Use a digital camera? Don't let this happen to you!!

[Queen of My Castle]

I emailed this to Disney on Friday and got no response back. Shouldn't they at least say I'm sorry? Am I over-reacting? Should I just forget about it? Here's what I sent them . . .

Guest Relations/Communications,

I am unsure who to send this email to, so if you have received this in error, please pass it on to the proper cast member. I would really appreciate it. I am aware that this is lengthy, but please, please take the time to read it.

My husband, my 3-year-old daughter, and I visited Walt Disney World October 2-9 and had a MAGICAL time!

However, on our last day something happened to us that has made me feel as though our vacation was taken away from our daughter. Our pictures were erased while using the Kodak CD burner at the Town Square Exposition Hall in Magic Kingdom.

While I know that may sound a bit over dramatic, to our family, that is exaclty what it was~a huge loss! We downloaded 120 images from our digital camera to the CD burner from our memory card. It took quite sometime to download them (about 30 minutes). (That machine is VERY slow). However, we had to transfer them so we could use our memory card again. When all of the images were downloaded, my husband purchased the CD and asked the cast member working there what he needed to do next. She told him to follow the directions on the machine and offered no further assistance. When the machine was finshed downloading, he asked if he needed an index card. She asked if it printed one out and he told her no and she said, "Well, then you don't need one then." Irritated by her rudness and lack of assistance, he removed the CD. Then trusting that she knew what she was talking about, he erased our flash card so we could take more pictures.

When we arrived home, we were horrified to find that the CD was blank! We called the number on our receipt and we were given the Qualex number to call on 10/10. I called and while the cast member I spoke to was very sympathetic, she said there was nothing she could do. She explained the machine does not store the photos on its hard drive, so they were gone forever. My heart is broken that these photos are lost. The photos represented our entire time there, so that is why I feel like our vacation was lost to our daughter.

As I stated, I realize that for Kodak and Disney World this is an unfortunate situation, but to our family it was a tragedy. These pictures are the only way our 3 year old has of remembering this trip. And though my husband and I love Disney, this trip was for her and all about her. You see, I planned our entire trip around those “Kodak moments.” I got these ideas from other Disney guests. I want to explain to you what Disney guests do to make wonderful photo memories of a Disney World trip. Kodak and Disney may find this enlightening . . . the lengths guests go to get "that perfect picture."

I purchased costumes (7 in all) from the Disney Store before we left so my daughter could pose with her favorite characters in costume when she received their autograph. Since Minnie Mouse is her favorite I had 3 special outfits custom-made for her in a Minnie Mouse theme. (All I could think about was how cute those pictures were going to be with her in those outfits posing with Minnie!). To see a child in a Minnie Mouse outfit, posing with Minnie~too cute!

I purchased a special scrapbooking album and used the acid-free paper in the album for the autographs. I wanted them to last forever. Though it was hard to keep up with the special pens and paper all week in the parks, I knew it would be worth it when we got home and put her picture with the character by each autographed page. I could just see her looking at that scrapbook and being so proud to show everyone what she had been doing all week!

It is a ton of work to get those pictures and autographs so we planned each day in the parks around the characters’ appearances. We would literally run from one end of the park to the other to catch a special character. (Actually, we planned the entire trip around characters~all for photos). For Ariel, we waited in line over an hour for our 2 pictures with her and her autograph. However, we didn’t mind at all, because we knew how much she would treasure those photos in years to come. When you’re 3, the only thing that helps you remember special times like these are pictures. She is too young to remember the actual trip, but these photos would have always told the story. As the commercial says, “Share Moments Share Life”. I wanted these moments to be perserved forever because the images on the Kodak paper are going to last longer than the images in her young mind. Pictures allow memories to live forever.

Photos tell accurate stories each time you look at them, and since these trips are all for her, I wanted her to always remember these trips even when we weren’t around to tell her. That is why I took such special care purchasing special outfits/costumes, spending valuable park time gathering character autographs and photographs, and spending over $200 in the park on scrapbooking supplies! I wanted her to know she was worth all of that to us. We had little time to ride rides or see attractions because she loved the characters (and her mommy loved the pictures!) I wanted her to look at these one day and think, "Wow, they did this all for me!" That is something a picture can say without using any words at all.

I really am not trying to sound dramatic, but now those memories are lost to her (and to us) forever. We’ll “tell” her about the trip and how we waited in line for pictures and how much Minnie Mouse loved her outfits, but it won’t be the same without the photos to illustrate how much time and care we put into the trip. Because of a cast member's incompetence (or the machine malfunction) these “Moments of Our Lives” are gone forever to a 3 year old who has no other way of remembering.

Since we have a digital camera, I could preview all of our pictures after we took them. If I wasn't snapping pictures, I was previewing them and they were amazing! I know this letter is lengthy, but I want to share this with someone who might have the power to keep this from happening to someone else. Since you work in Guest Relations, I know that the happiness of the guests is your priority. Please allow me to make this tragedy more personal to you and share with you some of our very happy memories (that we lost):

The Princess Breakfast in Norway~
Maddie loved it! We wore two or our princess outfits (yes, I took her in the bathroom in the middle of her breakfast to change so she could have on her Jasmine outfit when Jasmine came to the table!) The pictures were priceless! In one pose, Jasmine and our daughter (dressed identical) did the same pose with their toe pointed and their arms crossed. It was too cute! (And we paid $100 for the 3 of us to eat there~not for the food, but for the pictures.)

Epcot~
We got pictures and autographs of almost all of the main characters hugging and posing with her. (Including Donald Duck and that is the only time we saw him!) Also, we waited about 1/2 hour for Jasmine and Alladin in Morrocco, and again, got wonderful pictures of them!! She also got her picture made with Beauty and the Beast in France (with her Belle dress on of course!). That evening we watched Illuminations (fireworks show). Those pictures were priceless! During Illuminations I got the look of wonder on her face with some fireworks in the background. Also, I got a tear-jerker picture of the back of my husband holding our daughter while they were both looking up to the decorated sky.

MGM~
She HAD to see Woody and Buzz! We were exhuasted but we stood in the line and took her picture as they stamped her special autograph paper. (She talked about them for about an hour after that). I also took tons of pictures of the parade and the Beauty and the Beast show. And then Kermit and Miss Piggy made a rare appearance and we were thrilled to get their autograph and a picture!

Animal Kingdom~
We got a perfect shot of her with the Lion King characters in the entrance. And of course we stood in line at Camp Mickey and got all of their autographs and more pics for our special book. This was also the only place where we saw Lilo and Stitch.

Magic Kingdom~
Ariel! Need I say more?

Chef Mickey’s~
Maddie had on a custom-made white chenille and red polka dot Minnie outfit made especially for this dinner. Minnie made over her let our daughter kiss her on the nose. I got pictures of it all! (It made the $75 I paid for the outfit worth every penny!) Of course the entire dinner was just wonderful and the pictures were awesome!

Now wasn't reading all of that boring? I am truly sorry to have bored you, but that is exactly how my daughter is going to feel when she looks at her photo-less autograph book and I try to tell her all about it with words instead of her seeing it for herself with pictures. I'm sure you would have much rather looked at my pictures than read this.

Again, I know this has been long, but I feel as though our whole trip as been taken away from her. She’ll never remember all of this. We did talk about returning for a long weekend at Thanksgiving or Christmas to retake some of these shots, but we simply can’t afford to go back. Is there anything you can do? Can the hard drive on the CD burner be checked again to see for certain if those pictures are really gone? We transferred the pictures on October 9th around 10:30 am.

The cast members that work with the photos have a huge responsiblity to the guests of Disney World. They cannot afford to be careless with the irreplaceable memories. These digital images have to be handled with extreme care! For some families this is the only way they record their trip, and the young children have no way of remembering it except through the pictures.

I thank you for reading this. I know it is long, but I am just sick about this. If it is in your influence to do so, please help to ensure that other guests don’t have their vacations taken away from them by machine malfunctions (or incompetent employees who don't know how to work the machines). I want SO badly to get pictures of her with characters again to put in her autograph book. I have been crying for days over this and I feel sick every time it crosses my mind. I put all of her autographs in her scrapbook today, but with no pictures. It was horrible!

