Anyone not do photopass?

[MickeyMinnieMom]

We've used photo pass every trip, and the first couple it probably wasn't "worth it" - we didn't have enough photos taken. This past trip, I vowed to use it more. As the family photographer, I am hardly in any pics. Using photo pass gets me in them... when I get over my "I hate posing for photos" thing. This year I forced myself to get over it and we used photo pass A TON. We got photo pass plus and have a ton of great pics riding the attractions, from some meals, from pirate's league, and in every park. We also lucked into the new meet n greet with Merida during soft opening and have great pics from that. Worth it for us.

 

[mirage0306]

We don't do it.

 

[jrtoastyman]

We've done it the last couple of trips, but I kinda doubt we'll do it going forward, at least not every time. We went twice within about 7 months and will be going once a year for the foreseeable future, and when you're going with that kind of regularity, the pictures start to look the same. Also, towards the end of our last trip, we started to get Photopass fatigue, particularly since we'd just more or less had the same photos taken months earlier.

I think a PP mentioned doing it like every 3rd time, and I think it is more likely that we'd go that route.

I doubt I'll ever do Photopass+, but that's just because I don't get those on-ride photos, nor do we do a lot of character meals. The on-ride photos in particular are generally lo-res and I usually look ridiculous in them (and not in a funny way), never saw the draw there at all, but hey, to each their own.

For some people, though, it's an absolute boon to get all of those photos at a flat rate, plus you don't have to worry about missing a moment because you're trying to take a picture. I'm really glad we did it the first time and would absolutely recommend it to anyone making a once-in-a-lifetime (or even occasional) trip.

 

[TandyR]

We always do it because I like to know I was at WDW also. Since I am the photo taker in the family if we didn't do photopass there would be no proof I was there. So it is worth it to me for that one reason.

 

[pooh4evr]

we do it becuase 1 we can all be in the pictures, and 2 they get some better ones than we do (our 3 did Jedi training last trip and the photopass pics were awesome!) and 3 the ride pics of our girl faces are priceless! I dont order prints from the site, just the CD and then you can print them at home, walgreens costco wherever.

 

[Reddy]

But photopass + is $200, correct?

$199 - I figure one character meal + 8 ride photo will cover this
(ToT, RnRc, SplashM-usually 3 of this one for me- Space M- 2here since we have more than 3 people, EE - another we ride 2 or 3 time)
the other is just bonus - at least that is how I talked DH into for the next trip

I like the Mickey & Minnie with the year on some of the photos

 

[jm106]

Not us, CM have taken basically the same picture with my camera as the PP one. I looked online at my pp photos and they were nearly identical. I have never seen the magic shots photographer( or whatever they are called.) I was never told no by a CM about using our camera, It was offered by a few even

 

[stargazertechie]

I think it's a great value for longer trips- we had over 500 unique photos on our honeymoon before edits. We've gotten into photobooks quite heavily, and it's nice to have a huge selection of photos.

If we're just going down for 4 or 5 days though, we pass. Not worth it.

 

[ttintagel]

I've never done Photopass and I never will, unless I get it free with a package or something. It seems like a waste of money; the pictures I take myself look just as good to me as ones I've seen taken by a Photopass photographer.

 

[cyndik1111]

We've never done photopass. And we are alive and well,a nd my daughter is not traumatized because of it.
Just another way for disney to separate you from your money- something they are soooo good at! They have an amazing way of convincing you that your vacation would be a bust, unless you buy this or that. I have to constantly do a reality check...,.Do I really NEED this?

 

[mrsltg]

we do it becuase 1 we can all be in the pictures, and 2 they get some better ones than we do (our 3 did Jedi training last trip and the photopass pics were awesome!) and 3 the ride pics of our girl faces are priceless! I dont order prints from the site, just the CD and then you can print them at home, walgreens costco wherever.

My reasoning exactly! I love the pre-order cd (I got mine in at the $99/rate) and I can get a refund if I don't get enough pictures. That's never happened, though. I've got my three girls, plus my dh and I, and even though we have a high-end camera with a photographically talented husband, I still love to see what the Photopass photographers come up with. It works for us. As others have pointed out, this is not the case for everyone. To each their own!

 

[HomeiswhereMickeyis]

Bought a CD once for a longer visit when I took my BFF for her first time. We actually got a lot of good pictures and a lot of fun magical pictures. Since then they don't do as many magical pictures so I have just asked CMs to use my camera as well and have been pleased with the pictures on my camera. I still use the card and give my username and password to friends and family so that they can log in during our trip to see pictures.

 

[karly05]

I did Photopass this year because I was on my own and wanted to be sure I got some photos with specific characters. Not sure I would do it next time - or if I did, I would make an effort to get more pictures taken. But it was all worth it this time for the P&F pics I got.

 

[klmall]

We have never gotten it ever for our family trips. The one trip I had a card, we never found a photographer! Besides I think I take decent pictures and I can find always someone to take pictures of us when necessary.

 

[sam_gordon]

We've used PP for the last three trips. I don't do it so I can be in the picture (I'm the family photographer), I do it to get pictures I *CAN'T* get.

Pictures at waterparks... we've gotten some great pictures of the kids falling into the water at the ski training area (whatever it's called) at BB. I don't want to bring my DSLR to the waterparks with me.

The initial moment when kids get to meet a character. Usually I'm trying to juggle autograph books/shirts/pens, etc as well as take pictures.

JTA... while I had my DSLR w/zoom lens, the PP photographers had much better access and could move around for some different angles.

I don't see us doing the PP+, but the normal PP has been beneficial for my family.

 

[emmabemmainc]

We've only done it once and did not do it on our last trip. I found before that I always was misplacing the cards, and then ended up with five or more cards when I got home. Plus, on our last trip, we just didn't even think of taking too many pictures--it was a shorter trip and we had a lot to do!

 

[jeffnpa]

I guess it depends on your preference, one year we went and my DD was 16 months at that time we went to a water park and because it was not crowed it was like we had our own personal photographer.

 

[Sparkly]

We did it in February and we got a lot of nice family pictures which we probably wouldn't otherwise The magic shots were cool too.

We probably wouldn't get it again though because it's too expensive.

 

[cfw213]

We haven't done it before, but I wanted to try it. Not for $120 though! We are doing a share with 8 other families and it costs about $20 each. There is a facebook group for it, don't know if I'm allowed to post the link!

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

Do you remember about how much you paid for this single picture? Thanks!

we got an 8 x 10 and it was less than $20. The process was easy; prices were clearly posted and the CMs there (a shop under Spaceship Earth) were very helpful - they showed us how to do a border). They printed it off in a couple of minutes while we waited and put it in a good folder so it wouldn't get bent.

Priceless picture - well worth the $ for us.