The pins are something you can buy for around $7, or more. You can trade with any CM wearing a lanyard around their neck. There are special ones only for kids-their lanyards are green. You can also trade with other guests. I've only done a few trades with CMs. Usually I buy pins somewhere at a reduced price and then my DD8 wants to keep them. Or, she trades a really good pin for one that's not a good one (to me.) But, I do carry a few around with me, just in case and we've done some nice trades. Some people collect all the pins of a certain type-all Mickeys, resorts, a certain movie, etc. We just get ones we like. It's just something to do but it can get pricey. Sometimes I use our pins on scrapbooking pages.
I did the photopass CD for the first time last Sept. and got some great pictures. Plus when you go online you can add enhancements. Autographs, logos, frames, dates, etc. Since I'm the official photographer of our family it's one of the ways I can be in the pictures. You can also, for free, have a PP photog take a picture of you using your camera when they take one using theirs. They'll give you a PP card-you don't need to buy. If there's no PP photog with a character look for the character handler to take a picture, or ask someone in line (pick someone who has a nice camera-not a disposable. Hopefully yours will come out good-have them take few.)
Most of the PP photogs do a pretty good job. The only pictures we have a problem with were those take at night-some out of focus, etc. but on the whole I liked them. I ended up with over 600 after edits.
Here's a few from last Sept.
Autographs added online.
(yes they take them at the waterparks too!)
This one was taken at
Disneyland-I was able to get both WDW and DLR on same CDs.
This is an example of an enhancement the PP photog adds on and then I added the border before ordering. There a many different enhancements the photographer can add for you. Stitch coming out of the ground, tink in your hands, baby simba, Capt. Hook fighting with you, Ghost driving hearse in front of HM, etc.