PhotoPass Explained???

[mickey+minnie91]

I have seen so many threads about photopasses and I have to admit I do not know what they are. Can someone explain it to me and the benefits? We leave on friday and I want to be sure to take advantage of this if I can.

 

[HydroGuy]

At certain areas around the parks there are non-professional Disney photographers who will take a photo of you for no cost. You then get an ID card that will help you find the photo later online. This is the PhotoPass. If you keep this card with you, you can keep reusing it with different photographers and all your photos will be together in one location online. The photographers scan it when they take your photo.

Then after you get home you can go online using the ID number on the PhotoPass and look at the pictures. If you want you can order some or all of them. I believe the pix are available for 30 days and then expire. If you do not order any photos the whole thing costs you nothing. You only pay if you decide to order.

You also have options of not just ordering the photos but of getting them into a nice book.

I have to admit to being skeptical of the whole thing. But after we used the PhotoPass process, I was able to upload other personal photos I took on the trip with a few of the PhotoPass photos, plus some stock photos of the castle, etc., and made a very nice 20 page bound photo book for about $70. I thought it was a good deal.

 

[Sherry E]

I have seen so many threads about photopasses and I have to admit I do not know what they are. Can someone explain it to me and the benefits? We leave on friday and I want to be sure to take advantage of this if I can.

Have you read the threads that you have seen? I can find one of the most recent ones (there have been several just in the last week) and post the link with all the info for you, if you'd like! One of the benefits is that you can get everyone in your group in every picture - whereas normally, most people have one person from their group taking the photo who is therefore not in the shot. Another benefit is that Disney PhotoPass photographers add in certain effects on some pictures, which is cool. Another benefit is that you have a back-up in case someone's camera malfunctions or in case one person in your group does not have a camera. PhotoPass pictures are great because this way everyone can have pictures and get IN the pictures, and a lot of them will look more professional than what we would take ourselves (some wouldn't!). Another benefit is that you can take hundreds of photos and get them on one CD. Or you can take 50 photos and turn them into 200 pictures because of editing and enhancements! The PP cards and actual 'photo sessions' are free, and you only pay if you decide you want to purchase the CD or the individual photos. The CD is $66.95 (including shipping), and that is a good deal for endless photos!

Let me know if you would like me to post any links from the recent PhotoPass threads. There has been a lot of info given and it would be really easy to just read one of those threads for more details!

 

[Sherry E]

OKay, I skipped over the PhotoPass disaster thread, but here is the most recent informational thread link:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=28704450#post28704450

There was another one right before it, too, so if you don't get what you need from this thread, we can find one of the other ones.

 

[LisainCalifornia]

Thanks Sherry,
I'll admit as a big disneyland person--we have never done photopass and it is still a mystery to me. The link helped. We may try it on our next trip (we leave Dec. 3). I would love a picture of all of us with some special effects that I have seen (in front of castle with tink in background would be cute!). Does the photographer pick the special effects, or do I?

Take care,
Lisa

 

[mickey+minnie91]

OKay, I skipped over the PhotoPass disaster thread, but here is the most recent informatiional thread link:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=28704450#post28704450

There was another one right before it, too, so if you don't get what you need from this thread, we can find one of the other ones.

Thanks so much. It seems I have seen the ones about disaster and then there were some about photopasses for certain months. I didnt know what they were and didnt read them to be honest.

 

[Sherry E]

Thanks Sherry,
I'll admit as a big disneyland person--we have never done photopass and it is still a mystery to me. The link helped. We may try it on our next trip (we leave Dec. 3). I would love a picture of all of us with some special effects that I have seen (in front of castle with tink in background would be cute!). Does the photographer pick the special effects, or do I?

Take care,
Lisa

You are welcome! This past October was my maiden voyage with PhotoPass too! I found that - since we didn't know what effects there were to use - the photographers just sort of decided what poses to get us in, and we always had to do the same poses, like point at the ground (at Stitch), or hold out our hands (for Tinkerbell). And because it was Halloween season, we stood in front of the giant Candy Corn and had to point up to where Heimlich had taken out a bite (I posted that one in the 'PhotoPass Poses' thread!). So now that I know that there are several other effects and poses to be done (probably some special holiday-themed ones too), I can ask them for certain things now if they don't put us in those positions. So you can do the same - you can ask them for the Ears shot (where they get the Mickey ears from California Screamin' on your head) or the Tinkerbell in your palm shot, or the Soarin' shot, etc. Then, when you go online and view your photos, you can add extra effects and borders and characters to enhance them even more! It is a pretty cool service to have! The one with Tinkerbell in the background is actually one that is a border/frame that you add yourself! The one with her in your palm is put in by the photographers!

