Pre-paid Photo CD's -Are they worth it?

[2ndStar2theRT]

Just wondering if anyone has ever pre-paid for the Photo Pass CDs. If so cna you tell me what the benefit is to getting one. They seem a tad bit pricey.

 

[P.I. Squirrel]

Just wondering if anyone has ever pre-paid for the Photo Pass CDs. If so cna you tell me what the benefit is to getting one. They seem a tad bit pricey.

Unless you go with a group, and everyone shares the cost, it's not worth it at all IMO.

Keep an eye on the budget board for Photopass share for the week of your trip. It helps keep the cost down.

 

[PrincessAbby'sMom]

Yes its pricy - but there are deals out there. I just found a post that you can get one for $85 (expires June 15th).

We are a family of 3 going with
my parents &
my sister & family.

So our "family" pictures on the CD will consist of:
At each park: my family
Sisters family
Parents
All kids
Me, sister & parents
Parents w/us
Parents w/sister
Everyone!
and thats just 1 pose in front of the castle.
Then there is Epcot (globe) & DS (hat), & AK(tree), all the characters that have photographers at them, in front of Tower of Terror, the special ones that they put Tink in your hands or Simba - each family, each kid, etc. On our 1 trip we had over 120 pictures, then when you add the boarders & character signatures, other special features &/or crop the pictures online - we had over 250 pictures on the CD. Thats under $3 per picture & you can print them yourselves, take them to a Walmart or eve copy the CD for other family members to share (in the pictures & the cost as well if they go with you). You are in every picture instead of Mom or Dad not in them.

Yes you still need to take your "special" pictures w/the characters w/out photographers & on rides, etc. But its really nice to have

 

[pepe of ohio]

We rather take our own pictures, we both take cameras and we not going to chase around looking for the photopass people while we're touring the parks. They seem to be only in the "mid way" of the parks and we like to travel in the quaint little out of the way places and frame our pictures. We've seen some that we did have taken, didn't buy, didn't like the character add ons they place. We do digital, print them ourselves or use snapfish and at 6 or 8 cents each, we can get a ton for 100 bucks, where we want, when we want. We're also not the kind to snap away at every single thing and even if you took 200 pictures at 6 cents each, it's only 12 bucks, at Disney's $100 for the CD, 1600 pictures to break even. That's alot of pictures and time we don't want to spend trying to get accomplished. Even at 200 pictures which the wife and I average, alot get deleted and we adjust alot too before printing.

 

[Alesia]

I thought it was completely worth it. I loved having pictures of all of us together. If we would have gone to a professional photographer for family portraits, we would have spent well over $100.

 

[2ndStar2theRT]

Thanks everyone! It's nice to get your input! P.I. Squirrel...How does Photo Pass sharing work if you are not traveling with another family? Do you make arrangements with another family going that same week?

 

[Ddennis37]

I briefly considered pre-paying for photopass but decided against us. My husband thinks his part time job is a photographer and every vacation we take, he easily takes over 2,000 pictures so we end up with plenty. We don't have any issues with asking folks to take a picture us if we want group ones. In fact, most people offer before we have the chance to ask, and we always offer the same.

I then take our pictures and create a scrapbook as well as a dvd out of the pictures. It's a process but I also heard a lot of people having issues with the photopass system once they get home. It's a cool idea and offer to visitors, but I pretty much do the same thing at home.

 

[P.I. Squirrel]

Thanks everyone! It's nice to get your input! P.I. Squirrel...How does Photo Pass sharing work if you are not traveling with another family? Do you make arrangements with another family going that same week?

We did it last year with several Dis'ers that we know. The person that purchases the disk makes a copy and mails it to you, in return for splitting the price.

DW made the arrangements, but I believe you logon to the website and assign your photopass ID numbers to the disk. There was plenty of room on the disk for everyone's pictures.

 

[Alesia]

We did it last year with several Dis'ers that we know. The person that purchases the disk makes a copy and mails it to you, in return for splitting the price.

DW made the arrangements, but I believe you logon to the website and assign your photopass ID numbers to the disk. There was plenty of room on the disk for everyone's pictures.

The Disboards have recently forbidden paid swaps and shares: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2156068

 

[Lady SnowElla]

Yes its pricy - but there are deals out there. I just found a post that you can get one for $85 (expires June 15th).

We are a family of 3 going with
my parents &
my sister & family.

So our "family" pictures on the CD will consist of:
At each park: my family
Sisters family
Parents
All kids
Me, sister & parents
Parents w/us
Parents w/sister
Everyone!
and thats just 1 pose in front of the castle.
Then there is Epcot (globe) & DS (hat), & AK(tree), all the characters that have photographers at them, in front of Tower of Terror, the special ones that they put Tink in your hands or Simba - each family, each kid, etc. On our 1 trip we had over 120 pictures, then when you add the boarders & character signatures, other special features &/or crop the pictures online - we had over 250 pictures on the CD. Thats under $3 per picture & you can print them yourselves, take them to a Walmart or eve copy the CD for other family members to share (in the pictures & the cost as well if they go with you). You are in every picture instead of Mom or Dad not in them.

Yes you still need to take your "special" pictures w/the characters w/out photographers & on rides, etc. But its really nice to have

Could you share the site for the $85 special? We purchased the CD in 2007 & loved it. We plan to do it again this summer. Thanks,

 

[P.I. Squirrel]

The Disboards have recently forbidden paid swaps and shares: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2156068

I won't question the mods reasoning for that decision. Some folks may have been burned. We trust the group we share with, so we will continue to share as a private transaction amongst friends. We simply can't put it as a thread.

The bottom line as far as Disney is concerned is that once you purchase the photos on DVD, the photos and the rights to them are yours. You can reprint or share as you wish. That is one reason the cost is so high.

 

[mwatson011]

We went in January (our first trip), prepaid for the photopass CD and album, and are happy we did. That being said, we are going again in December, and are not getting either. It is nice to have the keepsake, but once is enough, IMHO.

Please remember if you prepay for the CD, and you are not satisfied with the pictures or change your mind, there is a small window you can cancel and get a full refund, I think it is 14 days or so. You can only view the pics before you cancel though, if you put in your prepaid code, they will not refund you. Prepaying saves about 20%, so if you are on the fence and can put the money up front, you will pay the better price if you keep it, and get a full refund if you decide against it.

 

[Ciavobella]

I thought it was worth it, especially because one of my sons was chosen for Jedi training and a photopass photographer snaps away during the event. I suppose if you don't participate in those kinds of things or character greets it may not be worth it. Sharing the cost with people you don't know is not only risky, it's cheating the system.

 

[mousefan20]

It may not be worth it anymore. We just came back and noticed very few photopass photographers around the parks. Disney cut backs? We did not get in line for any character meet and greets, we do the breakfast instead and took our own pictures. We spent the day at TL and only saw one all day. Compared to our trip in 2007 they were everywhere and we had lots of pictures.

 

[PrincessAbby'sMom]

Could you share the site for the $85 special? We purchased the CD in 2007 & loved it. We plan to do it again this summer. Thanks,

Absolutely I found it on this site that someone else posted. The discount code is 9VISARD15 - I guess it was a Disney Visa discount in thier news flyer - but I didn't remember seeing it. And they say you don't have to use a Disney Visa either.

Good luck & have fun