We just returned from a week long park hopping open to close adventure at Disney World and Universal Studios. We participated in both the MemoryMaker at Disney and the PhotoConnect at Universal. If you are looking into these programs, here is what I thought and the experience we had with the photographers.
Let me start at Universal. The price in advance for a 3 day pass is $50. This is a nice price as I figured we had a two day Universal booked. We were greeted by photographers at each park right inside the gates and had photos taken. This would be the ONLY photographer we encountered the ENTIRE day at either park (IofA or Studios.) That was rather disappointing as they told us where they were posted when we signed up, but we never saw anyone at all where they told us they took pictures. That being said, we used the pass for 2 days and ended up at 45 photos. This included ride photos and a couple entering the park. They do a nice job of enhancing the ride photos (ET, Spiderman, Simpsons, Harry Potter rides, Hulk and Rip Ride RockIt all have photos) I asked the photographer at the front entry upon leaving if that was a standard uniform for them as I didn't see anyone else in the park taking pictures. He proceeded to tell me that staffing is sometime shorter during the slow times. My take is I didn't oay a lower fee because of the slow time. Not seeing one other single photographer in the entire park really made me a little irritated. Otherwise, we ended up around $1 a picture. The PhotoConnect does also get you a printed 4x6 and 5x7 with the 3 day pass.
Now onto the Disney experience. We encountered all types of different levels of experience when having our photos taken. We had some very polite and helpful photographers and some who looked so irritated and disgruntled, they fired 3 rapid shots consecutively and brushed you aside. No lines were ever very long, with the exception of the castle shots in MK. some of the character spot photographers seemed to not be people oriented and just going through the motions. Some don't give you any time at all to get ready to take the picture. Leaving AK we wanted the night shot with the sign. After patiently waiting for the family in front to take I don't know how many pictures, she started shots of the two of us before saying a word. I had not adjusted and we were still getting in position. We told her were weren't ready, so she quickly snapped 3 more, not even waiting on the flash to recycle. Out of 6 shots, maybe 2 looked decent. All were extremely dark. I realize they are note "professionals" but rather handed a camera and told probably not to change anything, but they can at least give some warning or a 3 count. We took in the neighborhood of 270 pictures and I have to say, half of them are probably throwaways. Very disappointing. I do like the ride shots and the short videos they make for Mine Train and Tower of Terror. Magic shots are pretty neat. They really could use some training on the photos though. I noticed they also use extremely high ISO levels on the night shots. 800 on a tripod seems excessive, yet they also click the shutter manually. Disney should get some shutter release remotes for the night time photos. Set up the tripod, get people in the frame and don't touch the camera. They don't lack photographers, but getting one with some knowledge of photography is a whole other ballgame. I think they just point and click. Don't bother using the prop frames either, as they have no idea what to do with them. All of the shots we tried with them are awkward. One of them even cut the edge of the frame off within the photo! She basically said "you want to use this?" .. we said sure. Held it up. Didn't get any instructions on where to hold it and got no good photos with it. Again, training is lacking. You must be people oriented and have some knowledge of how to use a camera to do that job. Our morning AK shots at the tree were fully blown out. We were whited out and there was no sky whatsoever. The tree was grainy and hazy looking. For the $150 (30 day pass?), I think it might have been worth about half that much at the most. Hindsight, I think we will just use our own camera next time. We have the ride photos from this time now, so don't see the need for that next time. They can take crappy pictures with my own camera of us instead.
What is everyone else's experience who have used this? Similar?
Let me start at Universal. The price in advance for a 3 day pass is $50. This is a nice price as I figured we had a two day Universal booked. We were greeted by photographers at each park right inside the gates and had photos taken. This would be the ONLY photographer we encountered the ENTIRE day at either park (IofA or Studios.) That was rather disappointing as they told us where they were posted when we signed up, but we never saw anyone at all where they told us they took pictures. That being said, we used the pass for 2 days and ended up at 45 photos. This included ride photos and a couple entering the park. They do a nice job of enhancing the ride photos (ET, Spiderman, Simpsons, Harry Potter rides, Hulk and Rip Ride RockIt all have photos) I asked the photographer at the front entry upon leaving if that was a standard uniform for them as I didn't see anyone else in the park taking pictures. He proceeded to tell me that staffing is sometime shorter during the slow times. My take is I didn't oay a lower fee because of the slow time. Not seeing one other single photographer in the entire park really made me a little irritated. Otherwise, we ended up around $1 a picture. The PhotoConnect does also get you a printed 4x6 and 5x7 with the 3 day pass.
Now onto the Disney experience. We encountered all types of different levels of experience when having our photos taken. We had some very polite and helpful photographers and some who looked so irritated and disgruntled, they fired 3 rapid shots consecutively and brushed you aside. No lines were ever very long, with the exception of the castle shots in MK. some of the character spot photographers seemed to not be people oriented and just going through the motions. Some don't give you any time at all to get ready to take the picture. Leaving AK we wanted the night shot with the sign. After patiently waiting for the family in front to take I don't know how many pictures, she started shots of the two of us before saying a word. I had not adjusted and we were still getting in position. We told her were weren't ready, so she quickly snapped 3 more, not even waiting on the flash to recycle. Out of 6 shots, maybe 2 looked decent. All were extremely dark. I realize they are note "professionals" but rather handed a camera and told probably not to change anything, but they can at least give some warning or a 3 count. We took in the neighborhood of 270 pictures and I have to say, half of them are probably throwaways. Very disappointing. I do like the ride shots and the short videos they make for Mine Train and Tower of Terror. Magic shots are pretty neat. They really could use some training on the photos though. I noticed they also use extremely high ISO levels on the night shots. 800 on a tripod seems excessive, yet they also click the shutter manually. Disney should get some shutter release remotes for the night time photos. Set up the tripod, get people in the frame and don't touch the camera. They don't lack photographers, but getting one with some knowledge of photography is a whole other ballgame. I think they just point and click. Don't bother using the prop frames either, as they have no idea what to do with them. All of the shots we tried with them are awkward. One of them even cut the edge of the frame off within the photo! She basically said "you want to use this?" .. we said sure. Held it up. Didn't get any instructions on where to hold it and got no good photos with it. Again, training is lacking. You must be people oriented and have some knowledge of how to use a camera to do that job. Our morning AK shots at the tree were fully blown out. We were whited out and there was no sky whatsoever. The tree was grainy and hazy looking. For the $150 (30 day pass?), I think it might have been worth about half that much at the most. Hindsight, I think we will just use our own camera next time. We have the ride photos from this time now, so don't see the need for that next time. They can take crappy pictures with my own camera of us instead.
What is everyone else's experience who have used this? Similar?
