Photopass going to $169

[smitch425]

I was at a photopass booth yesterday, talking to a CM, and she was telling me about a different price increase that's coming later this year (she didn't specify a time frame - just that the CMs are just starting to receive their training now)... It's a $199 purchase option (not sure if that's the pre-purchase price or not) - which includes all of your ride photos and all of your character meal photos... She didn't say anything about the book, so I didn't ask. But it sounded really awesome. Especially since I just paid $29.99 for our family photo with Donald - that could have gone on a CD... Plus all of our ride photos... I think I would pay that to have all those items on my CD.

Then again, this is coming from a CM... so who knows???

D~

In case you don't already know, there should be a long number on your Donald photo. It is either along the side or on the back. You can enter this number into your Photopass account and make multiple edits.



Also, just received confirmation that the pre-order price is going up an extra $30 to $129.95. No link to it in writing, but the poster on the budget board said she called them directly.

 

[Tiger926]

I was at a photopass booth yesterday, talking to a CM, and she was telling me about a different price increase that's coming later this year (she didn't specify a time frame - just that the CMs are just starting to receive their training now)... It's a $199 purchase option (not sure if that's the pre-purchase price or not) - which includes all of your ride photos and all of your character meal photos... She didn't say anything about the book, so I didn't ask. But it sounded really awesome. Especially since I just paid $29.99 for our family photo with Donald - that could have gone on a CD... Plus all of our ride photos... I think I would pay that to have all those items on my CD.

Then again, this is coming from a CM... so who knows???

D~

That would mean they would have to expand the program then to include all character meals and rides. But then again, maybe she just meant for those character meals and rides that already can go on Photopass?

Either way, it's a heck of a lot of money for subpar products. We just paid for the Donald photo at Tusker House at Christmas despite our photo being so much better, as kids saw the photo frame and borders on the photos, so we got it. The quality of it is not good at all - photo is not centred properly, blurry and cheap photo paper, plus the nice African frame does not stand up properly.

Tiger

 

[ssledoux]

How does it work for a larger group?

We are going to have 7 adults (all my kids and a couple sons-in-law), and my grandson. We are booking 3 rooms at POP, but will do a lot as a group.

Can I buy just one photopass? And if so, how would pics get put on it if we were split up for the day and my dd, her hubby and grandson got a pic taken somewhere? Can we give them the photopass thing for the day?

If I sound like I have no clue what I'm talking about, it's because I don't. I have never done photopass, and I don't even really know how it works.

Help!

 

[mesaboy2]

Also, just received confirmation that the pre-order price is going up an extra $30 to $129.95. No link to it in writing, but the poster on the budget board said she called them directly.

If true, then I'm out.

 

[smitch425]

How does it work for a larger group?

We are going to have 7 adults (all my kids and a couple sons-in-law), and my grandson. We are booking 3 rooms at POP, but will do a lot as a group.

Can I buy just one photopass? And if so, how would pics get put on it if we were split up for the day and my dd, her hubby and grandson got a pic taken somewhere? Can we give them the photopass thing for the day?

If I sound like I have no clue what I'm talking about, it's because I don't. I have never done photopass, and I don't even really know how it works.

Help!

Make one photopass account and then do the cd preorder. The adults in your party can get their own cards in the park. You can enter them all into the ONE account. Be sure to write down (or take a picture) of all of the card numbers when you get them so if someone loses one they can still retrieve the photos.

Visit this site for the most detailed info on Photopass...

http://www.stitchkingdom.com/disneysphotopass/

 

[DisneyDreamingInMI]

Does anyone know of a thread to see the Disney photopass photobooks that peple have made? I know the ones on the cruiseship were preety specific to which pics could go in on which page-like lots of characters-and now that I have 2 teen boys, yhat's not most of our pics.

I just ordered my photobook, but haven't received it yet, so I can't answer the first part of your question.

But as for the second part, the website used to make the photobook is wonderful. You can have as much creative control or as little creative control as you'd like. You start by choosing an overall design theme for your book - Disney Cruise, Sports, Fab 5, Princess, etc., or just start from scratch. You can use the stock layouts or make your own layout by adding photos, text, and graphics wherever you want! So if you'd rather not use a lot of characters than you don't have to. When I started the book, I was also afraid that I would just be able to drop photos in pre-designed layouts, but I was thrilled when I discovered I could do whatever I wanted in terms of designing the book!