I have a copy of the reciept for the CD. I can also send you our blank cd if you need it. I don't know what this would help, but I just wanted to mention it.

Has this ever happened before? Please see if something can be done to help my family get their vacation memories back. This was so huge to us. We spent a week in Disney World, ran ourselves silly in the heat to take our daughter's picture with all her character friends, we spent a ton of money on character meals, costumes, etc, but we have nothing to show for it. My husband and I will remember it and look back on it fondly (expect for the pictures!), but this trip is lost to our daughter forever. And she was the reason we spent $3000 to do this in the first place. This is should NEVER happen to another guest. No one should have to spend all of that money, do all of that planning and hard work, and come home empty handed.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

[txSleepingBeauty]

I'm so sorry this happened to you your letter honestly brought tears to my eyes, what a shame you lost all those pricelss memories, I hope that someway somehow you can get them back! I'm so sorry

[pnelson]

You actually lost me a while ago-very lengthy. I don't know what to say. With all that preplanning and expense you went to, how come you didn't buy extra memory cards so you didn't have to unload at Disney World? I'm not sure what Disney can do for you-no one is unfallible, not even Disney. I guess I don't know what to say.

[richiebaseball]

I am so sorry this happened. Please check your PM and good luck.

Richard

[zurgswife]

While I'm extremely sorry that you lost all your precious photos that you spent lots of time and money getting.....

I must agree with the above poster...I would have spent the extra money to make sure I could capture all of the magical moments and purchased an extra memory stick.....

I would never had used a transfer machine that I didn't know how to work. Or had never used before. I would have feared that I would have messed it up.

and your letter is way to long....I would shorten it, be to the point and send it to Al Weiss President of WDW Resort. If you want some sort of compensation from Disney then be up front and ask for what you want. If you just want to let them know then do that....but I would rewrite the letter and send it to Al Weiss's office

[CamColt]

That is a bummer and I feel your pain, although not to your extent. On our trip this past August I had a roll of film that I took some regular pictures on, and special ones in front of the castle(kids in certain outfits) to possibly use on Christmas cards. Then the following day we were in Goofys Jamboree when my film finished and began rewinding. However, it stopped in the middle...long story short, an entire day(including specially posed, and well thought out pictures) were gone. As devasting as it was at the time I know there is nothing that can be done and just some bad luck.
I know theres not much that can be done for you either, but I do hope you feel better about it soon. Theres a good reason to plan another trip...soon! ;)

[Mickey_Maniac]

Queen,
I just wanted to let you know that if you have not reused your memory card yet, or even if you have not used all of it, there may still be a way to get some of your pictures off of the card. There are several data recovery specialty firms that have experience retrieving data that has supposedly been deleted not only from hard drives, but also from flash memory cards. You can check any of the computer trade magazines, or if there is a computer specialty store nearby, check with them.

If you have used all of the memory card again, you may be out of luck, but if not, I would certainly give data recovery a try.

Good Luck...

[jdads2]

This just plane stinks. I feel very badly for you.

Those of you who lay the blame on the poster are in error. She paid for the transfer of her photographs she should expect that the person giving the help should know what they are talking about. What if your computer takes a nose dive and the person on the other end of the phone at the "help" desk tells you to f disk the hard drive. Ooops say goodbye to everything, you did have a current back up didn't you? You expect to be told about that. They are the ones giving the help.

To the poster: photographs of this trip probably won't spark memories of your 3 year old when they're 10 or 12. They'll be looking at those photos as if they were looking at a different person taking a vacation. She'll get more out of you talking about the trip and the way her face lit up when she watched her first parade or when she first met Minnie or Mickey.

You can start making a scrap book of other things that you may have from your trip. Heck we found some napkins from our first trip (100 year celebration). This also makes a great excuse for another WDW trip.

[Dolphin_Girl008]

I'm really sorry that this happened to you.:( We brought 3 memory cards on our last trip. I agree with zurgswife. I would never use a transfer machine that I had never used before.

Good luck!

[jonsmom57]

Oh my god! How sad for you. You went through such great lengths....oh my goodness.

I was planning on doing the same thing with my digital camera. Then you had to pay for that blank CD to boot!. Talk about a kick in the *#!.

I wonder how many times this has happened to others. Is there a place to preview your CD before you take it with you and erase the photos?

Now this is making me think I need to buy another memory card.

Please let us know if they reply in any way. I think they owe you a free trip!

jonsmom

[strawberryblonde]

I wouldn't expect $ compensation to make up for what was lost, pictures are priceless. I wonder if disney could arrange for "backdoor" access to some characters for photo opps though. A courtesy pass into a character meal where all of the characters could gather round for some pics without a wait, front of the line at character meet and greet spots ect. Your pictures are lost forever, I'm very sorry about that. Nothing could ever make it up but I hope you get the chance to retake those pictures soon (before DD outgrows the outfits).

[seashoreCM]

Perhaps you will be going back to WDW not too long from now. You could make a list of the pictures you would like to re-take, and plan on getting just the pictures. You already have the autographs and already enjoyed the breakfasts and dinners so you don't need to repeat doing those, unless you want to.

One person who added a comment mentioned a film camera that jammed partway during its rewind. With the proper know-how, the film can be saved. It would take me a long time to explain.

Not sure if this point is easily understood: Don't erase or discard anything until you have proven that the pictures or information have been preserved on the next stage of the process. In your case, don't erase the memory card until you have a chance to actually play the CD and see the pictures there.

Understanding how to use complex technological equipment will never be a quick and easy process. No wonder instruction manuals are so fat.

Disney hints:
http://www.cockam.com/disney.htm

[crystalb]

It stinks -- but anything is possible. On one trip I had a roll of film I shot at WDW screwed up beyond repair by the processing clerk.
After making a stink I got a (blank) replacement roll and a coupon. :rolleyes:

[piglets]

That is brutal. If they are going to offer the equipment to perform such tasks, there should be someone there that is qualified on how to use it. Disney knows that vacation pictures cannot be replaced!

At the very least, there should be a way of checking to see that your pics have been loaded onto the cd properly. Then, and only then can you feel good about erasing your card.

As for your letter, I would agree with some of the others -- try and condense it to something shorter and ask for either some sort of explanation or compensation.

Take care.

[NHLFAN]

Sorry about your loss...

We just returned back from WDW where we used our digital camera everyday...I had a (2) 64meg and (1) 128meg memory ($39 at Costco) stick and didn't have to download as I still had space remaining.

You would think Disney/Kodak would do the transfering for you and then have you review the disc w/ index card...just like when you get your film developed.

After reviewing the disc then you could make the chioce of formating the memory for reuse.

Like the "Mickey_Maniac" said maybe you can recover some of your photos...

Best of Luck...

[sm4987]

So sorry that this happend to you. I know how I would feel if I lost all of our memories on disk. I would try the data recovery. Maybe there is still hope.

[HauntedMansionGeek]

I feel terrible for you! All that planning and money spent.

At this point I'm also feeling really REALLY glad I have a camera that takes a simple floppy disk as it's film!!!

I hope you have some luck trying some of the recovery methods others have suggested. Maybe you'll discover a few of your pictures hiding!!! Good luck!!!

[CamColt]

Originally posted by seashoreCM


One person who added a comment mentioned a film camera that jammed partway during its rewind. With the proper know-how, the film can be saved. It would take me a long time to explain.
]

Youre right! I later found out that this tiny button on top of the camera is for just that. All I would have had to do was stick a pen in it and it would have rewound. Of course I found that out after I had a heart attack at the park, tried rewinding it with my hands and ended up with the whole film all out and exposed. :rolleyes: Live and learn, I guess.

[MollyBelle]

I was reading this letter thinking "this is something that would happen to me"....

I am a VERY LIKE YOU mom in that I do these kind of things for my little girls and I like things for them "just so"... I'm also a scrapbooker, and take a LOT OF STOCK in my photos.

Sooo, I am just SICK for you.

People may think this is melodramatic or too lengthy, etc., but I was feeling it to my toes.

In addition, on a DAILY BASIS, I am both angered and saddened by the state of the retail industry in general. People just DON'T CARE about customers (no skin off their noses if a customer doesn't know how to work the machine)...so, they don't help. I run into this so often in stores where I know more about their products from having shopped there for years than THEY do...

