Buy or Not to Buy - Memory Maker? (On the Fence!)

[Jazzerfan]

My hubby and I are going to Disney early May and I've been on the fence about purchasing Memory Maker. Besides the parks, where else are their Photopass photographers?

Need any feedback to help with decision....

 

[Spork24]

We loved memory maker, and usually bought it before they added free photo pass to annual passes. Many of the character meals have photos, and sometimes there will be one at DS. Im sure someone else can provide more current detail on photopass locations than I can.

 

[Spork24]

Reasons we bought it is we always get more photos of our entire group and usually more "good" photos when using photopass regularly! It takes some of the stress out of doing family photos

 

[Dracoa Dragoon]

How long are you staying in Disney?
How many days will you be at the parks?

My wife and I went for a week (5 days at the parks), and it is worth it. I have a metric ton of photos for a photobook I am working on. Every cast member you see with a camera get a photo (or usually 5).

If you're only going 2-3 days it might not be worth it.

 

[abner1776]

Your initial comment was "you and your hubby" which would lead me to believe no kids are involved in this trip. In my opinion, no kids, no memory maker. Unless this is a special trip or a once in a lifetime trip, I do not see the value in getting memory maker and I believe you are correct that the photopass photographers are only in the parks and only the four main parks as I have never seen any at the water parks or at any resort or Disney Springs.

 

[kondjott]

I wouldn't get it based on the photo pass photographers you see (since they can and will take pictures for you with your camera). But we've gotten it before when going with large groups (since we could split the cost), and were happy with the on-ride photos.

 

[North of Mouse]

Memory maker doesn't mean anything to us - we much prefer taking our own memory pics. But, we had to pay for it whether we wanted to, or not! The AP was cheaper for us than tickets for 2 trips, so, of course, now it's 'included' in the price. Sneaky Disney wants to make sure we are paying our share whether we want it or not.

 

[noblemaidenfair]

If money isn't the issue, which I'm guessing it's not or you wouldn't even consider it, I'd say get it. We're going to get it for the first time on our upcoming trip. While we take a ton of pictures ourselves on our phones and our Canon, I am at the point that I would like better photos of these moments that include all of us, not to mention the photos on the rides, the character meals, the entrances and the photo stops. Try it once and if it's not worth it, don't do it again. You'll at least have these memories

 

[Ambehnke]

We never regret it!

 

[BlueStarryHat]

We got it for our last trip and are getting it again for this one! When you're a party of two like we are, it's so hard to get both people in the photo all the time. With MM, we stopped at every Photopass photographer we saw, and even have a couple of videos of us on 7DMT and Tower of Terror. We got so many photos, and the process was easy. I recommend it highly.

 

[Leelo]

Your initial comment was "you and your hubby" which would lead me to believe no kids are involved in this trip. In my opinion, no kids, no memory maker. Unless this is a special trip or a once in a lifetime trip, I do not see the value in getting memory maker and I believe you are correct that the photopass photographers are only in the parks and only the four main parks as I have never seen any at the water parks or at any resort or Disney Springs.

I am also considering memory maker for my husband and I (no kids). I'm curios to hear more detail about why you would not recommended it if there are no kids.

 

[jpeterson]

We bought the memory maker and loved it. We were there at Christmas and it was nice to get a photo in front of each tree. We certainly got value out of it. For the upcoming trip we are converting to Annual Passes so will get it by default.

 

[Mom2Stitch]

Your initial comment was "you and your hubby" which would lead me to believe no kids are involved in this trip. In my opinion, no kids, no memory maker. Unless this is a special trip or a once in a lifetime trip, I do not see the value in getting memory maker and I believe you are correct that the photopass photographers are only in the parks and only the four main parks as I have never seen any at the water parks or at any resort or Disney Springs.

One of our best photopass photographers was at Disney Springs-he spent probably 15 minutes with us and the pictures were fantastic. Not sure they are there all the time, this was in the evening.

I loved the pics of just me and DH on our empty nest trip-we got some great professional looking pictures at Epcot in WS. We had just sent DS off to college 2 weeks before the trip-we had a blast and our pictures of just us are very special to me.

