Convince Me, People...Should I Get Memory Maker?

[Cuchman]

I keep vacillating on getting one and I need some ammo to justify the cost....or to nix the idea.
Thoughts?

 

[aj23]

I'm in exactly the same boat. Interested to hear what everyone has to say.

 

[Networth]

If you even think you will purchase 12 photos, yes. That would be the break even point if you bought them individually. Just do the math on photos you think you may/are sure you will purchase.

Mind you MM includes:
Photopass Photographers (w/magic shots)
Ride Photos and Videos
Meet and Greet Photos

Personal experience we end up getting our monies worth and we maybe meet 1-2 Characters over the course of 8-9 days.

 

[CarolynFH]

We've bought MM for special trips with family, but when it's just DH & I it's not worth it. I agree that you need to think about how many photos you're likely to buy at a minimum. If you buy MM, then of course you want to maximize your return by looking for photographers, asking for magic shots, etc.

 

[mrsR123]

The last time I replied to this question, I was shouted down, but I think it is really overpriced. I recommend thinking through what you will do with the photos after your trip and what you might spend on that to help decide. Also, whether or not you would buy character meal photo packages.

I come out better doing a photo book with my Photopass pictures before they expire. You don't have to purchase them to put them into a book, and you can upload your own photos to the book as well. I have purchased maybe three ride photos in 20+ trips over 15 years. My life has not been diminished in any way as a result. I've never had any trouble having CMs take a picture with my camera at character meets or even alongside my photopass shots.

I get that some people love, love, love this product. YMMV. I'm just saying, you can't convince some people not to spend money.

 

[craigkerstiens]

I'm a bit mixed, while we've done it several times, we've also probably underutilized it. It's been somewhat nice when we've had a large number of people there with us that may not make it in the future to make sure we can easily capture lots of moments at different places. Though at the same time the pictures that we've had that we absolutely love are a subset of the overall ones. Fortunately for us the $100 in advance isn't much of an issue so we don't have to stress and we'll probably do it many times in the future, but if you're worried about the price I'd probably encourage passing on it.

 

[kimieko]

I'm not sure if I will be getting it or not. DH wants it, but I'm not sure it will be worth it for just the 2 of us. We did have it last year when we brought my sister and nephew with us and we got some awesome shots, but we did a ton of character meets with my nephew that we won't be doing now....so I'm just not sure.

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

I was very happy that we did it last trip that included DH and I, our three kids, and my in-laws. I liked having the ride photos, but mostly I loved all of the magic shots and pictures of our whole group taken by the CM. It was so quick and easy to ask them to take the picture, scan the magic band, and you're done! I'm a bit picture obsessed though, so this is right in my wheel house!

 

[Isatricia]

I don't want to carry a camera, but I do want pictures from the trip. I use the old Photo Pass t DLP in 2011 and loved having it. I have NEVER purchased a picture from a theme park because I find them overpriced. I, however, love having access to the digital images so use as I see fit. Depending on the length of the trip, you could easily have hundreds of photo memories.

 

[DLM1980]

I thought about not removing it for my upcoming trip, but I still buy it. In my 35 short years on this planet I've only recently started to deliberately not take a camera, both video and still, when I go on vacation. I used to take photos of everything and anything (how many pictures of trees on a mountainside do I need?) I've also come to the realization that other people have done the work for me when it comes to videos (Youtube anyone?). While recording wishes, or illuminations, or the main street electrical parade I've realized that I'm seeing the world through a tiny viewfinder instead of experiencing whats, quite literally, right in front of me. I was never in the videos and never in the photos, so I ditched them both. So this is why I continue to buy Memory Maker for our annual pilgrimage. I let someone else take my videos and play them back when I want, and now I let Disney take my photos for me. Are the photographers everywhere I want a picture, for the most part yes, and for that time I need to capture my partner doing something silly I just breakout the iPhone. Do I think its overpriced, for what I get, maybe.....do you think you could pay for someone (maybe a friend of yours) to follow you around the park with a camera and pay them $50 on top of their park ticket?

 

[BudgieMama]

It's our must do splurge for us.

My husband and I travel together, and two years ago visited NYC. It was an amazing holiday, I took loads of photos and we asked lots of people to take our photos together. When I got home, we found we didn't have a single photo we could use of the two of us. I was gutted.

