Photopass/Memory Maker never gets better

[Kidanifan08]

In fact, in some aspects it is getting worse! We are back from a 10 day visit and I am now getting around to editing the photos. Things that are annoying and disappointing:

- quality of the photos (exposure, framing) in many cases are not very good
- limited editing options (which I suppose can be done after downloading into a program on the computer)
- annoying watermark over the photos, making it difficult to see the faces of people in the pictures (I really hate this, although I can think of why it was done)
- multiple copies of some pictures for no clear reason
- multiple copies of Disney file photos of characters and attractions (perfectly exposed/framed, of course)
- have to make a copy of a photo before enhancing if you want the original without enhancements
- frequent locking-up of website, requiring reloading of page
- limited frames and enhancements for certain attractions and even the parks
- enhanced photos are added at the end of the day they were taken, rather than adjacent to the original photo
- takes a long time for website to duplicate a photo and save an enhanced photo

I am sure there are other annoying aspects of this website. We have been buying photopass for a number of years now, and it just doesn't get better -- only more expensive! We have a 4 day trip planned for December, and while I love to have lots of pictures of our Christmas visits, I am not sure I am willing to spend the money, given the poor function of the website and marginal quality of the photos.

Anyone having better photo quality results or better luck with the functionality of the website?

 

[britterbell]

So sorry you had a bad experience with MM and Photopass. I'm hoping we have better luck on our upcoming trip!

 

[danceintherain]

Eh...I've just come to understand what to expect. It is a bummer that Memory Maker shares are harder to come by than they were with Photopass.
We have had some really good Photopass photos. Character interactions in particular. It's nice to have someone there to catch those moments, while I get to be focused on my kids.

Honestly, I couldn't care less about the editing. I usually do go in and add frames and such, but those photos don't make it onto my walls or into my photo books, because I feel they're too gaudy anyway.

 

[kcpinwdw]

I agree the website can be clunky for editing but I have found I don't like the additions too much anyway. The quality of our photos, however, have been great. I really only need one good photo from each experience, and I feel I always get a "keeper." We do MM every trip and I think it is well worth it. I do wish the downloading process was easier or they would still mail you a disc, or start including a flash drive. Those are big files, and it takes a very long time.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Just download them and edit them yourself would save you most of your headache. I had an issue with the website and just grabbed them and did my own edits.

 

[supersnoop]

The watermark is really new. I wish there was a way to filter out the extra stock photos.

 

[DisTXMom]

What is the watermark? If you pre-but PP+, does it have this or is this only on previewing pics you may purchase?

Agree with others- the website is the pits!

 

[tony609]

I had one trip where most of the photos were awful. I spoke with customer service thru email and I was refunded. I told them not necessary but they offered. I was only informing them about my expirence to maybe help. At one point in the character spot I was meeting Pluto the pp guy took two pics before We were really ready as Pluto was messing with my backpack. I was then ready and he was chatting with the cm.pluto had to walk over and stomp his foot at him. We also had a few other expirences like that. Some photos had bad framing,some blurry. I still buy MM one bad trip in all our or trips isnt bad. For the most part I don't edit anymore as the site is too slow.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

In fact, in some aspects it is getting worse! We are back from a 10 day visit and I am now getting around to editing the photos. Things that are annoying and disappointing:

- quality of the photos (exposure, framing) in many cases are not very good
- limited editing options (which I suppose can be done after downloading into a program on the computer)
- annoying watermark over the photos, making it difficult to see the faces of people in the pictures (I really hate this, although I can think of why it was done)
- multiple copies of some pictures for no clear reason
- multiple copies of Disney file photos of characters and attractions (perfectly exposed/framed, of course)
- have to make a copy of a photo before enhancing if you want the original without enhancements
- frequent locking-up of website, requiring reloading of page
- limited frames and enhancements for certain attractions and even the parks
- enhanced photos are added at the end of the day they were taken, rather than adjacent to the original photo
- takes a long time for website to duplicate a photo and save an enhanced photo

I am sure there are other annoying aspects of this website. We have been buying photopass for a number of years now, and it just doesn't get better -- only more expensive! We have a 4 day trip planned for December, and while I love to have lots of pictures of our Christmas visits, I am not sure I am willing to spend the money, given the poor function of the website and marginal quality of the photos.

Anyone having better photo quality results or better luck with the functionality of the website?

