Knotts Berry Farm gets into the Pin Trading Business - Special pins for Pass Holders

[In the Parks]

The pin included in the starter set for Season Pass Holders.

Beginning May 25th Knott’s Berry Farm will be joining the likes of Disneyland and Universal by getting into the Pin Trading business.

Knott’s initial series, which will be released on Memorial Day weekend, will be made up of 31 different designs that will include the Peanuts collection and the Knott’s collection, both will feature seasonal events, rides, attractions and characters that are uniquely Knott’s. New pins will be released weekly and will range in price from $6.99 to $9.99.

There will be two types of pins. The ones that anyone can buy at designated locations and then there are the "branded" pins that only Knott's employees will have that can be acquired through trading. All trading pins feature the official Knott’s Pin Trading logo embossed on the back. The “branded” pins will carry an additional identification, Snoopy’s paw print on the front of the pin. All pins will be limited editions. Pin purchases will be limited to 2 pins per style per day.

Knott’s will also be offering their Season Pass Holders a special starter kit (limit one per Season Pass Holder) that will include a lanyard, Season Pass holder and a special Season Pass pin for only $5 which will go on sale to Knott’s Season Pass holders starting May 18 at the Gold Trails Hotel in Ghost Town.

Here's to hoping that some of the designs play on the nostalgia of the extinct attractions. It would be a lot of fun to collect pins for Beary Tales, KOD, Tijuana Taxi or Gypsy Camp.

[DJM]

Curious as to what other people think about this announcement. I'm not a pin trading person so I found the build up to this announcement a little odd. It seems like they're targeting a very small segment, but I'm not sure. Maybe pin trading is more popular than I think? Not sure, but the announcement seems a little bit of a let down. The best case scenario would be an announcement on the long-awaited dark ride. Worst case, I was hoping for an announcement on food.

[Dutchman]

Getting into the pin trading business? We've been buying pins at Knotts for over twelve years. You should see our Knotts lanyards! I don't know about how the releasing a new pin every week is going to work out. Have they released a Windseeker pin yet? We've been trying to get one since last summer.

[SpectroMan]

I think this COULD be great. It depends who they've commissioned to do the artwork. Some of the existing Knott's pins leave a little to be desired but if they're going to full-out embellish and include extinct rides, I'm all over it.

[Althedisneyfreak]

I also Want KBT and KOD Pins!!

Please Knott's you got to do rides from your past in this new merchandise. i will diehard buy them if the past rides are included especially Knott's Bear-y Tales!! Crafty Coyote for Pin!

Don't Forget the Bear-y Family! Boysen, Elder, Raz, Flapper, and Girlsen!

[clippers6]

I also Want KBT and KOD Pins!!

Please Knott's you got to do rides from your past in this new merchandise. i will diehard buy them if the past rides are included especially Knott's Bear-y Tales!! Crafty Coyote for Pin!

Don't Forget the Bear-y Family! Boysen, Elder, Raz, Flapper, and Girlsen!

There was a poll on their Facebook page about what classic attraction people would most like to see a pin of. KotD was winning last I checked.

[lynxwiler]

I agree with SpectroMan, it all depends on the pins' subject matter and design. I'll glady buy an entire store's worth of Knott's Beary Tales pins, but only if they're well designed. Well, maybe I'd buy a Knott's Beary Tales pin no matter what.

My fingers are crossed that this pin trading effort will be a success for Knott's. Perhaps it will finally get Knott's to recognize the value in Knotts-talgia: KBT, KOD, and the characters of Ghost Town.

Where's my Sad Eye Joe pin?

[SpectroMan]

I stopped in Sunday and they had some of the pins on preview, which will be released next weekend. There's 3 Ghostrider ones, some carousel horses, Boysenberry jam in a jar, Windseeker, the Stagecoach, Pony Express and a few others. They're pretty nice, but no extinct rides yet.

The other collection is all Peanuts characters and while cute, really holds no direct relation to Knott's so I won't be getting those, but I'm sure some will like them especially if they come in at the lower price points.

[lynxwiler]

The other collection is all Peanuts characters and while cute, really holds no direct relation to Knott's so I won't be getting those, but I'm sure some will like them especially if they come in at the lower price points.

Yeah, I'm more interested in Knott's than Peanuts.

[RegionsBeyond]

At least there is a Boysenberry jam pin, I'd buy that. Count me in as wanting classic Ghost Town pins and old-school Knott's, maybe even Haunt ones. I'd love to see a volcano devil pin.

[SpectroMan]

So I went back to make my first purchases and there was a well-stocked identical display at each of the 3 stores noted. Pretty nice stuff along the lines quality wise of Disney's regular pins. The backings on all of them say "limited edition" but don't mention size of edition. There's a nice lanyard with the traditional Knott's font and boysenberries for 4.95. Lots of employees had lanyards with a few pins on, but the few that I looked closely at only had the same for-purchase pins, not the supposedly different cast-only pins. Several were clueless on the whole system while others seemed to understand how it was all going to work.

Another set of employees all had lanyards on, but they were their personal ones, and they did not have to trade. Many included employee-only past Haunt pins, which were REALLY nice, but they came from personal collections. That's probably one sore point that will need to be ironed out as the program gains visibility - either they have to trade whatever they're wearing, or not display it.

All in all it was great to just walk up and buy what I wanted, as opposed to an overnight wait at the Soda Fountain only to be told I didn't make it in time to have the privilege of buying a pin.

[lynxwiler]

That's probably one sore point that will need to be ironed out as the program gains visibility - either they have to trade whatever they're wearing, or not display it.

Absolutely agreed. The employees should only wear what he or she can trade. I like the concept of pin trading and employee-only-pin-releases-for-trades, but the employees have got to trade what they're wearing.

[clippers6]

I had to pick up a cake at the Knott's bakery today so I decided to go into the park for a quick visit to look at the pins. Almost every pin had some sort of "extra" element to it ranging from glued on "jewels", sliders, hinged pins, and dangles. I think the only pins without some sort of extra element on it were the Snoopy 2012 pins. None of the Peanuts pins had any sort of Knott's branding on the front. I hope that doesn't mean they will be reusing the designs at other Cedar Fair parks. The pins ranged from $6.99-$9.99. There isn't a wide variety yet, but I like that so far all the pins are a decent size and of good quality.

I ended up only buying a pin of Snoopy playing hockey ($9.99). I will probably go back and buy a few more when I have more time. I walked through a few stores in Ghost Town and Camp Snoopy, but I couldn't find any employees trading, although I did see a couple of guests wearing lanyards. I also saw several employees with personal pins on their lanyards. I kind of enjoy that these employees wear their own pins with pride and I'd like them to continue being able to do so since it give us a chance to see these pins. However, I do agree that this can be confusing to traders so I think a fair compromise would be to allow them to continue wearing their pins on costumes, but not on lanyards.

I hope their program grows as I did really like the designs of their pins.

[lynxwiler]

I'm not into the Peanuts character pins, but the Knott's pins look great. They are definitely a step above the others I've seen around the park as these have added detail, texture, and a style that is above the previous rounds. And they're totally within reach; I think the most expensive in the batch was merely $9.99 and you can still get a passholder discount on top of that price.


Knott's Berry Farm by jericl cat, on Flickr


Knott's Berry Farm by jericl cat, on Flickr

[SpectroMan]

There will be an Independence Hall pin coming out on 6/29. Hopefully extinct rides represented on pins are not too far off!