Photopass help needed - Downloading all photos

[basketlacey]

I've used photopass for years and for some reason, this trip has been a real challenge. I've already paid for the 15 day extension and I'm running out of time again.
My first problem is that they are taking forever to be available to download. My second problem is that once they download, I have 25 different "groups" of photos. How do you keep track of which have been downloaded and which have not? When the file saves, the names are different than what the screen says. Am I doing something wrong? Is there an obvious step I am missing somewhere? I can't sit next to the computer for 8 hours downloading pictures yet I can't seem to find a better way.

 

[nursejackie]

I've used photopass for years and for some reason, this trip has been a real challenge. I've already paid for the 15 day extension and I'm running out of time again.
My first problem is that they are taking forever to be available to download. My second problem is that once they download, I have 25 different "groups" of photos. How do you keep track of which have been downloaded and which have not? When the file saves, the names are different than what the screen says. Am I doing something wrong? Is there an obvious step I am missing somewhere? I can't sit next to the computer for 8 hours downloading pictures yet I can't seem to find a better way.

We had the same problem last year and I ended downloading some photos multiple times then worried I had missed some. I spent ages once home documenting all the photos then checking off what I had downloaded. If the problems persist this year (December trip) I may have to pay for a DVD copy. Not great, but this year Memory Maker came free with our Disney tickets so we've saved $169 already.

 

[basketlacey]

We had the same problem last year and I ended downloading some photos multiple times then worried I had missed some. I spent ages once home documenting all the photos then checking off what I had downloaded. If the problems persist this year (December trip) I may have to pay for a DVD copy. Not great, but this year Memory Maker came free with our Disney tickets so we've saved $169 already.

That's exactly what I'm afraid of - not knowing if I have everything unless I go photo by photo. It seems rather ridiculous that it works this way. If the website is so clunky, you should get the DVD as part of the $169 price!

 

[nursejackie]

That's exactly what I'm afraid of - not knowing if I have everything unless I go photo by photo. It seems rather ridiculous that it works this way. If the website is so clunky, you should get the DVD as part of the $169 price!

I agree. It was only last year we had problems and I had hoped it was a one off but obviously not. They have photopass help desks so I may have to visit them while I'm there in December to see if they have an answer, but unfortunately it will come too late for you. Sorry, but thanks for highlighting the problem. Good luck

 

[joyjoy]

This has been a huge issue for me, too. We got back on 9/8/16 from a FABULOUS trip and this Memory Maker thing is not magical at all. Well, playing with the photos, adding borders and such is, but not downloading them. If you just order prints from Disney, they make it super easy but downloading to your HD is complicated. I wanted actual prints but wanted to get them from walgreens (US$ .10 per print vs .95 per print) because I bought a lovely photo album at the Emporium. It was impossible to know what each picture was from how they download to the laptop. I ended up editing them on the laptop and then "SAVE and CLOSE" , not download. Then, when I opened Photopass in the MDE app on my phone, I could save them to my camera roll. THEN I could easily pick the photos I wanted prints of in the Walgreens app. PITA, yes, but I got 250 prints for less than $25 and they look great.

 

[OhhBother]

I'm not normally on the "Disney is just doing this for money" train, but I'm convinced the difficulty is intentional. I believe it's designed that way so people will give up and order them on a disc. There is no logical reason for something so simple to be such a pain.

 

[123SA]

Well...it is a pain and it is slow, but I don't seem to have the same difficulty with downloading my Sept trip photos. I have 1100+ photos in my account.

1. Hit the download all button. Yes, it did take two DAYS for the download zip files to appear in the "MY downloads center" I think there were 30 zip files to download.

2. I used a notebook to keep track. I started with the first file, wrote down the last few digits of the name. Hit download. Wrote down the new name. Noted the number of photos that were downloaded in each zip file. I did this over the course of 2 days as well.
3. added up number of files downloaded and since it matches, I think I have them all

Now, the problem I am having is with editing the photos. I downloaded all of the originals before attempting any edits. It's just not working and is EXTREMELY annoying. The ride photos need to have the border added. I can't get anything to work. The space mountain border is missing today -- just not an option that I can find. My computer shuts down everytime I want to revert tot he original or change whatever border/sticker I've selected.

