Bluemystique
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2022
Sorry ahead of time for the long read, but I tend to get pretty longwinded in my posts. So we opted to do the CSL portrait experience onboard the Galactic Starcruiser during our stay for our family of 5. As mentioned in web articles covering this, it's a 30 minute session with a private photographer (in our case, 1 photographer and 1 flash assistant) for $99 (initial rate for now). This is similar to the Capture Your Moment sessions at various WDW parks which go for $79 for 20 minute sessions. Compared to CYM, it seems like a pretty good deal--$20 for 50% more time within a financially exclusive resort.
Some background going into this: I had to book on the phone with GS services and was able to score a 3:30PM Day 2 time slot about a week before our trip. The CM on the phone highly encouraged a session on Day 1 before 4PM right as people were coming in but I wanted to get my lightsaber from Savi's on our Day 2 excursion before our session. I also asked about times around 7PM on Day 2 after dinner since it looked blank at first on our schedule and the CM was essentially like "...yeah, no. Don't want to spoil but you'll want the 3:30PM time slot." In terms of our outfits, it was a mix of the expensive GS line from ShopDisney ahead of time and $40-70 costumes on Amazon (and a set of hand-me-down BB-8 pajamas.)
I'm just going to copy-paste this from a previous post: So we were advised to show up 15 min prior for check in, made it 10 minutes before and were told to wait by the ship model for the photographers who weren’t there yet. Waited around, even asked another CM who said to wait nearby as she didn’t see them yet. Finally 1 min after appointment time, DH pointed out some photographers chilling by the front doors nowhere near the model ship. Once we established they were for us, they asked us where we’d like to take pictures, I suggested like 2 places, and off we went. (So definitely have a plan in mind because you might not have time before your session to discuss with the photographers.) We got in like 3 different settings despite trying to get 3 kids to cooperate. The photographers called it at the 28-29th minute and let us know to expect our photos in 7 days in MDE.
The settings we ended up naming were Cabin Hallways and Climate Simulator and they added shots with the large map on Deck 4. The bridge would have been great but they were doing a training session at the time. Other story elements were going on too so I'm sure the Engineering Room and such were equally crowded. We did get stopped by a certain Main character while trying to get off the elevator so that ate up some time as well. So if we had to do it again, we probably would book a pre-Muster session on Day 1 to have access to more parts of the ship. For anyone who doesn't know where any of these places are, I would recommend checking in early enough to get a ship tour first to help decide locations.
Four days later (today) our pictures automagically loaded into the Photos section of MDE. The digital downloads should be included in cost of the package but I already have photo pass with my AP so can't confirm that for sure but it most likely is. We received 36 pictures in total, and none had any extra magic shots added. This probably doesn't seem like a large number of photos (my friend who did 2 CYM sessions recently racked up ~150 photos on hers) but keep in mind we had to get 3 kids to cooperate.
And now what everyone's been waiting for, sample photos!
Now onto the big question: Is it worth it? I know some people are happy just taking pictures with their iPhones and calling it a day. For those people, no. But for dedicated photopass pictures (while our kids are still at such a cute age) at an exclusive resort where $99 seems like a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of the stay, I'd say definitely!
Some background going into this: I had to book on the phone with GS services and was able to score a 3:30PM Day 2 time slot about a week before our trip. The CM on the phone highly encouraged a session on Day 1 before 4PM right as people were coming in but I wanted to get my lightsaber from Savi's on our Day 2 excursion before our session. I also asked about times around 7PM on Day 2 after dinner since it looked blank at first on our schedule and the CM was essentially like "...yeah, no. Don't want to spoil but you'll want the 3:30PM time slot." In terms of our outfits, it was a mix of the expensive GS line from ShopDisney ahead of time and $40-70 costumes on Amazon (and a set of hand-me-down BB-8 pajamas.)
I'm just going to copy-paste this from a previous post: So we were advised to show up 15 min prior for check in, made it 10 minutes before and were told to wait by the ship model for the photographers who weren’t there yet. Waited around, even asked another CM who said to wait nearby as she didn’t see them yet. Finally 1 min after appointment time, DH pointed out some photographers chilling by the front doors nowhere near the model ship. Once we established they were for us, they asked us where we’d like to take pictures, I suggested like 2 places, and off we went. (So definitely have a plan in mind because you might not have time before your session to discuss with the photographers.) We got in like 3 different settings despite trying to get 3 kids to cooperate. The photographers called it at the 28-29th minute and let us know to expect our photos in 7 days in MDE.
The settings we ended up naming were Cabin Hallways and Climate Simulator and they added shots with the large map on Deck 4. The bridge would have been great but they were doing a training session at the time. Other story elements were going on too so I'm sure the Engineering Room and such were equally crowded. We did get stopped by a certain Main character while trying to get off the elevator so that ate up some time as well. So if we had to do it again, we probably would book a pre-Muster session on Day 1 to have access to more parts of the ship. For anyone who doesn't know where any of these places are, I would recommend checking in early enough to get a ship tour first to help decide locations.
Four days later (today) our pictures automagically loaded into the Photos section of MDE. The digital downloads should be included in cost of the package but I already have photo pass with my AP so can't confirm that for sure but it most likely is. We received 36 pictures in total, and none had any extra magic shots added. This probably doesn't seem like a large number of photos (my friend who did 2 CYM sessions recently racked up ~150 photos on hers) but keep in mind we had to get 3 kids to cooperate.
And now what everyone's been waiting for, sample photos!
Now onto the big question: Is it worth it? I know some people are happy just taking pictures with their iPhones and calling it a day. For those people, no. But for dedicated photopass pictures (while our kids are still at such a cute age) at an exclusive resort where $99 seems like a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of the stay, I'd say definitely!
