One of the “new” things we tried during our July 2013 trip
was Photopass +, an upgraded service that provides guests with ride/attraction
photos and dining photos at select locations along with all Photopass photos on
a CD—click here to read more information about Photopass +. We fell in love with Disney’s Photopass
service on our third trip, so since this was trip number eleven, we thought it
was appropriate to give the new and upgraded Photopass + a try. And, just like Disney, there is already a
newer version that is all digital called Memory Maker—which we may take
advantage of during our next trip.
So, this post is to review our use and opinion of Photopass
+ along with sharing what we do know about Disney’s Memory Maker.
We pre-ordered Photopass +, which allowed for savings, prior
to our trip. A voucher arrived in our
trip materials. We could take the
voucher to any Photopass location in any of the four theme parks or to one of
the restaurants that is included in the dining photo options.
The friendly Cast Member that exchanged our voucher at EPCOT. |
We took our voucher to the Photopass location at EPCOT, as
it was the first park we visited on our first day. The Cast Member exchanged the voucher for a
necklace that contained the digital code for Photopass photographers to
scan. In the necklace, he punched the
date of the first use, as the Photopass + is only good for 14 days from the
first punch (I am guessing that this keeps guests from sharing the account with
others). We were asked to show the
necklace, especially the punches, on numerous occasions, so that Cast Members
could check the dates.
The CD case with code inside, and the Photopass + necklace |
The dates punched into the back of our Photopass tag |
List of dining and attractions included in Photopass + |
The gallery CD with 400 photos of Walt Disney World Resort. |
When exchanging the voucher, we were also given a CD case
that contained a gallery CD of 400 photos of the Walt Disney World Resort and
inside that case was the code to use in our on-line Photopass account when we
ordered the CD of all of our photos from the trip once we got home. The code would make the price of CD free as
we had already paid for it with our pre-ordering of the Photopass +. Thankfully, I had a spot in my purse for the
CD case that day and carried it until we returned to our resort. Then, I put it in a very safe spot that I
could access easily when we returned home—this was no small feat since we
stayed for 12 days!
At the water parks, we were given different Photopass
tags. We put them on the necklace for
safe keeping and then added those to our on-line Photopass account once we got
home. Same was true for the Photopass
cards given to us at Jedi
Training Academy
and Enchanted Tales With Belle—we just kept the cards and added the photos to
our on-line account when we got home.
Throughout our trip, we took advantage of Photopass
photographers, and stood in lines after attractions and rides that had photos
to add them to our Photopass + account by simply telling the Cast Member the number(s)
of the ride photo and then having them scan our necklace—attraction photos
typically cost $18-$20. Again, we just
received them digitally added to our account and would have to pay for prints
if we wanted them.
At dining locations, the photos were added digitally to our
account, but we also received the photo package themselves, a $35 value at each
location.
When we got home, I logged into our on-line Photopass
account, edited photos, put the CD in our cart, entered the code, and waited
for the Photopass CD to arrive in the mail.
Easy peasy!
Well, Disney has now “plussed” the Photopass + with Memory
Maker—click here to read more.
Memory Maker operates similarly to Photopass + in terms of
ride/attraction photos and dining photos.
What is different is that all of the account information will be in
Magic Bands. And, instead of getting a
CD in the mail after you get home and edit your Photopass photos in your
on-line account, you then get to download the photos to your computer for free. Sounds even easier, doesn’t it?
This is where my curiosity collides with my inner Disney
fan. Already Photopass has the capacity
for guests to download all of their photos—in lieu of having the CD sent via
mail. When we got home from our last
trip, there were some photos missing from our account and it was quickly
remedied by a phone call. I asked about
the download option instead of waiting for another set of CD’s and was told
that I had too many photos for a download.
Hmmm. . . will that be the case with Memory Maker? Too many photos to download?
I get how the attraction photos will work with Memory Maker
and expect that a swipe of the Magic Band will add the attraction photo to the
account without having to stand in line to get the photo added after riding the
attraction—okay, this is more of a “hopeful” rather than expect. Also, rumors on the web are indicating that
short ride closures this spring of attractions such as Big Thunder Mountain
Railroad and Pirates of the Caribbean are to
install ride photo capabilities which means there could be more attraction
photos available!
I also understand how dining photos can be added as the
photographer could scan the Magic Band and voila, photos would be added to the
account.
What I don’t understand is how guest interactions such as Jedi Training
Academy photos or
Enchanted Tales With Belle photos will then be added to the account, unless it
was like last time and ALL the photos of the entire group got added to our account
and we had to edit them out. If ALL the
photos of the entire group get added, that just means MORE photos for the
download, that I am already skeptical about.
Okay, let’s talk more about this magical download that is
included with Memory Maker. Right now, I
have all of our previous trips’ Photopass photos on our computer, but I also
have the CD—just in case, in their cases all labeled with trip dates. If I want to back-up the downloaded photos
from Memory Maker, I am on my own to create and burn a CD. Disney won’t provide that to me anymore. I know, I could save all of them to an
external hard drive or a web-based server.
With Photopass + we had 14 days to use the service from the
day of activation. With Memory Maker,
guests have 21 days of service from the first day of activation, which is great
for those taking longer trips.
The amount of time to edit, order, and download photos on the Photopass on-line account remains the same--30 days, though there is an option to pay for an extension to give guests more time.
The pre-order cost for Memory Maker is $149, which is similar
to the cost of Photopass + when pre-ordered.
With Photopass +, guests had to pre-order two weeks prior to their trip
to make time to mail the voucher. Otherwise,
guests had to pay the higher price while at the parks. With Memory Maker, the pre-order timeline is
3 days prior to trip or prior to use to get the pre-order price. The site says that any photos taken within 3
days of purchase will not be included, which means that guests who hear about
it en route or while on their trip, can pre-order, but will not get all of
their Photopass photos. This does not
surprise me, as I have witnessed prospective guests whipping out their smart
phones to conduct Disney business—like checking in on-line after we asked them
if they had—while in the airport or on a Disney bus!
As of this writing, Photopass + is still being honored at Walt
Disney World. I understand that it is
either not currently being sold or will soon not be sold and that Memory Maker
will be the only option available. This also means that guests will no longer have the option of JUST the regular Photopass photos which was a less expensive option, but will have to pay the increased price.
I guess on our next trip, I won’t be wearing a necklace;
just a bracelet—a Magic Band!
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