Any first hand reports of Photo Pass box with Tink?

[TheMaxRebo]

I sent my email to guest services, here's what I wrote:

Hello,

We just returned from our week-long stay at WDW today. We splurged on the Memory Maker for this trip.

I just wanted to give some feedback. We experienced the new automated photo box at the Tinkerbell Meet and Greet in Magic Kingdom. While the photos aren't terrible, they are basically all identical and rather bland compared to all the rest of our photo pass photos that were all taken by live photographers. The live photographers were able to capture different angles, my childrens' reactions walking into meets and to the characters, and speak to my children to get their attention for posing.

The resulting photos are vastly superior to the automated photo box at the Tinkerbell meet, which are all the exact same shot with my children in slightly different arm/leg positions. Tink herself was wonderful, but the box leaves a great deal to be desired.

This one photo isn't a huge deal, but I wanted to express my thoughts -- we hope to return again soon, but if these automated boxes are going to be at more locations throughout the resort in the future, then I do not plan to spend money on photo pass or memory maker as the resulting images are not worth the cost.

We otherwise had a good and fun stay, but wanted to bring this to someone's attention as I don't think I'm the only person who feels this way.



I assume I'll get the standard "we value your feedback!" response but maybe it will help.

If you feel like you don't get enough of a response, I have found sending it directly to the executives helps - George Kalogridis is the president of Walt Disney World, his e-mail is: george.kalogridis@disney.com

I've done that in the past and gotten calls back from his office ... obviously he isn't reading each e-mail or responding himself but he has staff that seems to respond more than the generic guest services e-mail

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Response to my previous email -

"Thank you for contacting the Walt Disney World Resort.

I sincerely apologize that the photos you received after meeting Tinker Bell at Magic Kingdom Park did not match the quality of other photos that you took during your visit. The Walt Disney World Resort strives to keep our Guests’ experience fresh and unique throughout the years. Our Guests’ feedback is vital throughout our Resort in preserving the magical experience that we so strongly wish to deliver. I truly appreciate your feedback and would like to ensure you that it has been shared with the appropriate Leadership teams."

Hopefully others email too if they aren't impressed with the box pics.

"The Walt Disney World Resort strives to keep our Guests’ experience fresh and unique throughout the years. " ... um, you didn't mention anything about quality in that statement

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

Response to my previous email -

"Thank you for contacting the Walt Disney World Resort.

I sincerely apologize that the photos you received after meeting Tinker Bell at Magic Kingdom Park did not match the quality of other photos that you took during your visit. The Walt Disney World Resort strives to keep our Guests’ experience fresh and unique throughout the years. Our Guests’ feedback is vital throughout our Resort in preserving the magical experience that we so strongly wish to deliver. I truly appreciate your feedback and would like to ensure you that it has been shared with the appropriate Leadership teams."

Hopefully others email too if they aren't impressed with the box pics.

Well, at the least, someone read it carefully enough to label it as a negative email.

 

[OSUZorba]

Response to my previous email -

"Thank you for contacting the Walt Disney World Resort.

I sincerely apologize that the photos you received after meeting Tinker Bell at Magic Kingdom Park did not match the quality of other photos that you took during your visit. The Walt Disney World Resort strives to keep our Guests’ experience fresh and unique throughout the years. Our Guests’ feedback is vital throughout our Resort in preserving the magical experience that we so strongly wish to deliver. I truly appreciate your feedback and would like to ensure you that it has been shared with the appropriate Leadership teams."

Hopefully others email too if they aren't impressed with the box pics.

What email did you send it to? I'll send my feedback as well.

 

[firefly_ris]

What email did you send it to? I'll send my feedback as well.

I sent it to
guest.services@disneyworld.com

 

[Carolynleanne]

We always buy Memory Maker. If this photo box is at a majority of character locations by January 2020, we'll be passing for the first time.

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

Anxiously following along.

We have bought MM for the past 6 trips, and the photos taken by humans with the characters are priceless. The photos of my daughter waiting with anticipation are some of the best ones. We prefer the candid interaction shots from different angles rather than the posed stand-and-smile. What are you doing disney.

Doubt we’ll invest in it for the next trip if this continues as planned.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Seriously Disney... just let me have access to the security footage of my vacation around the Parks. Yeah, that's what I paid money for - watching robots watch me.

