My PhotoPass Advice

[djmeredith]

I pre-purchased the PhotoPass Plus package and used it for 8 days. We were there during the very busy July 4 week and I didn't see as many PhotoPass photographers as I thought I would. Maybe it was just because it was so crowded I didn't see them.

I would suggest you check your PhotoPass account at the PhotoPass service center each day before you leave the park. This will allow you to ensure all the photos from that day have been added to your account without having to claim them online to check and start the 30 day storage limit for your photos (or trying to remember after you get home what photos are missing like I did).

I also highly recommend you snap a back up picture with your own camera. I have no pictures of our meet and greet with Rapunzel. When I got home and finally checked my photos, I realized they were missing. I called and they said something must have gone wrong with the PhotoPass photographers camera because our group's photos were missing. Our photos with Minnie Mouse were also missing even though I watched the photographer scan my PhotoPass Plus card. Luckily, they were able to find those missing photos for me.

I also warn you that once you claim your photos in your account on the PhotoPass site, you only have 30 days to edit them and order products. I found that those 30 days after returning from our vacation went very quickly! I had to buy the 15 day extension for $19.99 in order to have time to finish my photo book on their site. (Personally, I think if you spend the money to buy the PhotoPass Plus package it should include more storage time and a discount code for products.) Also, I didn't know that if you add borders to your own uploaded photos, those will not be on the CD. That didn't bother me too much because I didn't really like the plain borders they offered for uploaded photos. However, I did waste time adding borders before I realized they wouldn't be included on my CD.

Overall, I was pleased with my PhotoPass Plus pre-purchase and would recommend it.

 

[hannahmachell]

Good to know! Thanks for the tips...we leave on Thursday and am just waiting for my photo pass plus to arrive.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

Quick question that something you said that the first post triggered! I just ordered Photo Pass+ for the first time. I assumed I can take the photos that are on that CD and make a photo book on another site like Shutterfly, right? I love making the books, but the one's on Disney's site are outrageous!

So once I've paid for Photo Pass+, I basically "own" all those pictures on the CD and can do whatever I want with them, right?

I sure hope so....

 

[lylone]

Quick question that something you said that the first post triggered! I just ordered Photo Pass+ for the first time. I assumed I can take the photos that are on that CD and make a photo book on another site like Shutterfly, right? I love making the books, but the one's on Disney's site are outrageous!

So once I've paid for Photo Pass+, I basically "own" all those pictures on the CD and can do whatever I want with them, right?

I sure hope so....

You own them once you purchase them and we used a couple of ours for Christmas cards.

I also agree with taking pictures with your own camera also. Some of our best shots were when their photographer used our camera! Go figure.

Also, not all photographers are the same. Look for the part time retiree types....

 

[traylorc]

Also, not all photographers are the same. Look for the part time retiree types....

You may also want to strike up a conversation with a few photographers to determine which are experienced photographers and which simply have their cameras set to auto. I usually ask the photographer questions like "what do you shoot" or "what glass do you have on that body"?. If they look at me with the deer in the headlights look, that generally tells me I'm dealing with an inexperienced photographer...I then start looking for another photographer.

 

[djmeredith]

Quick question that something you said that the first post triggered! I just ordered Photo Pass+ for the first time. I assumed I can take the photos that are on that CD and make a photo book on another site like Shutterfly, right? I love making the books, but the one's on Disney's site are outrageous!

So once I've paid for Photo Pass+, I basically "own" all those pictures on the CD and can do whatever I want with them, right?

I sure hope so....

As the PP said, yes you will own them once you purchase the CD so you can then upload them to another site. I uploaded mine to Shutterfly because I have a free coupon. After you get home and edit all your photos on the PhotoPass site you will order your CD using the free voucher that comes in the PhotoPass Plus package. Another thing I learned is that you have the option of having an actual CD mailed to you or you can choose to the "Download CD" option. I chose to download them rather than wait for a physical CD.

