It's an addictive hobby and there are sites all over the net selling them, but trading & collecting tips are a little harder to find. The best and most useful ones I have found are
Pin Pics: Home and it's sister site, DizPins, which you can reach from PinPics. There is a lot of info there and, of course, pins too. I have made use of these sites for years now, and still haven't made it to any of the parks, lol....but my pin collection is doing just fine anyway. I see you are also in Canada; there are some of us up here too, but harder to find, lol. If you make contacts in DizPins, they do have meets in the parks occasionally and will make special efforts to meet some of their friends dropping in from far away if notified in advance, so it doesn't hurt to chat with them, as some live in the area down there, and have a lot more insider-type info than we do. Oh, and if you do search in the right ways, you can occasionally find people to trade other pins you might have lying around for Disney ones you would much prefer. I still do some of that, so you never know what you might have that could help with your addiction. If you have any questions, I can always try to help...if I can remember what it is I am talking about, lmbo.
TTFN,
Poohs_hotstuff@yahoo.ca