Can't decide on Memory Maker...please help!

[Kristie911]

We are Disney first timers (well, I haven't been there in 15 years and my hubby and kids have never been) and I can't decide if I want to purchase MM or not.

I don't want to be the mom who misses everything because she's always looking through the viewfinder on the camera...nor do I want to look back and realize I'm not in one of the pics. I'd like to carry my camera but not feel obligated to take pics all day long. But can I trust that if I purchase MM I will have enough pics when I get home?

Do I understand correctly that I have to stop and save pics I want?

I just can't decide if it's worth it or not...what were your experiences? Good? Bad?

 

[AmyB2006]

I don't want to be the mom who misses everything because she's always looking through the viewfinder on the camera...nor do I want to look back and realize I'm not in one of the pics. I'd like to carry my camera but not feel obligated to take pics all day long. But can I trust that if I purchase MM I will have enough pics when I get home?

Well I love to take them and I don't feel like I'm missing things behind my viewfinder. Actually, I see more. LOL

To make sure you have enough pics, stop at a lot of photogs in the park. You're paying for them, you might as well get your money's worth. Also tell them you have MM and ask for "magic shots" if available.

Do I understand correctly that I have to stop and save pics I want?

No, you just scan your MB right after you have the pic taken. You don't have to stop and save them separately. All the pics taken that are scanned onto your band, will be in your photopass account. I'm not sure what you mean by that.

I just can't decide if it's worth it or not...what were your experiences? Good? Bad?


All good. Glad we did it. You get ride and dining photos too.

 

[Ismo]

I also like all of the special touches they added to our our pics from our last trip. In one we're holding Tinkerbell which turned out to be one of my faves. Also, the photographers can be really fun and they get the family to do cute things in some of the photos. I still took TONS of photos myself, but when I'm taking them, I'm never in them. I always have to beg DH to take a picture of me, and he'll only ever take one and hand the camera back to me. So 9 times out of 10, they're not great pics.

At then end of my last trip, all of the pictures I ended up printing and getting framed were from what was then called PhotoPass. Plus now with the MM I am pretty sure you get some ride photos with it, which to me makes it worth it entirely.

 

[Kristie911]

Do I understand correctly that I have to stop and save pics I want?

No, you just scan your MB right after you have the pic taken. You don't have to stop and save them separately. All the pics taken that are scanned onto your band, will be in your photopass account. I'm not sure what you mean by that.

I thought I read somewhere that after you do a ride you have to stop at the photo booth thing after the ride and save your photo to your account. I don't want to have tons of wasted time standing around waiting for the thing to clear out after each ride to save our pic to our account. Maybe I just misunderstood how it works.

 

[AmyB2006]

I thought I read somewhere that after you do a ride you have to stop at the photo booth thing after the ride and save your photo to your account. I don't want to have tons of wasted time standing around waiting for the thing to clear out after each ride to save our pic to our account. Maybe I just misunderstood how it works.

Sorry, at rides yes, you have to go to the counter and give them the number on your photo, then they add it to your band. It never took me more than 5 minutes.

 

[magicaldisney]

In my opinion, in the whole scheme of things and how much it costs for a Disney vacation, it is a small price to pay. Especially for a first timer. I would still bring my camera because you will want pictures of EVERYTHING. What photopass or memory maker offers, is for you to be in the pictures with your family. The first couple of years we went, we had pictures of everyone else except me. It was nice to finally have pictures of the whole family. You can always ask a passerby to take your picture, but you don't want to bother others all the time. You can always ask a photopass photographer to take your picture on your camera, but in my opinion that's not what they are paid to do, but many people ask them so that's an option.

As for rides, as already stated, it takes no time at all to have them added to your band. If you are doing any character meals, those pictures will be added to memory maker as well.

My opinion, I would do it.

 

[i*heart*minniemouse]

My husband and I have been doing it...even though it is just the 2 of us. He is not always into stopping to pose, so we do it where there are not long lines.
One thing I have done in the past is share a ride photo with someone we are on the ride with. One year, we did Splash Mountain with 3 teens and they looked great in the picture...for one, it was his first ride. As we were looking at the pics and they were laughing at themselves, I offered to email the photo to them if they were comfortable giving me an email address. They did and I sent it to them once we got the pictures downloaded....just my way of spreading some Disney magic.

 

[dayvewc]

I've done photopass+ and memory maker the last couple of trips I've taken and really love it. I no longer bother carrying my "big camera" around with me, which makes things a bit easier. I don't have to stress and worry about taking it on rides and it getting broke or wet, nor do I have to try to find a place to leave it and hope it is still there when I return.

I thought I read somewhere that after you do a ride you have to stop at the photo booth thing after the ride and save your photo to your account. I don't want to have tons of wasted time standing around waiting for the thing to clear out after each ride to save our pic to our account. Maybe I just misunderstood how it works.