MM is good for ride photos and the little movies, character meals, and in the parks or course. Don't forget about magic shots-those can be fun as well. I think it's a good investment. If you are unsure, you can wait and purchase it when you get back. It is $20 more to buy it when you get there or when you get back, but at least you will know at that time if you had enough pictures or good enough pictures for the investment.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

My advice - if you do MM, try and work out some different pose ideas for your pictures. Having 100 different pictures with the same poses in front of a handful of icons is not worth the spend, but if you get creative and have fun with your poses it can be awesome. Also, you don't always have to be looking at the camera (thought the photogs want you to). We do poses where we try and look like we are just standing in the middle of the street talking, looking at one another instead of the camera. Have a few sitting, kneeling, laughing - all kinds of things.

Get creative.

 

[Mickeymouseisking]

We really love getting it! it's a great convenience to just be able to walk up to every photographer and get our picture taken all over The World. They always take multiple shots, so you're guaranteed to get lots of great pictures! We get it regardless of if we're there just DH and me or together with the whole family. It's hassle free and takes pressure off of us since we don't have to think about taking pictures or asking someone to help us.
Photographers have taken candid pictures of us dancing in the parade or clapping along with a street performance. These are special memories we treasure and get to look back on.

BTW, we have great shots from both Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon.

 

[bumbershoot]

Your initial comment was "you and your hubby" which would lead me to believe no kids are involved in this trip. In my opinion, no kids, no memory maker. Unless this is a special trip or a once in a lifetime trip, I do not see the value in getting memory maker and I believe you are correct that the photopass photographers are only in the parks and only the four main parks as I have never seen any at the water parks or at any resort or Disney Springs.

Even with kids MM has no value for me. We paid for photopass CDs a couple times, got in on a couple share when they were a thing Dis allowed...and I have done almost nothing with those pix. Waste of time to take them, waste of time to edit them, just a waste for us.

When I take pictures on vacation I'm generally taking them of the sites with *some* people in them. Catching my son looking cute or grown or something is nice, but that's just an off the cuff photo. DH and I don't like pictures of ourselves enough to have them taken. DS takes some of us on the sly; I think he wants to know we existed LOL.

 

[Moxiepup]

DP and I generally aren't much for taking pictures of ourselves, but this time, I opted for MM. I lost my mom 4 1/2 years ago, and my sister last year. Having photos of them has been a comfort and I realised that I don't really have too many of DP and I together. Memories are precious things and photos capture those moments, and help you recall good times. Yes, there are other things that I could have bought with the money spent, but "things" are just that, and won't matter so much years and years from now.

 

[Kodachrome_Dreams]

My advice - if you do MM, try and work out some different pose ideas for your pictures. Having 100 different pictures with the same poses in front of a handful of icons is not worth the spend, but if you get creative and have fun with your poses it can be awesome. Also, you don't always have to be looking at the camera (thought the photogs want you to). We do poses where we try and look like we are just standing in the middle of the street talking, looking at one another instead of the camera. Have a few sitting, kneeling, laughing - all kinds of things.

Get creative.

Great suggestions. Thanks!

 

[GPC0321]

Great thread. I'm just now contemplating MM as well. We don't really ride the rides that are included in the pics and vids for MM, but we're going at Christmastime, staying at the GF, and it's my Mom's 75th birthday. I really would like some good shots of her (and me, and Dad!) at Disney. It might be a splurge for a few pictures in front of some Christmas decorations and Disney icons, but that's okay. I feel like we'll actually take the time to do this (since it costs money) whereas we're kind of apathetic about taking pictures ourselves (especially OF ourselves).

 

[gatorlisa]

We have never purchased it. Financially it just doesn't make sense for us. We don't do a lot of photos to begin with, and when we do, the photog or the character handler has been happy to take a few using my own camera and those have generally come out just fine. Ride pics don't hold a lot of interest for us. In all the times I've gone, I've felt compelled to download only one photo and that was one taken at night with goofy "scared" poses with Tower of Terror in the background. That is one that a point and shoot or iPhone camera wouldn't have handled well, with the low lighting, and the picture was so funny, it was worth the $15 for a single photo download. But for the vast majority of pictures, my camera and/or phone does just fine. Now, this next trip we will, for the first time, be using annual passes which includes photo pass downloads. So for that year's worth of trips, I probably won't bother handing over my camera and just download the photo pass stuff since there's no extra cost. Any non-AP trips, we'll continue to do it the old-fashioned, low-cost way. It just makes the most sense for us.