Memory maker...worth it?

[MammaMoe48]

As I understand how this works, you pay $150 for the convenience of having all your photos in one place, easily accessible online so that you can print whichever ones you want. But you still have to pay for the photos you want. So I guess I'm wondering is it worth the cost?

 

[siskaren]

That's not quite right. You pay $150 for all PhotoPass pictures you have taken, and then you download them onto your computer, and then you can print them out or do whatever you want with them. They're only online at the PhotoPass website for 45 days after the date they're taken. If you don't buy Memory Maker, then you would pay $15 for each picture you want.

 

[MammaMoe48]

That's not quite right. You pay $150 for all PhotoPass pictures you have taken, and then you download them onto your computer, and then you can print them out or do whatever you want with them. They're only online at the PhotoPass website for 45 days after the date they're taken. If you don't buy Memory Maker, then you would pay $15 for each picture you want.

So you mean all my digital photos will be available to me online to download onto my own computer or flash drive for $150 but I don't get paper copies? I would have to either print them at home or bring the file to Walmart or CVS and pay to print them myself? If that's true, that's a bargain. I know I sound sort of stupid for not getting it but as much as I love Disney, they are not known for offering deals so I keep thinking "what's the catch?"

 

[sara1215]

That's the way it seems. I purchased Memory Maker and am now in the process of downloading all my photos and videos (over 300). So then I can make a book in Shutterfly, or print enlargements, or whatever I want. You also get a release. So the photos are yours. I thought it was a great deal, especially to get photos including me and the magic shots and ride photos.

 

[JWigs]

Agreed that you pay $150 and now you get pics from rides that have photos (splash, etc) and you also can download and print as many as you want. It's cheaper than it used to be and totally worth it now in my opinion when adding in ride photos too.

 

[MammaMoe48]

That is a great idea. I thought about what their motivation could be and the only thing I can think of is it saves them money not to print out photos that won't be bought and wastes all that paper. When we were on our cruise they had a book for each family with printed photos and you bought the ones you wanted and the ones you didn't got shredded/deleted. This benefits both parties.

 

[MammaMoe48]

One more question. I'm going in August, if I buy it now it won't kick in until we take our first picture right? Then it's 45 days from when we actually use it?

 

[siskaren]

1. So you mean all my digital photos will be available to me online to download onto my own computer or flash drive for $150 but I don't get paper copies?

2. I would have to either print them at home or bring the file to Walmart or CVS and pay to print them myself?

If that's true, that's a bargain. I know I sound sort of stupid for not getting it but as much as I love Disney, they are not known for offering deals so I keep thinking "what's the catch?"

1. Yep.

2. Yep.

1. One more question. I'm going in August, if I buy it now it won't kick in until we take our first picture right?

2. Then it's 45 days from when we actually use it?

1. Yep.

2. Not quite. Your pictures will expire (in other words, will disappear from the PhotoPass site) 45 days from the day they're taken. So pictures taken on August 1st will expire on September 15th, pictures taken on August 2nd will expire on September 16th, and so on.

 

[MammaMoe48]

Thanks siskaren. Now I'm really excited!

 

[Kiren]

I'm so glad I stopped by to read this! I had the exact same question about it "being activated".

 

[Lumiere Lover]

Also before you download your pictures you can make additional digital images with assorted borders. I ended up with a lot more photos after I put borders on all the photos. I then ordered the cd and took that in to get pictures printed. I think the cost is totally worth it. I am still old fashioned and I use photo albums.

 

[FairyPrincess8]

It was worth it for my mom and I. With 6 park days, we got approximately 600 pictures plus some stock photos. We both agreed that we would buy it again. at 15/picture, we recoup the cost after only 10 pictures.

 

[John Marecek]

We were at WDW for 3 1/2 days, left with 404 pics. If you do M&G's and experiences like Jedi Training or BBB, worth every penny. We stopped at every Photo Pass photog we saw, and glad we did. So many great pics, high quality, and all of us are in them for a change.

 

[princesskaycee]

Totally worth it!

 

[ChimCher-ee]

It's worth it. With all the extra pictures that come with (random ones of characters and locations), you can electronically put together a very nice album (I used Shutterfly) with some very nice touches.

One thing you must do, however, is make sure you download/copy the release file. I didn't have any issues with Shutterfly asking me for proof of permissions to print the album, but I've read other posts that said Walmart and some other places asked for proof before printing individual copies.

 

[neastguy]

can I get memory maker if I don't book through disney? I think my wife went to a disney store to get are park tickets.. I will have to find out.. would be nice to not have to bring my camera to the park... also, do they do memory maker at the waterparks? thanks

 

[choover2576]

I was also debating if we should get Memory Maker, but I'm so glad we did. We got some great on-ride shots of my boys including this one of my 5 year old's first ride on Splash (I know he looks totally traumatized, but it is now his favorite ride and we went on it many many times since). I crack up every time I look at it.

 

[adennis0421]

This is making me so glad I added it! I am always the mom missing from all the photos because I'm behind the camera. I want to be present this trip!!

 

[kam1011]

We usually get it and I really like it mainly for the ride photos and restaurant photos that I never otherwise purchase. I usually make an album of all our pictures, both Memory Maker and iPhone, and it's nice to have ride photos, waterpark photos (wouldn't have those with my phone) and stuff like that in there.

 

[Araminta18]

Glad to hear that most everyone's experience is positive--I booked online and realized only after that the person I was talking with included the Memory Maker in the package. I was kind of on the fence about it, but sounds like it might be worth it to keep it.