Photopass Questions

[jennc27]

We are going to preorder the Photopass CD and I wanted to know more about how it works. So I started reading about it and now I am confused. Can someone help me?

Do you only have 30 days to work with the photos or do you have 30 days to claim the photos and then have unlimited time to add borders, crop, and resize? Also when does the 30 days start? When the photo is taken or when you enter the Photopass # into the website?

Thank you for your help!

 

[Minder]

NOTE: All of my information is from last year when i purchased a Photo CD. If anything has changed since then, I dont know about it.

You only have 30 days to work with your photos, and that 30 days starts the day after your last picture was taken in the parks.

BUT

Once you get home and open up the online photo editor, your 30 days restarts from there.

AND

If you buy something on the site (Like a photo CD) your 30 days restarts again.

The whole point here is that Disney wants you to have the time you need to make your decisions, but as you can imagine, they have upwards of 100 thousand guests on property every single day, and storring pictures for all of thoes people is a MASSIVE undertaking. So if you arent going to purchase, they want to purge that data as fast as possible so they can make room for paying customers.

As I said above I bought the photo CD last year. We had just over 200 shots on it, and we added about 75 more with borders and graphics on them, so we got a wonderfull CD with over 275 pictures on it. WELL worth the $99 prepaid.

 

[njtinkmom]

NOTE: All of my information is from last year when i purchased a Photo CD. If anything has changed since then, I dont know about it.

You only have 30 days to work with your photos, and that 30 days starts the day after your last picture was taken in the parks.

BUT

Once you get home and open up the online photo editor, your 30 days restarts from there.

AND

If you buy something on the site (Like a photo CD) your 30 days restarts again.

The whole point here is that Disney wants you to have the time you need to make your decisions, but as you can imagine, they have upwards of 100 thousand guests on property every single day, and storring pictures for all of thoes people is a MASSIVE undertaking. So if you arent going to purchase, they want to purge that data as fast as possible so they can make room for paying customers.

As I said above I bought the photo CD last year. We had just over 200 shots on it, and we added about 75 more with borders and graphics on them, so we got a wonderfull CD with over 275 pictures on it. WELL worth the $99 prepaid.

I purchased the prepaid CD the other day. Will they send it in the mail or do I pick it up somewhere or print it? Do I still need to look online as well? I am confused as well Can you do all the cool borders, etc. from the CD for free? I assume I can print off the CD anything I want. I don't understand the need to buy a pic from Disney (I saw the price list) if I own the CD. Thanks!

 

[abwilliams22]

After you return home from Disney, enter the codes on the back of the photopass cards at the disney photopass website. It will pull up all the pictures on that card. At that point, you get to view all your pictures, and add all the borders, etc. After you are done editing all the pictures, you order the CD (using the prepaid code). They then mail you the CD, and then you can take it anywhere to get the pictures printed. I personally downloaded them to Snapfish, and ordered off of there.

Have fun on your trip!

 

[Minder]

I personally downloaded them to Snapfish, and ordered off of there.

Have fun on your trip!

I print them from my own computer, but any Photo finishing store can print them too.

 

[Minder]

I purchased the prepaid CD the other day. Will they send it in the mail or do I pick it up somewhere or print it? Do I still need to look online as well? I am confused as well Can you do all the cool borders, etc. from the CD for free? I assume I can print off the CD anything I want. I don't understand the need to buy a pic from Disney (I saw the price list) if I own the CD. Thanks!

First off all, if you have purchased a Prepaid CD you will have a recieved an email titled.
Do Not Delete! Instructions for your Disney's Photo CD enclosed.‏
From the following Email address
noreply-DisneyPhotoPass@certifiedcustomercare.com

(If you cant find it, check your Junk folder. Many of theese are stopped by Junk filters)

With the following instructions.

What To Do Next:

Step 1: Visit the Parks and get lots of Disney's PhotoPass photos taken. Look for our photographers throughout the Parks and they'll be happy to make sure your CD is filled with as many photos as you'd like. The first photographer you see will give you a Disney's PhotoPass card you can use for your entire stay. View park maps and photographer locations!

Step 2: After your vacation, go to DisneyPhotoPass.com to view your photos. You will need to log into your account using your email address and password. Be sure to claim your photos within 30 days of your vacation!

Step 3: Claim any Disney's PhotoPass cards you used during your trip by entering the ID numbers after you log in.

Step 4: Place your order to recieve your PhotoCD.

It will also have your Prepaid PIN number. Dont loose this. You will need it later.

Now. What abwilliams22 said is correct.

1. After you return home from Disney, enter the codes on the back of the photopass cards at the disney photopass website. It will pull up all the pictures on that card.
   
2. At that point, you get to view all your pictures, and add all the borders, etc.
   
3. After you are done editing all the pictures, you order the CD (using the prepaid code).
   
4. They then mail you the CD, and then you can take it anywhere to get the pictures printed.

Lastly you ask about the CD, and the price per print listed on the website.
There are many many different options, offers and products listed on the site. One of the potions is to buy prints directly from Disney, and have thoes paper based prints shipped to you.