Anyway, just wanted to comisserate...I will be thinking of you, and checking back to see if you've received a response or any good suggestions~

[GoldenOldie]

Check out a software program called WinHex (http://www.x-ways.net/winhex/index-m.html). I have used it more than once to recover photos accidentally deleted too soon. It has a free evaluation period so you can try it out to see if it will do the job for you.

[Pugsley]

I’m so sorry – that must have been devastating to you and it’s terrible that the cast member wasn’t more helpful. I know how important it is to have pictures of special events. But the trip wasn’t taken away from your daughter. It sounds like she had a wonderful experience and I’m sure that she will have fond memories. Something that bothers me a bit is that many people these days seem to live their vacations through the pictures instead of the actual experience. I don’t understand people who spend their whole vacation behind a video camera or plan everything they do around the pictures they’ll get. Isn’t it more important to experience the real thing than to look at pictures of it?

[Queen of My Castle]

I really appreciate all of your sympathetic post. I was very hesitant to even post this, thinking I was over reacting. Your sympathies have brought me some much needed comfort over this situation.

And yes, we should have bought and extra memory card. Next time we will!! I guess I just couldn't think of everything.

And as with all unfortunate situations, I have learned a lesson about vacation memories. Pugsley, you hit it right on the nose, our next vacation will be spent enjoying the parks more and taking pictures less. I ran my poor daughter and husband ragged to get those great "memories". Next time we'll take it at a slower pace and my purpose will be for enjoyment, not photos.

And thank you for the suggestions on condensing the letter. I will do that, send it by snail mail (since the emails went unnoticed) to Disney and Kodak and will let you know if I hear anything back.

Thanks again for you sweet thoughts and replies. You guys are just the best!

[sters]

Please let us know how you make out with both Dinsey and Kodak! At the very least, Disney should recompense the cost of the cd download process and reprimand the rather useless "help" person. We expect a higher level of customer service at disney. I've learned a lot of lessons from your experience, as I'm sure a lot of have, so thank you for sharing your story. Good luck!

[LvsTnk]

Thank you for sharing your experience! You have been given such great advice and I hope your next trip is just as magical!!:D

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by crystalb
It stinks -- but anything is possible. On one trip I had a roll of film I shot at WDW screwed up beyond repair by the processing clerk.
After making a stink I got a (blank) replacement roll and a coupon. :rolleyes:

Very small compensation and it sould not have required a stink either.

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by Queen of My Castle
I really appreciate all of your sympathetic post. I was very hesitant to even post this, thinking I was over reacting. Your sympathies have brought me some much needed comfort over this situation.

And yes, we should have bought and extra memory card. Next time we will!! I guess I just couldn't think of everything.

And as with all unfortunate situations, I have learned a lesson about vacation memories. Pugsley, you hit it right on the nose, our next vacation will be spent enjoying the parks more and taking pictures less. I ran my poor daughter and husband ragged to get those great "memories". Next time we'll take it at a slower pace and my purpose will be for enjoyment, not photos.

And thank you for the suggestions on condensing the letter. I will do that, send it by snail mail (since the emails went unnoticed) to Disney and Kodak and will let you know if I hear anything back.

Thanks again for you sweet thoughts and replies. You guys are just the best!

I had a thought, I remembered customers with the same problem.

Do me a favor and put that disc in your computer. After it loads, go to "my computer", click on that, go to the drive letter that your cd uses right click on that icon and then hit properties. That should tell you if the cd has anything on it or not. It should show a 'pie chart" with how much space is on the CD and how much is free and used. If any of it is used you probably have photos on it and need something to open it with. Take it to your local one hour place and see if they can help.

The machine is slow because it is transferring huge amounts of data, there is really no fast consumer machine on the market for this.

The Kodak "picture maker" (which I HATE with a passion) is supposed to be self service, but, it is the least user friendly piece of equipment I have ever seen. Not sure if that is what Disney is using or not.


I am hoping that this is just a matter of not having the correct software to view the cd.

[rykdad]

After reading this post I will make sure I bring extra memory AND upload the pictures onto my laptop every night. I won't delete the pictures from memory until I return and have prints made and back up to CD. I actually feel that with these options Digital cameras give me an extra degree of protection. I've had film ruined on more than one occasion by being stuck during rewind and once I had double-exposed film by not fully rewinding and then re-using the sme roll of film (although this did create an interesting picture that made it look like the Stautue of Liberty was on my deck!).

[caribbeanme]

please keep us posted on what happens! i have a trip coming up and was thinking about purchasing a digital camera, so this serves as a cautionary tale...

also, i agree with a couple of the initial posters-- if you shorten the letter a bit and send it again to the head of the company, you may get a more comprehensive response from the company. if they offer some sort of compensation, maybe a character dinner would help. she may not fit into the costumes, :(, but she will prob. love the pics that come out of it nonetheless.

finally, i was a disney kid, and my mom also took many pictures of me in full disney regalia. :) when i was looking through old pics to add a couple to my collection, i ended up picking just one, the one that actually had a great story behind it (a big ol' drama involving me being afraid of goofy...) i keep it not because i necessarily remember it, but because i love forcing my mom to tell the story, again and again. if you can't retrieve the pictures with some of the techniques described here, perhaps you can make a scrapbook with the ones you have and write down the stories behind them (some are already in your original e-mail). while she probably won't remember the specifics, she will love those moments when you take the scrapbook out and share the stories...she also prob. will be secretly pleased that her mom loved her so much to try and put this all together for her :)

good luck!

[maidmarion]

:( I am so sorry this happened to you. I would be beyond crushed. It's cool that you learned a lesson from the experience and whatnot, but it doesn't bring the pics back! When we get back from our trip, I'd be happy to send some pics of certain places (without us in them) that you wished you'd gotten to take home!

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Oh man.... reading this just brought tears to my eyes. I'm so sorry this happened to you. Maybe I can relate because I ALMOST went through a somewhat similar situation- not by WDW employee's blame... but on our first trip to WDW I also did a lot of picture taking (regular and digi camera) plus video taping.... and my youngest was 2 at the time so I can relate in that way also. We lost our regular camera (with film from that whole day) on the day we spent at Epcot and I was frantic. I thought I'd left it in the bathroom on the way out and we called- no one found it. We went back and looked- wasn't there.
Turned out later that my DH had put it in the stroller and put the stroller in the van- so it was found.... but for most of the evening there I had a somewhat similar feeling as you have now... Epcot was also where we did the princess breakfast and saw the most characters for pictures. I thought I'd lost it all.

Also I can relate somewhat because every year we take pictures of our children since my oldest (almost 10) was a baby -with Santa for Christmas. The first one that would have included our youngest at 6mo old- we decided to purchase the disk instead of pictures- that way I could take it home and make copies in any size I wanted on kodak paper and such. We did this the last day Santa was in the malls right before Christmas and you guessed it- got home and the disk was blank. So there's a year missing in our Santa/kids pictures and it IS depressing when I think about it or put the pictures out every Christmas with one year missing. Some may think that's being melodramatic... but to me it was/is important and makes me sick that it's missing. I'd feel the same way if all my pictures from a trip to WDW were missing- especially if the entire trip was spent painstakingly taking pictures. :(

I hope there is someway you can get your pictures back.. I'll be crossing my fingers for you. I can totally understand your disappointment and I do NOT think you are overreacting or being dramatic... I can totally understand how important those pictures are to you. :(

[zulaya]

I feel your pain. My advice, is if you can't take extra memory, make the trip to WalMart in Kissimmee and use their 1 hour photo.

[Kallison]

Originally posted by pnelson
You actually lost me a while ago-very lengthy. I don't know what to say. With all that preplanning and expense you went to, how come you didn't buy extra memory cards so you didn't have to unload at Disney World? I'm not sure what Disney can do for you-no one is unfallible, not even Disney. I guess I don't know what to say.

I agree with the above, I don't think all the blame lies with Disney. I'm amazed at the lengths you went to, personally I would rather spend the time enjoying the parks with my kids.

