Recent Photopass experiences?

[CapnJacksGirl]

Is anyone that has used Photopass in the last couple of weeks able to report on how things went? There were quite a few reports a few weeks ago of photos being lost.

Have those of you who have used MBs for PP been getting all your photos? It seemed a few weeks ago like asking for a old-style PP card was a better way to go to ensure you got your photos.

I usually have the PP photographer use our camera for the four icon shots (after we didn't get our Epcot photo to a photographer "earning her ears" on our first trip), but I don't want to have to do that with every single PP photo. Kind of defeats the purpose, I think.

Any advice and recent experiences are appreciated!

 

[MADnNOLA]

I used PP+ for my trip in October. I used the card, but was still missing photos. I think it is hit or miss that the photographers get a good scan on your card or MB. Why I think that is I visited the Character Spot at EP and I had Mickey and Minnie, but no Goofy, and he is between the two in the meet & greet!

I also was missing some ride photos - namely Everest. My magic shots at MNSSHP did not have the ghosts in them, just me. They do make for a funny picture without the ghosts

 

[BuzzBelleMom]

My magic shots at MNSSHP did not have the ghosts in them, just me. They do make for a funny picture without the ghosts

OMG - That would be kind of funny to explain to people, but sorry you did not get your photos.

 

[CapnJacksGirl]

My magic shots at MNSSHP did not have the ghosts in them, just me. They do make for a funny picture without the ghosts

The magic shots are funny without the magic! A couple of trips ago, we tried to get the one where it looks like you are holding a bunch of balloons. The photographer had DH hold his thumb up in the air which is where the balloons were supposed to be added.....only they weren't. And they couldn't ever fix it! So we have a photo of all of us looking pretty and happy, except DH who has his thumb stuck up in the air like some sort of crazy person! One of my favorites.....I frame it every once in a while to see how long it takes for him to see it and take it out!

 

[BuzzBelleMom]

.I frame it every once in a while to see how long it takes for him to see it and take it out!

 

[disrev]

Due to all the bad reports we did not use our bands yesterday. This morning only Spkash Mountain and Test Track were there... No castle, EPCOT ball or character pics there. Re-entered cars number and all MK pics showed. Character pics at EPCOT not there but it was less than 12 hrs between pics and checking. I will check back later today to see.
IF they go through okay, I'm going to be so glad we did pp+. We LOVED being able to watch and enjoy the kids in panorama while the CMs took care of the photos at the Character meets.

 

[pixiesprite]

We used PP+ for 2 weeks at the end of Oct/start of Nov. We had the card, they weren't on our MB, I liked having the red card

I did find that some PP photographers were fab and would take time to get a good photo & also add a little flair to the pic, like suggest a pose or at least arrange us somewhat Others not so much

We had no missing pics, but we do have a mysterious additional Splash Mountain photo of some unknown folk, LOL.

The main thing I noticed was... for character photos it worked like this... you queue then wait and at the very moment the character turns to greet you/your kids the photopass photographer usually turns to ask you for your card... so 9 times out of 10 the photographer misses that adorable shot of your kids running/shyly walking up to the character or the character taking their hand etc. Luckily we were also taking photos otherwise we would have missed a wonderful shot of our 2 year old absolutely engulfed in a giant Pooh hug

The quality/quantity can vary... the photopass photographer took close to 20 pics of our Merida meet and they are wonderful - full of fun and character, whereas when we met Minnie we were lucky to get 2 photos! The Minnie photographer was just not really that into it, he took one straight on everyone smiling at the camera, and one of Minnie signing her autograph, but no hug or interaction photos. We met him a few more times over the two weeks at different characters and he was the same each time - by the book, nothing extra. Just something to keep in mind if you like those little extra moments in your pics - keep your own camera handy and take the pics yourself there - if you are not in them obviously

We did get some wonderful pics of the kids, some of the photographers would get right down and take lots of pics while the characters were talking to the kids so we got some lovely close-ups too which we weren't expecting

Overall it was great, I did keep an eye on the photos on the website each day while they were fresh in my memory - it can take 48 hours for them to show up though.

btw.... If you pass a photopass guy in Epcot near Japan, he does a fab set of shots. You stand in one spot and he makes you rotate for each shot, so you get the ball though the gate, and one in front of the Japanese building and the one the other way, back towards China. It's a fun one to do!

edited to add: I just remembered, every few days I had to click on "claim photos" on the website to force it to refresh with the new pics, it would get a bit lazy every so often and not show them

 

[CapnJacksGirl]

btw.... If you pass a photopass guy in Epcot near Japan, he does a fab set of shots. You stand in one spot and he makes you rotate for each shot, so you get the ball though the gate, and one in front of the Japanese building and the one the other way, back towards China. It's a fun one to do!

