Disney California Adventure cast member pin with the letters “TOT” erroneously imprinted on the back. This pin line was discontinued and “TOT” was replaced with “HTH”, which presumably was to make the folks in the legal and licensing department happy.

If you’ve been to a Disney park in the last 15 or so years you’ve seen these artsy little bits of metal pinned to Cast Members and guests alike.  At $7-$12+ a pop, pin trading isn’t a hobby for the weak of wallet, but it can be fun to hunt down favorites and complete collections.  And before you get any hopes of collecting them all, just know that Disney has created over 90,000 unique pin designs.

For an excellent introduction to Disney pin trading, visit Peanut Blossom’s Disney Pin Trading 101.

Many collectors like to focus their collection around a particular theme.  My primary collection’s theme is the Tower of Terror (of course!), and I focus my collection on pins that only depict the Tower itself.  This helps keep the hunt exciting and the costs sorta-reasonable. 😉 

There are well over a hundred Tower of Terror related pins – way too many to list here.  Disney’s been pumping out pins for the Tower of Terror pretty much forever, and there’s more added all the time. The very nicely organized PinPics’s Tower of Terror pin gallery is a great place to browse Disney’s vast pin catalog.

Where to Find Tower of Terror Pins

My pins are from the parks and eBay, but for more advanced traders there’s a few more options:

• Search for Tower of Terror pins on eBay is great for all pin collectors. Check back often and you might see some rare ones pop up.
• PinPics is the web’s biggest site for the serious collectors
• The Disney Parks – Pin racks can be found throughout the 11 parks – check ’em all, the stock varies by location, park, and season.  Tower of Terror pins are found all over the parks, not just at the Tower’s own gift shop.
• Cast Members oftentimes have pins that cannot be bought directly but must be traded for – check their lanyards and ask politely to see their pins, and you might find a Tower of Terror pin that isn’t available in the gift shops.
• Disney’s online store – Buy ’em directly from the source.  (Alas, no Tower of Terror pins are on the Disney store site last I looked.)

Tower of Terror Pin Designs

Tower of Terror pin designs usually take the form of iconic Disney characters on the attraction and/or dressed as bellhops, the Tower by itself, and hotel props such as hotel room keys and “Do Not Disturb” signs.

This blue and purple DCA Tower of Terror pin is one of my favorites.

In my experience, it’s been easier to find pins depicting the California-style Tower of Terror.  (And yet if you press a penny in the California Tower of Terror, the impressed design is that of the Florida Tower!)

The top half of this Tower pin changes as you tilt the pin left and right, revealing a lightning bolt at some angles.