Memory Maker -- worth the cost?

[Davey Jones II]

Hi everyone. I'd like to hear from those of you who got Memory Maker for a multi-day trip. Was it worth it? Did you have a lot of opportunities to get Magic Shots, i.e. are the Disney photographers usually around at those Magic Shot locations?

I am planning for a 10 day, seven person trip, and would like to know if we should get MM. Thanks!

 

[disneydreamer1980]

It is what you make of it. There are plenty of Disney photographers in lots of locations, lots of opportunities for pictures if you take the time to get them. Plus all the ride photos. And in such an expensive vacation, what’s another $200? Lol

 

[scrappinginontario]

It really is personal choice. For us it’s not worth it. Occasionally we find a picture we really like and pay to purchase that individually but you may be different.

When you have been there in the past, how many of your pics have you wished you could keep?

Photographers are plentiful.

 

[123SA]

I love it and get it for every trip. (My vacations are generally 10 days). I have never regretted buying it.

Some tips:
1. ASK for magic photos. If you do not ask, they often will not do the magic photos.
2. Research magic shots. Disney has a Facebook photopass group. They post the latest magic shots available.
3. The app lists photopass locations.
4. Make a list of the magic shots. (I'm so MAD at myself. I forgot to get the Sabacc magic shot in DHS my last trip)
5. If you have to...tell your group that this is important to you and you expect them to do it. My kids know the drill...if I ask them to stop at the photopass person, I expect them to not be a PITA about it. The last trip they stopped at few when we split up and it was such a lovely surprise!
6. The superzoom shots are fun!
7. If you are missing any photos from rides (yes, this usually happens in my experience), the photopass customer service is the BEST Disney customer service group. Call them. They will find your photos. My last trip, they found a few missed ride photos for me and they were able to add the "magic shot" part of a photo that was clearing missing it.
8. Get nighttime photos. I find using my iphone or camera to take night photos problematic. Use the photopass photographers to get photos in front of the Castle, Chinese theater, Tower of Terror - -at night this is awesome!, and Spaceship Earth.
9. My favorite nighttime photos: in front of the Millennium Falcon. Make a reservation for Oga's after park closing. Head to Galaxy's Edge 15 minutes before park closing and get in all of the photopass lines you can. End the day with a drink a Oga's. Exit the park after closing, and take your own photos in an empty park.

 

[reddog21]

We get it every trip, the disney photographers do a great job and they are in a lot of different places. We feel it's well worth the money.

 

[Pyxie]

I will never not get it. I love photos and having lots of them taken on vacation. I think the photographers overall do a good job and there are tons of photo ops all over the parks. My family, on the other hand, get a bit annoyed every time I want to wait in line for a pic. But they will deal with it lol.

 

[_19disnA]

We traveled to Disney a few years ago with another family who purchased it. I didn't see the value and the photographers take several shots in every location. Really have no use for most of those. Didn't get any of those special effect shots and don't think it mattered. I think you can accomplish as much by finding a Disney employee to hand your phone/camera to for the occasional picture. (I don't care to hand my phone to a stranger since there are too many other things on my phone.) Doubt you will have any issue finding the Disney photographers, since they were located at several places all around the parks.

A few of the locations had people in line ahead of us but the lines moved quickly so that was not an issue. As I understand it, you do not need to buy Memory Maker to get those candid ride photos. Frankly, we thought the ride photos were some of the best shots from our trip.

Once we returned home, I had to help the other family download the picture files since there weren't organized in any logical way, the process was quite complicated and ended up with multiple copies of the same picture. Perhaps that part of the process has been improved, but was quite cumbersome compared to any other downloads I have done on other sites. It is far more cost effective to arrange for printing of the downloaded pictures on your own using any of the available photo printing websites. Disney prices for photo printing is excessive. Knowing what we now know, we would not purchase Memory Makeer next time we go to Disney.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Thanks for all the responses. We will probably get it, mostly for the Magic Shots. This is a trip for seven people, and I think those shots will make great souvenirs.

 

[FSU Girl]

If you do a capture your moment it’s helpful to have so you get all the pictures without a watermark

 

[FairyGodmother00]

I purchased it for our trip. This will be our adult kids and 4 year old grandson's first trip. I do not want to miss capturing a single moment.

 

[philharmagic fan]

For a 10-day trip, you might want to have one person get an annual pass. When we renewed our passes last spring you could add 1 year of Memory Maker for $99 rather than the full price, and the pass also gets you discounts (usually 10-20%) on some dining and merchandise purchases and free standard parking for the car containing the passholder. With that many people in your group, the various discounts might pay for the difference in cost between a pass and a regular ticket.

