The Great Pin Hunt

Disney offered a special opportunity specifically for fans of Disney Pin Trading—the release of a Limited Edition Earth Day pin featuring Te Fiti from Moana (happy Te Fiti—not All-Shall-Pay-With-Ash-And-Fire Te Fiti).

The pin is a nice addition to Disney’s Limited Edition lineup. The challenge was finding it. I checked at several different merchandise locations without turning anything up. At one Pin Trading stand, the cast member didn’t even know there was a special Earth Day pin. Ultimately, the cast over at Expedition: Everest’s gift shop suggested looking at Island Mercantile… I struck out again at Island Mercantile and was sent to a specific room of Discovery Trading Company…

After a bit of searching, I finally located the case for Passholder merchandise and other Limited Edition items.

Jackpot! Supposedly, The Te Fiti Earth Day pin is only being offered this weekend, but they appeared to have a good amount of them when I checked during my visit. If you aren’t able to get to Disney’s Animal Kingdom during the celebration, perhaps they will continue selling them until they are gone. The price is about $20. Guests can also pick up a special Conservation Hero Button by donating to the Disney Conservation Fund (pictured below).

Other Earth Day fun

There were several other experiences connected to the Earth Month celebration—some of these I was able to locate, like the incredible sand sculpture made to promote National Geographic’s “Secrets of the Whales” premiering on Disney+.

Wilderness Explorers were also out in force to try to earn a special Earth Day badge.

Other activities I was not able to experience personally included a special “Magic Zoom” Photopass opportunity near Expedition: Everest, as well as the addition of some new & rare characters to character cavalcades. I may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I didn’t see any cavalcades during the day on this trip—just an appearance from Russel (from UP) at Rafiki’s Planet Watch. Other guests may have had better luck. Characters scheduled to appear at Rafiki’s Planet Watch included Terk, Heimlich, Dumbo, Crush, Bruce, and—this might be a new one—Shere Khan. Cool!

Overall, the Earth Day celebration felt distinctly low-key compared to some other Walt Disney World events, but it did have some nice highlights--particularly the addition of the Animation Experience. We hope to see Disney expand it further in future years!

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