I grew up in a household that didn't really care for Disney. It's not that Walt or his legacy were despised by my family, it's that what Disney offered wasn't considered up to snuff. Sure, I saw a few Disney features - heck, when my folks got a VCR, I rented all sorts of Disney movies! Being ten years old, and having the best taste in fantasy of adventure of anyone inside my own mind, I indulged in Disney greats such as Condorman, The Three Caballeros, and The Devil and Max Devlin.
So, given the available options...
...my outlook may have been a bit skewed...
I was about seventeen when I first watched Fantasia, and later studied Disney as the disgruntled, anti-corporate, retail manager I was - which, if I'm being completely honest, was just me crying sour grapes at never having gotten the chance to be the "It's A Small World" conformist who got to go to a Disney theme park as a child.
There were a bunch of other things that happened as well (I'm fairly certain, anyway), but I'm trying to stick to the relevant points of why I am now obsessed with The Mouse, and why I get silly each time I have new pins to catalog and organize in my personal collection.
Last January, I decided to treat myself to a gaming console. For the past few years, I'd relegated my personal gaming to my computer, or with friends who had the latest and greatest of hardware, but all I wanted was a Wii. Graphics and processing are all well and good, but I just wanted to have fun, and that's something Nintendo has always been able to offer me.
Along with this console, I decided to order one game - Epic Mickey. I'd casually glossed over articles about the game before it was fully into production, and even a few humor sites that poked fun at how much "darker and more serious" this game would be compared to other offerings featuring Mickey Mouse. When I saw the first in-depth video of the game - how you could wander around the theme park, see detailed attractions, and even old animation clips - I knew I needed this game.
I used to spend Friday nights relaxing with glass of wine (or more) and playing Epic Mickey. I loved the colors, the tone, the detail, playing not only through park attractions but old animation clips as well, and the in-game movies reminded me very much of things I'd seen as a kid in school (Donald Duck In Mathemagic Land comes to mind)!
I don't care if you think you've outgrown it, watch it anyway - from an adult's perspective.
Well, work and winter (I lived in the frozen north at the time) started to take precedence, and I never really got past the second or third stage of the game. As a matter of fact, I didn't really put much time aside for any leisure activities.
Hitting the fast-forward button, a bunch of things took place. My work life is less hectic. Wine still tastes good on Fridays. Most importantly though, I've moved to a warmer climate to be with my wife and revel in our adventures and idiosyncratic life. This is where my personal Disney obsession picks up...
My gateway drug of choice!
One day, she happened upon me playing Epic Mickey and decided to watch. What follows is a paraphrasing of the conversation that took place:
My wife: What did you just find?
Me: A bunch of E-tickets. They're like money in this game.
My wife: You know, they don't have E-tickets anymore.
Me: They don't?
My wife: Nope. What's that?
Me: Oh, I just found a gold pin. They're just things you collect in the game...
My wife: Just like at the real parks!
My controller: Thud (that's the sound it made when I let it fall to the floor so I could hear more)
And leave the real world far behind...
(Image courtesy of givemedisney)
Finding out about pins opened up a whole new string of questions. This was followed by my beloved telling me tales of having family gatherings and birthdays at Club 33 - which only brought about more questions. I was suddenly a kid asking "Why?" and "What's that?" at the mention of every little thing.
Being a patient and smart (and beautiful - being married to an editor has its advantages) woman, she gathered books for me to read and documentaries to watch. Suddenly, this entity known as Disney started to seem not only like one of the smartest corporations, but like the most magical thing one could experience in this reality - let me scratch that - Disney is its own magical reality, and one I am embracing fully.
The worst part about this obsession is that, unlike many kids and adults who consider it "just another vacation" or something everyone does, I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO A DISNEY PARK IN MY LIFE!
There. I said it. I have perceived the Disneyland and Disney World experiences as much as a spoon perceives the taste of food.
NOTE: We're planning a trip to Disney World for next year, and saving every penny to have a blast!
But it's not like I'm only dipping my toe into the crazy pool of Disney magic. And my wife, being smart, patient (did I mention beautiful and an excellent proofreader?), and an enabler (partly because I think it amuses her to see me bouncing through the house and giggling maniacally at everything related to Disney) only encourages my lunacy. As such (and not by my doing), I am now a D23 member, and (this is where the ride nears the destination, folks) the owner of hundreds of Disney Trading Pins!
"It's a good start," says my wife, who has been very methodical in encouraging my madness.
She scouts out pins by the lots, or by individual coolness (it's a subjective, but very accurate scale), and when I go to get the mail, I find packages filled with little gleaming pins to catalog and research. She looks at them with me, and tells me what is rare and what ones people are looking for out of my collection, and then she leaves me be to my research. (It should be noted that "research," as defined by this blog involves smiling and laughing like a kid who just had to eat his way out of being trapped in a candy store and marveling at the shiny, colorful pins as if tearing open a plain brown envelope was like Dave Bowman going to Jupiter and beyond the infinite.)
So, without further tangents, here is my first pin:
Fun is very serious business!
It's a Minnie Mouse skull & crossbones pin! According to PinPics.com (one of the places I cross-reference when researching my pins), this was issued in 2009 to the public at park locations. The original price was $12.95 (USD) and that there was a Mickey Mouse pin of similar design. I've yet to get that one, but the above pin will always be my first (though I have so many yet to post here).
But that's why this blog exists. I figure if I post (at least) one pin a day here, along with what information I can find on it, I'll have enough content for a few years (until next week's shipment arrives).
If you find that any of the information is incorrect on my pins, or if you have additional info, please tell me! This is a brand new world to me, and any help is appreciated!
Most importantly, if you see any pins on this blog and you want to trade, let me know! You can reach me at d.pintrader@gmail.com (clever, eh?), and even if I don't respond immediately, I do respond to each and every message I get.
Happy Trading!
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