Is photopass/photo pass+ worth it?

[twinnersmama]

I've never done photo pass on any of our previous trips ... just wondering if it's worth the $$.

 

[newtexan]

We like it. We think it is.
We only take our little Nikon point and shoot camera with us, and it doesn't take excellent quality photos. Plus, one of us usually misses being in the shot.
I know that photopass photographers will use your camera too, but we've just never had the nerve to ask.
And you don't get the magic shots -balloons in the air, jumping, Tink in hand, Stitch in ground, etc. And the stock photos of the characters on the CD are really great too.
We used to do the share thing when it was allowed here, now we just suck it up, preorder, and try to make it a point to get photos at all times of day, even if it is in the same place as before. Ex - everytime we pass through the hub, we take a photo in front of the castle, and we always use one of these as our Christmas card photo.

 

[SGB13]

We have used it for all our trips, except the first, and I love it. I wasn't in almost any of those pictures on the first trip, so I really enjoy having photos of all of us. And the addition of the ride photos is great. We would have bought some of those anyway, so I love it. I have noticed a lot less photo pass photographers each year. But there is one in EPCOT that takes the best shots. We seek him out. (I sound like a stalker. )

 

[eliza61]

I don't do the prepay photopass.

For me the only reason I do it is to get a few shots with the entire family.

I have a Nikon DSLR and take pictures constantly. Most of the shots of my kids are way better than the photopass shots mainly because I get more sponteneous shots as oppose to the staged shots.

I do enjoy them for things like shots in front of the castle or the tree of life but outside of that I don't need them. lastly, every time we've had the photo guy/gal take a shot, they have graciously offered to take pictures with my dslr. I've really only had to ask once or twice.

So I would never spend the money and pre pay, not sure what the cost is up to but I just get a card at the begininng of my trip then get a few shots.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

The first two times we used Photopass, it was great. This past August, most of the pictures were mediocre at best. We're going to skip it next year.

 

[OhStuffandFluff]

We used PP+ for the first time in January this year. We loved it! It was great getting all the prints from the character meals we did in addition to the ride photos. Plus I felt like the PP photographers took extra pictures and time with us when they saw the PP+ lanyard. We got some great shots that included the whole family, especially since I am usually the photographer for us. I think it is worth it if you do he he meals and want the ride pics. Also take advantage of each and every PP photographer you see! It was nice in here areas with the meet and greets. Their cameras were set up for the correct lighting whereas mine was not always the best. Plus the magic shots are great! I know we r going to ask for more for those next time we go and use PP+!

 

[momof1princess]

we LOVE photopass, and use it every time we go to wdw. there is a share page on FB, and the lady who ran the last one we did was awesome. i would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

we LOVE photopass, and use it every time we go to wdw. there is a share page on FB, and the lady who ran the last one we did was awesome. i would do it again in a heartbeat.

Photo pass is very good and worth it. I do not recommend a share. I did that once and had trouble and ended up paying for the share and ordering my own CD at the higher non pre order price just before the deadline as the share person never sent me my CD.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[tinkmom2]

I have only ever gotten a few photos off of photo pass. I bring my own camera and take better pictures sometimes than the photographers. I shott between 1500-1700 pictures. If you use photo pass the photogs will also shoot a picture for you with your own camera. I'd save the money and spend it on souvies or something else. As you can see people love it, but we don't.

 

[wiigirl]

we LOVE photopass, and use it every time we go to wdw. there is a share page on FB, and the lady who ran the last one we did was awesome. i would do it again in a heartbeat.

Same here!

 

[KaLyn]

What's a "share"?

 

[chimilady]

What's a "share"?

Where a bunch of people go in and split the cost of one and all add their photos to one account. However, with Magic Bands coming, I think that is going to be disappearing.

We just came back from a 10 day trip, so definitely worth it. We have a trip coming up in January, only 5 days, so probably not worth it unless we share, which may not be possible then.