Sorry, at rides yes, you have to go to the counter and give them the number on your photo, then they add it to your band. It never took me more than 5 minutes.

Stopping for pictures with the photogs doesn't take much time at all, and neither does stopping after the rides. I think the longest I ever had to wait was about 5 minutes at Space Mountain b/c their system was down and they only had 1 working counter-spot. Something you can do, though, is just write down the photo number, and as long as you return within 24 hours (I believe) they can add it to the account. So, if the line is longer than you want to wait, and you know you will be in the area for a while, just check back later.

 

[1stvisit0909]

We are Disney first timers (well, I haven't been there in 15 years and my hubby and kids have never been) and I can't decide if I want to purchase MM or not.

I don't want to be the mom who misses everything because she's always looking through the viewfinder on the camera...nor do I want to look back and realize I'm not in one of the pics. I'd like to carry my camera but not feel obligated to take pics all day long. But can I trust that if I purchase MM I will have enough pics when I get home?

Do I understand correctly that I have to stop and save pics I want?

I just can't decide if it's worth it or not...what were your experiences? Good? Bad?

I would get it. We had photo pass the first trip, photo pass plus the second trip, and it was so easy to use. I imagine MM will be just as easy.

The first 4 day trip we had over 250 pictures on our disk. the second trip, one week at christmas, we had over 400 pictures. The ride and magic shots were great. I like being able to add the borders etc when we get home.

I already bought MM for our December 14 trip. This is "moms souvenir" and the kids know it, and they like posing for the photos too. I like knowing we will have plenty of shots with all four us. I still take my own camera, and we take lots of photos (christmas trip, 1800 between my daughter and I) and I was still in the moment plenty!

 

[cornichon]

I add MM to my package this trip... the last time we went we did Photopass and got such great pics. Posed pics at BBB for dd, shots of her holding Tink., family pics in front of the castle, great pics at the water parks etc

 

[henry72]

We got regular photopass on our trip two years ago and loved it. This time it was a simple decision to add MM. We are doing so many things - SWW, BBB, PL, as well as SW meals and CRT. And now that the kids are older and will ride some of the "big" rides, I think the ride photos will be great to have.

You really just have to look at what you are doing and how long you will be there. I probably wouldn't do it on a short trip (4 days or under) but we will be there a week and I think we will get our money's worth.

 

[Indecisive]

Kristie, like you, my family just had our "first" visit a few weeks ago (DH and I had both gone as kids, but that was SO long ago, and our children had never been there). We are *SO* happy we got MM. It took almost no time at all to scan our bands for the ride photos, which we are so glad we have! And it really only takes seconds to scan your band after a Photopass photographer takes your picture. We got about 175 photos, most of which are great. I took my point-and-shoot compact camera as well, and I did take a lot of my own pictures, but I am SO glad I got so many great, professional photos of my whole family. I don't think you would regret it either!

 

[Miskey]

I've gotten photopass plus on our last two trips and the only regret I have its that I didn't have it for the previous trips! In the afternoons when ride lines are long, we would stroll around and stopped every time we saw a photographer. A lot of times, they would be just standing there with no line, so we would take a few different poses, just me and DH, just the kids, etc.

I also love having all the ride photos and the time it took to get them was minimal.

 

[Kristie911]

Thank you for all the input!! In the scheme of things, it really isn't much cost, so I'm going to do it. Then I won't feel so pressured to get all the pics and we'll have so many more of us as a family.

Last year we went to Washington DC as a family and of the 200 pics I took, there was one of us as a family because I don't like to stop people and ask them to take a pic.

 

[indylaw99]

You all convinced me! So I just went into MDE and ordered one for our trip that starts in 10 days. It says I need to pick something up at Will Call? Is that just for ticket purchases? I'm assuming this is automatically added to our bands?

 

[Pkltm]

To ask a quick MM question, I have read all the benefits and you have pretty much convinced me. But we have two rooms, do we need to MM packages or can we do one?

 

[Winnowill]

And don't forget the fun after your trip of going into your pictures and playing with them - adding borders, resizing, zooming in, what have you. I started with about 300 MM pictures from our eight days in April, and, by the time I'm done with them this weekend, I'll probably have about 1000.

 

[Kate and Family]

To ask a quick MM question, I have read all the benefits and you have pretty much convinced me. But we have two rooms, do we need to MM packages or can we do one?

As long as everyone is linked to your MM via MDE, then you only need the one MM.

(MDE - My Disney Experience - set it up on the official web site). You may need an extra step since you are will call - not sure.

 

[mickeymyfavorite]

Does anyone know if the MM can be added after arrival? or does it have to be added before?

 

[stky6]

I would add it before, from what I have read it takes 3 days to get it setup so anything taken the first three days after getting MM will not be available.