Is PhotoPass Plus worth it for us?

[brymommy]

We are going to DL the last week in Feb for 3-4 days. I will bring my good camera, we all have camera phones and plan on using the regular photo pass service.

No one else in the family can really use my good camera, it seems to scare all of them even on "auto", and I'm sure my Dad will have his point and shoot. But I am pregnant, will just be into the second trimester when we go, and don't know how long I'll be able to survive each day.

I'm trying to decide if the photopass plus is worth it... my husband hates big rides, my kids have never been, I'm ok ignoring a few of the "pregnant caution signs" but I'm not ok ignoring them all. Splash Mountain is supposed to be down when we are there and I'm not sure my kids will want to do all or many of the big rides anyways. My youngest will be the most likely to want to do them and she can't do California Screaming and one other due to height.

Is it worth it for us to get the Plus package? My biggest understanding is the "ride photos" being the biggest draw to this no?

I want to order ASAP if I am going to as we are nearing the 14 day deadline.

 

[pwillunlv]

I ordered it for our upcoming trip because it includes the character dining photo packages (we are going to at least 2, maybe 3, character dining meals). Purchasing two photo packages from character dining by itself would be $60--granted not everyone purchases them. The ride photos are just an added bonus for me, something I would not usually purchase.

When adding in the luxury of not having to break out the DSLR all the time and getting ALL the photopass pictures taken, it's worth it to me.

 

[sherilaine]

No one can tell you what something is going to be "worth" to you.

It was worth it for us.

We do big rides, we booked character breakfast and we are there for over a week each time - so we gets hundreds of pictures...

It is not a lot of money as long as you order it beforehand...

 

[cp11]

I agree, can't judge other people, but it is worth it to us

 

[smiles33]

It was totally worth it for us because I had a ton of great family photos. We normally only get 2-3 photos of all 4 of us and I just loved having so many of us. Plus, we got some cute magic shots, too.

I think whether it's worthwhile is dependent on how much you plan to do and how long you will be there. We went for 2.5 days, which is shorter-than-average. Plus, my then-6 year old DD only did RSR, Splash and Space with me, so we only get 3 of the rides (but we rode those 3 a lot!). Ultimately, what also made it worthwhile is that we did 3 character meals and the BBB so we got a lot of photos.

HTH!

 

[BayGirl22]

For us its worth it for the shots of our whole group together, the character meal packages, and the ability for me to not carry my good camera in the park. (I'm a hobbiest photographer and the only one who uses my DSLR). The ride photos were just a bonus. We still took pictures on our phones to supplement but we left with a few hundred PP shots.

 

[gerilyne]

For us it was worth it getting photos of the 2 of us together (it was just DH and myself) and top get a copy of every ride photo. The number of digital copies of ride photos we came away with was spectacular and we didn't have to decide if it was good enough to buy. My favorite is the ToT where we were the only 2 in the car!

 

[aussie shaz]

I'd say it's worth getting the Plus package, as its the same price as getting the normal Photopass CD. If you're planning on purchasing the Photopass CD, then you may as well pre purchase the Photopass plus for the same cost.
I also think that the Photopass photographers take extra time with you when you have the Plus card.

 

[rnorwo1]

Sorry to jump in here OP, but I recently read a thread on the budget board where the majority of people replied that PP (in general) is not worth it. Most stated that the quality of pics was poor, it was sometimes hard to find photographers, or there were long waits to get your pic taken. Can anyone report on their experiences with these things at DL? I've never used PP period, but this is our first, and likely only trip, to DL, so I've been considering it. We are only doing one character meal and looks like many rides will be down during our trip

 

[sherilaine]

Sorry to jump in here OP, but I recently read a thread on the budget board where the majority of people replied that PP (in general) is not worth it. Most stated that the quality of pics was poor, it was sometimes hard to find photographers, or there were long waits to get your pic taken. Can anyone report on their experiences with these things at DL? I've never used PP period, but this is our first, and likely only trip, to DL, so I've been considering it. We are only doing one character meal and looks like many rides will be down during our trip

I find it hard to believe the majority of people would respond that it was not worth it, I'd be interested in reading that thread as most people on this board, from what I have read, do enjoy it. Since this was on the budget board, were they all talking about DLR or were some talking about WDW - as it's more expensive to purchase the PP+ there and I have no idea what it's like - so it might not have been only DLR comments?

