Photo Connect?

[mcollar]

Hi I have a few questions about PC.

I have done tons of reading on this, but would like some personal opinions and actually hear from people who have used this..... I did a search here, and a few other places, but the results were mainly all a few years old. I found a thread here that had people posting their PC pictures, but most were no longer available and it was quite a few years old. Bummer. Would of liked to see them.

I'm trying to decide if we should purchase PC or not. Last year we went to Disney and got the MM. I loved it!! We had tons of pictures. It's just the two of us, so having a lot of pics together was great. As I do research on PC at Universal I understand that it nothing like MM, there are not as many Photographers and I will not get near as many pictures as Disney. Mainly character and ride pics.

We'd buy the 3 day for $89.99.

So I'll get to my questions:

1) With MM I received a license with it so I could print my pictures through a photo site like Shutter-fly. But I read somewhere that you don't get this with PC. Did anyone have any troubles printing their pictures? Printing them from home is not an option, so I will be going through Shutter-fly. How was the quality of your pics?


2) Do you have to stop at the Photo Shop everyday when entering and before leaving the park? To activate card or check Pictures..???


3) I know it said you can ad borders. Can you do that from home or do You have to ad the borders before you leave everyday? Or at the end of the 3 days? If you ad a border do you lose the original picture? I usually like to have both, with and without.

I'd appreciate any advise anyone has on the PC at Universal.. Pro's/Con's. Any tips? Just whatever you'd like to share about your experience... Thanks in advance!

 

[houseofthrees]

We bought it for our trip in December. I haven't printed any of our yet, so I can't answer any of the questions about that. I used their app to make sure the photos showed up on it before we left the park each day. I did forget on our first day. After a 12 hour drive and a few hours in the park with a downpour, it kinda slipped my mind. We went 1st thing the next morning and they only found a couple of the ones that didn't get added. After that I was much better about checking.

I was able to change our borders after we got home and save photos with more than one border. If the photo is taken in front of a green screen or if they have you pose so they can add to your photo, you do need to make sure the backgrounds or special features are added before you leave. On those, we had both the plain background and the added one on our account. You also have to make sure to stop and get the ride photos added to it when you get off the rides.

We are going back next month and I am debating doing it again. Last year we got the end of season deal, so it was only like 35.00. It was definitely worth that. Just the photo of my eldest child reaction to the raptor experience made it worth it, lol.

 

[kabbie]

1. I used my pictures from PhotoConnect in a photobook on Shutterfly with no issues. (I used the Comic Pop theme)
2. No - you hand the photographers a card to scan and they're uploaded on your account.
3. To the best of my knowledge, borders do have to be added while at the parks. I couldn't add any on the website.

 

[Heidi K]

We got Photo Connect because we found an online deal and paid around $60 for four days. It was just me and my husband, so we did like having the pictures of us together. I had no problem printing through Shutterfly when we got home. We didn't try to add any borders. We did lose a few pictures (interestingly, both Simpsons character greetings) but I didn't stop and check my account at the end of each day and probably should have.

Although we loved Universal, this was one area that negatively compared to Disney. We stopped almost every time we saw a photographer and we went on every ride, but we only ended up with about 25 pictures. At Disney, I'd guess we would have 100 photos over the same time period. And for several of them, when I printed at Shutterfly, I got a "low photo quality, this might not print well" message that I've never seen for my iPhone photos or Memory Maker photos.

Overall, we're glad we got it because of the deal and because it was our first time at Universal, but I don't think we'll buy it in the future.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We have the Photo Connect annual pass. Used it on 3 trips so far, with one more coming up soon before it expires.

We have used our photos to make hard prints (up to 8 x 10 size), in photo books (we love picaboo and use them exclusively), and to upload to social media. We have never had a problem with resolution, even on the enlargements, as long as we download them in that size from the Photo Connect website. The site itself allows for the downloads in various sizes (4x6, 5x7, 8x10, etc.) and yes, you can download each picture in more than one size.

There are often some good border options beyond the default border added by the PC photographer. You can also edit your pictures....zooming in, re-positioning within the border frame, etc.

If you have any magic shots taken (ie, where they place something in your outstretched hands), be sure to stop and check that the magic has been added before you leave the park. That's the only time we had a problem....Gingy didn't show up and our hands were empty. We couldn't add it via the site when we got back to our resort, so we stopped on our way into the park before opening (at the PC location in the hub) and they were able to add it in without issue.

We have received excellent value from our annual Photo Connect card, but to be fair, we paid $45 for an entire year of pictures. It paid for itself on our first vacation, so everything else has just been a happy bonus. It is definitely one of those things that you get more out of it if you put more into it, so be sure to stop when you see a photographer and have them capture your picture.

 

[mcollar]

Thank you very much for your responses
I think the price is why I'm on the fence.... If I could get it for the $35 or even the $60 as mentioned above I wouldn't hesitate. But $96 after taxes seems a little steep. Are there other places to look for a deal like the above ones?? I know I paid $150 for MM. That was for 5 days and came home with over 1000 pictures. At Universal I know I won't even come close. I guess if the quality is good and I can get some nice pictures to remember our trip it will seem worth it. Because I love my pictures!! lol

 

[houseofthrees]

We ended up with 63 photos from our 2.5 days. Only 2 of those were ride photos.