Family photos

[potterfanatic]

Somehow my inlaws booked a trip to universal Orlando the same week that we planned a trip to Disney (without either of us telling each other until after it was booked). Since we will all be in Orlando at the same time my inlaws want to get a family portrait. Does anyone know if Disney has any photographers at Disney Springs or at the resorts or anything?

 

[d-train]

I read somewhere there is a photopass studio at DS, but it was prior to the new name...
It is a studio at the Marketplace area that does posed photos with the scrim backgrounds.
All to be included in your Memorymaker...
We are going in June, hoping to use the service.
Read there was one at MK too.

Gotta start searching for that again...
If you find it first, please post a link

 

[d-train]

Quick google search...

http://toddjodybrent.blogspot.com/2012/04/disney-photopass-location-at-downtown.html

A couple years old...

http://now.wdwnt.com/Shop/Details/37600

Current today I think...

 

[jawa7400]

You can have a family portrait session done at some of the deluxe resorts. I think there's an hour-long session or a 20-minute mini session. Of course now I can't find the link to the website. Will keep looking and post if I find it.

 

[Raenstoirm]

If you pay for a private session you can have a session at a hotel. Sometimes there are photographers set up at random. I have seen them at AKL and WL in the past. They were at AKL last month, but that might have been because the tree was there.

 

[Accident]

What's your budget for this? disney offers professional photographers for special photo sessions: http://disneyfineartphotography.com/portraits/

 

[Lalabubbles]

We did the mini photo session this past October and are very happy we did!!! We picked the Beach Club, one because it's our favorite resort and two we were staying there. We are really happy with the pictures and will probably do it again in th future. If you have any questions let me know

 

[potterfanatic]

Thank you so much everyone! I had done some minor searching (hoping to roll it into the memory maker) and couldn't find anything.

disney offers professional photographers for special photo sessions: http://disneyfineartphotography.com/portraits/

I had no idea they offered the private sessions, and I have no doubt that my mother in law will be interested in booking one of these. Thank you so much!

 

[mshanson3121]

What do you prefer - really good quality portraits, or "Disney" portraits? IMO, Disney portraits (even those private sessions) are "meh". There are some that are actually pretty good but many that honestly, my 8 year old could take. Obviously it depends what photographer you get that day. Many of the photos in that private gallery have poor composition, exposure, soft focus, and mediocre at best editing etc... I'd be ashamed of myself if I charged my customers $180 for a tiny 20-minute portrait session for the quality of what some of those photos are. So you're basically paying for "Disney", not quality. All that said - most people who do not have the knowledge of what quality portraits look like, will look at the photos and think they're great.

So if you want quality portraits, I would start searching for a local photographer. I'm sure they can meet you at Disney Springs, your resort etc...

 

[Mikie]

What do you prefer - really good quality portraits, or "Disney" portraits? IMO, Disney portraits (even those private sessions) are "meh". There are some that are actually pretty good but many that honestly, my 8 year old could take. Obviously it depends what photographer you get that day. Many of the photos in that private gallery have poor composition, exposure, soft focus, and mediocre at editing etc... I'd be ashamed of myself if I charged my customers $180 for a tiny 20-minute portrait session for the quality of what some of those photos are. So you're basically paying for "Disney", not quality. All that said - most people who do not have the knowledge to know what quality portraits look like, will look at the photos and think they're great.

So if you want quality portraits, I would start searching for a local photographer. I'm sure they can meet you at Disney Springs, your resort etc...

Excellent points, but i know professional photog cannot do photo sessions in the parks, so that may be true of the resorts as well. Im sure a lical photographer would know the rules. . .

 

[mshanson3121]

Excellent points, but i know professional photog cannot do photo sessions in the parks, so that may be true of the resorts as well. Im sure a lical photographer would know the rules. . .

Definitely. They would easily be able to tell you if they're allowed or not. I would be surprised if they're not allowed at the resorts, since Disney offers destination weddings at their resorts, and obviously a photographer would be allowed then, but you never know.

 

[Accident]

I've seen a couple having a photo session in epcot recently. It may have been a wedding related photo session and not sure if that offers more options.

 

[Crystal824]

You can hire a professional photographer through Disney. The time is limited and it is expensive. I"m sure they would do a great job.

Just to throw out another option, we have family photos done almost every year during our vacation. We use Jen Stephenson Photo. http://jenstevensonphoto.com/

She does a great job and is cheaper than the Disney Professional Photographers. Unless something has changed recently, she can do sessions at the resorts but not the parks. We have had sessions done at the Grand Floridan and the Boardwalk. She has also done a session with us in a wooded area in Orlando (for something different). You probably want to stay away from Disney Springs no matter who you use. It is just always so crowded there so I imagine it would be difficult to get quality photos. I would do a resort.

 

[mshanson3121]

You can hire a professional photographer through Disney. The time is limited and it is expensive. I"m sure they would do a great job.

Just to throw out another option, we have family photos done almost every year during our vacation. We use Jen Stephenson Photo. http://jenstevensonphoto.com/

She does a great job and is cheaper than the Disney Professional Photographers. Unless something has changed recently, she can do sessions at the resorts but not the parks. We have had sessions done at the Grand Floridan and the Boardwalk. She has also done a session with us in a wooded area in Orlando (for something different). You probably want to stay away from Disney Springs no matter who you use. It is just always so crowded there so I imagine it would be difficult to get quality photos. I would do a resort.

See... this woman's prices are not only better, her quality is far better. I would do this hands down, OP, over a Disney photographer.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Excellent points, but i know professional photog cannot do photo sessions in the parks, so that may be true of the resorts as well. Im sure a lical photographer would know the rules. . .

Local photographers are able to do sessions at the resorts. We had one in 2013 with Randy Chapman at the Polynesian/Grand Floridian, and then one later that year (with the other side of the family) at around the Boardwalk. I still have Randy on my FB feed, and he posts previews of family sessions taken at resorts all the time (and he also shoots a lot of Disney weddings).

It's true they can't go into the parks anymore, but the resorts - from everything I can see - are not an issue. FWIW, I'd highly recommend Randy. His price was only a little higher than the Disney Event Photography's mini session, but it was for a full 1 hr long session, and high resolution, digital copies of all of the photos (I think we got well over 400...), and the quality (IMO) is much better than what we saw on the Disney Event Photography page for those mini sessions.

 

[goofyluva9293]

Both of my daughters had their senior pictures taken at Disney in 2010 & 2012. They each had one session at POLY and one session at GF. Both times their pictures turned out beautifully! They worked with us on minor changes to their outfits and props we wanted to include. We got a great variety of poses and areas of each hotel. It was less expensive than getting senior portraits done at home (Ohio) and we got them all on a disc so that we could print out only the ones we wanted instead of paying for a huge package that we wouldn't use. We loved it and would use them again. Just my 2 cents!