Photopass ?????

[lillibet123]

I am going to DL in 3 weeks and am hoping to get a photopass and order the cd. I have a couple questions. First off what is the price for the cd? Do I order the cd in Disneyland or when I get home? Also we are going in a group, but only want to order one cd can we merge 2 cards onto one cd or should we just take turns with the same card.

TIA

 

[Queenbillabong]

First of all, have fun on your trip!!

You can merge as many cards onto one CD as you want to. You purchase the CD when you come home from DL. The cost is $59.95 plus s/h taxes, that kind of thing. You can see all your photos and edit, add borders, etc. before ordering the CD. It's very cool and a great souvenir!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

While you are able to order it in the parks, you cannot add the borders, autographs, et all to the photos unless you do it online after the fact. It's better to wait. S/H isn't very much anyways.

 

[Sherry E]

Yes, I am glad someone started this thread, because I was wondering the same thing about Photopasses. I SHOULD have gotten one last December - that would have been the right time of year with the right group of friends. I don't know why I didn't, but we had so much else on our plates that weekend and didn't consider it. So, how does it work from beginning to end? Can someone walk me through it? I don't know if this upcoming October trip is the right time for a Photopass, but if we get to DLR again in December, that may be the right time. I may do it in October. I will play it by ear. But I want to know the lo-down before I get there.

So, let's say my friend and I get to Disneyland on an early Saturday morning in October. We walk into the entry plaza to Main Street and see the giant Mickey Pumpkin. We want a picture. There must be PP photgraphers hovering around that location. So, I assume I would want to get the Photopass card right away from the photographer by the pumpkin? He/she takes a picture of us and hands me the card, right? And the card itself is free, correct? So, at the next location for Photopass pictures that we like, wherever that may be, do we give that photographer the same card we got from before and have them load the new photo, or do they hand us an all new card? I assume we just carry around one card all day? How many pictures can fit on a card?

So, now, fast forward to the end of the trip. Do we take the card(s) into one of the shops in DL or DCA and then buy a complete CD with ALL of our photos on it? Or, if we only want two photos at that moment, we can buy those, correct, and then get the rest later? I hear that it can be done online. If I do not purchase the CD with all the photos in the parks, can I order the CD online? Where does the $99 come in? Is that the price for the whole CD? If I do this, I basically just want to get all the photos from the CD and be able to share them with friends online, via e-mail, or upload them to Photobucket or whatever. Is that possible?

Thanks for any info you can provide! I appreciate it!

 

[bumbershoot]

Sherry, first, get the $99 out of your head. That was accurate in December (pre-purchase the CD online for 99, which was a bargain when the CD was 124.95 at DLR like it is at WDW) but not anymore.


Your outline of entering the parks and getting pix at the pumpkin is exactly right. They will give you your card then.

Later, you can use the same card, just hand it over before your pictures are taken. Or if you and your friends split up, the one without the card can get their own. Or if you leave a card in the room, you can get another. The cards are free. Having your pictures taken is free.

If you really really want a 5x7 print for almost $13, you could indeed order that at the parks. Go into a pp center (one on Main Street and one at the "beginning" of Greetings from California in DCA), and you can look at your pictures on the monitors there, and order them.

You can also order the CD, but it's just the plain pictures. So if you are a photoshop master or you just like plain pictures, then that would work for you.

But if you want the cute add-ons that you can see in many peoples' pictures (check out my sept and dec trip reports) then you'll need to order it online AFTER your trip. Create a photopass account, add your card ID numbers, edit them like crazy, and order the CD.

When you are with other people, if other people get their own cards but you want all pix on ONE CD, make SURE that those people give you their cards!!! All of them! If they keep their cards and open their own account, without intervention from the photopass people (which is done sometimes, not all the time) you will NOT be able to put them on one CD. So collect all cards to be sure they are on ONE account.

You have 30 days from the first picture to enter the card IDs onto your account, and 30 days after that to order the CD or pictures or whatever.

I edited the heck out of mine in December, b/c I know that my taste changes, and even if I didn't like an edit at that time, maybe when I'm 50 I will.


