This year has been a plentiful one for Disney pin releases from Disney Studio Store Hollywood, Mickey’s of Glendale, D23, Disney Employee Center, and all of the Disney Parks around the world! As the year comes to a close, join us as I count down my top 10 favorite pins of 2021!
10. EPCOT World Showcase Open Edition Pins
This open edition collection was released at EPCOT in Walt Disney World and depicts all eleven countries of the World Showcase in brand new and unique designs that correspond with each country. While some countries have a few different designs every nation is represented in beautifully detailed pins. A personal favorite of mine from the collection is the “Brilliant” corgi pin representing the United Kingdom!
9. Old Hollywood Mickey and Friends Open Edition
Another open edition pin collection was released this year and come from the Disney Studio Store Hollywood. These pins were released earlier this year and have a very vintage reminiscent art style to them. Each pin shows Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Donald and Goofy are all dressed in their own Old Hollywood glam. My favorite from this set would have to be Daisy for the classy glitter enamel on Daisy’s dress.
8. Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary Open Edition Mystery Pins
This Walt Disney World exclusive open edition mystery pin set released just before the start of the 50th Anniversary of the Walt Disney World resort. The 10 pin mystery collection includes stylized versions of characters of both past and present in the resort, including defunct characters like Mr. Dairy Goods from the defunct Kitchen Kabaret attraction formerly in EPCOT and SMRT-1 from the former CommuniCore Computer Central area in EPCOT. This mystery collection is sure to have at least one of your favorite characters in it for even the most niche Walt Disney World fans!
7. Mothers Day Limited Edition Frame Pins
The Employee Center at Disney Studios in Burbank, California released these stunning Mother’s Day pins of some of our favorite disney characters and their moms along with a gorgeous frame that fits along with the story of each character. The pins are each a limited edition of 250. One of my favorites from this collection is the Frozen pin that depicts a younger Anna and Elsa with their mother, Queen Iduna.
6. Magic Kingdom 50th Limited Edition Opening Day Attraction Crests
Another set of pins released for the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World depicts 20 different opening day attractions in the Magic Kingdom in separate Limited Edition 2,000 pins. The attractions represented in these pins are Tropical Serenade, Mad Tea Party, Snow White’s Adventures, WDW Railroad, The Haunted Mansion, Grand Prix Raceway, Jungle Cruise, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Cinderella’s Golden Carousel, Mickey Mouse Revue, Character Parade, Peter Pan’s Flight, Swiss Family Island Treehouse, Country Bear Jamboree, Skyway, Main Entrance, Dumbo, The Hall of Presidents, Frontier Shootin’ Gallery and it’s a small world (not pictured).
5. Starbucks Walt Disney World Open Edition Pin Set
This open edition 4 pin set, also released in time for the Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary, consists of 4 different retro looking designs for each park along with the starbucks logo dangle attached to the bottom of each pin. I love the way the icons appear on the pins alongside a different style of Mickey Mouse, besides EPCOT that utilizes Figment as it’s icon. The designs were also used on travel mugs sold at the Starbucks in the parks
4. D23 Most Magical Kingdom, Vacation Kingdom of the World, Galactic Journeys, All Started by a Mouse and D23 Gold Member Welcome Gift
While the next pins are actually five separate 5 pin sets, I couldn’t help but to include all of them as one because of how cool these sets are. These D23 member exclusive pins represent stylized characters of the past and present. The pins were designed by artists Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily.
- The Most Magical Kingdom set includes Peg Leg Parrot from Pirates of the Caribbean, Bubbles from Country Bear Jamboree, Sea Serpent from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Red Demon From Toad’s Wild Ride and Maestro Mickey from Mickey Mouse Revue.
- The Vacation Kingdom of the World set includes Goofy in his River Country Water Park attire, Poly Tiki from the Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, Dreamfinder from the former Journey Into Imagination, Rizzo the Rat from Jim Henson’s MuppetVision 3D and Triceratops from Triceratop Spin.
- The Galactic Journeys set includes Skippy from The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, SMRT-1 from CommuniCore, the Shaman of Songs from Na’vi River Journey, Dok Ondar from Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Nine-Eye from The Timekeeper.
- The All Started by a Mouse set includes Space Mickey from EPCOT, Scuba Mickey from The Living Seas, Director Mickey from Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Magician Mickey from SpectroMagic, and Minnie, Mickey and Chuuby from Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
- The D23 Gold Member Welcome Gift came exclusively if you purchased a 2021 D23 gold membership. The set includes Orange Bird with the classic Walt Disney World Logo, Henry the from Country Bear Jamboree, Figment from Journey into Imagination, R3-X from his “Captain Rex” debut at Star Tours and the Yeti from Expedition Everest.
3. Chip and Dale Sweets Open Edition Pins
The next pins on the list come from Shanghai Disneyland. The first pin is Chip and Dale in a glass jar of sweets and treats, the pin itself has a plastic front to create the look of a 3-D jar. The second pin released simultaneously is a 2 pin set of Chip, adorned with an ice cream hat and holding a large piece of candy, and Dale with heart sunglasses sitting inside of a sprinkled donut.
2. Tiny Kingdom Second Edition – Series 2 Limited Release
While several Tiny Kingdom series were released in both Disneyland and Walt Disney world, my favorite this year was the Second Edition Series 2 set. The limited release boxes came with 3 pins per box, and they’re about the size of your average Mickey head pin back that come on all Disney pins. The collection included 24 tiny pins, a few of my favorites being The Dino Institute logo from Dinosaur! In Animal Kingdom, The Imagination Pavilion from EPCOT, The Wilderness Explorers logo from UP!, a Disney Skyliner gondola, the now closed MouseGear store logo from EPCOT and the MuppetVision 3D logo from the attraction in Hollywood Studios.
1. Muppets Haunted Mansion D23 Limited Edition Pins
Last but not least, my number one favorite pins of this year were the D23 member exclusive Muppets Haunted Mansion pins that depict Kermit and the gang in their fun costumes from the Muppets Haunted Mansion Movie that premiered on Disney+ this year. The pins are a ghoulish limited edition of 999 each. Personal favorites of mine from this collection are Kermit and Miss Piggy dressed up as one another and Fozzy as the iconic Hatbox Ghost!
That’s a wrap on my top 10 favorite Disney pins released in 2021, I look forward to seeing what other fun collectible pins that Disney releases in the New Year!