I will watch for him! I don't think I've ever encountered a photographer there and that area is just gorgeous! The "different" ones are always the best for me. Don't get me wrong, I have to have the obligatory castle/tree/hat/ball shots, but the ones I wasn't expecting are my favorites.

 

[BuzzBelleMom]

PP photog in Japan - I am so there!

 

[smitch425]

I used PP+ for my trip in October. I used the card, but was still missing photos. I think it is hit or miss that the photographers get a good scan on your card or MB. Why I think that is I visited the Character Spot at EP and I had Mickey and Minnie, but no Goofy, and he is between the two in the meet & greet!

I also was missing some ride photos - namely Everest. My magic shots at MNSSHP did not have the ghosts in them, just me. They do make for a funny picture without the ghosts

Why didn't you call Photopass to fix your magic shots? The magic is added after the fact anyway. It would have taken them seconds to fix.

 

[pixiesprite]

Japan shot: I just doublechecked my pics and I described the 3rd one incorrectly, whoops!

First one had the gate & ball behind you (and some trees - they are starting to block the ball lol ), the 2nd was infront of the big Japanese Pagoda but the 3rd was actually backing into Japan itself (so Miyuki's stand would be behind you on your left/the photog's right) not back along the main path - I was misremembering A fab spot for photopass! In our 3 pics, each has a completely different sky - it's bizarre

Other nice ones are in front of Hollywood Studios towards the Epcot boat - there is a Monster's Uni topiary and arch there which makes for a fun pic. And in Animal Kingdom on the way to Expedition Everest there is a shrine and a fantastic view of the mountains, we found a photopass photographer there each time too. A beautiful photo!

 

[DoctorWhoGirl]

We used PP+ the last week in October and didn't have any big problems. (I used the PP+ card and not my MB.) I always asked for a receipt when adding the ride photos - and this is why it made finding the 1 missing shot we had. When doing character meet and greets I always asked for candids as well as multiple pictures when we posed. We ended up with some wonderful family pictures, which hardly ever happens since I'm the one who is always behind the camera. As for my experience using the photopass website - I had no problems. My pictures all showed up within 24 hours - our AK ones showed up the same day, including our magic shots. I had no problems adding boarders to pictures and actually received my photoDVD today after placing the order on Sunday afternoon. I know there are people that have had bad experiences, and they have a right to be upset. PP+ is expensive and you shouldn't have to spend hours after your vacation tracking down your pictures. BUT, remember people are always more active to post on forums about bad experiences than they are about good ones. I was pleased with our experience and will definitely do it again the next time we visit WDW.

 

[POROct2013]

We were there at the end of October (23 - 29th) and I just signed on to look at our photos tonight and we are missing quite a few. We are missing all of Everest photos, Merida character signing, Mickey/Minnie character signing at AK, Buzz & Woody character signing photos, Pirates and Pals and a few others.

I have nothing to compare it to but I took amazing character photos while we were there so basically, the PP+ photographers maybe took about 10 photos that I don't already have copies of myself. Not worth it in my opinion. But, it may be worth it to others. I know though that if we return, we won't bother. We also didn't see a lot of PP photographers out and about or even eager to take photos. There was the odd one though.

I actually did come on here to ask a question about PP+ so I guess I'll start another thread so not to hijack this one.

 

[smitch425]

We were there at the end of October (23 - 29th) and I just signed on to look at our photos tonight and we are missing quite a few. We are missing all of Everest photos, Merida character signing, Mickey/Minnie character signing at AK, Buzz & Woody character signing photos, Pirates and Pals and a few others.

I have nothing to compare it to but I took amazing character photos while we were there so basically, the PP+ photographers maybe took about 10 photos that I don't already have copies of myself. Not worth it in my opinion. But, it may be worth it to others. I know though that if we return, we won't bother. We also didn't see a lot of PP photographers out and about or even eager to take photos. There was the odd one though.

