Camera Bag

[disney0505]

My wife was working on putting an album together from the photopass pictures at home and she had kept modifying borders and saving her changes. Now, the pictures are not available any more. She called Disney and they told her IT may be able to retrieve the pictures but it was hit or miss. Has this happened to anyone before? Does Disney actually permanantely delete the pictures after a certain amount of time has elapsed? We really want those pictures. I can't imagine Disney would not have an archive somehwere to retrieve these. She has been working on the album 3 days prior to them being removed.

 

[Daisy14'sDH]

As far as I know they only save the photos for 30 days or so before they remove them from there system. I don't know if they back them up or not, that would be an incredible amount of memory for them to save.

Good luck with the retrieval, and please post the results of your dilemma!

 

[DisneyBoundYrly]

I'm looking for the same thing! Been online and found nothing... I usually save $50, looks like they're only offering $15 off this year :-(
Still excited, though! Disney here we come!!

 

[ILuvCrush]

I used this link and it deposited the certificate in my cart.... I tried it today to make sure it still worked, and the link is still valid.

Theres no expiration on the certificate itself.... so you can even buy one now for a trip next year!


http://www.disneyphotopass.com/previsitoffer.aspx

 

[pgowder]

I used this link and it deposited the certificate in my cart.... I tried it today to make sure it still worked, and the link is still valid.

Theres no expiration on the certificate itself.... so you can even buy one now for a trip next year!


http://www.disneyphotopass.com/previsitoffer.aspx

Thanks for posting that!

 

[steery1]

 

[MICKEY88]

 

[PhotoQueen]

Is that a Mickey Mouse Neoprene Cloth?? Do they sell them at the parks??

 

[theemily]

As a photopass photographer, I find this discussion genuinely fascinting and I'm going to throw my two cents in. What a lot of people don't seem to realize is two things:

1. We are not paid on commission, nor do we get any kind of incentives for taking/selling more pictures than other photographers. Guests are constantly asking me if we are paid on commission and promising that they will buy my pictures, but it genuinely doesn't matter in any way other than making my proud of my work. We never know how many of our photos sell, though I have sold a few prints of pictures I've taken in our camera center, and it always puts a smile on my face.
2. Most photopass photographers aren't previously trained in photography. Some of us have photography degrees or work in other fields in addition to working for the mouse, but otherwise, you get all of your photography training on the job. The photographers that I work with who have no previous 'formal' photo training don't really consider themselves artists, they just love their job and enjoy making magic for guests like we all do.

Also, we're trained to offer to take pictures with guests cameras...usually before the guest can ask. I always, always offer assistance for people who look like they're struggling to take a picture, and I always approach families where one person doesn't get to be in the picture and offer to take it for them. I'm also glad to use your camera in addition to mine, wether it's in front of an icon or at a character meet and greet - we just want to make your trip as smooth and magical as possible. I'm always surprised when people are shocked that we offer to use their cameras...we just want to help you have the best vacation possible!

 

[RBennett]

As a photopass photographer, I find this discussion genuinely fascinting and I'm going to throw my two cents in. What a lot of people don't seem to realize is two things:

1. We are not paid on commission, nor do we get any kind of incentives for taking/selling more pictures than other photographers. Guests are constantly asking me if we are paid on commission and promising that they will buy my pictures, but it genuinely doesn't matter in any way other than making my proud of my work. We never know how many of our photos sell, though I have sold a few prints of pictures I've taken in our camera center, and it always puts a smile on my face.
2. Most photopass photographers aren't previously trained in photography. Some of us have photography degrees or work in other fields in addition to working for the mouse, but otherwise, you get all of your photography training on the job. The photographers that I work with who have no previous 'formal' photo training don't really consider themselves artists, they just love their job and enjoy making magic for guests like we all do.

Also, we're trained to offer to take pictures with guests cameras...usually before the guest can ask. I always, always offer assistance for people who look like they're struggling to take a picture, and I always approach families where one person doesn't get to be in the picture and offer to take it for them. I'm also glad to use your camera in addition to mine, wether it's in front of an icon or at a character meet and greet - we just want to make your trip as smooth and magical as possible. I'm always surprised when people are shocked that we offer to use their cameras...we just want to help you have the best vacation possible!

Wow! This is awesome!! I have to be honest; I have always considered your job to be my dream job!! You get to hang out at the greatest place in the world, taking pictures, working for my favorite company in the world, AND it's not even sales oriented!!! DW and I are trying to sell our house and find jobs so we can move down there, but we are more than likely going to be trying to get to the Vero Beach area. (Too bad THEY don't have photopass photographers! ) In all seriousness, from one guest to you... THANKS for all that you do!

 

[theemily]

Wow! This is awesome!! I have to be honest; I have always considered your job to be my dream job!! You get to hang out at the greatest place in the world, taking pictures, working for my favorite company in the world, AND it's not even sales oriented!!! DW and I are trying to sell our house and find jobs so we can move down there, but we are more than likely going to be trying to get to the Vero Beach area. (Too bad THEY don't have photopass photographers! ) In all seriousness, from one guest to you... THANKS for all that you do!