 

[erincon23]

I've done trips with and without (never the Plus, though, as we don't do too many character meals anymore, and aren't really interested in ride pictures). I managed a small share twice - just for some of the students going on the same high school trip as my kids -- and that worked out well, because even if the kids didn't use it much (and some not at all), the parents didn't pay more than $10 for pictures of all the performances the kids were in.

I wouldn't do Photopass again by myself (one caveat - once we're toting grandkids around -which better still be a few years out - I may change my mind). BUT! If you have someone in your family who expects to audition for American Idol, you may want to consider it - they take a lot of pictures that you won't be able to take, and that was worth it for me.

The photographers can't always be found, sometimes there's a big line, they aren't always the greatest pix. Sure, the magic shots are cute, but nothing you can't live without. And for the PP who said they didn't have the nerve to ask the photogs to use their personal camera, don't worry about it! They're happy to do it. They won't take more than one or two with your camera, but that's enough. And lots of CMs around the park will be happy to do that as well - don't limit yourself to a Photopass person.

If you do purchase Photopass, don't walk past a photographer without stopping so you get your money's worth. Have pictures taken of not just your large group - individuals, couples, etc. If it's not busy, they'll do as many as you want. And ask every one about magic shots - some do them, some don't, and you don't always know which will. We watched the Dapper Dans a year ago, and there was a photog just snapping pix - she noticed the Photopass card on my lanyard, and put a bunch of pix she had taken on it (unfortunately they were all of just me, not me and my son, or of us with the Dans in the background, so they weren't that interesting). Keep an eye out for that kind of opportunity, and don't hesitate to ask for something you'd specifically like.

And if you are having them take your picture - do something fun. That trip a year ago was just me and DS21. Some of my fave pictures are when we did something silly - I leaned up to kiss his cheek when one pic was taken; we knew there was going to be a Tink magic shot and neither of us care for Tink, so we screamed for the picture, etc. Don't just POSE.

 

[katclicks]

We love it! I am a photographer and I will gladly preorder it. I don't always want to carry my big camera with me and enjoy having shots of the entire family. I have asked the pp photogs to get shots with my camera, they will gladly do it, but on they days I don't have the big camera and am relying on iPhone, I love the pp. The ride photos make it worth it too. We used rider swap a lot on our last trip so we got 2 ride photos for the rides with photos. It is a pretty good deal.

 

[TEK224]

I'll be going in January with 5 other friends. I'm thinking of ordering the pp+ as I like getting the ride photos. Since we may split up at time, if others in my group get a reg. (non pre-paid) pp card, will we be able to add those cards to my pp+, so all the pics will be together?

 

[tinkerbell615]

We did the photopass on our last two trips and loved it. My DD is always taking pictures as well as myself, but these pictures were great in addition to ours. The PP+ was not available our last trip, but I am going to look into it for our upcoming 2014 trip. Is it possible to preorder plus like it was my last couple of trips for the PP at a discounted rate?

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I've always done a share and it's worked out well for me - pick a leader who knows what they're doing and has done successful shares in the past.

However, it seems that pretty soon we won't be able to do shares, so I'll have to work out if it's worth it for us to pay the money. I am going at Mardi Gras with some dear relations and am planning on forking over the cash for photopass+ then, no question about it, so we can get photos of all of us on the rides and meeting favorite characters etc.

For DH and I. . .eh. Not sure if it's worth it or not. I do love getting all those photos of me and DH and with characters though, so I may suck it up and continue to do it at least until I judge my collection complete (I've organized my photos into sets so, for example, I'm missing Hook for my Peter Pan set, and Charming from Cinderella. . .)

 

[erincon23]

I'll be going in January with 5 other friends. I'm thinking of ordering the pp+ as I like getting the ride photos. Since we may split up at time, if others in my group get a reg. (non pre-paid) pp card, will we be able to add those cards to my pp+, so all the pics will be together?

Yes, you should be able to. Just tell them to not open up a Photopass account to look at their pictures - once you enter a card number into an account, you won't be able to add it to another account.