The quality of the pictures are not poor at all, there are plenty of photographers all over the parks and we did not have long waits at all for the pictures we had taken - maybe at Christmas this might be the case?

We LOVED it, we used it for a lot of rides, Space, ToT, Screamin, RSR, we had a blast as we knew we'd get the pictures each time. We did magic shots, and found when the photographers saw you had a PP+ they took a lot of extra time with us. Any characters greets they took lots of pictures. Ordering it in advance and saving some money makes total sense but I really, really enjoyed it, especially if you are staying for several days, we were there over a week and used it over 8 park days, you can imagine the number of pictures we got - but even if we were going to 4 days, I'd get it.

The only downside is how slow the actual PP+ website is for altering, saving, adding borders etc to your pictures. The download function was fast though as it's in a zip file, but the editing was a bit frustrating.

However, some of the shots are great - the borders you can add really can make a magical picture especially knowing everyone is in the shot!!

 

[trill]

Was worth it for us.
We went just after Christmas (Dec 28-29) and didnt see very long lines for the photographers, unless you count meeting characters where you need to wait anyway. The Castle is the busiest and you may wait behind a few groups there.

10 days later when the crowds had gone the entire park was like a big photo session (the pass works for 14 days). We got to take our time and the photographers were just waiting around for us. One CM gave our group of 8 a 10min photo session in Cars Land and then she edited and cropped some of them for us (I only saw that later on). Great photos!

It was also handy for photos of the entire group, because who else is going to take them?
Plus, we got the character meal packages and ride photos which was just a bonus really.

In late February it should be a great time to do it!

 

[BayGirl22]

Sorry to jump in here OP, but I recently read a thread on the budget board where the majority of people replied that PP (in general) is not worth it. Most stated that the quality of pics was poor, it was sometimes hard to find photographers, or there were long waits to get your pic taken. Can anyone report on their experiences with these things at DL? I've never used PP period, but this is our first, and likely only trip, to DL, so I've been considering it. We are only doing one character meal and looks like many rides will be down during our trip

Well a couple comments on this.
- The Budget board is geared toward WDW where PP+ is twice the price of DL, so that is a different value equation altogether, not comparable advice

- If you are truly budget minded and trying to save every penny then no, don't get PP+. Don't buy any photos at rides or after the trip. So in that sense, its probably not worth it for those on a tight budget

- We found PP photographers all over both parks at DL. They are indicated on the map so you can plan in advance. You do have to grab them and give them your card and ask, but not a big deal

-. The quality was what you will get from a DSLR on automatic. I'm a hobbiest photographer and I agree some of our pics were not professional photographer quality. They use an on camera flash without a diffuser so our night pictures look shiny, that's a photography 101 mistake. HOWEVER, for the average person this will not be noticeable. The quality was as better or better than what you'll get from your point and shoot or iPhone, for sure.

- You really don't get PP+ for the ride photos IMO, they are a bonus. The group photos are the value plus the character photos. I say that because I've never bought a ride photo anywhere and I know few people who have. But I also rarely get photos of the whole family together, and that part is huge. So both the group photos taken in the park as well as the ones from any meals are really what I'm paying for.

 

[jrtoastyman]

Sorry to jump in here OP, but I recently read a thread on the budget board where the majority of people replied that PP (in general) is not worth it.

I'm going to apologize in advance for the way this is probably going to come off, because I really don't mean anything by it, but it doesn't surprise me that the consensus on a board devoted to saving money wouldn't be that high on it. Photopass is more of a luxury item than a necessity, and as a strict can-I-do-this-myself-for-less-money value proposition, it's generally a loser. If I was being cost-conscious on a trip, it would be one of the first things to go, because it derives much of its value from intangible things like not carrying around a camera or not having to repeatedly ask strangers to take pictures for you.