 

[nas1861]

We get it every time. As the family photographer, this is the only way to guarantee I am in the photos and we get all of us in there. We have gone several times and I make a point of doing the same pose in the same location for a few shots so we can see my son grow through the trips. I love the magic shots that can only be found with photopass. Also if you do characters, the photopass is very helpful as they get some candids of you before the formal 'look here and smile' pose. If you give your phone to the photographer, they will get the last pose and not the candids. Some of those interaction shots are my favorite, especially when you have small children. Every photographer is different. Sometimes you get a really good one that will pose you several times and sometimes you get one that just does a couple of shots and is done. Sometimes there are props as well.

 

[scrappinginontario]

For a 10-day trip, you might want to have one person get an annual pass. When we renewed our passes last spring you could add 1 year of Memory Maker for $99 rather than the full price, and the pass also gets you discounts (usually 10-20%) on some dining and merchandise purchases and free standard parking for the car containing the passholder. With that many people in your group, the various discounts might pay for the difference in cost between a pass and a regular ticket.

A 10 day ticket after taxes (priced out starting on Dec 25th so most expensive day) is $810. AP with PP after taxes is $1,755.12!!!

$945 difference!! I highly doubt the suggestion made would benefit the group but rather end up costing far more than adding MM to park tickets. Purchasing APs normally only benefits those going for numerous short trips, not one or two longer trips.

 

[Dug720]

As a solo traveler, I always get it so I have shots of me that aren't selfies (and I don't have to trust some random stranger with my phone). Definitely worth it to me. Similarly it's a good way to get photos of everyone in your party (we have so many pics of vacations when I was growing up with my mom OR my dad in them because the other was taking them - and usually it was my mom taking them because my dad had a bad habit of cutting off heads in pictures).

But as others have said, it is what you make of it. If you're not going to want to stop at the photographers for pictures (occasionally waiting in line), then no, probably not worth it for you.

 

[starry_solo]

Get the 14 day UK ticket. It’s usually around the price of a 7 day or 10 day ticket and comes with memory maker on top of it.

Attraction Tickets has a deal for 15% off for Black Friday

 

[pens4821]

If it’s your first trip I say no doubt yes. If not then it’s up to you. Photographers will use your phone for you. But of course you wouldn’t have magic shots.

 

[CarolynFH]

I’ve been thinking about responding to this thread ever since it started. I agree that for a first trip or a special family trip, we’d definitely find it worth it - and we paid $185 to add it to my ticket for our DGD’s first visit. OTOH, when we had APs with MM included and it was just DH and myself, we frequently stopped to get photos, especially when we’d see a “lonely” photographer standing without any guests waiting. And when those photos pop up on our screen saver, it brings back many wonderful memories! I don’t think we’d pay $185 again for just the two of us, but we’d pay $100 if our trip was going to be our normal 7 nights.

 

[crazy Cat Lady]

I've always purchased it ahead of our trip in the past, however this trip I selected not to as ride photos are included with LLMP. One day, we cracked and purchased it, so I made a point of getting as many photos as I could between Epcot and DHS. I have to say, for us the quality of the photos and the magic shots aren't what they've been in the past, so I'm not disappointed that we didn't have it for the full trip.

However, having said that, it's just the two of us, we've been before and got those photos, but if you have a family, large group or it's a first trip, it's probably worth the investment to capture the memories. Do have a play with the photopass lenses in the app, they were a lot of fun!

 

[VeronicaZS]

I've always purchased it ahead of our trip in the past, however this trip I selected not to as ride photos are included with LLMP. One day, we cracked and purchased it, so I made a point of getting as many photos as I could between Epcot and DHS. I have to say, for us the quality of the photos and the magic shots aren't what they've been in the past, so I'm not disappointed that we didn't have it for the full trip.

However, having said that, it's just the two of us, we've been before and got those photos, but if you have a family, large group or it's a first trip, it's probably worth the investment to capture the memories. Do have a play with the photopass lenses in the app, they were a lot of fun!

This is my exact situation. We have gone yearly since 2014 and Memory maker was always a "must buy." Then the quality went dramatically down hill. My pictures were dark, blurry, foggy etc. Now the kids are older and less likely to cooperate with tons of pictures and I get the ride photos with the Lighting Lane purchase. If I want a group photo I just ask a cast member to use my phone. I haven't missed Memory Maker in the last 2 trips.

 

[japanese maple]

As a couple we always get it. Otherwise the only pictures with the two of us together are selfies!