I haven't yet ordered my book from Shutterfly so I still have a question that maybe someone else can answer. If you ordered a book from a non-Disney photo site using your photos that clearly have the copyright logo on them (like the ride photos), did you have to show your copyright release? I'm just wondering if I will have to email the releases to them or what. TIA for any info.

 

[smitch425]

I pre-purchased the PhotoPass Plus package and used it for 8 days. We were there during the very busy July 4 week and I didn't see as many PhotoPass photographers as I thought I would. Maybe it was just because it was so crowded I didn't see them.

I would suggest you check your PhotoPass account at the PhotoPass service center each day before you leave the park. This will allow you to ensure all the photos from that day have been added to your account without having to claim them online to check and start the 30 day storage limit for your photos (or trying to remember after you get home what photos are missing like I did).

I also highly recommend you snap a back up picture with your own camera. I have no pictures of our meet and greet with Rapunzel. When I got home and finally checked my photos, I realized they were missing. I called and they said something must have gone wrong with the PhotoPass photographers camera because our group's photos were missing. Our photos with Minnie Mouse were also missing even though I watched the photographer scan my PhotoPass Plus card. Luckily, they were able to find those missing photos for me.

I also warn you that once you claim your photos in your account on the PhotoPass site, you only have 30 days to edit them and order products. I found that those 30 days after returning from our vacation went very quickly! I had to buy the 15 day extension for $19.99 in order to have time to finish my photo book on their site. (Personally, I think if you spend the money to buy the PhotoPass Plus package it should include more storage time and a discount code for products.) Also, I didn't know that if you add borders to your own uploaded photos, those will not be on the CD. That didn't bother me too much because I didn't really like the plain borders they offered for uploaded photos. However, I did waste time adding borders before I realized they wouldn't be included on my CD.

Overall, I was pleased with my PhotoPass Plus pre-purchase and would recommend it.

Sound advice, and if you don't mind, I will add to it. Uploaded photos have never been available on the Photopass CD, however, you can buy the Personal Archive CD for about $20 that will have your personal photos with any edits that you have done. Another tip about doing a Disney Photobook would be to get your Photopass CD sent to you and THEN create your book on their site. This would allow you plenty of time to create the book without having to do it all withing that 30 day period. Also, make sure you take a picture of the Photopass cards you receive incase they get misplaced. That way, you can still access your photos.

I also highly recommend the service. We never go without prepurchasing.

 

[djmeredith]

This would allow you plenty of time to create the book without having to do it all withing that 30 day period.

I thought uploaded photos also expire after 30 days because my uploaded photos (some of which came from my CD) also have an expiration date on them of 30 days from the date I uploaded. Therefore, you aren't really getting any additional time by waiting, or am I misunderstanding something?

Something else I learned while creating my book on their site is that if you want to use any of the photos you've added borders to in a book, you will have to upload them separately. I'm almost finished with my book on the PhotoPass site, but I really regret spending the time using their site. At this point, I've got too much time invested not to go ahead and purchase it. However, I found the background and embellishment choices lacking. The main benefit of course is are the Disney characters, but if you're like me and you don't have girls, you're choices are very limited. You are basically limited to the Fab Five and Princesses. There are really no other Disney character embellishments. (I chalk this up to Disney's overall tech deficiency.)

 

[smitch425]

I thought uploaded photos also expire after 30 days because my uploaded photos (some of which came from my CD) also have an expiration date on them of 30 days from the date I uploaded. Therefore, you aren't really getting any additional time by waiting, or am I misunderstanding something?

Something else I learned while creating my book on their site is that if you want to use any of the photos you've added borders to in a book, you will have to upload them separately. I'm almost finished with my book on the PhotoPass site, but I really regret spending the time using their site. At this point, I've got too much time invested not to go ahead and purchase it. However, I found the background and embellishment choices lacking. The main benefit of course is are the Disney characters, but if you're like me and you don't have girls, you're choices are very limited. You are basically limited to the Fab Five and Princesses. There are really no other Disney character embellishments. (I chalk this up to Disney's overall tech deficiency.)

What I mean is that you can do all of your editing within your 30 days and order your CD. Once your CD arrives, you can log on to the Photopass website and upload whichever photos you wish to put into the book. That gives you 30 days to focus on nothing but making the book. Does that make sense? It's late.

