Anyone NOT use Memorymaker?

[Happyinwonerland]

Now that our trip is only 2 weeks away (OMG!), I'm starting to look to ways to trim the budget a bit. I had planned on purchasing Memorymaker, but now I'm wondering if we really need it. I have a nice point and shoot camera, and I have read that the cast members will take a photo with your camera if you just ask. I use to own a photography business, so I can take good photos on my own, and then I could have the cast members take any photos I want to be in.

That would just leave us purchasing any ride photos we want. I'm thinking that will just be splash mountain. Years ago they were like $15/ photo, I can only imagine what that will cost now.

Do you think it will be ok skipping the memory maker? Or is it one of those things I will regret cutting?

Thanks.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We didn't get MM on our last trip, and we didn't get the photopass cd before that. My DH brought his DSLR, and his pics were just as good as or better than photopass. He set his camera up before handing it to the CM when we got photopass shots done. We did order one pp pic of the 4 of us at Blizzard Beach.

 

[Nwall81]

Seems like your answering your own question, since you only value a few ride photos, then I think it would be cheaper not to do the MM. Most digital cameras will take just as good or better pictures then the MM photo takers..

 

[CRecher]

I'm in search for the same answer for our family, although I have a few months before our trip. I'm almost on the other side of the fence with the purchase. It's one less thing for me to worry about. This is our first trip to Disney World, and could possibly be our only one to DW while the kids are young.

Who has used it? Would you purchase it again?

 

[snoopy5386]

We go yearly at least and I've only ever purchased the CD once and that was when I had 2 trips in 6 weeks so I could get both trips on one CD. I will maybe purchase one photo every other trip if it is a good one of all 4 of us. Never purchased a ride photo.

 

[tcherjen]

We purchased it for our daughter's first Disney trip, but haven't purchased it for any of the following. The photographers got great pictures, but I didn't want to spend the money the next time.

 

[JillShari]

We didn't get it because I enjoy photography as a hobby and took my DSLR with us. And I did set it and hand it to the photographers each time. Being that my youngest was 4... we weren't going on the roller coasters. So, without ride photos I wanted, and with handing my camera over, I didn't think that I would LOVE 15 of the shots they took. It's also because my husband says I'm a photo snob.

Our dear friends went and took their 9 year old for his first time. She is a huge scrapbooker. They got the memory maker and she had almost double the amount of photos she took... it was something crazy... well over 100 photos. And she was thrilled with all the ride photos and being able to get on the disney site and put their custom photo frames etc on them..... so for them it was a steal.

Depends on how you view things.....

 

[PennockFive]

I'm looking forward to actually being in the photos. Especially since I'm a big scrapbooker. A friend of mine created the most beautiful disney album and after she showed it to a friend. The friend pointed out she wasn't in the book once. I may not like the way I look in photos, but my kids need to see me. Some people may not want to always ask a photographer to take a pic with their camera. I'm also looking forward to ride photos and some magic shots (especially stitch).

 

[Pooh2]

As a party of two adults, we got it. It was great to be in photos together. We have been married for 30 years and have very few photos of the two of us (I am the family photographer).
For all the money I spent on the rest of the trip, I felt the price was decent for a souvenir and back up incase something happened to my camera.

 

[starbound25]

My sister and daughters and I have been once a year for the past 4 years and I've never purchased it.
My sister is the photo taker and if she wants to be in one of the pics then she hands the CM her camera
Only 1 year did I order 2 of the photos online that the CM's took. I did the download version so it cost me $30 total
every other year we had basically all the same pics the CM's had taken so it's totally not worth it for us.
Kind of depends on your picture taker.
sidenote- I always think I should get it but then never do. Most of our trips have been 4 or 5 day trips and I didn't want us to spend our time seeking out photo people to be sure we were getting our moneys worth of photos....

 

[robinb]

I've never purchased the Memory Maker or the Photopass CD before that. I have probably purchased fewer than a dozen photos over 15 years of 2-3 trips per year. We do allow the photographers to take photos but we almost never buy them. They're fun to look at though!

 

[rajahfan7]

I never do. I tend to prefer my free pictures.

 

[etoiles]

It's too late now if you just have a couple of weeks left but in the future why don't you join a Facebook share for MM? We do a share each time and it saves a ton of money since we share with at least 4 people. We do like it because I like having photos of both of us taken since normally we don't get a lot of those.

 

[ElizabethG]

Personally, I love it. I have always gotten some sort of pre-purchase. I love the magic shots, especially.

There are some options other than memory maker.

If you only want ride photos, you can purchase Attractions+ in the park (there is no pre-purchase). It is around $50 and gets you all of the ride photos.

You can also pre-puchase the CD for $120. You will get all photopass photos (with any edits you make) on a CD (no ride or meal pics).
https://mydisneyphotopass.disney.go.com/wdwsave/

I find MM a much better deal, though. It is only $30 more (the price of 1 meal or 2 rides).

We usually end up with around 200 pictures. We'll have at least 10 ride pics and about 4 meal pics. I like getting them all because what if I purchase one from Splash and we ride again the next day and I like that one better?

I have never regretted purchasing it. But I'm sure I would regret it if I didn't.

 

[ariane37]

I think it's fine skipping it, although I did love it the one time we did it. We go at least once a year and I always take the pictures, so it was nice to actually be in them for once lol. And the magic shots of course are fantastic. Once I edited and added borders(which took a lot of time but was really fun), I think I had over 500 pictures!

On the other hand, we did spend a lot of time seeking out the photopass photographers as they're not always easy to find. Not a huge deal for us since as I said, we go often, but you may not want to put that much time into it. I just happen to be looking at pictures from ALL our past trips earlier this evening, and on many of those trips we got tons of excellent pictures w/o the photopass. I definitely don't think it's a "must have" if you're looking to shave some $$ off your trip

 

[Monykalyn]

Got MM for our trip and loved it. Captures all ride photos too-and as it was FIL and DS first trips we wanted to get photos of them (and middle child DD facial expressions on every single ride is priceless!!) Also several magic shots-including Olaf! If you think there is even a possibility that you will want to purchase 10 pics from the whole length of your trip then (at 10-15$ a pic) MM has paid for itself. 7 Day trip we have >300 photos.