I actually did come on here to ask a question about PP+ so I guess I'll start another thread so not to hijack this one.

Try entering your card number onto the site again. I had to do it several times to keep getting the new stuff to show up each day. Also, be sure to check the "resorts and more" tab for your Pirate and Pals photos. They will not be listed under the MK tab.

 

[BrookeMQ]

We went the last week of October. We used the photo pass card not our magic bands. We ae missing several pictures in even submitted a missing picture request for each one. I had almost the exact times the photos were taken and they still can't find them

We are missing one that were taken back to back also. forexample we have daisy at the circus tent but not Minnie.

 

[2010_Bride]

Interesting thread...I have used photopass in the past with no issues, but we went from Oct29-Nov 5 and I logged into my pp+ account two days ago and we are missing many photos
I filled out the form for missing photos and hopefully they can find them. One is the ONLY photo I had planned to get in advance. It was of the Evil Queen at MNSSHP as I was dressed as Snow White.
Like others have said we have the ghosts missing from our magic shot. But it is funny because the photo is really off centre and DH and I are just sticking out our thumbs - lol!

 

[Stephensmom]

We were there last week and used our bands with the PP photographers. We are missing several pictures. Most of them are there, but I was a little disappointed the pictures of us standing in front of Cinderella's Castle didn't show up.

 

[scrappinannie]

We were there Oct. 21-28 and used PP+ on the red card. I have mixed feelings. I spent what I would consider a decent amount of money on the service (even with pre-trip purchase discount) and most of our pics were mediocre at best. We didn't encounter one single PP photographer near the tree in AK. Took them all ourselves! So, I'm not in the pic. Some character sets had only 2 or 3 shots, others had a ton. Ironically some of our best character shots were meeting Snow White & Rapunzel in Princess Fairytale Hall (where the lighting in there is terribly dark and hard to get just right) and meeting Mr. Incredible and Fro-Zone. They didn't even have a PP photog there, just a CM who offered to take pics with our family. They were some of the best, especially when Mr. Incredible bent down to shake my 3 year old's hand and we have the moment on camera. Our pics at Enchanted Tales were excellent, too, as my 3 yo DS got to play The Beast so there were a ton of shots taken there. Lighting in there is horrible, too, and with no flash photography allowed, you kind of go in wirh a wing a prayer that the pics they take turn out and don't get lost!!

There were lots of times we had to hunt down a photographer to take our pics or ask for more than 1 shot. As a courtesy, we usually had our kids take their pics together instead of individually, but a few times we did ask if we could do one and one and then another of either the both of them together or of our family as a whole. And I really wish they had a photographer at character meals. My pics from Tusker House are very dark and I felt trapped at our table so all the pics are pretty much of heads and shoulders as the characters would bend down to the kids sitting in their seats. Kind of strange.

As for the pics uploading, we were missing a few sets but they were all recovered within a day or 2 of me reporting that they were missing. Since we had purchased PP+, our ride photos and dining photos were also added to the card in addition to getting the physical prints at the meals. I was alittle disappointed there wasn't a PP photographer at the Hook & Smee meet n greet during our Pirates and Pals Voyage. They were there for Peter Pan at the end, but not for Hook & Smee. Again, strange.

We've gotten photopass in the past and been really happy with not only the quality of our pics but the number of them as well, but this time I wasn't as happy with either. I would probably give regular PP another shot, but not sure I'd get the plus again.

 

[CapnJacksGirl]

Ugh! You guys are no help at all!

Just kidding!! I really appreciate all the responses. I had just hoped to hear things were getting better or that using a card vs the MB or vice versa was the key to not losing a bunch of photos. Sadly, that isn't the case so I'll just keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.

Does anyone know if you can have your photos scanned onto both the MB and the card? Maybe doubling up would help? I'm grasping at straws, I know. We always end up with a couple hundred photos and I really don't look forward to trying to remember what they all were so that I can hopefully track down what is missing. Anyhoo, I'll just go into it hoping for the best and try not to be upset if something is not there. Maybe my "old-age-syndrome", as my kids call it, will kick in and I won't even notice! Advantage of being middle-aged? Maybe so!

 

[zippyzo]

We went September and were missing some of our magic shots (no tinker bell in our hands/ we were pointing to the floor with nothing there) Are you using the new photopass website? That made a huge difference to us. They didn't show up on the old one but did on the new one