You have not chosen that option (Although you still can later)

You have chosen the Photo CD option.

Disney will ship you a CD (After you follow their instructions) that you now own. You also own the rights to print any and all pictures on that CD.

What you do with that CD is then up to you. You dont ever need to print any of them if you dont want to.

 

[jennc27]

Thank you everyone! This helped me out.

 

[Dream2]

I ordered the CD about 4 weeks ago. I printed my photos from Walmart.com. Walmart called me and said I needed a release form from Disney. The release is on the CD, so I just printed it off from home and took it in.
Everything worked out good.
Just a little FYI.

 

[wtrmlnlabs]

Just to add a note, the first time we went and used the photopass it was confusing. The info was so limited since everyone seemed to know what it was and how to use it but us!!! Anyway, we went with other family members, my mother in law and sister and brother in laws. Of course no one wanted to wait and check info and all of them opened up separate accounts and put their photopass numbers in. This left us having to buy 3 cds! Had they waited a few days (we were at the parks, they did this on a laptop the first night) we found out if you put all the cards in one account we could have bought one cd with all of them! For a family all going together I'm sure this is an obvious thing, but it wasn't for us and I'm sure someone else may have the same question so I wanted to post. Also, if you don't have a lot of pictures for some odd reason, the photobook is a great cheaper option to the cd. This is what I ended up doing that first year and it's a beautiful book. Yes pricey compared to shutterfly or other sites, but a cheaper alternative to the cd.

 

[WillCAD]

The whole "30-day" thing tends to confuse people. Here's how it works:

Each photo is associated with your PhotoPass card when the photographer scans the card on the PDA-like device attached to the camera. Beginning on the day that the pic is associated with a card, you have 30 days to claim the pic before it is deleted from the PhotoPass computer. Once the card is entered

For example: On Card A, you have pics taken for 3 days. Pics taken on June 1 will be deleted on June 30, pics taken on June 2 will be deleted on July 1, pics taken on June 3 will be deleted on July 2.

When you enter Card A into your PhotoPass account, all of the pics associated with Card A are "claimed" and appear in your account, and their clocks all reset to 30 days. So if you enter Card A into your account on June 15, all of the pics associated with Card A will be deleted from your account on July 15.

Pre-purchasing the PhotoPass CD

Pre-purchasing the PhotoCD costs 20% less than purchasing it after the fact (current costs as of November 2008 are $99 for pre-purchase, $125 for later purchase). Pre-purchasing is accomplished like this:

1. If you don't already have a PhotoPass account, go to the PhotoPass web site and open one. There is no charge for opening an account.
2. Go to the DisneyPhotoPass CD Pre-Purchase page and follow the instructions to pre-purchase your CD. The $100 fee will be charged to your credit card at that time, and you will then get a series of 3 emails, usually within a few minutes:
   1. Receipt for the monetary transaction
   2. Promotion code and instructions for finalizing the order later
   3. Notice that your order has "shipped" (automatically generated by any CD order, just ignore it)
3. KEEP ALL OF THESE EMAILS! Also make note of the promotion code somewhere else - you will need it when you finalize the order.
4. If these emails do not arrive within a few hours:
   1. Check to be sure that you entered the correct email address when you ordered
   2. Check your spam quarrentine to be sure the emails are not in there
   3. Call PhotoPass customer support at 407-560-6068 and explain that you pre-ordered but never got your emails
5. Go to Walt Disney World or Disneyland and get PhotoPass pics taken as usual.
6. Come home and enter your PhotoPass cards into your PhotoPass account.
7. Do any modifications you want to your pics - add borders and signatures, crop, etc.
8. Finalize your order:
   1. Open your account on the PhotoPass web site
   2. Click on the Photo Products tab
   3. Click Disney's PhotoCD
   4. Follow the onscreen instructions to order a CD
   5. In the Promotion Code box, enter the code that you got in the emails from Step 2-B above
   6. The CD will ring up with a balance of $0.00 (since you already paid for it), and it will ship at that time
9. Your CD will arrive in about a week

 

[Pixieflip]

Just to add a note, the first time we went and used the photopass it was confusing. The info was so limited since everyone seemed to know what it was and how to use it but us!!! Anyway, we went with other family members, my mother in law and sister and brother in laws. Of course no one wanted to wait and check info and all of them opened up separate accounts and put their photopass numbers in. This left us having to buy 3 cds! Had they waited a few days (we were at the parks, they did this on a laptop the first night) we found out if you put all the cards in one account we could have bought one cd with all of them! For a family all going together I'm sure this is an obvious thing, but it wasn't for us and I'm sure someone else may have the same question so I wanted to post. Also, if you don't have a lot of pictures for some odd reason, the photobook is a great cheaper option to the cd. This is what I ended up doing that first year and it's a beautiful book. Yes pricey compared to shutterfly or other sites, but a cheaper alternative to the cd.

