Help me decide whether to get Memory Maker or just do regular Photopass

[crusoe2]

I'm trying to decide if it's worth the money to get Memory Maker. From what I read on Disney's website, it's not too late to get the lower price on it. But it's still pretty expensive. Last time we went, we got Photopass Plus (I think it was called) and it was a pretty good deal since we were doing some character meals that included photo packages. We got the free prints AND the pictures were on the disc we received with all our photopass photos on it. Plus we got all our ride photos loaded onto our photopass rather than having to purchase photos on the spot.

I heard there have been some changes recently tho regarding restaurant photo packages. What restaurants still do a photo package? And do they do the free prints or is it JUST loading the photos onto your Memory Maker account?

And can you get ride photos loaded onto a regular photopass card now or can you only do that with Memory Maker?

 

[Drusilla99]

I used memory maker 4/14, not 4/15. Ride photos were still loaded to the photo pass card 4/15. We were only in the parks in 4/14 for 4 1/2 days and got over 150 pictures, so expensive, yes...but worth it, yes. I don't know about the meal packages, we only did be our guest 4/14 & those were added to the memory maker. We didn't get memory maker in 4/15 because we were only there one evening.

 

[tinkerbesh]

There is no more photopass+ anymore. Only Memory Maker. Here is a link of that info and some comparisons (sorry it's an old link, but I think it may still help).

We loved MM and plan on getting it again. Very easy to use, and got a ton of great photos!

Somewhere on disboards is a page that lists what restaurant photos are included.

 

[AngiTN]

Well, you can't do regular Photopass so that should make the choice pretty easy. Regular Photopass is gone. You have 3 choices now
1. Pay for each photo individually, about $15 each
2. Pay for MM in advance
3. Pay for MM after you get home
I guess there is a 4. You could find a share somewhere

No dining locations give printed pictures any more, not free or those you paid for. They are only loaded in the MM account.
Meals that have a photo taken (seems like I'm forgetting one)
1900PF
Chef Mickey's
Ohana
Askershus
CRT
Tusker House
HDDR
Also includes photo taken at CRT and PL

Ride photos are loaded to MM through a link with your MB, you don't have to do a thing. There are videos on ToT and 7DMT also.

 

[Chitownpeeps91]

No more pics with meals only loaded on your MM. Or photo pass card. If you want anything more than a few pictures I would get the MM. No disk with it either just a download. The disk is an additional $29 bucks.

Enjoy your trip

 

[crusoe2]

Okay, just to clarify - what I mean when I say regular photopass is the free card that the photographers scan when your photo is taken. When we've gone before, we've gotten that card when our first photo was taken in the parks and used it for the entire trip. When we got home, we could look at all the photos and decide if we wanted to order any prints or load them all on to a disc (which used to cost about $99). The Disney website still has a photopass section where you can access photos via several options - including putting in the number on the back of your photopass card. So I'm assuming you can still get the free photopass cards in the parks. But can ride and restaurant photos be loaded onto those?

Also - with regular photopass it says you have 30 days to download each photo you purchase. How long do they give you to download the Memory Maker photos?

 

[AngiTN]

Yes, you can use a Photopass card if you want. You can also use your MagicBand. What you use doesn't matter (though the band is just easier, handier so to speak).
If you get home and decide you want all the photos it will cost you $199 and that is for digital download only.
If you want a disk it is an additional $29
Same number of days with MM
Really, MM replaced Photopass. What you are think of is no longer. It's all MM now. It just has a different cost if you pay for it up front, individual or after the fact. The way you have photos taken is the same no if you paid up front, or plan to pay after the fact or plan to just buy a photo or two.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Angi is right. Even though they still call the photographers Photopass photographers and while they'll give you a card if you ask for one, all those photos are going to tie back to your Memory Maker account, which is linked to MDE. If they see you have a band on, they're going to want to scan that instead of giving you a card because it all goes to the same place.

Each photo in your Memory Maker account expires 45 days after it was taken.

 

[crusoe2]

Thanks so much y'all. That helps. Now I've just got to decide if we're going to want enough pictures to be worth buying Memory Maker. On one trip a few years ago, we didn't take as many photopass photos as usual and - quite honestly - most of them weren't that great. It was very disappointing since I'd pre-purchased the CD and really didn't have that much I wanted to put on it.