I've tried to call, but when I do I get a recorded message that they are having problems, they are working furiously to fix it and I will get an extension of time. I can actually already see that they have given me an extension. My trip ended Sept 11 and the one photo I was able to try to work on today (not succesfully) has an exp date of Nov 13. Today the wait time for a phone call exceeded 30 minutes.

 

[tehvalerie]

I just found this thread searching for a solution to a similar problem. We're AP holders, so photos live in my photopass account for a year. I just downloaded 16 zip files (and am waiting for 4 more to become available) to find pics from our trip last week. It would be so nice if you could select a date range and only download those images, and to deselect the stock images. Come on, Disney, I know someone is scanning these boards! Help us out with a better UI.

 

[elaine amj]

This worries me now. I had zero issues with my March 2016 trip and the PP site worked pretty smoothly. Yesterday, I could SEE my photos, but could not edit them at all. The whole site would just freeze.

 

[mountdew1]

It's a tech trade off. Not everyone has a fast enough connection to download a GB file containing their pictures without it running overnight, timing out, etc. (Admittedly most people do now) And not all browsers can even handle downloading files that large cleanly. So they can create multiple zip files, allowing you to download it all in chunks.
RE no longer including a DVD/CD, look at how many newer computers don't come with optical drives at all. So sending something out that a lot of people couldn't use ends up being a waste of money/resources. So using several smaller zip files may not be ideal, but it is a solution that should work for almost everyone. (And I'm speaking as someone who has over 5,000 pictures sitting in my Photopass account that I need to download........)

 

[cbonebt]

So I'm trying to do it now and when I hit download all I only get the "Disney stock" pictures?? How do I get my 800 pictures?

 

[Crystal824]

I had a similar problem last trip. I agree that this trip, I may just suck it up and order the disc.

 

[kitkat4622]

If you order the disc how long does it take to get it and can you still edit your photos on the disc

 

[speeb]

Start at the beginning of your download list. Each file has an identical filename except for the last 2 (or three, I guess if you have a TON of photos) digits.

File 1 ends in 00
File 2 ends in 01
File 3 ends in 02

.... etc etc etc.

So there's one way to keep track of what you have. I had 17 files to download. Start at one end of your list, click a few to download in sequence. Since they all vary in size, knowing approximately where I was in my list, I was able to cross reference the list on the site with the total file size it showed of the last file in my browser download history as well. So if my last download was 245MB, I knew that that was the last one on the list that I had downloaded.

 

[cbonebt]

Start at the beginning of your download list. Each file has an identical filename except for the last 2 (or three, I guess if you have a TON of photos) digits.

File 1 ends in 00
File 2 ends in 01
File 3 ends in 02

.... etc etc etc.

So there's one way to keep track of what you have. I had 17 files to download. Start at one end of your list, click a few to download in sequence. Since they all vary in size, knowing approximately where I was in my list, I was able to cross reference the list on the site with the total file size it showed of the last file in my browser download history as well. So if my last download was 245MB, I knew that that was the last one on the list that I had downloaded.

Can you hit download on all of them or do u wait for each to finish downloading

 

[speeb]

Can you hit download on all of them or do u wait for each to finish downloading

I was doing them in groups of 4 because my kids were watching a movie and the website didn't like more than that at one time.

But you could go through and hit them all. They might all transfer slower, but you'd get them.

 

[wipedaler]

I know this is an old thread, but the issue is still timely. We just returned from WDW and downloaded multiple zip files with photos and movies.

Using an image editing tool that I have, we were able to batch-rename all the files by prefixing the date and time of the original photo. Location is up to us to determine, but at least the photos can be sorted by day + time so we can sort them or tag them more easily.

Download issues aside - and I"m no fan of the Disney web pages - if you find value in the ability to rename your photos using the file creation date + time, there are utilities you can download and use on your computer. Online renaming could be done, but would require lots of upload/download hassle.