 

[Disney before Sally]

Disney will make the product not worth it. People will stop buting it. And then, the mindless bean counters will see an opportunity to save money by getting rid of the meet and greets. Organic evolution corrupted by greed will prompt the money grubbing distroyers of magical moments to say, people just do not want pictures with classic characters anymore.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

I emailed guest services when this news first came out, and here is an excerpt from their response:

"We will be installing automated cameras at nine locations that will capture moments of the experience from start to finish to allow guests to receive a wider variety of photos from which to choose."

That is not at all in line with what has been reported

 

[firefly_ris]

I emailed guest services when this news first came out, and here is an excerpt from their response:

"We will be installing automated cameras at nine locations that will capture moments of the experience from start to finish to allow guests to receive a wider variety of photos from which to choose."

That is not at all in line with what has been reported

Here's an example of the "wide variety"....

None of the other Photopass photos from our trip are like this... they all had live photographers and did close-ups, with my kids walking in and seeing the character(s), hugging them, different angles, etc. Poor Tink gets the same shot 9000 times as a box on the wall fires a flash.

[eta] You can see in a few, they are slightly closer up, so the camera must have some kind of automated zoom, but it's nothing to write home about and certainly not enough to make the picture feel much different than the rest.

 

[mom2rtk]

Here's an example of the "wide variety"....

None of the other Photopass photos from our trip are like this... they all had live photographers and did close-ups, with my kids walking in and seeing the character(s), hugging them, different angles, etc. Poor Tink gets the same shot 9000 times as a box on the wall fires a flash.

That just looks awkward.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

Here's an example of the "wide variety"....

None of the other Photopass photos from our trip are like this... they all had live photographers and did close-ups, with my kids walking in and seeing the character(s), hugging them, different angles, etc. Poor Tink gets the same shot 9000 times as a box on the wall fires a flash.

[eta] You can see in a few, they are slightly closer up, so the camera must have some kind of automated zoom, but it's nothing to write home about and certainly not enough to make the picture feel much different than the rest.

Please write to guest services to explain your dissatisfaction with the Tink pictures. If you could report back any response you got, that would be awesome, too.

 

[firefly_ris]

Please write to guest services to explain your dissatisfaction with the Tink pictures. If you could report back any response you got, that would be awesome, too.

I did - I posted their response on the previous page of this thread (page 3) - but only just got around to showing the photos today.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

I did - I posted their response on the previous page of this thread (page 3) - but only just got around to showing the photos today.

Sorry. I liked that post too.

Didn't realize you were the same person.

 

[firefly_ris]

Sorry. I liked that post too.

Didn't realize you were the same person.

No worries. I wasn't going to post them originally but decided they might help someone trying to picture (uh no pun intended) what these look like.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

No worries. I wasn't going to post them originally but decided they might help someone trying to picture (uh no pun intended) what these look like.

They don't look bad, but in comparison to the live photographers who get you walking in and hugging the character, that is going to be missed. I'm going to be there in June so more boxes will be installed by then and I'm NOT happy about it. I'll still do Memory Maker, because certain Character Greets as the princesses won't have them, but hopefully Disney will see this is NOT going to work to their advantage.

 

[Willow1213]

Visited with Tink last night and she had a regular PhotoPass photographer! No magic box

We watched that photographer get on the ground to take pics of a tiny fairy in the floor with her while everyone awwed. Those photos never would have happened with a “magic box”

 

[mom2rtk]

Visited with Tink last night and she had a regular PhotoPass photographer! No magic box

We watched that photographer get on the ground to take pics of a tiny fairy in the floor with her while everyone awwed. Those photos never would have happened with a “magic box”

Apparently Disney is OK with that loss in the name of saving some staffing costs.

 

[Bing Showei]

Here's an example of the "wide variety"....

None of the other Photopass photos from our trip are like this... they all had live photographers and did close-ups, with my kids walking in and seeing the character(s), hugging them, different angles, etc. Poor Tink gets the same shot 9000 times as a box on the wall fires a flash.

[eta] You can see in a few, they are slightly closer up, so the camera must have some kind of automated zoom, but it's nothing to write home about and certainly not enough to make the picture feel much different than the rest.

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Create-Your-Own-Meet-and-Greet-Flipbooks

[It’s a feature, not a bug.]