It really is a wonderful job...despite the heat and the long hours standing But really, to be able to capture the first time a little princess meets her favorite character and getting that hug that mom or dad missed on their camera is amazing. I love being part of the magic. Plus, on my best days I get to play around with Goofy or Stitch or Donald all day - what could be bad about that?

And you're very, very welcome.

 

[Mosca]

That explains a lot, theemily. I was extremely disappointed in my photopass photos. We don't have any small children, and it was hard to find a photographer away from the characters. In 5 days of theme parks, we got less than a dozen photographs, in total... counting multiple photographs taken by the same photographer. And the shots we did get were horrible, all fill flash and blown highlights.

I paid the $99 in advance, and when I saw the shots I canceled the order. This was probably the most disappointing Disney offer I've ever accepted, and the only one I've ever asked for my money back on.

Too bad we didn't run into you, I'm sure you would have taken some nice shots. But even if they were great, we would have needed a lot more than a dozen of them to make it anywhere near a decent value.

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

I want to add my thanks to all the Photopass Photgraphers. Just like my own pics, some are good/great and others are throwaways! In June I had a long conversation (he wasn't busy) at the Dessert Party. He was a long time wedding photographer in the Orlando area. He was extremely accomodating, friendly and forthcoming about his job. While the job may not allow for the greatest of photographic creativity, he did provide a great service and represented Disney very well. He was part of our magical experience as were all the photographers we ran into or used. Kudos to all of you.

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

The photographers that I work with who have no previous 'formal' photo training don't really consider themselves artists, they just love their job and enjoy making magic for guests like we all do.

I think this makes all the difference in the world.

Regardless of the skill-level of the PP Photographers, I've never met one that didn't have a "Disney" attitude. They all seem to love their jobs, or they're *really* good at faking it. They always seem to be Cast Members, first!

Some take great pictures, some take so-so pictures. And, it's certainly a *fantastic* service to know that even if I don't like the picture they took with their camera, I can 100% trust them to take a picture of me *with* my family, with MY camera, and not run off with it!

 

[Mosca]

Reading some responses afterward, I do want to stress that the photographers themselves were wonderful people; it was the results I was unhappy with.

 

[brack]

Is that a Mickey Mouse Neoprene Cloth?? Do they sell them at the parks??

Not sure that it is neoprene but they do sell those lens cloths at the parks. I put one on my DW's P&S.

 

[JimbobJimbo]

 

[theemily]

Mosca: I completely understand about having trouble finding us NOT with the characters - I've had many guests say that I'm the first photog they've seen 3 or 4 days into their vacation, and that really sucks. I totally think there need to be more 'icon' locations, though we do have quite a few photographers around (at least at Animal Kingdom). There definitely needs to be a better way to find us even if they don't have the ability to put us out there. We just need the guests to say these things to Guest Relations - as a PPP I can make suggestions to managements but if guests are suggesting things more often, they're far more likely to happen. Also, as a defense to the photographer, it's pretty impossible to check our shots as we go, and it can take up to half an hour for a message to get to us if the images are ending up blown out to due flash/camera issues, so we don't always know something is wrong until too late. And a teeny note on the value of the CD: at $149.95, it is the same cost as having 15 5x7 prints done by us, so if you do like more than 15 of your image, I think the CD is a good value. Obviously because of your situation, it ended up not being a good value, but I do try to point that math out to guests so they don't think that the CD is only a good value if you have 100+ pictures - I constantly have guests wanting 20 prints and being shocked at the cost even though they already turned down my offer as the CD being a better value. (Now I'm rambling again...sorry!)

Gianna'sPapa: Thank you! You guys are the reason we do our job (or most of us, at least) And its true, we don't really get any creative wiggle room, we take the shots we're told to take for consistency's sake, but some of us try to do more with it if we can.

LPZ: Thanks! Because PP is only 5 years old, most of us were cast before we were PP, adding to the "cast first, photog second" mentality, but again, our training is always "cast first, photog second," no matter what. And you can trust any cast member to not run off with your camera after taking a picture, but 98% of the Photopass photogs will do a pretty darn good job with your camera - getting the people and the Tree of Life to look equally large & important in the picture takes some practice

 

[RBennett]

Dude, this is so cool to actually hear from a cast member! (Ok, I'm showing my geek side.) Some of my favorite memories from recent vacations are actually just standing there talking with a cast member or PPP for a few minutes. In November we were at DAK for EMH and spent a good portion just talking to Dora while trying to get some shots of my own of the Tree of Life. While talking with her, she mentioned that she wished she had a Dora the Explorer backpack. DW and I even went to the store off property later looking for a Dora backpack, with no luck. You guys are my favorite experience to the parks sometimes!

 

[steery1]

Maybe you know (or are) one of these guys...........