Photopass Photographers Were Everywhere!

A Photopass Photographer was at the exit to Haunted Mansion.  I guess we did bring a hitchhiking ghost with us!

Yes, it was our 13th trip to Walt Disney World.  Yes, we had pre-purchased Memory Maker and had it linked to our Magical Disney Experience (MDE) account that was linked to our MagicBands.  And, yes, we ended up with 555 photos in our account from four full days in the parks.

Some guests are hesitant to purchase Memory Maker either prior to their trip, which is a discounted $149 (down from $169 just recently--yes, Disney reduced the price of something!) or during their trip--this was $199, but I know the price has been reduced.  Some guests wonder if the product is worth the money.  During our first couple of trips to Walt Disney World way before Memory Maker and MagicBands, we wondered, too.  But sometime around our 2nd or 3rd trip, we realized the purchase of Photopass products, especially at a discounted rate prior to a trip, was definitely worth the money. I've written (and said) this before and I'll write it again. . . how many times have you seen photographs in a garage or yard sale?  Other souvenirs can be outgrown or damaged and yet we often don't hesitate paying $50 for that sweatshirt.  I'll go for photos over stuff anytime!

What made our pre-purchase of Memory Maker even more "worth it" this trip was that we found Photopass Photographers EVERYWHERE!  Okay, not exactly everywhere, I mean, they weren't in the bathrooms, but they were close!  Here's some evidence of where we found Photopass Photographers:

At Disney's Hollywood Studios we found photographers in the Streets of America which was great as this area will be closing April 2.  Sunset Boulevard was another location, both in front of Tower of Terror and also Rock-n-Roller Coaster plaza just under the sign.  

At Pixar Place, a photographer added some surprise guests to our photos.  

 In addition to the traditional spots for photos at EPCOT--in front of Spaceship Earth, we found photographers near the Imagination Pavilion and near some of the topiaries on display for the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival that was starting the day we returned home.

 This series of photos were a surprise!  The boy was exploring the Living Seas Pavilion on his own with a camera.  We were outside the Pavilion and he had a specific return time to find us.  He decided to put himself in some Photopass photos, getting his MagicBand scanned.  Yes, he knows how to do this!

With the Beast's Castle in the background.

Big Thunder Mountain always makes a great background!

 At Magic Kingdom, we found Photopass Photographers at locations beyond Main Street and the hub in front of the Castle.

Prince Eric's Castle in Fantasyland

Cinderella's Castle from the Tomorrowland Bridge

And, of course a visit to Disney's Animal Kingdom would not be complete with a photo of the Tree of Life, but this photo was taken on the backside--on the walk-way between Africa and Asia. 

There you have it, some of our 555 Photopass photos from trip #13.  We can't imagine not having Memory Maker and allowing Disney Photopass Photographers to capture the memories of our magical vacations!

Family Portraits Taken at Downtown Disney's Photopass Studio

We did it again!  We had photos taken at the Photopass Studio at Downtown Disney!

Each trip we try to make at least one stop to the Photopass Studio at Downtown Disney near Guest Services to have family portraits taken by Disney Photopass photographers.

Our experiences have varied from very attentive to obligatory, but each time we have appreciated the variety of photos that were taken and added to our Photopass account. 

Since we had pre-paid for Memory Maker prior to our trip—at a discount—we were happy to add as many Photopass photos to our account as possible.  We then edited and downloaded the photos once we got home—but actually, you can download them anytime after they appear in your account.

The  session did not take long—less than 15 minutes.  The largest portion of time was spent waiting in line for the next available Cast Member.  There were no other guests getting photographed or waiting to be photographed. 

This time, we also arrived in the afternoon.  Previously, we have been there first thing in the morning, which may make a difference in wait times, attentiveness of staff, etc.  

There is no additional fee to have these photos taken.  The only cost is for photo packages, downloads, or print outs.  But since we had Memory Maker already, the photos were added to our Photopass account and then downloaded—all for the cost of Memory Maker.  We had a total of 484 Photopass photos during our week-long vacation and paid $149 (pre-order) price for Memory Maker—that’s like paying 30 cents per photo. 

And, now, we have all of these photos digitally and can use them for a variety of purposes—social media, photo cards, customized gifts, etc. 

"Automagically"--How Ride Photos Are Added to Photopass Accounts With Memory Maker

It is as if Disney heard my plea from our trip in July of 2013 or they were reading my mind when they instituted the ability for ride photos to be “automagically” added on to guests’ Photopass Accounts.

You see, last summer, one of the frustrating parts of purchasing Photopass +, which gave guests the opportunity to add dining photos at select locations along with ride photos to their Photopass Accounts, was having to wait in line at end of the attractions to have the photo loaded to your account.  After queuing up for the ride or attraction, then riding, guests would have to line up again in the photo section in the post-ride store, present their Photopass + card along with the ride photo number to get the ride photo digitally added to their Photopass account. 

This is no longer the case!  Just prior to our trip, Walt Disney World implemented the technology that allows guests to by-pass the photo portion of the store and yet still have the ride photo digitally added to their Photopass account via the Magic Band.  The catch is that guests need to have purchased Memory Maker AND linked Memory Maker to their Magic Band through their My Disney Experience account.

The husband's Magic Band came off right before this!

Memory Maker is the photo package that includes dining photos at select locations and ride/attraction photos, along with any and all Photopass photos taken.  Click here to read more.

Once a guest has linked Memory Maker to their My Disney Experience account—which can also include dining reservations and FastPass + selections, then ride photos are “automagically” added to the guests’ Photopass account as they move through and exit the ride/attraction.

Ride photo with ride border/stamp

And, since we linked Memory Maker to all of our MagicBands, it didn’t matter who rode the ride or who did not—the photos still got added to our account.

Original ride photo before adding border/stamp

The ride photos on Photopass are without borders or ride “stamps” so be sure to add them before downloading.

Automagically was the best word we heard all vacation!  It was so great to stroll through the post-ride stores without having to make a stop at the photo counter.  On the downside, I wonder how this stroll through has affected sales in these locations. 

NOTE:  As of August 12, 2014, guests with an active Memory Maker account will have a video of themselves riding Tower of Terror added to their Photopass account.  We just missed this!   Click here to read more about it and see a video.

Photopass + Is Now Memory Maker

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!