Disneyland has officially found a new way to separate me from $18 at a time,
and I regret to inform you that it’s working beautifully.
Disneyland just rolled out brand-new pin trading vending machines, scattered across a few locations in the parks, and the concept is exactly as delightfully unhinged as it sounds. You walk up, you pay, and the machine dispenses a pin to you the exact same way a regular vending machine dispenses a soda, except instead of a can of Coke, you get a baseball-sized plastic sphere with a completely random Disney pin sealed inside. You don’t find out which one you got until you’ve already paid and cracked it open, which is either a genius bit of impulse-purchase psychology or straight-up gambling with extra steps. I have made my peace with not caring which one it is.
Each sphere costs $18, and there’s a genuinely charming little design detail tying the whole concept together: every pin in this collection depicts its character physically popping out of the very sphere it came packaged in, like the pin itself is in on the bit. It’s a small touch, but it’s the kind of thing that makes this feel like an actual designed collection instead of just “random pins, but make it a vending machine.”
Now let’s talk about the character lineup, because whoever curated this list clearly wasn’t interested in just slapping Mickey and Minnie on a pin and calling it a day. The current roster includes Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, Dumbo, Simba from The Lion King, Meeko from Pocahontas, Winnie the Pooh, Hades from Hercules, Sir Hiss from Robin Hood, the Hatbox Ghost from Haunted Mansion, Flotsam and Jetsam from The Little Mermaid, Dopey from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a platypus from “it’s a small world,” Mama Odie from The Princess and the Frog, the actual Footstool from Beauty and the Beast, and Flower from Bambi.
I need to sit with that list for a second, because somewhere in a Disney design meeting, someone fought for Sir Hiss to be included, and I respect that commitment to the bit. A platypus from “it’s a small world” and the Footstool, the literal furniture, from Beauty and the Beast making the cut over, say, a generic Mickey pin is exactly the kind of deep-cut character energy that separates a genuinely fun collectible lineup from a boring one. Whoever picked these characters understood the assignment.
If you’re the type who needs to know exactly how rare your pull is the second you open the sphere, there’s a built-in system for that too. Each pin has a small marking on the back, and most of them are white. If yours happens to have a blue marking instead, congratulations, you’ve landed what’s being called a chaser pin, meaning it’s in noticeably shorter supply than the rest of the lineup. Naturally, this means somewhere in Disneyland right now, there’s a very specific kind of person doing quiet math about how many $18 spheres it would take to guarantee a chaser pull. No judgment. I might be that person.
As for where to actually find these machines, they’re currently set up at Bing Bong’s in Pixar Pier and San Fransokyo Square over at Disney California Adventure, plus Disney’s Pin Traders at Downtown Disney. So if a casual pin-collecting habit wasn’t already draining your wallet enough during a normal Disneyland visit, you now have three more specific locations to budget for.
This whole rollout isn’t happening in a vacuum, either. It follows Disney tightening up its rules around pin trading more broadly this year, including new measures back in August aimed at curbing bad behavior and line-skipping during high-demand limited-edition pin releases, plus an earlier rule change in May governing how guests are allowed to trade pins with each other and with cast members in the parks. Seen against that backdrop, these vending machines read like Disney trying to give pin collectors a calmer, more controlled way to chase a specific thrill without needing to elbow their way into a crowded release line.
If you’re a pin collector, or even just pin-curious, this is a genuinely fun new wrinkle to build into your next Disneyland day. Just maybe set a personal budget before you walk up to that machine, because I promise you, the moment you see the Footstool pop out of that sphere, all financial discipline goes right out the window.
We’ll keep tracking this pin lineup and any new machine locations as they’re added, so check back with Theme Park Scope before your wallet makes any decisions it’ll regret.
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