Confused& Disappointed About Photopass

[CleveRocks]

I never ever imagined PhotoPass as a replacement for my own camera. Unless I had a personal PhotoPass photographer with me (hey, now THERE'S an idea! ), there's no way I'd be satisfied with missing all the little photo opportunities.

That being said, I loved PhotoPass. We didn't esepcially seek them out, but when we saw them we took advantage, and we had about 20 pics to choose from in May 2005 (this was before the CDs were offered). Aside from pics with each park's central icon (Castle, big stupid hat, etc.), we also got pics: with Goofy wearing a spacesuit outside Mission:Space, at the exit of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and kinda in the middle of nowhere near the front of AK (with lush greenery in the background), and other places that I can't recall right now.

On another note, Disney is a for-profit corporation, and they are allowed to charge whatever they want and if we don't like it then we speak by not paying the outrageous prices. Remember that the cost of the photos includes the salaries of the photographers, the purchase of all the photo equipment as well as computer equipment, the salaries of the techies that run the equipment and the website, the salaries of the administrative staff that oversee and support it, etc. Plus then the profit, itself. Look, I'm a liberal Democrat, but even I know that if a company can't earn a nice profit on a product or service they will not offer that product or service. Capitalism (combined with democracy) is one of the things that makes America as wonderful and successful as it is. The USSR and its satellites failed because communism just doesn't work. China is thriving because they have promoted capitalism within their overall system. I'm sure Walt Disney loved the idea that he brought so much joy into people's lives, but if he thought he would just break even or earn a very modest living from it then he never would have bothered in the first place. One of the prices we pay for enjoying the Disney theme parks is that the only way to exit from the headliner rides is through a gift shop!

 

[rubbergypsy]

we just returned last week and when my daughter was at the bibidi bobidi boutique they issued me a photopass as they took several photos of the makeover. whenever we were in the parks i just handed the pass to the photographers and they snapped a photo, although we only had photos taken when we were all together and looked ok. ha ha. i did end up buying one when i returned home and i also purchased the akershus photo pack and one of us on test track

 

[chipscinderelly]

We used photopass in the Character Connection in Epcot and had a multitude of photos to select from!

 

[mjmcca]

I dont get that people cant pick out the photopass photographers. They are wearing a Disney uniform. They have on royal blue pants a white shirt a khaki colored photographer vest with a patch on it that says photopass and a khaki colored fedora. They are kind of hard to miss.

 

[WillCAD]

The ones I remember off the top of my head-

MK:
Main Street- There are usualy 3 or 4 here, so you can get pictures different distances from the castle

The Hub/Partners

Rose garden at the castle


Epcot:
Various locations in front of SSE

AK: Near the entrance bridge w/ tree in background
right up by the tree of life garden

MGM:
Near entrance
TOT
near the HAT

And then by all of the character greetings

We got around 200 photos on our CD. I do wish they had the photopass people more spread out, but it seems like they have a pretty good variety to start with.

Hope that helps!

I'll add a few to this list (just off the top of my head):

MK
In front of Crystal Palace

Epcot
At the Fountain of Nations
On the walkway between FW ans WS

AK
In front of Donald's Breakfast-o-saurus

PhotoPass photographers can be seen from a distance because they all wear beige photographers' vest, as well as carry those big cameras.

When you get closer, look for the CM badge (which is different from a GOH badge), look for the PhotoPass logo on the vest, and look for a card scanner hanging from the belt, connected to the camera. If the person does not have all of these things, they are not a PhotoPass photographer, they are just another Guest like you who happens to wear a photographers vest and carry a big camera.

 

[grimley1968]

Remember that the cost of the photos includes the salaries of the photographers, the purchase of all the photo equipment as well as computer equipment, the salaries of the techies that run the equipment and the website, the salaries of the administrative staff that oversee and support it, etc. Plus then the profit, itself.

I get it, but it's still not worth $99 for a CD, IMO. I'm an IT guy myself, and am quite familiar with all the processes and costs involved to make such a thing happen. There's no way, even with a nice profit, that those CDs should cost $99, even if you cram 300 photos on there. I think maybe $20-25 is a fairer price, with mucho profit. As far as salaries, I can't imagine it took more than 4 or 5 people to set this system up. It's simple. And I doubt more than 1 or 2 IT people work on it, even part time, to keep it going. 90% of the work can be done by the photogs themselves with that card system.

But another and equally important point is that they should move away from the CD-distributing business. It's a waste of their profit margin, and my money. They should allow guests to (legally) download their Photopass pics directly from the site, for a certain amount per photo or a larger amount for the entire collection. That would be even less work for everyone involved. If guests feel a "burning" need to put these photos on CD, let them put them on CDs themselves.

But, as you said, it's my choice to walk away from what I see as a ridiculous price for a CD of jpegs. I will definitely do so, and bring my camera with me from now on to take my 1-cent pictures on my own.

Until they bring the price down on those CDs and/or give me the (legal) option to download these pics without having to deal with a CD, I'll pass on Photopass.

 

[Mickeyistheman]

I get it, but it's still not worth $99 for a CD, IMO. I'm an IT guy myself, and am quite familiar with all the processes and costs involved to make such a thing happen. There's no way, even with a nice profit, that those CDs should cost $99, even if you cram 300 photos on there. I think maybe $20-25 is a fairer price, with mucho profit. As far as salaries, I can't imagine it took more than 4 or 5 people to set this system up. It's simple. And I doubt more than 1 or 2 IT people work on it, even part time, to keep it going. 90% of the work can be done by the photogs themselves with that card system.

