Memory Maker-still can't decide

[lisatx04]

We leave on Saturday for our trip to WDW. Am still undecided on MM. This trip will be a bit different as we are bringing DD BFF who will be heading to college in the fall. Oh, and my ex, who is the photographer, will not be with us. We have been going to Disney since DS was 11 months old-he is now 15 years old, so we have been there many times.

I need to decide and purchase by tomorrow at the latest. Sat night we have ADR at Chef Mickey's! That is the only character meal we are doing. We do have FP+ for a lot of the rides that have the ability to have photo's taken on them.

What to do, what to do....
Oh, and the weather forecast is rain. Not just the 1pm shower that comes and goes, but the kind of rain that comes and stays.

 

[txtxyeha]

Originally I was not going to purchase Memory Maker b/c only four photographs will make it to the kids' photo albums. Then I thought:

1) I'm the one who takes all the pictures (and get tired being the family photographer)
2) This will be the second and last time we all go to WDW (DS going off to college)
3) If it is $100 then I will purchase

Of course in true Disney fashion it is $150, and I purchased anyway.

 

[DisneyMommy9]

I just got back 2 weeks ago, we were there for 4.5 and we had 66 pictures on Memory maker, all but three were good! So for me it was a great value!!!

 

[StirlingSilver83]

We loved memory maker! It was totally worth it...I am usually not in any of our family pics bc I am the family photographer but with memory maker I was able to get in a lot of the shots...specially the ones in front of the castle. I wish they had more photographers at Hollywood studios and Epcot though. In magic kingdom there was a photographer on every corner lol

 

[CharAkaDisney]

My boyfriend has purchased this for me as my birthday present as it's only the two of us so we can only take so many selfies.
My one question is he's purchased it and it's on my disney experience but we don't go until mid August. Does it only activate after the first photo and how long do you have it for. I know it's like 30 days to download. We go for two weeks, will it cover my entire stay. It may sound like a simple obvious thing but I can't find any answers. X

 

[fluffykalie]

you activate your memory maker by having your frist photo taken. then you have 30 days to take as many photos as you want. they want you to purchase the memory maker in advance thats why they offer the discount. theres no experation date on the memory maker that I can see. i think you would be safe with any purchase date within a year of your vacation.

 

[fluffykalie]

lisatx04 for me it would depend on how long the vacation is for a day or two i wouldnt buy it. i think you can still buy a few single photos if you want. but for a week or more i would deffenitly buy it.

 

[maryj11]

It depends on how many days you will be there ?

 

[nikkij]

We leave on Saturday for our trip to WDW. Am still undecided on MM. This trip will be a bit different as we are bringing DD BFF who will be heading to college in the fall. Oh, and my ex, who is the photographer, will not be with us. We have been going to Disney since DS was 11 months old-he is now 15 years old, so we have been there many times.

I need to decide and purchase by tomorrow at the latest. Sat night we have ADR at Chef Mickey's! That is the only character meal we are doing. We do have FP+ for a lot of the rides that have the ability to have photo's taken on them.

What to do, what to do....
Oh, and the weather forecast is rain. Not just the 1pm shower that comes and goes, but the kind of rain that comes and stays.

Photos on rides with FP+?? It this a new thing with the memory maker? I'm confused does the memory maker allow pictures to be taken on rides?

I just spent over 6 hours working on curriculum for my school, so my brain is a bit fried...and they say teachers get summer off

 

[goofy4tink]

Photos on rides with FP+?? It this a new thing with the memory maker? I'm confused does the memory maker allow pictures to be taken on rides?

I just spent over 6 hours working on curriculum for my school, so my brain is a bit fried...and they say teachers get summer off

There is a new system in place....happened 4 days into our trip about 10 days ago. If you have a MB, and ride something that has a photo taken (TT, ToT, etc), you no longer have to go and tap anything or get your photo number. The photo is instantly uploaded to your MM via your MB. It is very cool.

I normally don't buy a ton of photos in WDW. And I'm seldom in many photos since I'm the one taking them. But this last trip was a long one...June 1-10...and I got a sizable gift card from someone, so figured 'what the heck'. I had a ton of photos in the MM! I can edit them, add borders, character signatures if I want. Then download them and use them as I want.