[jazyjewel]

I must admit I was very leery of using that too. I had purchased a 256mb card, but I like to take tons of pictures. On our 4th day there, I already had taken 250 pictures, so I needed more space. I went to the one at the Contemporary resort and I had the same problem with the CM there. I asked like 3 times, are you sure my pictures are on here. All she said was did you follow the directions?? Then yes, they are. I was scared to death they would not be there, but luckily when we got home they were there. Next time I will just dish out the extra $90 and get two cards.

You said you were going back again at Thanksgiving, I would ask Disney if there is some way that you can see the characters and get photo ops without having to wait in line for hours again. You may not be able to recreate the pictures, but yu may be able to get some really great ones with one on one interaction!!

Julie

[Geoff_M]

Sorry to hear of your loss. I agree that the CM should have been more helpful in addressing your concerns about whether or not the images had properly burned to the CD. However, you unknowingly violated one of the cardinal rules of digital photography: Don't wipe your cards clean until you're sure that their images are safely stored on a durable media source (like a CD). If you follow that rule, your chances of losing images will be reduced to almost zero. The fact that it didn't produce an index card should have been a red flag. Even if the CM tried to blow you off, you should have pressed the issue... particularly given the value of the images. I'm sorry if this sounds like "blaming the victim", but it's a lot like making sure that important data on your computer is backed up... a lot of people don't understand the importance of this until you've been burned good once.

As for feeling more secure using floppies instead of digital media... don't count on it. The magnetic media of floppies is very much susceptable to dust, hair/fiber, smoke, and moisture damage as well as physical "drop-out" of the media itself over time. I've had a lot more floppies turn up unreadable in drives than CompactFlash cards. Don't do this at home, but I know people that have put CF cards (not micro-drives) through the laundry, ran over them with their car, and dropped them in mud puddles with no loss of images.

As for expecting an results from your letter, the best you can hope for is that they'll give some remedial customer service training to the CMs running the CD burning stations. In the imaging business, service providers usually severly limit their liability. Even when a lab (even professional ones) royally messes up your film, they limit their liability to the roll of film itself. Like you said, your images are "priceless" and they agree with you.

[WDSearcher]

Originally posted by Queen of My Castle
I will do that, send it by snail mail (since the emails went unnoticed) to Disney and Kodak and will let you know if I hear anything back.

One comment I have to make is that, according to your timeline, you sent your e-mail to Disney on October 10. It's now the 16th. Think of how long it can sometimes take some of us to go through all of our e-mails, read them, and respond. Then think of the number of e-mails that Disney must get on a daily basis. Sure, they've got a batch of people reading, forwarding and responding, but still. Give them some time, y'know?

Also, as others have mentioned, you didn't really put anywhere in your letter what you expect Disney to do. Honestly, if they had sent back an e-mail a day later saying, "Thank you for your letter. We're so sorry about the pictures," and that was it, would you have been satisfied? It's going to take them some time to read your note, trying to figure out an appropriate response.

If you do decide to snail mail a letter, please be aware of the sheer volume of mail Disney gets in a day. While the loss of these pictures is, indeed, extremely important thing to you, it is one of several hundred extremely important things that get written to Disney about every day. Give them a reasonable time to respond, and tell them what kind of a response you expect.

:earsboy:

[safetymom]

I agree with Geoff_M. You should always carry several cards while you are out shooting with the digital camera. That way if one is lost or doesn't work you haven't lost all your photos.

Memory cards are cheap and you should have several. Never delete the images from the card until you are sure that your computer can read the disk and see the images. Also you should always have 2 copies of your photos to be considered backed up. You also should make copies of your cd's every couple of years because cd's can deteriorate over time.

Floppy disks are terrible for me with keeping information. I am so glad that they came out with other formats for storing information. Also for printing photos a floppy doesn't hold enought information to print large size photos.

[NotUrsula]

If you want a complaint letter to get quick and serious consideration, always send it via certified mail, with a receipt requested. That will shoot it straight to the top of the inbox.

I agree that your experience was an unfortunate one, but that letter is WAY too long and convoluted to be effective. You are more likely to get a meaningful response if you cut it to less than one page in length, and attach a copy of the photo center receipt so that they can identify the machine and the clerk in charge at the time. Also, you need to tell them what sort of compensation you want.

[bunnyfoo]

Wow! I'm so sorry that you lost all of your pictures... I can only imagine how you feel, I've lost a roll here or there from my film camera but to lose more than 100 pictures ... :(

I hope a data recovery service can get your pictures back for you. I will keep my fingers crossed for you :)

It's so hard to tell how many pictures you'll take when you're at Disney. A year ago, I took a 64 and 8 MB card and I thought that would be enough :laughing: Boy was I wrong!

Please let us know what happens with the memory card and if Disney replies to your leter :)

[Cinderella37]

I'm so sorry that you lost all of your pictures. I know I'd be devastated and my fiance and I don't even have children. Regarding how much time to wait for a response from Disney, I have to agree with WDSearcher. I sent a letter to Guest Services in July and just received a phone call and letter about a week ago. My issue was quite different (I know you can't put a price on photographs) and involved a large monetary amount spent on poor service. I know that Disney researches complaints very well and will surely investigate your experience. They really do make an effort with each complaint they receive. This, combined with the amount of mail they receive, is why it takes so long to hear from them sometimes.

Disney gets a huge amount of snail mail, as well as email, so I'd give them at least two months to respond to you. While Disney may be sympathetic to your situation, I wouldn't expect sizable compensation from them. I'm sure they'll try to compensate you somehow, but it just may be a refund of the price of the CD. I agree that photos are priceless and feel so bad for you... I'd much rather have a service problem at WDW and come home with pictures, and it sounds like you had both.

[tinkerbela]

i am so sorry to hear about the loss of your pictures. i know i would be very, very devastated if i lost all of my pictures. i took over 400 during our last trip and would upset even today if i lost all of my pictures.
but i must thank you for the useful tip. i will stay clear of those machines when rob and i go next september. because of this incident, it makes me want to buy more memory cards.
i'm surprised disney hasn't emailed you yet on the subject. i would find a number and call them instead of waiting for an email response. i know being on hold isn't fun, but isn't it better to be on hold on the phone than holding your breath for an email?

[emmagata]

I agree with Gail (again, imagine that!) about checking to see if there's anything on the disk even though your computer shows nothing.

There are several ways to do this.

One is to look at the side of the disk that gets written on. Look to see if there's a visible "ring". Like a tree. This would indicate that something is there. If there's something there, you might be able to get the data off it.

Another possibility is that the CD wasn't created properly.

If you have a CD burner, put the CD in the burner. Most CD burning programs can check the status of the disk to see if it's blank or not. If it's not blank, *** MAKE A COPY FIRST!!! *** of the disk. After that, try to add a file to the CD (just a small) one. If you can do that, make sure you "CLOSE" (or finalize) the CD. This will tell the CD burner program to make the CD readable on a PC.

Lastly, find the geekiest computer nerd you can find and ask for help. :)

[charabby]

I definitely could be wrong, but I think depending upon the type of CD, if she adds a file it will write over whatever is there. It would have to be the type of CD that you can add to which I would think is not what is used to create the CDs since you wouldn't be adding to - the pics are moved in one big chunk.

Anyway, I agree with others. They might be there and for some reason you can't get to them. A local camera store that also creates those CDs (like Ritz) might be able to help you. Their staff should be knowledgeable and are generally more helpful than a barely trained tech elsewhere.

[Sally Bradley]

As a pro photographer, I've learned to goof-proof by own sure-to-happen goof-ups. :p

A couple of ideas:

I always carry BOTH a digital and a 35 mm. If the batteries on the digital die...AND I suddenly remember I forgot to recharge the backups, I still have another option available. Yup, its alot of equipment to carry...but I never miss the important pics.

Take a laptop w/you. You can transfer your own photos to cd and be positive they're there BEFORE you wipe clean the photo disc. Or, as another option you could upload them to an online photo service.

Even buying a couple of "disposable" cameras and carrying them with you is a great option. The film used in them is actually pretty good. They're lightweight and very portable. If it wasnt for my daughter's disposables last trip, we would have missed the "home airport" photos of meeting Daddy. I ran out of film for my 35 mm just before we left for the airport.