 

[jmkjr72]

Well we have memory makers onky been here 2 days and have almost 200 pics
the nice thing right now with the flower and garden festival is they added the professional pics of the topiary to our photo pass when we had our pic taken by the plants

Now granted being it is onky the 2 of us and it's our engagement trip we are really taking advantage of many photo pass stations

 

[renae3]

I have a question too. If I purchased mm and have a stay onsite for a few days, then offsite for a few days would I still use my magic band the whole time. Or does it not work once I am offsite. I am very confused!

 

[kcpinwdw]

I have a question too. If I purchased mm and have a stay onsite for a few days, then offsite for a few days would I still use my magic band the whole time. Or does it not work once I am offsite. I am very confused!

It will work the whole time.

 

[AngiTN]

Thanks so much y'all. That helps. Now I've just got to decide if we're going to want enough pictures to be worth buying Memory Maker. On one trip a few years ago, we didn't take as many photopass photos as usual and - quite honestly - most of them weren't that great. It was very disappointing since I'd pre-purchased the CD and really didn't have that much I wanted to put on it.

It only takes about 10 photos to pay for itself. If you ask any photographer you see for photos and ask for magic shots, I bet you can get 10 photos. It doesn't take long. We also always get the photo done with the park Icon, even if we've already gotten one that trip. You never know which is the better shot. While I never like every photo they take I always like at least 10. Plus, you can put borders on the photos, which can be really cute. I'll often do 2-3 versions of each shot with different borders. My 200 photos typical grow to 400.

 

[pooh2001]

less cameras to bring around - we just take one (DH can not give it up)
The CD is well worth it - since we love to store our WDW vacation pictures and you never know when your thinkpad, ipad, computer will get a virus or just die.

We save money on food - eating breakfast in our room and spend the money on treats like the MM with the CD option.

 

[PeasandCarrots]

In November we did Memory Maker and got a ton of great photos. In April we did not use Memory Maker and had the Photopass folks use our camera to take pictures. They also turned out great. I'm not saying I'll never do Memory Maker again - you do get ride photos, unique characters added to photos, and ride videos - but it's definitely not something I would do every year. We have plenty of high quality photos from our last trip and saved $169. Plus as mentioned already, you can still buy individual photos from the photopass website if there was one you just can't live without.

 

[Disfan1968]

less cameras to bring around - we just take one (DH can not give it up)
The CD is well worth it - since we love to store our WDW vacation pictures and you never know when your thinkpad, ipad, computer will get a virus or just die.

We save money on food - eating breakfast in our room and spend the money on treats like the MM with the CD option.

You can also download the photos to your computer and burn them to your own one dollar blank cd/dvdR or back them up to a thumb drive.

 

[noahsketomom]

We have two rooms - a party of 8. (Mom, Dad, Grandma, Aunt, and four kids). Could we all buy ONE memory maker or is it one per room?

 

[gunderda]

We have two rooms - a party of 8. (Mom, Dad, Grandma, Aunt, and four kids). Could we all buy ONE memory maker or is it one per room?

Just make sure everyone is linked to the same MDE account and you only have to purchase one.
If everyone is linked to the same MDE account then all photos scanned with those magic bands will show up in that MDE account.
I think if you get people with multiple cards and aren't using the magic bands then there is a way to link those to your account as well after the fact.

 

[AngiTN]

Just make sure everyone is linked to the same MDE account and you only have to purchase one.
If everyone is linked to the same MDE account then all photos scanned with those magic bands will show up in that MDE account.
I think if you get people with multiple cards and aren't using the magic bands then there is a way to link those to your account as well after the fact.

There is. They still have a place to add in Photopass card numbers to your the account online. They are needed for things like Enchanted Tales with Belle or Jedi Training Academy. I've also had roaming PP Photographers take photos of DGD during parades dancing with characters and such. They'll hand me PP cards and I can enter those to get the photos.

 

[noahsketomom]

Just make sure everyone is linked to the same MDE account and you only have to purchase one.
If everyone is linked to the same MDE account then all photos scanned with those magic bands will show up in that MDE account.
I think if you get people with multiple cards and aren't using the magic bands then there is a way to link those to your account as well after the fact.

Thank you! In that case, I may consider it......