Memory Maker- Is it Worth it?

[BuckeyeBama]

I's funny, my favorite MM pictures are improtu ones. The one of DS4 squeezing my hand as he waits to meet Donald, a look of awe on his face, the one of DS2 marching towards Minnie with a look of determination or the one of me kneeling and tlaking to the boys as we wait to meet Mickey. These are shots I would never think to take and. I treasure them.

That only happens if you do M&Gs. You get none of that otherwise. We stopped doing M&Gs a long time ago. But you agree that the impromptu pictures are much better than the posed ones, right?

 

[margot31]

We did it in Dec but joined a MM share group. Worked out really well. Not sure how many were in our group total but sure I had to see other peoples photos but for never doing MM it was worth the group. For smaller family I don't think we would do it but when we go with the big family I am defiantly doing it.

 

[Kimberly9701]

That only happens if you do M&Gs. You get none of that otherwise. We stopped doing M&Gs a long time ago. But you agree that the impromptu pictures are much better than the posed ones, right?

I do think it's personal preference.. But if you have kids.. I can't possibly imagine not doing it! These photos are not at M&Gs, and the one I posted previously was from a restaurant, yes these are "posed" but we have so much fun looking back at them! If someone is debating if can fit in their budget or not- I'd say skip a table meal and do a quick service so you can free up the money for MM
But again, people can have different thought on that than I do.

 

[Justin91]

Wow, thanks for the info. Since this coming trip will be our last to Disney probably for at least a couple of years, I am leaning towards purchasing the package.

 

[Misha72683]

That only happens if you do M&Gs. You get none of that otherwise. We stopped doing M&Gs a long time ago. But you agree that the impromptu pictures are much better than the posed ones, right?

I don't think I'd get MM if we didn't have kids. I don't need that many pictures of DH and I, but I do love the pics of my kids. The ride photos were fun too. As for posed pictures, they can be great too. We have one at the fountain of Epcot and we're all smiling for the camera, but my DS2 refused to turn around because he wanted to look at the fountain. It's so him. And for our castle shot, the photographer zoomed in and captured each boy individually. DS2's too-serious for vacation face (he is not a smiley kid) and DS4's cheesy grin. So even the posed pictures are great, bjt the magic comes from my small children.

 

[siskaren]

As another DSLR enthusiast, I'm curious on your opinion. I'm going solo for the first two days of my trip. I have MM and I haven't ever brought my DSLR, but I am really considering bringing my DSLR and just using it on those first two days, then leaving it in the room for the rest of the week and enjoying the parks not through a lens. Is it worth it? If I brought a tripod, would that be too much? What do you do with the camera on thrill rides?

I don't own a DSLR, but I can tell you that unlike Universal, you can take your bag with you on every ride. And I would say that unless you were planning to use the tripod for something like fireworks (in which case you can leave it in a locker until evening), that it would probably be too much of a pain in the butt to carry it around with you.

 

[jdrasin]

My Disney vacation photos have always been a priority and my favorite souvenir from the trip. I take lots of pictures! I do take advantage of the photographers, but always ask them to use my camera and it's never been an issue.
A friend of mine (who is also a photographer herself) said she got MM on her last trip and loved it.
I'm still unsure if it's worth the money though. I always found many of the photographers to be a little on the amateur side and found that you have to get lucky to find someone good.
Can anyone share their experiences with MM- positive and negative. Tia!

For our one trip, we didn't make the decision until part-way through the trip. We were just finding between the ride photos, candid shots, family shots that we were seeing a lot of pictures we wanted. We had a bunch on our cameras as well, but there were certainly lots that they took that we probably would not have. We could have saved $30 buying it ahead, but I was fine not deciding until later and making sure I was happy with what I bought. I am not normally one to buy such things, but some of the photos were really great. I will say to your and other's comments, the photographers do seem to be pretty amateurish.

Joseph

 

[MistyRose]

I had never done the PhotoPass before, but when we got engaged at Epcot last year we decided that we would give it a shot. As soon as we got engaged I walked up to a Disney Photographer and asked to have our pic taken. He was super sweet and asked when we got engaged (we had celebration buttons). When I told him that T had popped the question only ten mins before, he was pretty surprised and asked if we had had a photographer there to take engagement pics. I smiled and said, "Nope. You're it!" He laughed and spent a good chunk of time getting the cutest pics of us including this one that I later played with in photoshop. (Please excuse the lack of make up and hairspray! It was about a million degrees!)