No matter what the event, I ALWAYS shoot some type of 35 mm even when I'm mainly relying on the digital during the shoot. Digitals can be very touchy in some lighting situations, so this always ensures in some way, I WILL get at least some photos out of a shoot. You dont have to shoot as MANY film pics, but at least it gives you a backup for your digital in case of a mishap.

Its alot of work...maybe too much bother for most people, but I live by pictures...(and have 12 scrapbooks to prove it) :rolleyes: To me, making sure I have the photos I want is worth the trouble.

Hope this provides some food for thought...

Sally

[want2go2disney]

I am like the OP and cherish pictures beyond what most people do. I love photography and love looking at pictures!

Here's a thought:
Make a "Disney Remembered" video of your daughter. Interview her like she is on Oprah or something. Dress her in the costumes that you purchased, while you talk about her "meeting Ariel", and "remember when you & Jasmine looked like twins?!" How exciting....You can be offscreen conducting the interview. You could edit it after you're done. This way, you may see WDW through her eyes again and you'll have this tape for her to see & hear herself remember.

When we went on the Disney Wonder and were on Castaway Cay, my kids were in the ocean for the first time together. Priceless moment~wanted LOTS of pictures. Grabbed the camera (SLR) and a roll of film and started snapping like a turtle. Then we found a beautiful scenic area with lots of colorful flowers, ran the kids over there to shoot that scene. Then saw Minnie in her beach outfit and waited in line for DD to stand with her. end of roll. Go to change the roll, what do I find? I had been taking these beautiful color photos not with the HD film, but the B&W film! I was crushed. But, I didn't let it ruin my time. When we got our photos developed back home, we have received SO MANY compliments on the B & W photos in the ocean! Imagine that!

Had my camera & camcorder STOLEN on our trip to Manzanillo, Mexico. I had to tell myself "must have left it on the couch", but deep down I knew, it was gone. Luckily I had brought some disposable cameras--Luckily, my children weren't with me, so I didn't feel so crushed about not getting the good ones of them.

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by charabby
I definitely could be wrong, but I think depending upon the type of CD, if she adds a file it will write over whatever is there. It would have to be the type of CD that you can add to which I would think is not what is used to create the CDs since you wouldn't be adding to - the pics are moved in one big chunk.

Anyway, I agree with others. They might be there and for some reason you can't get to them. A local camera store that also creates those CDs (like Ritz) might be able to help you. Their staff should be knowledgeable and are generally more helpful than a barely trained tech elsewhere.

If it is not a rewritable CD you have no worries about erasing or overwriting anything. She needs to look on the CD for the letters
CD-RW, if the cd has this then she needs to not mess with it.
John, is right, it may not have been finalized hence, unless she has a burner, she will not be able to view it. If the CD has not been finalized, you can add stuff until it is full, unlike a floppy, you cannot overwrite anything, it is burned into the CD not copied onto a magnetic base.

[seashoreCM]

Just because a CD is not re-writeable does not protect you from overwriting. If you make a mistake and the software is not top notch, you will overwrite things, damaging the old data.

[Tiger926]

I am sorry to hear of your problem - hopefully you can recover some pictures. By the way, this wasn't your fault, sure you will now be more prepared for next time by carrying an extra memory card, but the fact remains that Disney/Kodak should have only fully trained and certified cast members working with digital media, period.

In relation to this, I am known as an amateur consumer advocate to friends & family (have retail/customer service experience). Being an English teacher, writing is a passion of mine. That being said, I send letters of concern, as well as praise on a daily basis to a variety of companies (eg. retail, airlines, Disney, food products, etc...) and I do it all by email. I have always received a response, and in many cases, I receive free products, certificates and personal response letters just to name a few. The tricks that I teach my students are:

1. be concise
2. be specific
3. always let them know what you expect them to do (eg. change a policy, train staff, compensate you)
4. make sure letter is well written (no spelling or grammatical errors)


Your letter is quite lengthy, so you need to have a reasonable timeframe in mind in which to receive a response. Since it's Disney, I'd wait several weeks for sure. Send a much shorter follow-up email, and if no response, then send a handwritten letter. Companies are very busy and they need time in order to respond. Sending too many copies of the same letter will only serve to frustrate them and they will then take even longer to respond.

Good luck with your pursuit. I hope that the emotional memories of your trip aren't spoiled or forgotten because of this error.

Tiger

[madcoco]

So Sorry to hear.:( We had our video camera and tapes stolen at the airport from our DD's birthday trip a few years ago. Learned a lesson to carry our tapes separate from the video camera. We know what a horrible feeling that is.

Here is another site that may provide info to help recover lost images:

Photo Recovery (http://www.flashfixers.com/)

Wish you the best.pirate:

[katrina1122]

but unfortunately these things do. While it wasn't a disney honeymoon...we lost 2 rolls of film to the developing labs at eckerd drug last year of our honeymoon. This was last Novemeber and they still claim to have a trace on it so they refuse to compensate us in any way. If they haven't found them at this point, they never will. We had brought my bouquet and center pieces from the reception and decorated the suite with them, and unwrapped several presents and put them in front of the fireplace...spent alot of time with the pictures and they are all lost...sure we have the memories, but its not the same as I too was scrapbooking our honeymoon. Unfortunately though I've come to realize that no matter what you do its the moment that really matters. And while you say your trip was for your daughter, it really was for you...a 3 yr old won't remember those moments even from a picture, you and your husband would have, but now you'll have to remember them without the pictures and you know what? It really isn't as hard as you might think. Of course now I take even more pictures than I used to, but i'm not as picky about them and I don't worry if things don't come out.
I'm not sure if this came out as I intended it to, but I guess my point is that memories are not lost because you lost pictures. You would of have had them even if you didn't have the camera, even if you had the trip you had with all of the character meets...she had fun didn't she? That's what mattered most.

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by seashoreCM
Just because a CD is not re-writeable does not protect you from overwriting. If you make a mistake and the software is not top notch, you will overwrite things, damaging the old data.

You are absolutely correct and add to that, reading the instructions.

[Queen of My Castle]

I am overwhelmed at the kind words I have received from this post. I have been a "lurker" to this board for months, but really haven't posted much. Now I feel as though I have an extended family related by "disney blood". http://disboards.com/newreply.php?s=&action=newreply&threadid=453139# I have always been impressed by the quality of people that post on here. I asked my husband to read all of these responses and even he was touched. Thank you all so much for your kind thoughts and wonderful suggestions.

I did want to let you know that I received an email back from Kodak today asking that a copy of the receipt and the disk be sent to them. They gave me the name and address to send it to and said they would have a "team of experts" look to see if they could recover anything from the disk.

I will let you know if anything turns up.

Thanks again. You all are amazing!

[Queen of My Castle]

I am overwhelmed at the kind words I have received from this post. I have been a "lurker" to this board for months, but really haven't posted much. Now I feel as though I have an extended family related by "disney blood". I have always been impressed by the quality of people that post on here. I asked my husband to read all of these responses and even he was touched. Thank you all so much for your kind thoughts and wonderful suggestions.

I did want to let you know that I received an email back from Kodak today asking that a copy of the receipt and the disk be sent to them. They gave me the name and address to send it to and said they would have a "team of experts" look to see if they could recover anything from the disk.

I will let you know if anything turns up.

Thanks again. You all are amazing!

[Geoff_M]

we lost 2 rolls of film to the developing labs at eckerd drug last year of our honeymoon. This was last Novemeber and they still claim to have a trace on it so they refuse to compensate us in any way.If you look at the claim check you get when you drop off your film, you will (in all likelihood) see that Eckerd has a disclaimer that limits their liability to fresh replacement rolls of film in the event that they lose or damage your film. That's standard legal boilerplate in the photo finishing industry.

[Taylor]

I agree totally with the post of tiger926. I wish you the best of luck in recovering your precious memories.

[emmagata]

Originally posted by GAIL HAYDEN
You are absolutely correct and add to that, reading the instructions.

On a write once CD, the data is never written over. It can't be. What happens is a new "table of contents" is written which may not allow the old data to show up in a directory listing. It's still very possible that the raw data can be retrieved. The mechanics of getting data off a CD is differnent than getting data off a hard drive.