Oh, and by the way, Lisa - I am envious of you that you are going to be at the GCH for the holidays before I am! I cannot wait to get there! I am not even sure if my December trip and stay at the GCH is going to happen, but I LOVE that hotel in December! You MUST report back as soon as you return and tell me how beautiful it all is!

ETA: Don't forget to catch the carolers singing by the huge tree in the GCH lobby! They take requests, and it is a real treat to sit in the comfy chairs and see them!

 

[Sherry E]

Thanks so much. It seems I have seen the ones about disaster and then there were some about photopasses for certain months. I didnt know what they were and didnt read them to be honest.

I hope it helped! I know what you mean - there are alot of PP share threads, and some recent PhotoPass disaster/problem threads, and then there is the PhotoPass poses thread, which mainly shows the pictures we have been posting! It can all be information overload! It is overwhelming! But I knew that there were at least two separate threads just in the last week, with good overall information in them, so I just grabbed the link for the more recent one, but I know there was another one from the same time frame!!! Anyway, I hope you (and LisainCalifornia) try out the PP service. Even if you choose not to buy the CD afterward, it is still a great service to have just to have the photos taken - and now, they have all the great holiday decorations up, so the PP pictures will probably be extra magical!

 

[bumbershoot]

The main forums to learn about photopass are generally the Theme Parks forum and the Budget Board. But then, those mainly deal with WDW and you'll end up getting confused b/c they talk about things like pre-purchasing the CD and such (you don't do that with Disneyland/DCA).

I would love a picture of all of us with some special effects that I have seen (in front of castle with tink in background would be cute!). Does the photographer pick the special effects, or do I?

Tink in the background, floating above with pixie dust and the words about dreams coming true, is a border that you put on the pictures you want to put it on.

The special effects that are added by photopass people are things like Tink sitting in your cupped hands (with appropriate "hey, it's Tinkerbell, sitting in my hands!" facial expression), having a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader, having a sword duel with Captain Hook, pointing in shock at Stitch coming out of the ground or sitting next to you on a bench over at DCA, and some others you can find in other photopass threads.



Along with the photopass book that hydroguy mentioned, there's the CD that I believe Sherry mentioned, too. The CD gives you the high resolution copies of each image they took, and before you order the CD, you can go through on the disneyphotopass.com site and edit those pix. Crop, get closer-in, add borders, add appropriate signatures to pictures you had taken with characters, combine those, etc. Each time you save an edit (say you add a border to one pic, or you crop a pic then add a signature, etc) it saves it as another picture. So if you make 5 separate edits to a picture and save each one, that one picture becomes 6.

With the CD comes the rights to those pictures. You can't sell them, but you can print them as much as you want. Having that right is a pretty big thing, b/c just buying a print does NOT give you the legal right to make copies of it.

Alas you can't get ride photos through photopass; those still have to be bought separately and at great cost.


If anyone wants examples of disneyland/dca photopass pix and various borders, check out my trip report (towards the end, and I don't mind if you just skip straight to the pix, I know I talk a lot!) from Sept 2007 and Dec 2007. Because of a big floopy thing that happened, you might see pix from Sept in the Dec report (it's NOT supposed to work that way, the Sept pix should have been gone by Dec) but with Yuletime borders.

 

[LisainCalifornia]

Sherry,
I will report back about our trip! We are getting very excited. We are going for my daughter's 12th birthday (Dec. 4). We loved our trip last year, and my husband (good sport that he is) agreed to do it again.

Bumbershoot,
Thanks for the info on Tink and the castle! I love those pictures whenever I see them posted, and have often wondered how they got that. Maybe that will be a goal for this trip!

Take care,
Lisa

 

[Sherry E]

Sherry,
I will report back about our trip! We are getting very excited. We are going for my daughter's 12th birthday (Dec. 4). We loved our trip last year, and my husband (good sport that he is) agreed to do it again.

Bumbershoot,
Thanks for the info on Tink and the castle! I love those pictures whenever I see them posted, and have often wondered how they got that. Maybe that will be a goal for this trip!

Take care,
Lisa

Make sure to see the carolers perform in the GCH lobby by the huge tree! It is a really special holiday treat! I just wish that darn hotel wasn't so costly, because it is the best one to stay in for good wintry-Christmasy atmosphere!!! AND they have PhotoPass set-ups by the tree in a big chair, and over with Santa just off of the lobby!