Debating now about photopass CD

[davis65]

I had been waiting forever to get the discount code for the photopass CD, now that I got it I am debating wether or not I really need the CD. I have a DSLR camera and my husband said that he really isn't wanting to take a whole lot of our time hunting down photopass photographers just to get our money worth of pictures. I have read that the photographers will take pictures with your camera, so I thought about doing that in order to make sure that I have pictures with me in them too with the family. All I really wanted was the pictures where they photoshop you holding tinkerbell or the kids holding baby simba. I am thinking about maybe just buying a couple of them out of pocket. Do you all think that the photopass CD is a must have? Has anyone else not gotten the CD and regretted it, or was it better to not get the CD? I am just looking for opinions before making my final decision. What would you do?

 

[Mrs D]

I have done a photopass Cd for every trip since 2008 (well in the interest of full disclosure I haven't paid full price, instead I split the cost but we don't do that here anymore). I wouldn't do it any other way. I LOVE having all the pics with everyone in them. This past December I did have the photopass photogs take a few pics with my camera in addition to their camera and somehow the pics on my camera never turned out as nice as theirs did. My camera is nice, but it's just a point & shoot.

I never really felt like we had to hunt down photopass photogs; they are already in key spots to take pictures with icons and other key park elements. Sometimes we walked right by them if they were busy or we were in a hurry but we still come home with over 100 pictures and them I add multiple boards to everything (I like to make my own photobooks using My Publisher so I like lots of options for each pic) so I end up with literally HUNDREDS of versions. I somehow end up using these photos all year long. I make a photobook for myself, one for each set of grandparents sometime Aunt & Uncles too; I just made a photo water bottle today for my Mom's birthday using a photopass pic of the kids. We use them for Christmas cards every year now. The bonus with the CD is you also have the rights to reprint those photos. You don't get that with buying single prints.

While I totally understand that $100 could be an extra splurge of vacation the other side of the coin is that these pics live forever versus a meal or sweatshirt or stuffed Mickey. It's kind of like the idea of spending the money on a great wedding photographer versus on the favors.

You could always pre-order the CD, view your photos when you return and if you think there aren't enough to justify the CD you can get a refund. Just check out the returns info (in the small print) to verify the timing of when a refund request must be made.

HTH!

 

[Rosetta89]

We recently began getting photo pass CDs every year we go. I would not do it any other way! There are Photo pass CMs all over you do not need to hunt them down. My last trip there are even pictures of us in the rain because the photopass CMs were also out in their ponchos I will repeat I love the photo pass CDs. I say go for it!!!
Magical Wishes

 

[Keri]

We didn't do it the first year we went, and I totally regret it. We ordered a few prints, but it's not the same. However, not really knowing the system, we didn't have that many pictures taken. The last 2 years we have made sure to take a bunch of pictures as a family -- those are the ones I really wanted from the CD. But they also caught a bunch of great pictures I never would have because I was standing with the kids/holding the baby (and my DH, I love him, but he's not a photographer :lol: )

 

[Mrs D]

We didn't do it the first year we went, and I totally regret it. We ordered a few prints, but it's not the same. However, not really knowing the system, we didn't have that many pictures taken. The last 2 years we have made sure to take a bunch of pictures as a family -- those are the ones I really wanted from the CD. But they also caught a bunch of great pictures I never would have because I was standing with the kids/holding the baby (and my DH, I love him, but he's not a photographer :lol: )

Agreed. I melt when I see the pics of the kids waiting to meet characters. I am so busy getting out the autograph book and sharpie I miss this stuff.

 

[worm761]

If you have the preorder code...go ahead and pre order it. After you get back, look at the pics. IF you decide you don't want them, as long as you have NOT redeemed the code you can get your money back! So it is worth at least trying.

We get the CD every trip. I love being in the pics. We have never had a problem finding photographers either. They are all over the place. Just watch for them. If I notice one then we stop and get a pic. Some days are better than others. But we find them all over the place.

 

[LWatson]

This trip we are just taking our P&S because we have already done 2 trips since Feb 09 (basically it will be 3 in 18m) and gotten the disk both times. We are thinking of getting the pass and seeing if we like them enough to buy the disk after. But, we arent getting the discount either since we are staying at Shades of Green, so its a full $150 for us...which is why its an iffy thing. If we were staying in a disney hotel and had the discount offer and it wasnt our 3rd trip in 18m then YES I would take advantage of it.

 

[Ryansdad0727]

We ordered a few pictures from our last trip and it was expensive. We will get a photopass cd for sure next time we go. The photopass CM's are easy to find and take lots of candid shots that you don't expect. It will be a good value. Plus we will not have to lug a camera everywhere. We even got a photo in the lazy river at Typhoon Lagoon.