Reading the instructions is for wimps. So are maps. :)

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by emmagata
On a write once CD, the data is never written over. It can't be. What happens is a new "table of contents" is written which may not allow the old data to show up in a directory listing. It's still very possible that the raw data can be retrieved. The mechanics of getting data off a CD is differnent than getting data off a hard drive.

Reading the instructions is for wimps. So are maps. :)

I knew that . :) Dee owns a computer business, he gives me all this great stuff to play with and teaches me all sorts of good stuff.
I don't explain it well, but, eventually someone, like you John, comes along and figures out what I am trying to say.

I always read instructions, call me a wimp if you wish. LOL I do not read maps, can't.

As to wimps and instructions, that is one reason I HATE the Kodak Picture maker, no one read the DARN instructions. Drove me batty.

[Dan Murphy]

Originally posted by Queen of My Castle
I am overwhelmed at the kind words I have received from this post. I have been a "lurker" to this board for months, but really haven't posted much. Now I feel as though I have an extended family related by "disney blood". I have always been impressed by the quality of people that post on here. I asked my husband to read all of these responses and even he was touched. Thank you all so much for your kind thoughts and wonderful suggestions.

I did want to let you know that I received an email back from Kodak today asking that a copy of the receipt and the disk be sent to them. They gave me the name and address to send it to and said they would have a "team of experts" look to see if they could recover anything from the disk.

I will let you know if anything turns up.

Thanks again. You all are amazing! Yes, very nice people here, QoMC. Very caring. And good luck with the recovery of the pictures.

[HauntedMansionGeek]

[i]Originally posted by Geoff_M

As for feeling more secure using floppies instead of digital media... don't count on it. The magnetic media of floppies is very much susceptable to dust, hair/fiber, smoke, and moisture damage as well as physical "drop-out" of the media itself over time. I've had a lot more floppies turn up unreadable in drives than CompactFlash cards. Don't do this at home, but I know people that have put CF cards (not micro-drives) through the laundry, ran over them with their car, and dropped them in mud puddles with no loss of images.




Ahh but you don't keep the images on those frail floppies. The minute you get home you transfer them to a longer lasting media.
Add to that the fact that if you do have a problem with a floppy soon after you've taken those precious photos, it's only the one floppy.......your entire set of photos isn't ruined by that single hair, just the one disk is lost! LOL

Yeah, I really really REALLY like my camera, can you tell?? :teeth:

To the original poster, keeping my fingers crossed for ya that you can get a whole bunch of your photos recovered.
And if that doesn't happen, it does offer a great excuse to go back to the World! :smooth:

[Danauk]

Like many people on this board I feel very sorry for what happened but am glad that disney have replied to you and are trying to help get some of the photos back for you. I too have lost precious holiday photos before through no fault of my own when on holiday in Paris. However now that I use a digital camera I always make sure I have enough memory cards with me so that I can download them at home on a system I trust. I can see that you spent a lot of time and money on this holiday and perhaps in future you will take enough cards with you for the whole trip.At least though you still have your memories and some photos. Also you now have a very good excuse to go again!!
Good luck in trying to get some photos back.
Dana

[zurgswife]

Originally posted by Queen of My Castle
I am overwhelmed at the kind words I have received from this post. I have been a "lurker" to this board for months, but really haven't posted much. Now I feel as though I have an extended family related by "disney blood". I have always been impressed by the quality of people that post on here. I asked my husband to read all of these responses and even he was touched. Thank you all so much for your kind thoughts and wonderful suggestions.

I did want to let you know that I received an email back from Kodak today asking that a copy of the receipt and the disk be sent to them. They gave me the name and address to send it to and said they would have a "team of experts" look to see if they could recover anything from the disk.

I will let you know if anything turns up.

Thanks again. You all are amazing!

I sending you lots of Pixie dust http://badshoe.com/PD.gif

[KProuty]

Your letter should be extremely important to Disney and Kodak! It highlights a HUGE error in their process. Since the process of transferring files is not error-proof, as you have shown, a computer should be available at every processing center where you can immediately take the disk over to VERIFY the transfer!

I for one, am VERY happy you posted this. And if I were an executive at Disney or Kodak, I would be checking the process and doing everything in my power to fix it so it never happens to another customer.

We are talking brand here... and this gives both brands a huge black eye. Here's hoping that they come through and that they treat this problem seriously -- as they should.

Katherine

[kessieann]

I totally feel for you. I am a huge scrapbooker and would just be sick if this happened. I also would guess that you wrote your letter when you were feeling the strong emotions in your gut which would explain its length.

You have been given some great suggestions to hopefully retrieve or get some type of reimbursement. I just wanted you to know that you are not alone because I would have felt just as devastated. Due to your experience we are rethinking some things and that is a huge help to us so thank you.

1) Extra memory cards
2) Not to stress so much over the "Kodak moments" that it takes over the real in the moment memories that can be created.

Best of luck to you and huge HUGS!!!

[kathleena]

Being a scrapbooker and an obcessive planner, my heart breaks for you.

I would give Disney some time to answer you. I have emailed them twice in the past two years about something and they have had someone call me both times. It took up to a few weeks each time.

Just be more patient for them to respond.

[smfnj]

Originally posted by piglets
That is brutal. If they are going to offer the equipment to perform such tasks, there should be someone there that is qualified on how to use it.

It is terrible to have all your pictures lost, however, there are 10's of thousands of these kiosks around the country. They are self serve and "use at your own risk". Perhaps Disney should have somebody available at their kiosk to assist guests in burning their cd's.

steve

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by smfnj
It is terrible to have all your pictures lost, however, there are 10's of thousands of these kiosks around the country. They are self serve and "use at your own risk". Perhaps Disney should have somebody available at their kiosk to assist guests in burning their cd's.

steve

Steve, that would defeat the purpose of self serve.
I am not convinced that she has lost her pictures, I think she has not installed the software, from her camera mfg or kodak, to view them.

[Vinnie The Pooh]

As is everyone else I was very sorry to hear about your plight. I too was considering using one of those machines because I forgot to bring the power cord for my laptop (DUH!!) and could not upload pics after the battery died. I tried to get a new power cord but they were way too much. Instead I found a walmart and bought a 128M CF card for $48.00. WARNING: Anyone who is looking for addtional media in the Orlando area be careful when dealing with some of the big "Camera" stores that are all over the place. I went to a "Cameras Unlimited" for a 128M CF card and he pulled one down which had a price of $199.00 on it. I asked why it was so much and he countered with "Oh that one is really $89.99". I asked why he was asking $90.00 for something that can be pucahed for $50.00 elsewhere and then he said he would "give me a deal" and let me have it for $59.00. I think if I didn't know enough I would have ended up paying $199.00. I wonder if they do this to unsuspecting people who may have just purchaed a new digital camera for their Florida vacation.

[frndshpcptn]

I'm sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with Picture Maker. Let us know if Kodak is able to recover any of your photos. I've worked with them before and they are usually very helpful and competant.

Good luck!

[gillis95]

My tip:
We were on a trip in Switzerland and my camera did not rewind all the way. I was in a panic and then I saw a local camera shop and not speaking the Swiss German they spoke I was not sure if I could communicate my problem. I guess I did because the lady pulled out a black cloth covered box and put my camera inside and then her hands through 2 arm holes and worked her magic and pulled out my rolled film!!!! So if you ever get into a 'jam' with a film camera..don't fiddle with it yourself, take it to a camera shop (even in WDW) and I'm sure they would have a similar contraption to help.

[want2go2disney]

any updates?

[frndshpcptn]

Has Kodak been able to help recover any pictures?

[C.Ann]

I'm a photo fanatic too, so my heart goes out to you.. :(

Have you heard back from Kodak yet?

[LvsTnk]

I'd really like to know if you recovered your pix?:) I can't believe that Something can't be done.

My DH just had his cell phone go haywire and had to purcahse a new one. There was a service that actually took over 200 phone #'s off his old phone and downloaded them onto his new one. He wouldn't have cared what they charged it was invaluable to him but the cost was very reasonable.

Stiill wishing you good luck!!::yes::

[minnmick77]

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate mishap. You may want to try a program called CDRx Data Recovery it's available for download at arrowkey.com. This program can sometimes recover any information that is "lost" or in error on a cd. Or maybe you can contact the manufacturer of your memory to see if there is anyway to retreive the lost data. Hope this helps!!

