parks across the world usually release various pieces of merchandise with the year visual, Disneyland Paris is no different. I really like the booster set here featuring the year with the various land landmarks, such as the Earful Tower, the Castle, Phantom Manor and Space Mountain. The usual lanyard, Duffy and spinner pins will be released as well. Fans of year merchandise will snap these up. I really like the 2014 visual, however the 2013 visual tops it a little bit in my opinion.

It's 20 years since that familiar 'This is Halloween' song played in our cinemas. This will be celebrated by two rather average open edition pins, however it's that limited edition 20 years pin that has really caught our attention. We love the 20 years visual on the tombstone with Jack peering round the back. Somehow we'll find a way to get this one.

The next two are a slightly lower quality, but still the visual can be seen. Frozen will be given some open edition releases to tie in with the new film.

 No prizes for guessing when this lone ranger pin will be released. Expect this on the August poster.

Overall, the Disneyland Paris pin trading team continues its form of exceptionally strong pin releases that make for great traders in the parks across the world. Tell us what you think by tweeting us @dlptownsquare or commenting below!

We found these on the Disney Central Plaza forum, and were credited to a facebook user, despite our best efforts, we could not find the images of facebook and so cannot credit the images! Please contact me (info@dlptownsquare.com) if these are your images as we would really like to credit you!

UPDATE 22/07/2013, Even more pin news! Pascal Poullain at the Disneyland Paris Pin Trading and Sales facebook group has uploaded even more future pin releases

Let's carry on with these Chef images, these seem quite a random choice for pin releases, but I actually really like them.

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Christmas in Disneyland Paris, and this years visuals look stunning. The open edition pins are Chip and Dale, which looks very nice and a Mickey and Minnie in front of a Christmas tree (not too dissimilar to last years offering). We get our usual lanyard which is a bit busier than last year, but looks nice enough. A Duffy open edition pin, and a Tinkerbell limited edition pin continue the celebration, and our usual booster pack with various characters rounds off this christmas pack.

A small summary of the Duffy pins so far, nothing we've not seen previously here, except the Halloween Duffy which I really do like.

The Disney marketing machine really is in overdrive. We've already seen Frozen and Lone Ranger pins, here is a planes pin....

...and here's a Violetta pin (a new addition to the Disney Channel family according to @plazagardens).

Continue