Thursday October 14, 2010

It was pin-trading weekend! The annual CJDPT Swap till you Drop weekend started Friday night and once again I was going with my friend Susan. She had arrived at the house the night before so that she didn’t have the 3-hour drive from Toronto to deal with before picking me up. We weren’t in a hurry; we had all day to get to Somerset NJ. We got on the road about 9:15 a.m. and headed towards the Thousand Island Bridge . We were quickly over the bridge and through customs as the sun just started to peek out from the clouds.

It was 100 miles to Syracuse from the boarder and we made good time, the first stop was the Carrousel Mall; there is a Disney store there that had to be checked out. We took our time and wandered through the mall a bit. I picked up a Christmas ornament and some new Disney bags.

Once we had satisfied our Disney needs we were back on the road. We made our usual stop at New Milford PA for gas and lunch. By then the sun had gone and it was raining. It rained hard all the way to NJ. It was too bad because the leaves on the trees were full of color but with the rain and mist you could not see them. We arrive at the Hampton Inn about 5:30 p.m., got checked in and then went to Ruby Tuesday’s for some dinner. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing in the room watching a bit of TV and planning our next day.

Friday October 15, 2010

I was wide awake by 7 a.m. so I got up and went down to the coffee room and got myself a cup of coffee. We were both eventually ready to start our day about 9:30 a.m. We were on a hunt for Disney Stores! We decided to pass on going into NYC this time. Our first stop was the Menlo Park Mall and then just a couple of miles down the road was our second stop, the Woodbridge Center. I came out of both stores with bags – yay! The third and final mall was the Staten Island Mall, we thought it was going to be a long and adventurous journey but it was just 20 miles down the road! It was the best Disney store, they sold Vinylmations there. We both stocked up the Nightmare Before Christmas Jack and Pumpkin King; they are both sold out at WDW so they should be good traders.

It was close to 3 p.m. by the time we were done so we headed back to the hotel. There was just enough time for a quick nap before the trading began. I was downstairs and trading by 5 p.m.  I made the bulk of my trades Friday night.  It was great seeing everyone as they arrived, the rooms filled up fast and the traders were in high spirits. We decided to take a quick break and get some take out for dinner so we wouldn’t miss too much of the action. By midnight we decided to pack it in even though there were still lots of people at the tables.

Saturday October 16, 2010

Once again I was wide awake at 7 o’clock.  I got up and made a cup of coffee and checked my email. Susan was up shortly after and we went down for some breakfast. The breakfast room is closed to trading so that everyone has a chance to sit down and eat. At 10 o’clock they close off the food service and open the room up for the traders. After breakfast I went up to the room to get my pin bag and was armed and ready to start trading.

I was able to get a table for our group in the breakfast room and we were all soon set up with our bags. I found that Saturday was more of a social day for me. Visiting with friends and wandering around looking. I did very little trading but I did manage to trade for a Kermit Vinylmation that I had been looking for. Lunch was brought in and there are always lots of munchies. Everyone brings some thing to add to the treat table and drink coolers. 

The trading pretty much shuts down from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. to allow everyone time to go and have dinner. Our group ordered in from Ruby Tuesdays and sat in the breakfast room eating and chatting. It was nice.

At 7:30 p.m. everyone crowded into the breakfast room for the annual gift swap, it’s similar to the gift exchange we do at Tagomania although they have a couple of rules that help speed things along. A gift can only be stolen 3 times and if you decide to steal you have to draw a card out of the hat, if it says GO then you can steal, if it says NO then you have to pick off the table. With so many people participating these are good rules. I was very pleased with my gift; it was a really nice Disney scrapbook with some hand made embellishments. I know my friend Aimee made them so I was happy to have it.

After the gift swap we play Pin Bag Scavenger Hunt. There are 5 people on each team and there is a board with 24 squares. Everyone has his or her pin bags at the ready, as John calls for a specific hard to find pin. You have 30 seconds to find that pin in one of the bags and get it on the board. The team with the most pins wins. It is a very fun game and we played 3 rounds of it before we called it a night. It was 1 o’clock by the time I got back to the room.

Sunday October 17, 2010

We were up and ready to go down for breakfast around 9 o’clock. After we had something to eat we went back up to the room and packed everything up. We decided to get the car loaded before doing some last minute pin trading. The crowd was much smaller but I managed to make a couple of trades. By 11 o’clock it was time to say good-bye to our friends.

Our drive home was uneventful, it was a beautiful sunny day and the leaves were showing their colors. Susan dropped my off at home by 7 o’clock and decided to keep on driving to Toronto since she had to work the next day. She texted me shortly after ten that she had arrived home safe and sound.

It had been a really fun weekend. John Rick and his wife Sheila along with Janice and Dave Lavender do an amazing job organizing this event. Next years dates are the weekends of April 8^th and October 7^th; I hope I can make it to both.