Hope that helps!

 

[TandLMommy28]

How does it work for a larger group?

We are going to have 7 adults (all my kids and a couple sons-in-law), and my grandson. We are booking 3 rooms at POP, but will do a lot as a group.

Can I buy just one photopass? And if so, how would pics get put on it if we were split up for the day and my dd, her hubby and grandson got a pic taken somewhere? Can we give them the photopass thing for the day?

If I sound like I have no clue what I'm talking about, it's because I don't. I have never done photopass, and I don't even really know how it works.

Help!

We made sure every adult in our party had their own photopass card that way whoever had the kids wouldn't miss out on a cool photo op. We just combined them all on the website.

We ALSO added the numbers from our character meal pictures to our account. We had the pictures that are included at Akershus and then the one we bought at Tusker (only bought it because at Akershus they gave us a coupon for 50% off our next character meal photo!). The one at Tusker ended up being so nice that we used it as the cover of my shutterfly photobook. So definitely look for those codes to add that to your CD!!!

 

[arwood82]

I will be ordering mine tomorrow for our September trip. This will probably be the last time I order the CD. I just feel the price increase is crazy when the last pictures we had were not that great. On our last tirp there were not even any photographers at the water parks and the one that was at Chef Mickeys taking the picture with the statue of Mickey was very rude. I think they would do better with pictures at character meals if they took pictures with the actual characters and not statues of them.
I sent an email just to let them know how unhappy I am with the price increase.

 

[Adri]

I normally would not consider ordering the Photopass CD, but our trip in september is our honeymoon, and it'd be nice to have a lot of photos that both of us are in. I'm also an extremely bad photographer. Neither my husband nor I have very good cameras, either, but buying a new camera that's better than what we currently have wouldn't cost much more than the Photopass CD, so that's less of a consideration. I think I'll probably preorder the Photopass CD before the price goes up on March 21.

 

[ladeeesquire]

I like photopass! The magic shots are fun and its nice to have someone who has even a little bit of knowledge of a camera take the pix of our whole family. Yes, some of the photopass shots are not good but I find they are better than average and the nighttime photos have been really good. Its a good value for $99 not so much at 149 and probably really not at 169 unless they add something to the program.

fwiw I've done the one at DL a few times but that's really a bargain at only $50 after application of the AP discount **so wish that wdw gave ap discounts on food and merch**

I just preordered 2 photopass cd's: one for our trip in sept of this year and another for our planned 1/2013 trip. I wasn't sure if I could have more than one credit on my account at a time so I just set up an account for my dh and one for my dd. Easy, peasy.

 

[PoohsFan1]

Also, just received confirmation that the pre-order price is going up an extra $30 to $129.95. No link to it in writing, but the poster on the budget board said she called them directly.

Thanks for the heads up on the pre-order price. My DH is in love with Photopass and has to have it for every trip. He is one of those people that has to stop at all the photographers just so he can get that one special picture. It doesn't bother me since it keeps him happy , now the kids on the other hand....that is a different story . I am going to relay this message to him tonight because he will more than likely will want to pre-order it now for our Aug/Sept trip rather wait the 2 weeks before we leave to do so, whether what you read is true or not.

 

[disneymomjcs]

Please don't flame me for this, but I can see why they have to raise the price. They are paying photographers at charater meet n greets and all over the park so I have always kind of wondered how they could afford to do it at that price. I know part of it is in the park admission price but overall I think it is a good value even at $179, however, I usually preorder mine for $99.

I love Disney and have gone many, many times. but .......Yes, they have many salaries to pay for at the parks. But it felt like a private photographer to capture memories so you can actually be in the pictures. As the family photographer I'm usually not. Now it feel like I'm being taken advantage of $80 admission for one day and $ 40 for a buffet......$179 so you can remember Priceless....no Disney does have a price for everything! They are going to one day not be able to demand this.

 

[SaraJayne]

Remember, you can hand over your camera to the photopass person and they will take your picture, with your camera, for free.

And I can almost guarantee it will be better than the "official" photo.

 

[Sydnerella]

Anyone know if you can get the other album with the $149 deal - the one with the castle/tink on the cover - and just pay the difference?

Thanks,
Sydnerella's Mama

 

[lovesdumbo]

In general when I took pictures standing next to the photopass photograher, mine was SIGNIFICANTLY better.