 

[CharAkaDisney]

Photos on rides with FP+?? It this a new thing with the memory maker? I'm confused does the memory maker allow pictures to be taken on rides? I just spent over 6 hours working on curriculum for my school, so my brain is a bit fried...and they say teachers get summer off

Thanks everyone, Cleared up my queries.
Not sure if it's a new thing but yes you get some ride photos included in the memory maker. Mainly the big rides like splash mountain, expedition Everest.

Also well done on your new curriculum, I'm at an EBD ASC school and so far have avoided re organising our curriculum. Gonna make a good start this week.

 

[bjakmom]

Does every ride that currently takes ride pictures work with MM and automatically load the pic to your MB? That would work great for us.

 

[mslhb]

I debated the MM for our trip. Almost didn't do it. At $99 I was sold but when the price point pushed to $149 I really debated not getting it. In the end I did and am glad. Got way more cute photos then I expected. By pre-purchasing I felt like I didn't hesitate to get my photo taken. If you are on the look-out the photopass photographers are a lot more places then I think people realize. Not just at the castle, ball and other iconic places. The new ride feature too is super nice. I really like not having to mess with the ride photos... or even look at them. We would just check our photopass account each night to see if they turned out decent! Also with the MM download you can then upload to shutterfly or other site and get prints, calendar, etc. for cheaper then the Disney al carte pricing. So in the end I was glad we bought it!

 

[tinkerbesh]

Fwiw, even with daily rain & several days that had so much rain we only spent a half day in the parks, we racked up almost 200 pics over 6 days without trying very hard. And the photographers we encountered were fantastic. They caught some magical moments with our 11-month old son that we will treasure for years!

Some photographers suggested shots, like kissing DS on both cheeks. And others went over the top with what we requested. For example, we wanted a solo shot of DS sitting on Main St. (The sidewalk was cool enough.) The photographer gave DS his hat to sit on, and then HE laid face down on the ground and took about 10 of the cutest pics while DS played with the hat strings and laughed away.

It's way cheaper than any professional photo shoot, and yet they treated us like we were the center of a shoot & gave us such great photos.

 

[nikkij]

So the ride pictures and all the shots throughout the world are included in the price? And they can be seen and uploaded to social media that night?

will the photographers take pictures of just scenery? For example just one of the castle with no people?

And do they edit them and add stuff like in the past? 6 years ago we went and they added in characters, like in one shot I was holding baby Simba and another Stitch was breaking something and we were acting shocked.

Hopefully I didn't drive anybody crazy with questions and maybe helped to get other people's questions answered.

 

[tortoni]

How do the ride pics upload to MM if you don't scan? How would they know you have MM or who you are?

 

[mslhb]

How do the ride pics upload to MM if you don't scan? How would they know you have MM or who you are?

That is the RFID technology! Honestly when you have the bracelet on they know where you are at in the park at all times. Certainly doesn't bother me. I freely admit I am the type of crazy that rides the people mover multiple times a day!

 

[siskaren]

1.So the ride pictures and all the shots throughout the world are included in the price?

2. And they can be seen and uploaded to social media that night?

3. will the photographers take pictures of just scenery? For example just one of the castle with no people?

4. And do they edit them and add stuff like in the past? 6 years ago we went and they added in characters, like in one shot I was holding baby Simba and another Stitch was breaking something and we were acting shocked.

Hopefully I didn't drive anybody crazy with questions and maybe helped to get other people's questions answered.

1. Yes, as well as pictures taken at certain dining locations.

2. I think they can be seen that night, but I'm not sure if you would be able to actually use the pictures that fast.

3. I'm pretty sure they only take pictures of guests, plus they can't move from their location.

4. Those are called magic shots, and yes, they still do them.

 

[nikkij]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Chances are high for me to buy one!

 

[lisatx04]

OP here. We will be there 8 days/ 9 nights.
We have never bought any ride photos, as I never had the patience to sit and look at them in the gift shop. I guess now there would not be a need too. I could look at them from my resort room.

I know there a plenty of photographers at MK. What about the other parks? I really don't remember from my trip last year. My only other concern that I mentioned is the rain. Do the photographers stay out in the rain? We plan on doing EMH at MK one night, late, like until 2am. Are they out until then? Would love to get pictures in front of a lit castle at night.