We added Memory Maker last year, thinking it would be our only trip to WDW, and got 300 photos over the course of the week. Of the 300, only 4 were no good (smudge on camera lense) but all the rest were excellent. We have a bunch of prints framed and we love the photos. We would never pay separately for ride photos, for example, but we love having them!

DH was really nervous about spending so much money on photos, but when he saw all the photos, he said he completely understood why I had insisted on the package, and he said we should buy it next time... Fortunately for us, Disney are including Memory Maker for free with all UK 14 day adult tickets next year, so we don't have to pay for it, but that's Disney's loss, because we had included it in our budget

I realise this is just my perspective. For some, it's a great deal, for others, not so much. OP, your mileage may vary!

 

[mzsarah10]

This summer was our first time buying it. I had always been nervous about buying it. I am so glad we did. I have a 9 and 3 year old. We got so many great pics. They were both picked at enchanted tales with belle as well as my hubby. Those and the ride photos made it worth it for me.

 

[TinksMyGirl]

As I'm usually the photographer I am also not usually in the pictures. Our last trip was the first time purchasing the MM. Loved it. Yes I still brought my waterproof point and shoot, but didn't need to carry the big DSLR. It was also great as we could quickly take a whole family shot then some of stepped out so my DD could get a pic with just her family. Loved the magic shots too - Think is my favorite. The video from SDM ride was a bonus I didn't realize we got. Getting ready to purchase it for our upcoming trip.... this time I'm going to get a pic of me with just my DGS and new DGD!

 

[MelissaRV]

Our family went to Disney for the first time ever last October. We purchased the memory maker and I am SO GLAD that we did!!! We were there for 10 days and ended up with over 1,000 pictures. We ALL were able to get in most of them, plus we were able to get pictures of places that we may have not been able to otherwise. My little guy loved the added touch of the "surprises" that showed up in some of the pictures. (don't want to give too much away, but they were totally cool). I know it is pricey, but it was so worth the money, at least for our family. Another plus is that the Memory Maker Photographers will take pictures with your personal camera as well.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We never buy Memory Maker when it is just the two of us. We usually pose for a few Photopass pictures and we might buy one, though. We've also gotten the free 5 X 7 print with our Disney Visa card. We have asked random people or CM's to take our picture and some of those have been really good. But we will buy Memory Maker when traveling with extended family.

 

[Turk February]

It really depends on your situation and your family. For us...myself, my wife and our daughter, it's a no-brainer every time for the last 7 years. It has increased in price but with that, so have the benefits. We do a lot of character meets, and for that it's great to be able to enjoy watching my daughter instead of worrying about getting the perfect shot and living my vacation through a lense. I love that they have added ride photos and now ride videos to the package. Also, since they have revamped it and made the switch from Photopass to Memory Maker, Disney seems to be totally behind it. I've noticed way more photographers around the parks, and now their locations are available in MDE. Some photographers are better than others, and some shots will end up being bad, but I have never regretted the purchase. That said, make sure you make it worth your while. If you get a few castle shots and a few ride photos you'll probably think it's a waste of money.

 

[skipfierce]

We loved MM. It is nice having all of the family is all of the pics.

 

[cisco911]

We just got back and the memory maker definitely made sense for us. We had 5 park days and had just over 500 pictures taken by the disney photographers. It was our daughters first time so we saw all the characters and princesses. That is probably what makes it worth it. If you are just planning on getting a few shots in front of the castle, etc. then it is probably not worth it. Wife is already working on the 100 page photobook with all the pictures we got

 

[Mousemommy1]

We love Memory Maker. Over the course of our normal 11 day trip, we often get 300+ pictures.

This past April, we only went for 8 days and weren't super vigilant about getting a ton of pictures because we had our 3 month old
along and were more focused on making sure he was all set, and we still ended up with about 125 pictures. Still very much worth it.

 

[Nancyg56]

I agree that it all depends on your family dynamic. We sometimes purchased Photopass or whatever that package was. My DD was the one who sorted through it and chose what we kept, etc.

This trip we decided the purchase of MM was a no brainer for us. We have a big family trip planned and want to be able to capture more moments than the ones the designated photographer in the family managed. We also do not want to rely on the kindness of strangers to capture out moments.

You need to decide how many photos you would normally b e inclined to purchase, and if your family would benefit from not needing a designated family photographer.