After you order it and get it, you can take the CD to your handydandy photo place and have prints made, or you can post them onto sites like shutterly and order prints from there, etc. MUCH cheaper than $12.95 for a 5x7.

 

[Sherry E]

Sherry, first, get the $99 out of your head. That was accurate in December (pre-purchase the CD online for 99, which was a bargain when the CD was 124.95 at DLR like it is at WDW) but not anymore.


Your outline of entering the parks and getting pix at the pumpkin is exactly right. They will give you your card then.

Later, you can use the same card, just hand it over before your pictures are taken. Or if you and your friends split up, the one without the card can get their own. Or if you leave a card in the room, you can get another. The cards are free. Having your pictures taken is free.

If you really really want a 5x7 print for almost $13, you could indeed order that at the parks. Go into a pp center (one on Main Street and one at the "beginning" of Greetings from California in DCA), and you can look at your pictures on the monitors there, and order them.

You can also order the CD, but it's just the plain pictures. So if you are a photoshop master or you just like plain pictures, then that would work for you.

But if you want the cute add-ons that you can see in many peoples' pictures (check out my sept and dec trip reports) then you'll need to order it online AFTER your trip. Create a photopass account, add your card ID numbers, edit them like crazy, and order the CD.

When you are with other people, if other people get their own cards but you want all pix on ONE CD, make SURE that those people give you their cards!!! All of them! If they keep their cards and open their own account, without intervention from the photopass people (which is done sometimes, not all the time) you will NOT be able to put them on one CD. So collect all cards to be sure they are on ONE account.

You have 30 days from the first picture to enter the card IDs onto your account, and 30 days after that to order the CD or pictures or whatever.

I edited the heck out of mine in December, b/c I know that my taste changes, and even if I didn't like an edit at that time, maybe when I'm 50 I will.


After you order it and get it, you can take the CD to your handydandy photo place and have prints made, or you can post them onto sites like shutterly and order prints from there, etc. MUCH cheaper than $12.95 for a 5x7.

Thanks, Bumbershoot! You heard the call! I was hoping you would answer! I know that many people on here know the PP drill, but you always seem to have the best, most consistent info on all Disney threads/topics, so I always trust your input!

Okay, so I think I am clear on how we do the Photopass thing. I think you are right that it makes more sense to upload the pictures from the CD to other sites like Photobucket or Shutterfly, and order prints from there if we want them, rather than pay $13 for a 5x7. That seems a little lofty - just a tad (not like anything else in DLR is cheap, but if you can cut a few pennies here and there, might as well!). Now I see why it is a big deal when there is a Free Photopass picture included in some packages now and again (like for WDW) - because they are so darn costly! So if the CD is not $99, then how much is it? Is it back up to $125.00 or has it dropped lower?

 

[bumbershoot]

Queenbillabong mentioned that the price is 59.95 now. Just a few months ago it was 79.95, so I would expect that it might change between now and...whenever they want to change it again. I think they are playing with the price, figuring out the perfect spot for it.

No matter what, it's a bargain IMO, b/c you're getting all of those pictures at high resolution, then each time you edit a picture it becomes a new picture (take one picture, edit a signature onto it, it's 2 pictures...take the original and edit a border, 3 pictures...take the original and put a different border, 4 pictures...and so on and so forth...and you can even put a signature and a border on at the same time). And you get the rights to print those pictures as much as you want (for non commercial purposes of course). Which you do NOT get when you buy one measly print from them.


Don't forget to look around the boards at the special pictures you can have taken. There are photographers who can have special things added in, like a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader, the hitchhiking ghosts outside HM, swordfighting with Captain Hook, Stitch eating ice cream next to you or popping out of the ground in front of you, tink in your hands, and so on.

 

[SweetSpot]

Once you have the CD do you have to upload them to an online site or take them to a processing store to get prints? Can you just print your own pictures on a good printer on photo paper from a CD?