[markarenjj]

Hi
I too felt very sorry for the original poster, we are coming from the UK for the 5th time (first time in Dec) and i'm bring my iBook with me. Everyday i'll be backing up my digital files via iPhoto and archiving to CD after each trip to the parks!

Better safe than sorry!

Also going to MVMCP which sounds excellent, snow (ok, Disney snow) and shorts in December, that will be very strange!

[jeankeri]

My DH just gave me a digital camera for Christmas (early for the holiday, but just in time for our trip!). Having heard about your experience with downloading @ the park, I asked for more memory sticks for my birthday (not until June- but they'll come in handy now!). So, now I will be traveling with 32MB, 256 MB and 1GB! Memory problem (hopefully solved), are there any other precautions I should know about for the camera/memory cards? Can they get damaged/erased going through the airport, etc? I am a complete digital newbie- any advice appreciated!

Queen of my Castle- thank you for sharing your experience. Having NO background in digital photos, I can see the same thing happening to me. If Kodak is making moves into digital photography and want their 35mm customers to come along for the ride, they should be giving knowledgeable (and polite) assistance to those customers!

[frndshpcptn]

Kodak isn't just coming into the digital photography field. They have been a player in the digital photography field since 1975. In fact, it was a Kodak enigneer who created the first digital camera back then. There is a really good article on it in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. I feel bad for the original poster's loss, but it was a combination of forces at fault that caused the loss of photos, the blame doesn't rest squarely on Kodak's shoulders...

[safetymom]

jeankeri , you might want to rethink your 1 gig card. It is better to have several smaller cards. If anything happens to that card or you lose it you have lost them all. By using smaller cards you don't lose all your pictures. You also want to check and see if your camera supports a 1 gig card. It also takes longer to write to larger cards.

[jeankeri]

safetymom- thanks for the advice. The camera my DH bought is a Sony DSC-P10 cyber-shot , and it does support the card. In fact, you can only use their cards/ memory sticks! I wanted to get more 256MB sticks. I'll pass your advice onto DH- since I'm suposed to be "surprised" I'm trying to stay out of the purchasing.
Being someone new to digital- my impressions of Kodak as a company it totally 35mm; really didn't know they were pioneering in the field of digital. That said, with digital becoming so much more popular, I would think any company hoping to increase their sales/market share would put a greater emphasis on customer support.

[safetymom]

I wouldn't want to venture an opinion on the problems that the OP had. We don't know all the details. Most of the Kodak kiosks are supposed to be self service.

[frndshpcptn]

Kodak's website has some great information on digital cameras and accessories. And Kodak has offered to help try and recover the lost photos, which I think shows great commitment to customer service. It wasn't Kodak's fault that the Disney CM didn't do her job correctly and I applaud thier efforts to help the best they can.

[FatCow]

First of all, I can imagine your frustrations regarding to this matter. I also have a little kid and we're planning to go to WDW this coming February.

However:

1. Considering the expenses you've had (costumes, trip etc), why don't you spend a bit more for more memory card?

2. After receiving the CD-R, why didn't you flip the disc over to see whether there is anything burned? With 'only' 256 Mb or 512 Mb area that will be burned on the (minimum) 650 Mb CD-R, one can distinctly see the difference between the burned vs unburned part. If you can't, then it's either the disc have a bad/weak burn, or worse (as in your case) no data whatsoever.

Regardless, your experience will be a valuable lesson for my coming trip to WDW.

Thank you for sharing. I hope you can retrieve your digital memories back.

[MartDM]

I didn't make it all the way through your letter...after the first 10 or so paragraphs it was really just beating a dead horse. That said, I understood the problem you had & the loss and I'm very sorry for that.

I'm not sure what you expect WDW to do, other than apologize for the rudeness of the woman at the store. When you use one of those self-serve kiosks, it is incumbent upon you to manage the transaction & make sure you have what you need (I've had snafus with them myself).

I also second the suggestion to buy extra memory cards...they aren't pricey & then you don't have to worry about offloading the pictures during your trip.

[shiori1]

This is a 7 year old thread. I'm sure the OP has gotten whatever she was going to get (knowledge and potential compensation) from the situation a long time ago.

[DebbieB]

This is a 7 year old thread. I'm sure the OP has gotten whatever she was going to get (knowledge and potential compensation) from the situation a long time ago.

Thanks for pointing that out! I was wondering why someone said they were going to get 256 mb sticks! That shows how cameras have advanced in the past 7 years!

[WebmasterKathy]

ROFL!!!! I read the whole first post before realizing that the 3 year old on the trip would now be a 10 year old!

:rotfl:

[RichmondTiggerFan]

There is still a valuable lesson to be learned from this thread... Don't keep all your eggs in one basket (or one memory card). At the end of every day (if possible), back up your pictures to a laptop computer or bring several memory cards so you can switch then out during your vacation. Don't have all of your pictures from your entire trip on a single memory card (with no backup) because if something happens to that card (file corruption, card gets lost, etc...), ALL of your pictures are probably gone forever.

As a side note, on my first trip to WDW with a digital camera, I kept all of my pictures on a single memory card and when I got home, my computer could not read the files on the card :scared::scared:. Fortunately, I was able to recover the files, but it was too close a call for me.

[Stinkerbell1973]

There is still a valuable lesson to be learned from this thread... Don't keep all your eggs in one basket (or one memory card). At the end of every day (if possible), back up your pictures to a laptop computer or bring several memory cards so you can switch then out during your vacation. Don't have all of your pictures from your entire trip on a single memory card (with no backup) because if something happens to that card (file corruption, card gets lost, etc...), ALL of your pictures are probably gone forever.

As a side note, on my first trip to WDW with a digital camera, I kept all of my pictures on a single memory card and when I got home, my computer could not read the files on the card :scared::scared:. Fortunately, I was able to recover the files, but it was too close a call for me.

I too had a close call on our trip 3 weeks ago. I left my camera on a bench at Epcot, didn't realize it until 2 hours later. We'd stood in line for close to an hour at the character spot, and had some other stuff on there from the day. LUCKILY:
1. a woman that was sitting on the bench with me found my camera, and gave it to a CM, who walked it down to guest relations;
2. i uploaded my pictures to my laptop every single day, some days i did it twice.
so while it would have sucked to have lost the pictures from that day, at least it wasn't the entire trip.

[mommahnina]

curious to know what came of this?

[cm8]

curious to know what came of this?

me too? I hope it was a great outcome:goodvibes

[jewjubean]

I read this WHOLE thread before I realized that it was old. I was wondering why they wernt getting larger cards. I was thinking " they have 4 gigs for like 20 bucks at the store,why are they getting such small cards when they could get lots more memory for cheaper!" I guess I should start reading the dates on these threads.

[claryche]

I read this WHOLE thread before I realized that it was old. I was wondering why they wernt getting larger cards. I was thinking " they have 4 gigs for like 20 bucks at the store,why are they getting such small cards when they could get lots more memory for cheaper!" I guess I should start reading the dates on these threads.

Me too. We all got sucked into this story, just to realize it was 7 years old. I was almost to the last page and was about to write about how I had gotten two 8GB SDHC cards at Costco for really cheap and then I looked at the date for some reason. :rotfl: I doubt she ever recovered the pics, but I would like to think that she did. I also wanted to comment to her about how in the world did she only take 120 pictures over a whole week. But again it being a 7 year post might explain that a little bit, because the cards were so small back then.

[dunbarfamily]

Wow! Seven years old. I wonder if OP is still around....maybe we could get an update!

[Rose DiVerona]

Another person who got really caught up in this, only to realize it all happened seven years ago. It was the October that did it. I only glanced at the month, not at the year. Whoops.

And to think, this kid is now ten, and hopefully has been to Disney at least once since then and has made many more memories. :goodvibes

[Yubbie]

Someone is really taking the new Disney theme literally. Why don't we all bump the oldest threads we can find so we can remember them. Stupid.

[Dan Murphy]

Wow! Seven years old. I wonder if OP is still around....maybe we could get an update!