 

[Swimalie]

We just got back last Thurs (wish I was there now!) and we didn't pre-order since we didn't get a pre-order code. And we only had 79 pictures taken. But our son did the Jedi Training Academy and my husband video taped it which meant we didn't have any pictures. The photo pass pictures were it. So I went through the pictures after and once I hit 9 pictures that I wanted to order, I realized that it was worth it to just get the cd. So if you think you will like 10 or more pictures, then it's worth it.

I ended up getting a sale code for $15 off a few days later and ordered the cd. It's on it's way now and I can't wait to get them printed. I added borders and such to a lot of them and now have over 100 pictures. Oh, and my parents joined us for 3 days of our trip and they took an awesome picture of my parents that I can't wait to give them as an anniversary present in Dec.

So, is it worth it, I think so. Even if you only get a few (to me 10 is a few) pictures that you want printed.

 

[Tiger926]

I dislike the whole Photopass program as the quality of photos is just not good. We just returned from 6 full days, and I can count on both hands the amount of Photopass CMs I saw at all 4 parks. There just isn't that many around these days, it seems, so it you get that CD, I would hope you would be able to get enough shots. Of course, we saw them around all of the park icons, but that's pretty much it. As per usual, the few we saw were rushed, and didn't seem interested in their jobs at all. We did meet one very nice PP CM @ MK though on main street. She was happy, bubbly and thoroughly enjoyed her job!

I think you can do much better with your own camera (most of us have cameras that are equal to or better than Disney's cameras anyway) and it will be much cheaper.

Just an opinion from an amateur photographer/scrapbooker, Tiger

 

[honkytonkmama]

Im glad that I did. I also have a DSLR camera, but the 1st night we were at DW it broke. So photopass pics were all we had.

 

[msvlg]

We love photpass and always order the cd. Enough pcitures usually come out great to make it cost effective. I also bring a camera,but when the memory card is fill or the battery dies I always have a back up-and we love the specialty shots taken by the photopass photographers.

 

[momof2cutegirls]

Thinking about the CD for our trip in Nov./Dec. For those of you who got the code, where and how did you get this? Would love to have one of those before we go!

 

[DeniseinNS]

I was excited about photopass but when I got home and looked at the pictures, alot of them were not as good as what we had taken ourselves, there were only a handful that were really good.

 

[brergnat]

There are offers once you are AT WDW too. One is for three free 5x7 prints.

There are also offer codes you can use once you get home. We just got a $15 off the CD offer (it's just on their website).

We took somewhere around 65 pics. We "altered" most of them with add'l frames and special effects. We ended up with over 100 pics. For $115, and rights to print them through other online photo printing places MUCH cheaper than Photopass.com, we thought it was a great deal. We use Kodak Gallery mostly, and it will be nice to include some of those pics into our yearly photobook we make.

Don't stress about pre ordering. Just utilize Photopass WHENEVER you see a CM doing it. They usually take between 3-5 pictures each time. It's nice to have photos of the WHOLE family. No matter how good your own photos are, I doubt you will hand off your DSLR to a stranger to take a "family" photo of you guys...

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

how much is it to buy just one photo? I just want to get a photo of me with tinkerbelle in my hands when we go.

 

[Mrs D]

how much is it to buy just one photo? I just want to get a photo of me with tinkerbelle in my hands when we go.

Two 4" x 6" $14.95
5" x 7" $12.95
5" x 7" + 4 wallets $19.95
8" x 10" $16.95
16" x 20" $24.95

 

[steelheaddad]

I'm a professional photographer/studio owner. I made sure we took advantage of the photopass photographers as much as we could on our first visit last June and we love the photos they took. I may be prejudice but I thought buying the CD outright was a great deal. I was able to take our many images and photoshop them and make professional style prints. As far as a me selling a CD from my studio, the price would be double and a half what I paid at Disney. In my opinion you can't put a value on those photos, their heirlooms for me and my kids. Blizzard Beach Photos are some of the coolest, the photopass photogs were really good there.

 

[erinlaw]

I was leaning towards not doing it, but after reading the comments in this thread, I think it is worth the money!

 

[courtneylauren]

We have done it the past 3 years. We LOVE it. It is so worth it. We always pre-order it.
Here's some of our PP tips:

*Tell the photographer that you pre-ordered the CD (if you did). They usually take more pictures after knowing that you bought the CD.
*Take advantage of the magic shots. Ask every photographer if he has any. Even if you have already done a certain shot, do it again - because the photographer, lighting, or pose may be better somewhere else.
*Water parks PP shots are awesome.
*Get the PP card at either Pixie Hollow or the water parks that is on a wrist band. It makes it easy to get if you have short notice.