My camera is the same exact camera the photopass photographers use. I always ask them to take a photo with my camera as well. The photos on my camera are always SIGNIFICANTLY better when taken by the same photographer! They put the resolution way down on the photopass cameras. Their equipment must also get a lot more abuse then my camera as well.

You have 30 days to claim your photos and 30 days to edit, so your trips would have to be pretty close together to put them all on one cd.

I have purchased an extention for my photos so that I could get 2 trips out of one CD-cheaper to do that than buy a 2nd CD. I can't remember how much it was and if you could do it say for 30 days and then another 30 days or not.

We've had magic shots missing

I have had luck contacting photopass about missing magic shots and had them added after I've gotten home.

I normally would not consider ordering the Photopass CD, but our trip in september is our honeymoon, and it'd be nice to have a lot of photos that both of us are in. I'm also an extremely bad photographer. Neither my husband nor I have very good cameras, either, but buying a new camera that's better than what we currently have wouldn't cost much more than the Photopass CD, so that's less of a consideration. I think I'll probably preorder the Photopass CD before the price goes up on March 21.

Not saying you shouldn't buy the photopass but I can't imagine going to WDW for my honeymoon and not having a camera.

 

[Tiger926]

My camera is the same exact camera the photopass photographers use. I always ask them to take a photo with my camera as well. The photos on my camera are always SIGNIFICANTLY better when taken by the same photographer! They put the resolution way down on the photopass cameras. Their equipment must also get a lot more abuse then my camera as well.

I have purchased an extention for my photos so that I could get 2 trips out of one CD-cheaper to do that than buy a 2nd CD. I can't remember how much it was and if you could do it say for 30 days and then another 30 days or not.


I have had luck contacting photopass about missing magic shots and had them added after I've gotten home.


Not saying you shouldn't buy the photopass but I can't imagine going to WDW for my honeymoon and not having a camera.

Yup, they have the resolution way down. They used to have their settings locked, but not so sure now, as the last Photopass CM I spoke to either this past trip or last year, mentioned that she could adjust a few settings now, but I actually don't ever see them doing this.

I ordered a download from my sister's trip as a surprise for them, and got my money back, as the resolution was set so low, that Costco didn't want to print the photo. They did print it though, as Photopass wanted me to see the actual printed photo, and it was blurry and not clear at all. I discussed with Photopass about how they could turn the photo resolution up just a touch, but they said they couldn't, as they have so many photos to deal with, so they have the resolution set to minimum standards.

It speaks to the prices that they are charging, which are very high, but also speaks to the fact that most guests seem to be happy with Photopass, and like I said before, I'm sure guests will still pay this new higher price.

Tiger

 

[crazyboutdisny]

I just want to make sure I understand this. If I preorder the photopass cd and after our trip decide I dont want it, I can get a refund?
We leave March 28th and have been going back and forth with preordering. We didnt buy any photopass pics from our last trip because I thought they were pricey. We didnt know about the preorder deal. I am traveling this time with my friend and so we would split the cost.
But I want to make sure I can get a refund if we decide we dont want any of the pics.
Thanks!

 

[vicki_c]

I just want to make sure I understand this. If I preorder the photopass cd and after our trip decide I dont want it, I can get a refund?
We leave March 28th and have been going back and forth with preordering. We didnt buy any photopass pics from our last trip because I thought they were pricey. We didnt know about the preorder deal. I am traveling this time with my friend and so we would split the cost.
But I want to make sure I can get a refund if we decide we dont want any of the pics.
Thanks!

Within 90 days of the pre-order, you can get a full refund if you decide you don't want to go through with actually getting the CD after your trip.

 

[smitch425]

I just want to make sure I understand this. If I preorder the photopass cd and after our trip decide I dont want it, I can get a refund?
We leave March 28th and have been going back and forth with preordering. We didnt buy any photopass pics from our last trip because I thought they were pricey. We didnt know about the preorder deal. I am traveling this time with my friend and so we would split the cost.
But I want to make sure I can get a refund if we decide we dont want any of the pics.
Thanks!

Yes, you have 90 days from your preorder purchase date to request a refund. Just read the fine print during the ordering process before you pay. It explains it.

 

[crazyboutdisny]

Great! Thanks for the quick response. I am going to go ahead and order it before the price goes up. I have nothing to lose! I sure wish I had known about the preorder before.
Of course, I didnt know about this board then either! I have gotten tons of great info here!
Thanks again!