I don't think she is, this was her third and last thread she posted on.....

http://www.disboards.com/search.php?searchid=13641241

[walkdmc]

I'm sorry you lost all your photos, that really is terrible. But I don't think your daughter's vacation was ruined. I visited WDW when I was 10, for the first time. My parents took 1 picture of us, 1 picture. We were eating some TS meal and they thought it was ridiculously expensive, so they photographed it so they could talk about how expensive it was, LOL. They were strapped for cash in those days.

Anyway, I still remember having a great time and have those fun memories. And, if your daughter is too young to remember, the pictures won't do a whole lot, IMO. They're nice, but not necessary.

People have been having great fun at WDW long before everyone had a camera.

I'm glad you reported it. Hopefully, you'll save future guests from the same problem and maybe WDW will get a faster machine? We can hope.

[walkdmc]

Oh jeez, this is exactly what I get for only reading the OP, and not the date or subsequent posts.

[strawberryblonde]

I was getting such deja vu from this OP....and then I noticed the year and the fact that I had commented on this thread 7 years ago myself :rotfl:

I hope the OP was able to get some character shots with her DD while her DD was still little.

[brymolmom]

I am SO SORRY for your loss - and I would consider it a tragedy too (I have misplaced some scrapbooking photos at home and think about it with tears all the time so I kind of understand).

While I think it is good to let WDW know of this experience so they can try to improve it (a big sign saying 'DID YOU CHECK FOR THIS?' Before you erase or maybe a machine to check your CD first to be sure all worked OK), I'm not sure what the expected response from Kodak is??!!

I am GUESSING (not a WDW person here, but an IT person) that the CM gave the response they are instructed to provide. I am guessing that they are not supposed to/unable to really offer assistance on those machines - for EXACTLY the reason that is stated here. IF anything goes wrong for the customer - they can then 'blame' the CM (which the OP is NOT doing, she is saying that the CM did not help enough) where if the CM did offer assistance and THEN it went wrong - then the CM would truly be to blame and WDW would be 'liable' for the problem. Since the CM let the customer do his/her own work - I have to say as an IT person that it sounds like a VERY UNFORTUNATE user error. So by saying 'follow the instructions' the CM put all the responsibility into the hands of the customer - for him/her to either be successful or not. And, YES, I do think that additional instructions or a method to verify the results should be indicated, but other than that - I agree with WDW and the CM's handling of the situation. With lawsuits, etc. rampant today - the best thing they can do is allow the customer to have responsibility themselves.

As for Kodak...if someone does not use their software properly, unfortuntately there is nothing they can do. Especially now that time has gone - there is likely no way for them to know exactly what procedure wasn't followed, etc.

I am VERY SAD for OP's situation, but think that WDW handled it likely the way they were supposed to (and in this society, unfortunately, the way they HAVE to).

[brymolmom]

I was getting such deja vu from this OP....and then I noticed the year and the fact that I had commented on this thread 7 years ago myself :rotfl:

I hope the OP was able to get some character shots with her DD while her DD was still little.

WOW - Can't believe I didn't catch that! :rotfl:

[Danibelle]

I agree with the above, I don't think all the blame lies with Disney. I'm amazed at the lengths you went to, personally I would rather spend the time enjoying the parks with my kids.

I was amazed to read of all the preparations made. I just visited the parks with grandkids for the first time. We took a lot of pictures (my group shot at MK was totally washed out). I hope our memories will fill in the blanks. DD and I took extra memory cards in case of malfunction.

Hopefully, you can return soon! As a longtime DL visitor when I was a child, it was the returning that reinforced my early memories of Disney, not just my first visit.

Hope things go better for you! :)

I edited this since I just realized it is a really old thread. I am surprised it hasn't been closed!

[mel&me]

ROFL!!!! I read the whole first post before realizing that the 3 year old on the trip would now be a 10 year old!

:rotfl:

I got thru 1/2 the OP when I saw the date. :laughing:

Wow! Seven years old. I wonder if OP is still around....maybe we could get an update!

doubt it, only 6 posts and this thread was the last one.

[khertz]

I almost got sucked in. By the 2nd page, I was reading WAY too many people having problems rewinding film and thinking about getting a digital camera when I decided to check the date. :rotfl:

[larryz]

I'm really sorry that this happened to you.:( We brought 3 memory cards on our last trip. I agree with zurgswife. I would never use a transfer machine that I had never used before.

Good luck!

Shame on you, MartDM! Resurrecting a seven year old thread... :confused:

and shame on me for not noticing right away!

[midas]

I guess maybe a change in CM knowledge and function at the photo shop since that time. This past Friday, we took our memory card into the shop so our pictures could be transferred to our photopass card. We went to the counter and the CM took care of everything. She hit a couple of buttons wrong and had to redo it again (it looked like she was heading towards creating a CD), but it was taken care of. We just stood there and waited for her to finish.

[bytheblood]

I noticed it was from 2003, but the original post was so long, I could not even make it all the way through! :rotfl:

[sjs314]

It is definately unfortunate that you lost all your pictures, I know I would have sick over something like that happening, but as others have mentioned it would have been better to have purchased extra memory cards for the camera, I have done that for my upcoming trip in November.
In previous years in trips to WDW, Vegas and DL I have taken my laptop along on my trips so I could d/l my pictures to free up space on my memory cards but have decided to travel lighter this time so not taking my laptop.

[disneygrandma]

After reading the 1st page, I jumped to the last page & found out how old this thread is. However, there is a lesson to be learned here. Last April, I went to WDW with my grand-daughter on our 1st solo trip. (no other family members!) On our last morning, I somehow lost my camera. All our special moments & memories, our 1st F&G, everything! I remembered tips on how people suggested to write your name & cell ph# down, & then take a picture of it. Why didn't I do it? I had intended to. As we frantically back-tracked several times, & I broke down in to tears, a very wonderful CM gave me a disposable camera so I could atleast get some pictures of our last few hours in the MK, and our resort.

As someone already mentioned, don't put all your eggs in to one basket. In addition to those last day pictures taken with the disposable, we also had used photopass 1 or 2 times in each park. When we did this, my thought had been that maybe their pictures might turn out better than the ones I asked them to take with my camera. I never thought about the fact that these would have been our only pictures. So, we took time to go to a photopass center before our ME pickup time & had a picture printed from each park. We came home with a few pictures to show the family.

We also had stopped by Guest Relations in MK before leaving the park that last morning. I had all the faith in the world that if someone turned it in, Disney would get that camera back to me. I just had to hope that whoever found it would care enough to do so. I waited 24 hrs before I could call back & check, & was so relieved to hear that yes, it had been turned in. They matched my camera up with the description I gave them, & the pictures on the memory card. A few days later, there was my camera & all our wonderful photos, safe & sound in my hands!

I always take a picture now of my name & cell ph#. It is so worth the little time it takes to do so. Next time we're at WDW, we'll use photopass again for a few pictures........just in case. I also pack an extra memory card.

[sjs314]

OMG! I responded after reading the OP's post not realizing till after that this was from 2003 too funny:rotfl2:

[dizneydiva2005]

I read this WHOLE thread before I realized that it was old. I was wondering why they wernt getting larger cards. I was thinking " they have 4 gigs for like 20 bucks at the store,why are they getting such small cards when they could get lots more memory for cheaper!" I guess I should start reading the dates on these threads.

Me too! Sorta bummed it so old, I wonder what happened. It's a horrible story... and I would be crushed if that happened to me. I never- never- never delete pictures... I just buy new SD cards. :rotfl: We're going next week and I bought a new one, hubby was telling me it was senseless... no, I never delete pictures. Too priceless.

[disneygrandma]

I never delete pictures either! Our kids think I'm crazy to keep buying new SD cards. So glad to hear that someone else thinks like I do.

[myheartlivesatwdw]

Now I want to know what happened....

[ben1993]

I really do feel for people who lose their photos from their trip, it has happaned to me too :(

[dizcraze1]

duh. read 1st three pages before realizing it was from 2003. However, it serves as a reminder to never assume anything. That CM should have been severly disiplined for her incompetence. That is the problem with retail nowadays. They are in such a rush to train people but not thoroughly and then things like this happen. Memories like that cannot be replaced. You can try to duplicate but never replace. I wonder if she ever found those pics and if Disney ever took care of the situation.................?