By way of analogy, I can make a sandwich that is cheaper than anything I can buy at a Disney park and carry it in with me, but then I'm walking around with a sandwich all day and I have to hassle with making a sandwich, 2 things I'd rather not do on vacation. If cost were really a factor in my trip, though, that's a way I could strip some money from the budget and I know a lot of people do exactly that. Photopass is the same sort of thing, IMO.

 

[sherilaine]

The quality was what you will get from a DSLR on automatic. I'm a hobbiest photographer and I agree some of our pics were not professional photographer quality. They use an on camera flash without a diffuser so our night pictures look shiny, that's a photography 101 mistake. HOWEVER, for the average person this will not be noticeable. The quality was as better or better than what you'll get from your point and shoot or iPhone, for sure.

We actually found it varied by photographer - there were some who actually knew how to manually adjust an SLR and made some pretty neat shots for us - at night no doubt. But I do agree most of them were very much point and shoot but still better than anything an iPhone is going to capture, I agree!

 

[sherilaine]

I'm going to apologize in advance for the way this is probably going to come off, because I really don't mean anything by it, but it doesn't surprise me that the consensus on a board devoted to saving money wouldn't be that high on it. Photopass is more of a luxury item than a necessity, and as a strict can-I-do-this-myself-for-less-money value proposition, it's generally a loser. If I was being cost-conscious on a trip, it would be one of the first things to go, because it derives much of its value from intangible things like not carrying around a camera or not having to repeatedly ask strangers to take pictures for you.

By way of analogy, I can make a sandwich that is cheaper than anything I can buy at a Disney park and carry it in with me, but then I'm walking around with a sandwich all day and I have to hassle with making a sandwich, 2 things I'd rather not do on vacation. If cost were really a factor in my trip, though, that's a way I could trip some money from the budget and I know a lot of people do exactly that. Photopass is the same sort of thing, IMO.

That came off without any bad vibe at all - very sensible analysis.

I think some people find just getting to Disneyland expensive enough, and it's not getting any cheaper. While others take the approach, I am already spending thousands what's another 70 bucks.

 

[BayGirl22]

We actually found it varied by photographer - there were some who actually knew how to manually adjust an SLR and made some pretty neat shots for us - at night no doubt. But I do agree most of them were very much point and shoot but still better than anything an iPhone is going to capture, I agree!

Yes, I'm sure it depends. We had a few otherwise nice shots in front of Carthay at night that were ruined by flash. But we had plenty that turned out well, mostly during the day. I'm not sure how much training they give or what standards the set but I'm kind of curious.
Again, at worst it's point and shoot quality and non-photogs will not notice.

 

[scrapbunny]

I was also wondering about the value of PP+ but in regards to going in the off season. We will be there Sunday night to Friday morning mid March and I am wondering if there are still a good amount of photographers to take the pictures? Is it only at the character meals or are they usually with most of the m & g and around the park for castle and other group shot places?

 

[sherilaine]

I was also wondering about the value of PP+ but in regards to going in the off season. We will be there Sunday night to Friday morning mid March and I am wondering if there are still a good amount of photographers to take the pictures? Is it only at the character meals or are they usually with most of the m & g and around the park for castle and other group shot places?

The off season is not mid March! You should see lots of PP+ photographers at that time.

 

[BayGirl22]

The off season is not mid March! You should see lots of PP+ photographers at that time.

We only go in very low crowd weeks so my comments above apply to your question. Yes, we see plenty of photographers and its easy to get their attention.

I agree though mid March is not off season, its Spring Break season.

 

[brymommy]

Thanks this is very helpful!

We aren't doing character breakfast that I know of (I haven't booked/planned or paid for the trip) but the group shots will be nice even if I get them to use my camera and the magic ones look interesting. It my girls first time and they will be over the moon!

In past trips we've always bought one ride photo (usually splash mountain) but the costs are just so prohibitive to buy many. And my kids love stuff like that.

Plus extra photo attention could be good. Especially if we were to run into Minnie Mouse

I'm going to run it by DH and probably order

Are there any rides you can't use it at?