Highly Exclusive Disney Cast Member Pins

A few weeks ago I took a trip back home to Chicago, Illinois to visit with my family. While at home, I was quite excited to dig around my old childhood bedroom because I had left several items from my working days at Walt Disney World in there. I came back with several items that I’m going to share with you over the next few weeks, but I thought I’d start off with some special pins that relate back to a previous post I had about how Cast Members are recognized.

Whenever a guest takes the time to write a complimentary letter about a Cast Member, those letters go to the Vice President of the according location. For me, while working at WDW in 2006-2008, any letters that were written about me would be sent to Erin Wallace, former Vice President of the Magic Kingdom, current Senior Vice President of Operations. Each VP would make a copy of the guest letter and send it back to the Cast Member to share with them. Each VP also sends a special recognition pin exclusive to Cast Members at that location to recognize them for spreading the magic. Each VP has their own unique pin and each year they get to update their recognition pins as well! I would imagine the pins are highly collectible, but I’ve never personally looked it up before. They’re priceless to me, anyway! I was lucky enough to receive two pins from Erin Wallace for a complimentary guest letter in 2006 and 2007.

One the back of the pin, you can see Erin’s signature and below it some words saying “Thank you for creating Magic.”

Another special pin I have was given to me by one of my best friends that still currently works at Walt Disney World: James “Tiny” McAuliffe, Disney VIP-Tour Guide extraordinaire! If you’re lucky enough to have James as your tour guide, you are in for a truly Magical treat. He is extremely passionate about his job and extremely knowledgeable about Disney. He also has a killer sense of humor to boot! I am very thankful to have met James while working at WDW because I truly consider him one of the best friends I've ever had. Miss you, James! J Anywho, James gave me a special VIP tour guide pin that used to be given out to guests from their VIP tour guide. To my knowledge, these pins are no longer in use. The pin was special to me because James and I both worked at Magic Kingdom Guest Relations and wore a very well respected costume, the blue plaid. I was pretty excited to get a pin with Mickey in our honored costume. The back of the pin says “Walt Disney World VIP tour.”