Is it worth getting the photopass?

[ashley.c.duncan]

Just booked for Sept/Oct and was wondering what the benefits of the photo pass are? It just seems super expensive. Does it include print outs or is it just digital copies?

 

[Beer Me]

Check out this thread in the Theme Parks forum which I found very helpful:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/everything-about-photopass-and-memory-maker.3566699/

 

[ohana1221]

Memory maker just includes free downloads of all the photos you've taken during your trip for everyone in your party. I believe an individual download is 14.95 so you could download about 9 pictures for the same price as an advance purchases memory maker where you get them all. On our last trip, my family had close to 200 and we hate taking pictures. It's so easy to just see a photopass person, smile and scan a magic band, and keep moving. My family has so many priceless photos we wouldnt have otherwise. Needless to say, these pictures also are of a higher quality than those taken by your smartphone, you also get fun ride videos on certain rides, and they will edit in little surprises to some pictures (like tink in your hand or snowing in front of everest). Plus, your own photographer for a week would run you a lot more than $140. I would ALWAYS recommend getting memory maker. You will cherish these pictures forever and likely would not have them or as many without memory maker.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

It's just the two of us (my sister and I)when we go, so Memory Maker works for us. Both of us can get in the photo. We had about 200 photos and a few videos as I recall. Great value for money.

 

[merrick]

we had it when we went and are so grateful. first and foremost - we are ALL in the pictures.

i recently convinced my friend to get it because i thought you still needed to order it 3 days ahead or something.

she is at WDW right now to get it and she just posted her space mountain ride photos on FB! lol!

 

[DisTXMom]

We are a family of 4- without MM, we just wouldn't have any family photos from our trip, so I get it.

 

[Chief Cardinal]

Without question......YES! Best decision of our first family trip there last September and got it again for our next trip in May!

 

[dmband]

I'll say no, it is not really worth it unless you plan on buying a bunch of pictures and/or printing them to begin with.
We have done it three times and will again this yr because it's part of the annual pass.
Each time we ended up with 1500+ pics after adding boarders and such. We printed one from each trip
The rest are on discs in a box

 

[FelisLachesis]

we had it when we went and are so grateful. first and foremost - we are ALL in the pictures.

i recently convinced my friend to get it because i thought you still needed to order it 3 days ahead or something.

she is at WDW right now to get it and she just posted her space mountain ride photos on FB! lol!

Nice! There's two price tiers for Memory Maker. The $149 level has the three day advance purchase, as you noted. There's also a $169 level which removes the three day requirement. I'm not sure if you can still purchase it after the trip. I know you used to.

 

[dmband]

We are a family of 4- without MM, we just wouldn't have any family photos from our trip, so I get it.

This is a good point, it does make life easier to get family shots but Disney photographers (and strangers) will also take pictures with your own camera.
So people on a budget don't feel like it's a must.

 

[Dismama2boys]

It's one of my favorite things we do! Not only do we all get in the pictures, but it actually makes us stop and take them since we're paying for it. If I'm just having them use my camera, more often then not we'll just plan to stop "later" and rarely actually do.

 

[CDolacki2003]

We did not get it our first trip and I still kick myself for it. We get it every trip. We love it, just DH and I. We make time to find characters and do the special moment photos. For us it's great. Yes it's digital, but honestly I can't remember the last time I printed out pictures for myself. I import the photos into another account, I use Shutterfly, then I always have them in my phone to show people. Our last trip I believe we had about 140 pictures, then when we got home and added the boarders, tags and special stuff we received about 280 pictures on our photo disc from Disney. Yes it's expensive but to have someone else take the photo, not have to worry about a stranger with my camera, getting ride and dining shots and the "special" pictures, we love it. This thread reminds me that I need to order our Memory Maker soon for our December trip. You can always buy a one day photo pass, plus I think they will still take pictures then you can review it and see if you want to purchase it, it will be at the higher price though.

 

[lovethattink]

I have an AP so it's included. The first year it was included, we had thousands of pictures. And I ended up paying to get it on a disc from them. This is the 2nd year, and ride photos are all we have on the account.

The magic shots are lots of fun. The borders are nice to add.

It's nice to have the whole family on pictures, and cm and Photopass photographers will usually take a picture on your own camera or phone. So you can get whole family photos without the purchase.

My advice, if you can afford to add MM, go for it. If it's too much of a financial burden, skip it.

 

[Kriii]

I am considering photopass but have not researched it. Does it include photos taken at CRT and BOG?

 

[Farro]

So happy to read these replies! We purchased it for the first time for this upcoming trip. The two of us always have to take selfies! (see avatar ) And we plan to stop at every photopass spot we can. Then later in the trip my sisters and brother are joining us, so we can all be in the pictures. The ride video from TOT should be awesome with all of us!

 

[revwooster]

We were hesitant but we bought it. We were so glad we did for several reasons. The big one that i don't often see mentioned is that when you are meeting a character, most of the photographers will snap photos of the entire experience. So instead of just the posed family photo with Cinderella, we have high quality pictures of our daughter seeing Cinderella for the first time and we were able to see it happen instead of watching it through the view screen of the camera.
The second reason is that my wife (who usually takes the pictures) actually gets to be in some of them. And we were pleased to discover after we got home they also included several stock photos as part of the deal. They were great for scrapbooking.

 

[LaBelleVie]

Memory Maker is absolutely worth it in my opinion! We got it on our last trip, and I don't think we'll ever go again without it! The magic shots are a lot of fun -- at MNSSHP, we got a really cute shot of our oldest holding a poisoned apple!

 

[jpeterson]

We got it, we loved it. Got tons of pictures of the whole family. Got lots of surprises we weren't expecting, like the woody and jessie animated frame outside pixar lane. Now we have AP, so we get it always, but we would pay for it anyway.

 

[hmcater]

Very much worth it. Especially for the usual picture taker in the family, to be able to be in pictures! LOL Disney takes some really great photos, and our kids really love the magic shots! Plus getting all your ride pictures is a bonus too.

 

[Denise K W]

With my opinion I love it, WE got over 700 photos last year using memory maker and loved it. They take all kinds of photos at one time. They will take photos with your camera if you want to but might not get as much photos as if you were if you were getting photo pass or memory maker. That is just my opinion