Is photo pass worth it?

[mndisneylovinmom]

Is the photo pass worth it? I'm considering the package that includes dining & attraction pics too. If I book within 14 days of our vacation it's a little cheaper ($30 less)

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I got it this past trip. I would say if you have a longer stay (ours was 10 days) and you don't mind stopping for photos you will get your money worth. I am glad we did it. I actually forgot my real camera so was very thankful I had purchased the PP+. We never purchase ride pix so it was nice to have those and we also got some cute family shots. Usually I am behind the camera.

 

[mndisneylovinmom]

I got it this past trip. I would say if you have a longer stay (ours was 10 days) and you don't mind stopping for photos you will get your money worth. I am glad we did it. I actually forgot my real camera so was very thankful I had purchased the PP+. We never purchase ride pix so it was nice to have those and we also got some cute family shots. Usually I am behind the camera.

I'm still planning on bringing my camera, I take pictures of everything!! We didn't purchase it last year on our 11 day vacation, but this year we won't be there as many days either.
I'm still on the fence!

 

[SinceDay1]

We get it on longer stays and sometimes in short stays if we have trips within the window before the photos expire, we love it for several reasons but, we always bring our own cameras for those special quick shots. Try it out, it is a great service and prebuy it is cheaper!

Richard

 

[supernova]

I have, and will, never shell out cash for PhotoPass. I have gone on line at least to check the photos and too many were amateur. Don't waste a hundred dollars or more on the 'privilege' of purchasing the rights to pictures. Take your own shots. You'll be taking way more pictures with your own camera than you ever will with their PhotoPass nonsense.

 

[shellypaige]

We loved it and will get it again for our trip this year! Loved all the ride photos & meal photos.

 

[Ladcassidy]

We love PP+. If you have kids, you'll particularly appreciate getting tons of fun pictures with princesses and the entire family that you did not have to take. We downloaded our pics last year and set them up to rotate as our screensaver on the computer. Such fun.

 

[mrsclark]

We did pp+ for the first time for our vacation that we got back from two weeks ago. We loved getting dining and attraction photos as well as photos around the park!

 

[sookie]

We bought photopass plus and I bought it for this upcoming vacation. You can download every single picture online after your trip is done.

I really liked it. It is worth it for the ride pics alone. However, we didn't go to a single restaurant where the picture was included - like at CRT, they just handed us the picture. Said it was part of the dinner charge, and they wouldn't put it on the FP+. Weird.

 

[khaoskat]

I can say I am disappointed with their service. We are missing lost in space at least 3 sets of photos that were not replaceable. The quality is mediocre in many of them (as in my 10 year old son could have taken better quality pictures and has). I don't expect constant picture taking, but when we spend 5+ minutes with a character and all I got was the back of my eldest son to the photographer as he attempted to get what appears to be Aladdin maybe bending down to sign my daughter's autograph book.....and it was so blue that you could barely see anything...

I think right now while they migrate to this new system and integrate with magic bands, that there are too many issues. I had heard great things about it in the past, but my experience is the exact opposite.

There were even a few times we felt very rushed to snap a shot and move on to the next character and only ended up with the kids in the shot and no parents (had been doing kids and then entire family shots as much as possible)....

 

[lauradis]

Last time we got photo pass, but my 3 favorite pics came from stranger taking our photo out side mk on the wall, one I took with iphone of hubby and kids playing, and last one I took of daisy kissing my hubby.

Photo pass people took nice pics but they where mostly all posed no action nothing to capture the real memories.

it was fun to pose and kiss all over Disney, but im not buying this time. If it was under 99 for rides and photos I would think about it again.

 

[dpswift]

Maybe it is just when we have gone but in my last few visits I have not seen as many photographers. We bought the package a few years back and looking back I do not feel we got our moneys worth. The only way I would recommend it is if it were truly a once in a lifetime trip.

 

[Mouseketeers4]

I think it depends a lot on your family. I'm the designated family photographer, so without PP I wouldn't have been in any of our vacation pictures. It was also nice to have them taking all the character photos since we have two little ones (1 and 3). It would have been tough handling them both during character meets while also trying to take pictures. It was a longer stay for us too and the DLH PP+ is only $70, well worth it IMO.

 

[honeydiane1953]

No No No!

 

[pjlla]

Just my 2 cents worth, but I'm going to say YES, YES, YES!! I would give up a few MEALS before I would give up Photopass.... especially on my Mother/child trips. With just the two of us we would end up with a LOT of photos of just the child if it weren't for Photopass.