After that, we made an effort to have our pics taken by every PhotoPass photographer we saw. It was really worth it. The cost of buying memory maker after the fact was nothing compared to the cost of having an "engagement photo shoot" in the park and we found that most of the photographers were really great about framing the best shots to show off the fact that we were engaged (like focusing on the pins or the ring).One photographer even made T get down on one knee all over again in front of the Epcot ball. Almost all of our pics turned out great. The only off pics were some of the ones taken at night. No surprise there. It is pretty difficult to get a great shot under those conditions.

So, if this is a special trip for you the memory maker is really worth it. Just be sure to take advantage of it. Ask for photos everywhere. After all, you are not just paying for the photos, but also for the use of all the Disney photo equipment.

 

[sgtdisney]

We got it for our trip earlier this month. We loved it. We paid the pre-paid price of 149. We have over 450 pictures we can download. Some of them are priceless, and it is so nice to have our entire family in the shots. We asked almost ever photopass photographer for magic shots and they were happy to oblige. We also LOVE the videos from some of the rides, and also some of our pics were made into small little videos. The best part is the pictures showed up in MDE usually with 15 minutes and were right away sharing them with family at home via text message, facebook, Instagram etc. It is so nice to be able to send the high quality pictures immediate to others. The picture of me on 7DMT was priceless. I thought I was having fun and making a funny face, it looks like sheer terror. Everyone my family kept saying this was the best 149.00 we spent there, and it was less than many of our meals.

 

[deedeezee]

I think for any family, it can be worth it - shots of the whole family, videos, cute pics of the kids together (or just the parents), magic shots. You can even get some great candids! Honestly, some of the pictures aren't great, but even 5 or 10 really good ones are totally worth the prepaid price for us. DH knows that I always budget that in as part of our trip.

 

[jvz82]

I've never done it before but I'm looking into it for this trip.

I am also a photographer and always bring my dslr camera. I think I will still bring it this trip. Some of my favorite pictures are ones I took on my camera even though I don't pull it out all the time.

Last trip I purchased some individual photos from photo pass and I was surprised at how expensive they were. I shouldn't have been surprised but I was!! The one on my profile picture is one the photographers took. But I re-edited it in Photoshop! I actually edited all the images I bought in Photoshop because I thought they were all too dark and the white balance was off. So they're not perfect but some of them were shots I couldn't have gotten.

Given all that, I think I will probably get it this trip especially for the ride pictures. I love to scrapbook so the pictures for me are my main souvenir.

 

[HonnyDipp]

I just started planning our next trip $150 extra for the Memory Maker. So I'm debating this as well. Do they ever offer MM as a special promotion?

 

[DiannaVM]

I guess its up to you. When DH and I went last October we did it, and I am quite glad we did because otherwise we wouldn't have taken alot of pictures of ourselves (honestly, phone pictures aren't always the best, so it was a pain trying to take the camera in and out of the bag. Too much hassle and I kept being afraid I would drop it on the ground).

When we go this year, we are totally getting it again. The whole family will be there, so splitting the cost helps us alot and it also helps taking pictures of the WHOLE family, which I am hoping we get some really nice ones. I don't think I'll ever consider not doing MM on a Disney trip. I don't go that often, and I love looking at pictures of my trips. We got some really funny "paparazzi" shots when we were about to meet Snow White which crack me up every time I see them. The Photopass photographer made me feel like a mini-celebrity . I think without it, we wouldn't have otherwise gotten some of those non-staged pictures that I ended up liking more than the posed ones.

 

[michgeo]

I love the Memory Maker, but some of the pics we took did not show up there. Our Baymax and Anna pics are not in our gallery and we have a few sets of random "other people" pictures. I am not sure why.. but I will contact Disney to let them know. Not sure if they will or can do anything about it, but I am grateful I took pics of those attractions with my camera myself!!

 

[DiannaVM]

I love the Memory Maker, but some of the pics we took did not show up there. Our Baymax and Anna pics are not in our gallery and we have a few sets of random "other people" pictures. I am not sure why.. but I will contact Disney to let them know. Not sure if they will or can do anything about it, but I am grateful I took pics of those attractions with my camera myself!!

