Disneyland PhotoPass+ Tips and Tricks

[Tigger Trainer]

What are everyones best tips, tricks, and advice for using Disneyland's PhotoPass+ and getting the most of your money? We will be there 5 days in the park, 1 day for Goofy's Kitchen for Dinner prior to park days, and 1 day for Surf Up with Mickey breakfast the day folowing the park days.

 

[awinangie]

My best advice is not hesitate to stop when you see a PhotoPass Photographer. The more photos you get taken, the more likely you are to get great photos. Ask them all about Magic Shots or any other special treats or tricks. The more goofy your folks are, the more likely you're going to like your photos in the end. I always encourage a serious shot or two, and then goofy shots for any photo shoot I do, not just at Disneyland. You might get a fun glimpse into someone's personality, or a duo's relationship, etc. For example, big brother choking and hugging little brother at the same time.

We didn't have a lot of luck with nighttime shots. Haven't decided if that means we'll try harder next time or give it up all together.

There are a lot of interesting Magic Shots in CarsLand.

And plan to spend some time on the website after your trip adding frames and doodads to your photos. It's an incredibly tedious process, but you can get some fun stuff.

 

[figment_jii]

If you group splits up, make sure to note the ride photo number and send it (we sent them using text messaging) to the person with the PP+ lanyard. Then that person could take the lanyard to the ride photo location and have it added to the card later on.

Ask every PP photographer you see about Magic Shots. Some will have it, some will not (generally if they're using a tripod, they won't have one). You never know which character you might find added to your photo.

 

[Carolynleanne]

I second stopping for photos WHENEVER you see a photographer. Even if you've done that location before, the weather, outfits and photographers could make a big difference.

 

[LAS2012]

As I just reviewed my photos today, the biggest tip I could give is to make your children practice looking in the same direction at the same time! I've got lots of great pictures of only one kid at a time...

In all seriousness, stop anytime you see a photographer. You never know which picture will be a priceless memory in the years to come.

 

[agamble]

Make sure you visit the characters with Photo Pass photographers, and find CM with cameras. Ask them for something fun too. We did this last summer and got some great pictures. They send a disc with some random Disneyland and Mickey/Minnie pictures ahead of time. But we got more special pictures when we finished our order that matched different shots we got. For example, we got some beautiful shots of the princesses that we met (that is these are professional pictures of the princesses, some with their princes, in front of the castle). We also got some cool ones of Carsland since we found a lot of photographers there. And don't forget to get your ride photos. Space Mountain was down last June, so we didn't get any from there. But we have a few cool ones from Splash and some of the other rides too.

 

[Saul]

Quick question. If we have a character breakfast before we go to the park for the first time can they issue our photopass or what should we do regarding those pictures

 

[Imdboss]

5 park days and 2 character meals, you'll definitely get your monies worth! We got PP+ last trip for the first time (not sure why it took me so many years) and I was thrilled with it. I found that we would stop at a lot more photo locations. Plus it was nice to have all of us in the pics instead of me always being left out. In the past I would never spend the money on ride photos so it's really nice to get all of those! I would suggest stopping into the photo shop at least every other day to make sure all of your photos are on there. I didn't do this and wish I had because we had pics of DS with Chip n Dale that didn't get added to our card. I emailed Disney with the day and time of pics (best to my memory) but they were unable to locate. On our upcoming trip I plan to pop in and review them at least a few times so we aren't missing any.

 

[Tigger Trainer]

Thank you everyone. Can you add your PhotoPass card to your online account as soon as you get it and then review them on your phone instead of having to go to the Photo place?

 

[MeishkaD]

Quick question. If we have a character breakfast before we go to the park for the first time can they issue our photopass or what should we do regarding those pictures

I exchanged our voucher at Mickey's Surfs Up breakfast with no issue this last March. I would just recommend handing over your voucher to the first photographer you see. I wasn't sure and waited until after we ate and it did take awhile.

 

[whoever]

You can link even previous trips to your PP+ which were NOT done under PP+. I picked up photos taken in september with my PP+ from my October trip. Neat trick. I found it pretty meh outside the ride photos though. My camera had better pictures coming out of it when used by the PP photog than their's did.

 

[Imdboss]

Thank you everyone. Can you add your PhotoPass card to your online account as soon as you get it and then review them on your phone instead of having to go to the Photo place?

I would think you could do that, haven't tried personally though.

 

[wenrob]

Thank you everyone. Can you add your PhotoPass card to your online account as soon as you get it and then review them on your phone instead of having to go to the Photo place?

Yes, you can. Sometimes the mobile site doesn't show all the pics so I go over them real quick on the full site in the evenings. They say it can take 24 hours for pics to show up but mine are almost always in my account by the end of the day. If your are missing pics after 24 hours then go to the photo shop. Whenever we stop for pics, I make a quick note on my phone on when and where, date and time. It takes just a minute to do and comes in handy when you're so tired your day runs all together.

 

[whoever]

Yes, you can. Sometimes the mobile site doesn't show all the pics so I go over them real quick on the full site in the evenings. They say it can take 24 hours for pics to show up but mine are almost always in my account by the end of the day. If your are missing pics after 24 hours then go to the photo shop. Whenever we stop for pics, I make a quick note on my phone on when and where, date and time. It takes just a minute to do and comes in handy when you're so tired your day runs all together.

There must be high and low volume SLAs because I've gone days and days before all my pics showed up.

 

[wenrob]

There must be high and low volume SLAs because I've gone days and days before all my pics showed up.

SLAs? Mine are always up in 24 hours. If for some reason they're not I go to the photo shop and find out why. As I said, the mobile site will not show all, a CM at the shop on Main St pointed this out to me.

 

[whoever]

SLAs? Mine are always up in 24 hours. If for some reason they're not I go to the photo shop and find out why. As I said, the mobile site will not show all, a CM at the shop on Main St pointed this out to me.

Service Level Agreement.

I've had some which I thought were lost forever simply show up a week after the trip out of the blue. Like some CM forgot to drop the data/pics from their camera.

 

[frank430316]

Also there are many more photographers out in the morning than in the afternoon (better light). When we were there, Carsland had many more than DLR, but that has probably evened out. We went in the middle of the week and it felt like the only photographers you could find in DLR were on Main Street or in front of the castle. But if you talk to the photographers, they will mention other places with photograpers or even take you to a different location for pictures.

 

[tomato]

Wearing solid color clothing makes it easier to do some of the magic shots. Or at least makes for a better result.

 

[letsgoreds]

When you do ride photos, take a picture of the number. For us, those are the pictures that tend to get lost (last two trips). It was an easy fix when I called and gave them the ride photo number. This has to be done in 1-2 weeks from picture taking, just ask when you load up your first ride photo.

For ride photos, ask the CM where the camera is (before you get on). It is fun to decide as a family what kind of silly face you all want to do on the ride. Unless someone is very animated, regular old pictures of the ride are kinda boring IMO.

 

[ebenmax]

Are the photographers out during EMH?