But another and equally important point is that they should move away from the CD-distributing business. It's a waste of their profit margin, and my money. They should allow guests to (legally) download their Photopass pics directly from the site, for a certain amount per photo or a larger amount for the entire collection. That would be even less work for everyone involved. If guests feel a "burning" need to put these photos on CD, let them put them on CDs themselves.

But, as you said, it's my choice to walk away from what I see as a ridiculous price for a CD of jpegs. I will definitely do so, and bring my camera with me from now on to take my 1-cent pictures on my own.

Until they bring the price down on those CDs and/or give me the (legal) option to download these pics without having to deal with a CD, I'll pass on Photopass.

I don't undestand how you think that $99 is too much for a CD, especially when let's say a family of 5 goes on vacation for 7 days and sees every character, goes to several character meals, goes to everypark etc. I can definately see at least 200-300 photos. Now you say $99 is too much for that. You own the pictures and can have them printed anywhere you like, even your own pc. I mean if you go to Costco its very very cheap to print them.

If you only have 100 photos or less then no it is not a good price. But $25 come on, that is a bit ridiculous. This is not an easy system I am sure to create and they went through alot to work it out and they still have some kinks I am sure.

I just feel that the price of $99 no matter how photos you have is quite reasonable. So use it wisely and then it will be beneficial.

 

[BamaFan121s]

Hmm...I really don't know what to tell ya. We had 86 on ours and only took it with us some of the days. They were in front of the parks, big rides, and where all of the character meet and greet areas are.

 

[MsLeFever]

So are the photopass photographers at the character meals? I understand that the "official meal photograph" is still extra but what about during the meal?

thanks

 

[beattyfamily]

So are the photopass photographers at the character meals? I understand that the "official meal photograph" is still extra but what about during the meal?

thanks

The ride photos and photos taken at restaurants are not part of Photopass.

 

[TinkerBess_SnowTori]

I have a question -- can you get the pictures of the rides - say like when you are coming down the falls on Splash Mountain on your photopass card?

If so I wish I had known that last time

 

[beattyfamily]

I have a question -- can you get the pictures of the rides - say like when you are coming down the falls on Splash Mountain on your photopass card?

If so I wish I had known that last time

Like I said in the post above yours, no, ride photos and character meal photos are not part of Photopass.

 

[TinkerBess_SnowTori]

Like I said in the post above yours, no, ride photos and character meal photos are not part of Photopass.

WHOOPS!!

I must have been typing as you replied - thanks for pointing it out.

 

[beattyfamily]

WHOOPS!!

I must have been typing as you replied - thanks for pointing it out.

No problem! Also, your post ended up on the next page too.

 

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

On the official WDW podcast, their photography guy mentioned that they are working on incorporating the ride photos into the system. It's not available yet, but I imagine it will be in the near future. IMO, that feature alone will seriously increase the popularity of the PhotoPass card and cd option because of the ability to print the pics for yourself.

At first glance, the $99 seems expensive, but when I consider that they give me the copyright and will let me keep the original files forever and print them out much cheaper at home, I think it's a good deal, especially when you get at least 100 pics on the cd, that can hold up to 300-400. It's $12.95 for one 5x7. It's cheaper to get the cd than to buy just 8 PhotoPass pics. In looking at the pictures we took on PhotoPass, and I only had about 100 before enhancements, there were easily more than 8 pictures that we wanted. My sister had complained about how my mom was going to buy it since I had done most of the pics on it, but when she saw what we were doing with those pics, she started asking if she could get copies of some of them.

 

[k5thbeatle]

Photopass was and is one of the worst ideas Disney has come up with...right up there with the current dining plan!

 

[bicker]

Ooooookay. (backing away slowly)

 

[philaround]

We also saw them all over the place 3 weeks ago. We wound up with 41 pictures. Here is a link to them

 

[WillCAD]

Getting the ride photos integrated into the PhotoPass system is going to take a lot of new hardware and software - a complete revamp of the current ride photo system - which is probably why it was not done when the PhotoPass system made its debut.

However, when PhotoPass was brand new, the photographers were all telling Guests that it was a test program, and if it was successful enough Disney would most likely expand it to include ride photos at some future date.

Well, here we are a few years down the road, and I think it's safe to say that PhotoPass has been a complete success, so I think that ride photos will probably be available on the PhotoPass system within a year or two. That's just a guess, of course, but seeing as how the system is working fairly well and making money, revamping the ride photo system is the next major step.

 

[julia & nicks mom]

I lost my photopass the other day and spent some time with the photo guys while we found the number -

I can't believe their search capability!!

anyway - we talked a lot about the future of photopass (I heard the following info from two different photographers)

they are working on adding the rides and it should happen pretty soon
the Cd sales are very popular and they are currently working on adding more and more photogrpahers -
the plan is to have them in every resort lobby and pool area, to have them at every character meal and all throughout the parks
it is already in play at the Bippity Boppity Boutique - they have a photographer in there and he takes pictures the whole time - after you can head over to the scrapbook shop and have a photoshoot done - and they add these photos to your photopass -

Disney's goal is to sell a $100 CD to every family that comes through the gate - they want people to feel like they don't need a camera and will have professional photos of their whole trip