When we got back, I had a few "random" ones too, but from rides (I think I swiped my MB too many times), but they were good about sending me the Space Mountain pic that was missing. Once you can be very descriptive with what everyone is wearing and a timeframe of when it may have been taken, Disney is good about finding them and putting them in your gallery. I think it took me a day to get my picture up. Look on the Magic Maker/Photopass website, they have a form you fill out with that info.

 

[Gus V.]

For those of you debating on whether or not to get it, check out this video. Minute 13 shows ToT video that is included with the package and minute 20 shows some of the pics. Definitely worth it! 7DMT video is also included, but unfortunately for us, the camera wasn't working when we rode it.

 

[jdrasin]

As I posted before, we ended up buying a MM, but we did not do it ahead of time. We were perfectly happy to have spent a bit extra after the fact than wondering if it was going to be worth it or not. As it turned out, by day 2 (of 8) we had so many must-have pictures we were sold But even after success, I'm not sure we'd buy it ahead of time again if we ever go back.

 

[kelmac284]

We've never used it and want to get because like others I am always taking the pics and never IN them. We are going Xmas week so want all the pics of the parks etc all decorated up and I don't want to carry my big heavy DSLR. My question is do you have to download the pics while you are there or can you do that when you get home? And do they go on your MDE account or on your computer? If you try to download them on vacay do they go on your phone? I am all new to this as we haven't been in 6 years so not sure how it works. And do you go on a site like you did with PP where you can add the borders and such when you get home? Then do you download them to your computer so you can send them to be developed? Sorry again for all the questions but not sure how it all works.

 

[Mikie]

I just started planning our next trip $150 extra for the Memory Maker. So I'm debating this as well. Do they ever offer MM as a special promotion?

Other than the fact that the pre-purchase price is $149 vs the in-park price of $169, I have never heard of a special offer. I've been buying MM or its predecessor for quite a while and always read the MM threads here, so I don't think they do offer specials.
A couple other ways to save, though: Annual Passes now include unlimited photopass downloads, so if your trip is long or if anyone in your group may possibly return within the year, an AP might be an idea.
Some people do MM shares. I don't know exactly how to find them, but you seek out others going at the same time (or nearly same time) as you and split the cost. You'll each get all of your photos for half the price (or 1/3, or 1/4. . . .)

 

[Mikie]

We've never used it and want to get because like others I am always taking the pics and never IN them. We are going Xmas week so want all the pics of the parks etc all decorated up and I don't want to carry my big heavy DSLR.
1)My question is do you have to download the pics while you are there or can you do that when you get home?
2) And do they go on your MDE account or on your computer?
3) If you try to download them on vacay do they go on your phone? I am all new to this as we haven't been in 6 years so not sure how it works.
4) And do you go on a site like you did with PP where you can add the borders and such when you get home?
5) Then do you download them to your computer so you can send them to be developed? Sorry again for all the questions but not sure how it all works.

1) Wait until you get home
2&3) you will find them in your MDE account, then you'll have to either download all or select certain ones that you want to download. The site will create .zip files for you (condensed files with groups of your photos in each .zip). When you're ready, you click on each one and select "download now". Whatever device you're on (computer, phone, etc) is where they'll be downloaded. I believe you can download to cloud storage as well, but it's been a little while and I'm not certain about that.
4) The Photopass area of the Disney site is where you'll find all the stickers, borders, character signatures, titles, etc. that you can add to your pictures. I like to download one whole original set first, so that I am certain I have a "clean" copy of everything; then I play around with all the special edits and download again. The site is pretty cool, because it knows where your shots were taken and suggests borders and stickers that match (i.e. when you're on Space Mountain, it shows you Space Mountain and Tomorrowland themed edits)
5) if you want to create a photobook or get prints, you can upload to Shutterfly, Snapfish, Walgreens, etc just like you would with photos off your own camera. Your downloads will include a copyright waiver that I always include with all the photos I want printed, because I have neglected it in the past and it slowed down my order when they waited for me to send the waiver.

You have until 45 days after your first picture was taken before they begin to expire (disappear off the site). I recommend leaving yourself a good amount of time before that deadline to make your edits and do the download. The site can be slow, if you're like me you'll spend AGES playing with the edits and enjoying the photos, you can run into computer difficulties. You don't want to be doing this at the 11th hour worrying about losing your photos. I will note, though, that lots of people have reported here that customer service is kind about giving extensions and offering help in those cases. I just wouldn't want to have to count on it!
have fun!!