When we go at Christmas, I'd like to share a cd with our family like this, too. But we all live far apart. Can we do the editing online while we are on our trip? Or do we have to wait? Everyone will want their own input on their family photos, you know. Or can we all view it from home anyway, and just one of us order it and then share it with each other?

I think I am figuring this out once and for all...thanks.

 

[Alesia]

When we go at Christmas, I'd like to share a cd with our family like this, too. But we all live far apart. Can we do the editing online while we are on our trip? Or do we have to wait? Everyone will want their own input on their family photos, you know. Or can we all view it from home anyway, and just one of us order it and then share it with each other?

I think I am figuring this out once and for all...thanks.

Everyone will need to input their photopass numbers into the same account!

You can start editing them while you're on your trip.

 

[WillCAD]

When we go at Christmas, I'd like to share a cd with our family like this, too. But we all live far apart. Can we do the editing online while we are on our trip? Or do we have to wait? Everyone will want their own input on their family photos, you know. Or can we all view it from home anyway, and just one of us order it and then share it with each other?

I think I am figuring this out once and for all...thanks.

What you are talking about is commonly called a PhotoPass Share. They are often set up between DIS board members.

The process is simple:

1) One person should be named the coordinator of the share group.
2) The coordinator opens a PhotoPass account (which is free), and shares the user name and password with everybody in the group.
3) The coordinator pre-purchases the PhtooPass CD just prior to the trip.
4) Everybody goes to WDW and gets PhotoPass pics taken. Doesn't matter how many cards you have - there is no limit to how many you enter in an account.
5) Everyone goes home and enters their cards into the group account. NOTE: As Alesia pointed out, everyone must enter their cards into the same account; a card can only be entered into ONE account, so if Uncle Phil enters his card into a different account, then the pics associated with his card will not be in the group account, and will not be on the CD.
6) Everyone modifies their pics as they please with borders, signatures, and graphics (don't worry, you can't save over the original, unaltered pics, so nobody can really screw it up).
7) When everyone is done modifying their pics, the coordinator finalizes the CD order, and the CD is sent to him.
8) When the CD arrives, the coordinator is responsible for getting the pics to the members of the group, either by copying the CD and mailing the copies, or by uploading to a photo sharing web site of some kind. I prefer to copy the CD when I am coordinator of a share group.

Viola! Everybody gets their pics!

 

[PalmettoPrincess]

How far in advance can you pre-purchase the CD? My trip is in 30 days. I know I read this somewhere on here before, but I don't remember where.

 

[Alesia]

How far in advance can you pre-purchase the CD? My trip is in 30 days. I know I read this somewhere on here before, but I don't remember where.

The pre-order code expires after 60 days. I would wait a few weeks.

 

[PalmettoPrincess]

Okay... I'll wait until the week before to get it. They should still offer it for $99, right? (I hope!) lol

 

[WillCAD]

Okay... I'll wait until the week before to get it. They should still offer it for $99, right? (I hope!) lol

The $99 pre-purchase program has been around for at least two years, and there is no indication that it's going away any time soon.

Of course, you should always keep in mind that Disney often makes changes to its policies suddenly, inexplicably, and without any advance warning.

 

[ilovemickeymost]

What section do I look at when I find other dissers who want to photo pass share? I'm just not sure where to list it or where to look? Using the search option takes ages. TIA

What you are talking about is commonly called a PhotoPass Share. They are often set up between DIS board members.

The process is simple:

1) One person should be named the coordinator of the share group.
2) The coordinator opens a PhotoPass account (which is free), and shares the user name and password with everybody in the group.
3) The coordinator pre-purchases the PhtooPass CD just prior to the trip.
4) Everybody goes to WDW and gets PhotoPass pics taken. Doesn't matter how many cards you have - there is no limit to how many you enter in an account.
5) Everyone goes home and enters their cards into the group account. NOTE: As Alesia pointed out, everyone must enter their cards into the same account; a card can only be entered into ONE account, so if Uncle Phil enters his card into a different account, then the pics associated with his card will not be in the group account, and will not be on the CD.
6) Everyone modifies their pics as they please with borders, signatures, and graphics (don't worry, you can't save over the original, unaltered pics, so nobody can really screw it up).
7) When everyone is done modifying their pics, the coordinator finalizes the CD order, and the CD is sent to him.
8) When the CD arrives, the coordinator is responsible for getting the pics to the members of the group, either by copying the CD and mailing the copies, or by uploading to a photo sharing web site of some kind. I prefer to copy the CD when I am coordinator of a share group.

Viola! Everybody gets their pics!

 

[WillCAD]

What section do I look at when I find other dissers who want to photo pass share? I'm just not sure where to list it or where to look? Using the search option takes ages. TIA

PhotoPass shares were recently prohibited on the DIS, so you won't be able to find any new ones to join.

 

[ilovemickeymost]

PhotoPass shares were recently prohibited on the DIS, so you won't be able to find any new ones to join.

Well that is a bummer. Where would I post to find out when other people are going? Just curious?