? about timing for photos before dinner

[Chrislovesdisney]

we will be traveling with extended family, and on day 2, hubby and I are eating at Palo (a night sans kids - so excited) while family watches the kids at dinner! That also is likely formal night. I'd still like to get formal family photos from the photographers in the lobby. We have main seating (5:45ish), and palo reservations are 6:30. What time should we all head to the lobby for pre-dinner photos? Tia!

 

[jdb in AZ]

How large is your group? The photographers will often schedule an appointment for a large group. I don't remember how big the group has to be (it's been awhile but I'm thinking it was 12), but one of our group stopped by the photographer's office and made the arrangements. We did this on several cruises and they were always very accommodating. We had family groups ranging from 20 to 48.

On the inaugural DCL Hawaiian cruise we had a DIS group picture, and that was scheduled too.

 

[msmama]

I, personally, found it better to get there early and be one of the first groups to wait for photos rather than come down a little later and wait in line. I want to say they didn't start taking pictures until 5:30 some nights on our cruise, so if we went down at about 5:15 we could be one of the first groups through. That's for the photos with the various backdrops. If you're looking for photos with characters, the timing might be a bit different. (Though I think we went down at maybe 5, got Mickey, then stood in line for backdrop pics). The exact times might be off, but I'm pretty sure that's what we did on formal night.

 

[tigerchic89]

We went down 5:10-5:15 and there usually was 1 backdrop with no line. We would get pics taken there and then decide if we had time to stand in a 2nd line. The hardest part was having everyone ready for pics and dinner 30 minutes early, but we had pre=purchased all pics and wanted to get a lot of shots on the USB

 

[MunFam]

On our cruise, they put out signage earlier in the day showing what the backdrop at the location would look like and post the times they would be taking pictures. One of us would go get in line 15-20 minutes ahead and then the family would join about 5 minutes before go-time. But they often started a few minutes earlier than posted.

 

[Chrislovesdisney]

Thanks everyone. This was helpful. It will probably just be the immediate 4 of us for the photo on this night. If it's everyone then it will be 9 of us.