A warning about checking your photopass photos

[ExcitedMama]

Ok this ended up long so here is what I learned in sum if you want to skip over my woeful story:

1. Check that your important photos are actually uploaded to the photopass system and that they come out

2. To help you fix any horrible problems like missing photos know the exact time the photos were taken.

3. Take a picture of your photographer so the photo CM can track them down to find you your photos!

Again I hope we were just cursed yesterday but I hope this helps anyone avoid any lost priceless photos!


We might have been cursed yesterday but just in case I thought I would give a heads up. We are newbies to Disney and went last year for our first trip and used the photopass. I never checked on photos and as far as I now we ended up with all our photos. Yesterday was our first time back since then. Since we started the day trying to see A&E I figured I would just take the card from the A&E photographer with me to add to my photopass when I picked it up.

Luckily I went fairly early to do so because they were so bad the CM gasped when she saw them! They were completely whitewashed. To her credit and to make a long story short she told me to wait and made calls without my saying anything and arranged to let us get new photos with them. I wrote another thread about that meet being a bummer and the pictures too.

So make sure you check that they came out! Unfortunately that wasn't our only bad photopass experience.

DS was lucky enough to get picked to be a Jedi so I went back and waited in line again to add his photos to our fast pass...only to have the wrong card! The photographer gave us the card for Maul pictures and DS fought Vader. No problem the CM said he'd find them...but they weren't there! So he said that wasn't good and he would have to track them down for me and I'd have to come back. He said I should really make sure to do it that day or they might not be able to find them. He was great but I was not looking forward to wasting anymore time at the photo place! I went back and he sorted everything out but when I asked him to check that our Tinkerbell photos came out since were having such bad luck he couldn't find them!

Make sure you know the exact time you meet the character, especially if like us you spent 45 min. Waiting in line to see them! And if like me you have an old iPhone the photos are not time stamped! Luckily I had texted my DH right then so I knew the time. but that wasn't enough! He needed to know what the photographer looked like to track them down to upload the photos! I'm usually so focused on trying to get the kids to smile and look at the camera that I frankly usually have no idea who is taking the photos! I usually just have time to say thank you before I'm chasing down my little runners! So I recommend taking a photo of the photographer so you can avoid having to go back and forth about who took the photos so they can be chased down!

It turns out after I had to come back (again emphasized That Day to avoid them being lost) during fireworks this time to get those photos that there was some problem with whatever machine the photographer had used to upload them, so I might never had gotten them if the wonderful CM hadn't tracked them down for me. Alberto you were awesome but so not happy about losing so much time over the problems!

 

[GatorChris]

I actually checked on these on our 5th day at the park. We got a spot on Main Street for the parade about an hour before hand so I decided to kill some time and go check on our photos. They were all there, thankfully. The A&E pictures were what i was there to make sure made it to our Photo Pass. After reading this, I'll be sure to make this a regular stop while waiting for the parade.

 

[McNs]

We had a problem with our BBB photos last year. The ones they took during the makeover were uploaded fine, but the ones taken in the photo shoot in the staged area (with the carriage etc.) didn't. Luckily we were checking on line most nights and noticed they were missing. We went back to the BBB and explained the problem, and they went back through the photos from the day to find them. Eventually they were found and uploaded.

 

[MadameRebecca]

I'm planning on using PhotoPass + for our trip in a February. It'll be our first time using it. Can I ask, are the photos uploaded to your account straight away or in a few hours or what? Just curious so I know when to check.

 

[Pooh2]

One of the photographers advised us to check the photos at the Photopass store at the end of the day to be sure they were there. None of our magic shots had "magic" in them. The CM took awhile and made a phone call. Glad we got it taken care of before we left for home!

 

[lk2500]

You can also have the PP photographer take a few shots with your own camera, that would also make it easier to track down lost shots using the time stamps on those photos. That would work for street shots, but likely be too complicated/chaotic for stuff like the Jedi show and A&E.

 

[princessmocha]

I'm planning on using PhotoPass + for our trip in a February. It'll be our first time using it. Can I ask, are the photos uploaded to your account straight away or in a few hours or what? Just curious so I know when to check.

It can take a couple hours for them to upload. We were missing a couple from WDW last year and I didn't realize it until we were home. But I knew the approximate time and what we were wearing and they were able to find them and add them. If you have time, do a check before you leave the park for the evening.

 

[MadameRebecca]

It can take a couple hours for them to upload. We were missing a couple from WDW last year and I didn't realize it until we were home. But I knew the approximate time and what we were wearing and they were able to find them and add them. If you have time, do a check before you leave the park for the evening.

Thanks