Here is one for ya. I am in the process of TRYING to get my pics done by Friday at 8:00 a.m!! I already paid for the one time extension because I always put things off until the last minute. But this year, had a death of DGF in the family last week so it has REALLY put me behind!! I tried to purchase another extension on the phone but the CM wouldn't let me. But that isn't my complaint because I'm to blame for that one. But on some of my Test Track pics, every time I try to save them as 4x6's, it changes them to 8x10!?! I have about 6 versions of one pic because I keep trying to save it as a 4x6 and the website keeps changing it. So far, it is only the Test Track pics it is doing this on. Very strange! The trouble is, if I print a pic that is saved as an 8x10 in a 4x6, there is a pretty good chance my border will be cut off.

Well, better get back to it. Maybe it done reloading for about the 4th time this morning after freezing up. I mentioned to the CM on the phone about how slow the website is especially for us folks that live in very rural areas where the internet is pretty slow. He said that he's never heard about the site being slow and freezing up so it must be because of my connection. Guess he hasn't ever looked at DIS!

 

[mickeyfanachey1999]

When we got print outs of our MM pictures from may the attendant said they were some of the best pictures she had ever seen. We will get MM every time we go for a week long trip. Heck, i enjoyed reliving the vacation through the pictures on line after we got back home as much as anything.

 

[kj2mom]

Did they change it recently? I went through our July ones recently and didn't notice a water mark. I think the repeats were because a couple of us would tap our bands for the photo. In the beginning some in our group didn't understand the follow the line to the correct scanner so we ended up with some pics of people not in our group. I went through and deleted all of those and any repeats I didn't need. I think the repeat stocks were because we repeated rides, not a huge deal for me. I don't expect them to realize we already rode a few days before. I never made a copy before adding, I created a copy if I liked what I added and wanted to save it. I was very pleased with the process with the exception of when I tried to share them on social media. I would get to a certain point and it would go back to the select a park screen. I finally just decided to wait until I downloaded and upload a photo pass album of my own as opposed to sharing directly from the site.

ETA: I just went and looked at ours and my enhanced are adjacent to the original and no watermark. Not sure if that is because I purchased before we left or before it started?

 

[librarymom2007]

If you buy MM in advance then why is there a watermark on the photos?

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

If you buy MM in advance then why is there a watermark on the photos?

Back again because I was able to save 2 pics and the site froze up on me again.

About the watermark, our trip was in June and when I first looked at our pics, there was no watermark. The CM on the phone told me that the watermark would disappear once you activated your per-purchased MM. He said the only way to activate it was to download at least one single pic. He activated mine for me while I was on the phone and the watermarks went away. Hope that helps.

 

[Kidanifan08]

Eh...I've just come to understand what to expect. It is a bummer that Memory Maker shares are harder to come by than they were with Photopass.
We have had some really good Photopass photos. Character interactions in particular. It's nice to have someone there to catch those moments, while I get to be focused on my kids.

Honestly, I couldn't care less about the editing. I usually do go in and add frames and such, but those photos don't make it onto my walls or into my photo books, because I feel they're too gaudy anyway.

I agree, it helps to have the PP CM's catch those special moments while we corral the kid and our stuff. We do like the borders and stickers, but I like to keep a blank copy of each photo for editing and printing later if I don't want the enhancements. We usually buy the Disney photo album with the date and put the enhanced photos in that.

I agree the website can be clunky for editing but I have found I don't like the additions too much anyway. The quality of our photos, however, have been great. I really only need one good photo from each experience, and I feel I always get a "keeper." We do MM every trip and I think it is well worth it. I do wish the downloading process was easier or they would still mail you a disc, or start including a flash drive. Those are big files, and it takes a very long time.

We do get good photos every time. It just seems like there are still many photos that are not framed well or that the exposure is too low. The download does take a long time. I miss the photo CD, as well.

Just download them and edit them yourself would save you most of your headache. I had an issue with the website and just grabbed them and did my own edits.

We like to enhance them, which takes a lot of time with the website. We don't enhance every photo -- just the good ones.

I had one trip where most of the photos were awful. I spoke with customer service thru email and I was refunded. I told them not necessary but they offered. I was only informing them about my expirence to maybe help. At one point in the character spot I was meeting Pluto the pp guy took two pics before We were really ready as Pluto was messing with my backpack. I was then ready and he was chatting with the cm.pluto had to walk over and stomp his foot at him. We also had a few other expirences like that. Some photos had bad framing,some blurry. I still buy MM one bad trip in all our or trips isnt bad. For the most part I don't edit anymore as the site is too slow.