I gave up trusting random strangers to take decent photos a few years ago. We were on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Southwest and wanted a family photo while we were watching the fountains in front of the Bellagio. A kind gentleman offered to take the picture and I was delighted.... until I got back to our hotel and checked the photos and found two lovely photos of us.... from the NECK DOWN ONLY! Not sure if he was just unfamiliar with the camera, not paying attention, or intentionally being a jerk, but I was sad that I don't have that moment for the scrapbook. oh well.

I know that the Photopass folks can use your own camera to take pictures of you... and I often have them do that.... but I've gotten some really spectacular special photos from Photopass. Well worth every penny IMHO................P

 

[mountdew1]

First off OP, just to clarify to get the pre-purchase discount on the PP+ you need to buy it AT LEAST 14 days before your trip. To get the pre-purchase discount on the Photopass Archive CD (Used to be called the PhotoCD) you can buy it at any time, but the CD will only include pictures taken after your pre-bought it.

The worth on either product really depends on your touring style. Have kids who like to meet characters? PP will often get that shot of your kids first meeting them, while you are dealing with jackets, autograph books, bags, etc. Are you going when there are cool night time lights? Most of the good shorts during the holiday season of the castle lights or Osborne lights require a tripod. Unless you are schlepping one along, Photopass almost always wins. Or if you want multiple shots to choose from, including random poses. PP will take pictures with you camera, but it is usually 3-7 with theirs in different poses, and then 1 with yours.
If you don't do thrill rides, or don't want the staged pictures at the dining locations, then PP+ isn't for you.
Most PP photographers aren't pros, so not every picture will be a winner. But stopping at another photographer, or simply returning later to the same one is easy and smart to do.
Either product is worth as much as you want it to be. Some families don't want to stop at 5-10 different photographers in a day, others make a game out of how many they can find, and how different poses they can get.

 

[lauradis]

Just my 2 cents worth, but I'm going to say YES, YES, YES!! I would give up a few MEALS before I would give up Photopass.... especially on my Mother/child trips. With just the two of us we would end up with a LOT of photos of just the child if it weren't for Photopass.

I gave up trusting random strangers to take decent photos a few years ago. We were on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Southwest and wanted a family photo while we were watching the fountains in front of the Bellagio. A kind gentleman offered to take the picture and I was delighted.... until I got back to our hotel and checked the photos and found two lovely photos of us.... from the NECK DOWN ONLY! Not sure if he was just unfamiliar with the camera, not paying attention, or intentionally being a jerk, but I was sad that I don't have that moment for the scrapbook. oh well.

I know that the Photopass folks can use your own camera to take pictures of you... and I often have them do that.... but I've gotten some really spectacular special photos from Photopass. Well worth every penny IMHO................P

oh but the headless picture has story a funny one lol would be great for lol in scrapbook

 

[BadgerGirl84]

I am a cheapskate, and I say it's worth it, so that's saying a lot. I probably wouldn't pay to do the ride shots...I just don't care a whole lot about those, personally.

I like PP because I don't like asking a stranger to take our picture and also because if we didn't have it, we'd have mostly just shots of one of us.

 

[Keli]

I've purchased photo pass twice so far. Once on a trip to Disneyland and once to WDW.
I'm not certain I would do it again. Photo pass photographers definitely aren't all pros (possibly a few retired ones are, really don't know), truthfully we found several that were actually pretty bad photographers. I am certain that they were no better than my 12 yr old niece and her iPhone camera.
Posing was so obviously bad a few times my DH started standing to the side and making sure no one's head was blocking the person behind them etc. before joining us in the pic.
But if they get 6-7 really good shots over the course of our trip I would consider it worth it. We got that many our trip to Disneyland but this last trip we had over 100 pics in our account and I felt like we didn't have more than 2-3 pics that I would want to print and give out to family when we got home.

 

[Ginny Favers]

I'm going to say NO to PP+.

A couple years ago, we got the PP deal when it included the photo book. That seemed to be great.

This time, we got PP+ in the pre-purchase deal. When we got it, I felt pressured to make sure that we got a LOT of pictures taken by the photographers everywhere I went.

I also had to stand in (sometimes very long) lines in order to get the attraction photos added.

Picture quality varied. Some were downright pitiful.

The worst part was, after I went through HOURS of trouble adjusting all my pictures and placing the order, my order didn't take and all my pictures were somehow not saved...

And of course now I have to go somewhere else and pay even more money for them to develop our pics.

It seemed like a lot of hassle. Next time we'll just go and take our own pics. Maybe we'll get a regular PP to have some group shots taken and just purchase them as one-offs. But it would still be cheaper than what I paid, and much easier.