 

[Sherry E]

Queenbillabong mentioned that the price is 59.95 now. Just a few months ago it was 79.95, so I would expect that it might change between now and...whenever they want to change it again. I think they are playing with the price, figuring out the perfect spot for it.

No matter what, it's a bargain IMO, b/c you're getting all of those pictures at high resolution, then each time you edit a picture it becomes a new picture (take one picture, edit a signature onto it, it's 2 pictures...take the original and edit a border, 3 pictures...take the original and put a different border, 4 pictures...and so on and so forth...and you can even put a signature and a border on at the same time). And you get the rights to print those pictures as much as you want (for non commercial purposes of course). Which you do NOT get when you buy one measly print from them.


Don't forget to look around the boards at the special pictures you can have taken. There are photographers who can have special things added in, like a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader, the hitchhiking ghosts outside HM, swordfighting with Captain Hook, Stitch eating ice cream next to you or popping out of the ground in front of you, tink in your hands, and so on.

And those added little touches are included in the whole price of the CD? There is no extra charge? Well, you are right, it does sound like a really good bargain - especially at $60.00 - being able to create so many different versions of your photos. I could kick myself for not getting a PP back in December. That would have been ideal. I don't know where my mind was. Or maybe it was because it was so expensive at that time that it deterred me.

Oh, I think I accidentally skipped right over Queenbillabong's post! I didn't even notice that about the $59.95! She has good info all the time, too, so I value both of you for your input and feedback! It is interesting that Disney is kind of 'experimenting' with the price of the PP. When I first heard about the whole concept way back when, I have to admit, I thought Disney was getting a little too money-hungry. My initial impression was that it was a ridiculous idea because everyone brings their own cameras to the parks and who is going to pay X number of dollars to get pictures that they could take on their own cameras? And anyone taking the pictures who wants to also get IN them, can always ask a stranger to snap a group photo so everyone can get in the shot. BUT the more I started thinking about the whole idea and hearing people's stories of using the PP, it began to make more sense. You can still take as many pictures as you like with your own camera(s), but I think we ALL have had that experience where either a camera gets damaged, film gets lost, the shot that you thought would be beautiful turned out dark and murky, etc. Even the best amateur shutterbugs can have mishaps. So it is a good idea to have a 'back-up CD' with 'professional' pictures that you know will come out nicely. I have totally made a 180 degree turn on my opinion of the PP!

Thanks again!

 

[JadeDarkstar]

once you have the cd you can print the pics up your self if you want

 

[SweetSpot]

Thank you! I'm just going from film to digital and haven't gone to make a print of anything yet. I just wasn't sure if one of those sites would be necessary to get them to print.

 

[bumbershoot]

Once you have the CD do you have to upload them to an online site or take them to a processing store to get prints? Can you just print your own pictures on a good printer on photo paper from a CD?

Definitely.

But when you look at the cost of a really good printer and the ongoing cost of quality paper and ink, finding a good, solid printing place is probably going to be cheaper. IMO.

 

[LynneDurham]

So...to get the deal price (59.95) do you have to order your photo in advance like you do to get the WDW Photopass deal? Or do you do it after you get home from your trip.

AND...

Could we use the same Photopass card at DLR and WDW since we are going to one after the other?

Thank you for all of the good information!

Lynne

 

[bumbershoot]

You do NOT pre-purchase the CD for Disneyland Resort. That rate is what will show up in your photopass account (unless they go and change it again) once you start entering your Disneyland Resort-based photopass card ID numbers.


As for a split trip, if you're going to both inside of 30 days, you can combine them. But that's where my knowledge on that stops, b/c I don't know if you'll be charged the WDW rate or the DLR rate.

You *could* pre-purchase the WDW CD online, and then after your trip once you enter the card ID numbers, see what price comes up. If it's the DLR price, go with that and get a refund on the pre-purchase. If it's the WDW price, then use the pre-purchase.

stitchkingdom.com has a photopass page, and he has a little forum area too (he being bradk on the Dis) for really specific questions like that.

 

[LynneDurham]

Thank you so much for the great information -- and for the turn-on to stitchkingdom!

Lynne