 

[louey]

We always get photopass and do love it! But this time when I got home and looked at our account we had (4) other families mixed in with our photos? So now I am thinking that some of ours are on these other peoples accounts. This has never happened to us before. Not sure how you can prevent it, I did email the photopass people to let them know. They replied with an apology

 

[Eric in TX]

Also, make sure you take a picture of the Photopass cards you receive incase they get misplaced. That way, you can still access your photos.

+100,000!!!!

We never used to do this... Then on our last trip I did it for the first time, and sure enough we lost one of our PP cards. But we had the card # in a picture on my phone, so we were still able to load all the pics linked to that card. It saved the day!

 

[djmeredith]

What I mean is that you can do all of your editing within your 30 days and order your CD. Once your CD arrives, you can log on to the Photopass website and upload whichever photos you wish to put into the book. That gives you 30 days to focus on nothing but making the book. Does that make sense? It's late.

Yes, that makes total sense!! That would absolutely be a better way to do it.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I was missing many pictures from our June trip and ended up calling Photopass. They found them all. When I sent them an email, they responded back saying they couldn't find our pictures which is what made me call them.

Because of the missing pictures, I asked for a free extension for editing my Photopass pictures and they gave it to me - 7 days. That was enough for me to finish editing the missing pictures.

So I also learned to check my photopass pictures before leaving the parks. I hate taking that time but in the long run it will be easier than dealing with missing pictures at home.

OP - I sure wish they'd found your missing pictures.

 

[BeckyEsq]

We just got back and our family photos from Epcot in front of Spaceship Earth are missing. The email said their "exhaustive search" could not locate them. This is very upsetting to me! I guess I will try to call and see if that helps.

 

[djmeredith]

We just got back and our family photos from Epcot in front of Spaceship Earth are missing. The email said their "exhaustive search" could not locate them. This is very upsetting to me! I guess I will try to call and see if that helps.

I know how you feel, it stinks to get home and realize photos are missing. I will always have them use my own camera as well from now on. Hopefully you'll have good luck like the PP when you call.

 

[traylorc]

We just got back and our family photos from Epcot in front of Spaceship Earth are missing. The email said their "exhaustive search" could not locate them. This is very upsetting to me! I guess I will try to call and see if that helps.

Sorry to hear about your lost pictures.

 

[BeckyEsq]

I did call and the CM walked through a search while I waited but could not find them. Apparently the photos upload wirelessly and they may be somewhere in the Cloud and might appear some day. Wouldn't that be nice. I just wish that if they are alerted to missing photos the very next day (as I did) they could initiate a search for them to get them re-uploaded. Apparently that is not possible. Bummer but I still got a lot of good photos so I went ahead and ordered my CD. If they ever appear he said to call and they would give me a free download for them.

 

[My2Qtz0205]

I forgot to take pictures f my PhotoPass card, and sure enough, I've lost one! Is there any hope for me? A CM said. Could go to a photo center and give them the date and time of one of my missing photos, and they would be able to pull up all of the photos on that card. That was n our last day, and I didn't have time to stop by. Is there anything I can do from off-site?

 

[smitch425]

I forgot to take pictures f my PhotoPass card, and sure enough, I've lost one! Is there any hope for me? A CM said. Could go to a photo center and give them the date and time of one of my missing photos, and they would be able to pull up all of the photos on that card. That was n our last day, and I didn't have time to stop by. Is there anything I can do from off-site?

Call Photopass and see if there is anything they can do. Good luck!

 

[chester629]

Is loosing photos pretty common? Of all the times I've been to Disney I've never once used Photopass but this time with my two little ones I know we will want lots of pics and it just seems easier. But to pay $150 and not get all of those precious moments captured seems kinda crazy. Are these rare instances? Also do the Photopass Photographers care if you ask them to snap a pic with your camera too? One more question too...my friend just returned this weekend from Disney and said there were not many Photographers found outside of the main entry. I thought there were supposed to be at certain character greets and meals?