We will probably still get MM. I am just in the midst of editing our July trip and needed to vent!

Here is one for ya. I am in the process of TRYING to get my pics done by Friday at 8:00 a.m!! I already paid for the one time extension because I always put things off until the last minute. But this year, had a death of DGF in the family last week so it has REALLY put me behind!! I tried to purchase another extension on the phone but the CM wouldn't let me. But that isn't my complaint because I'm to blame for that one. But on some of my Test Track pics, every time I try to save them as 4x6's, it changes them to 8x10!?! I have about 6 versions of one pic because I keep trying to save it as a 4x6 and the website keeps changing it. So far, it is only the Test Track pics it is doing this on. Very strange! The trouble is, if I print a pic that is saved as an 8x10 in a 4x6, there is a pretty good chance my border will be cut off.

Well, better get back to it. Maybe it done reloading for about the 4th time this morning after freezing up. I mentioned to the CM on the phone about how slow the website is especially for us folks that live in very rural areas where the internet is pretty slow. He said that he's never heard about the site being slow and freezing up so it must be because of my connection. Guess he hasn't ever looked at DIS!

Given the slowness of the website, they really should give you more time. I have a very high speed internet connection, and it is still slow. Good luck getting done on time!

 

[Kidanifan08]

The watermark is really new. I wish there was a way to filter out the extra stock photos.

It seems like they used to put the stock photos all in one folder. That would be the most logical thing, since they are giving them away, anyway. We have tons of pictures of Test Track from the kids riding it over and over and over!

What is the watermark? If you pre-but PP+, does it have this or is this only on previewing pics you may purchase?

Agree with others- the website is the pits!

See mom2mickeyfan's post about downloading one picture. I did not know that until now!

If you buy MM in advance then why is there a watermark on the photos?

Yes, ours was pre-paid. See mom2mickeyfan's comment . . .

Back again because I was able to save 2 pics and the site froze up on me again.

About the watermark, our trip was in June and when I first looked at our pics, there was no watermark. The CM on the phone told me that the watermark would disappear once you activated your per-purchased MM. He said the only way to activate it was to download at least one single pic. He activated mine for me while I was on the phone and the watermarks went away. Hope that helps.

Thanks for the info! They really should tell you this on the website. The watermark is so dense that it makes it hard to see facial expressions. I'll have to try this later!

 

[MataHari22]

Hmm, I don't remember a watermark on my photos, but my trip was 10/15, so it's been a few months. I also did not have any stock photos in my account. Only the photos I had taken with the Photopass photographers. I had problems downloading my photos, because I have an old laptop and no wifi, so I had to go to dunkin donuts to use their wifi to download stuff, and it was a PITA, so I ended up buying a cd with my photos on it, and it did come with another disk of stock photos. I would have been very happy if I didn't have to pay for them and they were just in my account like I've heard other people say.

Also, as far as editing goes, I do my own, I would rather use my own photo editor, so that doesn't bother me. I only did a few of their borders. I make digital scrapbooks, so I do better on my own than using their stuff anyway. I was very happy and super pleased with my photos from last year. I'm got MM again for this trip, so I hope it'll go as well this time.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

It seems like they used to put the stock photos all in one folder. That would be the most logical thing, since they are giving them away, anyway. We have tons of pictures of Test Track from the kids riding it over and over and over!



See mom2mickeyfan's post about downloading one picture. I did not know that until now!



Yes, ours was pre-paid. See mom2mickeyfan's comment . . .



Thanks for the info! They really should tell you this on the website. The watermark is so dense that it makes it hard to see facial expressions. I'll have to try this later!

Glad to have helped out. I had no idea either until the CM told me. I didn't see the info anywhere on the website. Site seems to be working better right now. I'm make some progress.

 

[supersnoop]

My trip was less than a month ago, and the watermarks were not on the photos when we first looked at them. They just added the watermarks in the past two weeks or so.

 

[MataHari22]

So, to clarify about these watermarks, after you download your photos, they are watermark free?

 

[supersnoop]

So, to clarify about these watermarks, after you download your photos, they are watermark free?

Right; the watermark is just there to prevent someone from doing a screen capture or downloading the sample and sharing it on facebook or whatever without paying for the rights.