Sell me on the PhotoPass CD

[miknsusn]

I have read the thread about the great deal for the Photopass CD for $80 but my budget-minded self is still not sure it is worth it. Tell me why Photopass CD is better than taking pictures with my own camera and having the Disney photographers take pics with my camera, etc. I know that you can get special effects and add borders, but is that worth $80? I feel like there must be something else that I am missing.

If it helps, this will be our first trip to WDW, we have 3 kids ages 6,8,10 and will be there 7 days. My parents are also coming along.

 

[bumbershoot]

I don't think it can be "sold" when coming from that perspective. If you're happy to hand your camera to the CMs, and you don't have interest in the "enhanced" pictures you can make via the account, and no interest in the cute pictures the CMs can do with their system (like holding Simba, or Stitch popping out of a bench, etc), there's no reason for you to do anything with photopass.

The bonus of the CD comes when you ARE interested in the photopass product, have multiple pictures you want to own, and realize that the cost of the CD is much less than having them print all the pictures you want. Plus, you get the non-business rights to them, and can print them at will forever more, unlike the print you buy which does NOT give you rights to copy it even one time.

That's where the value of the CD is, when you're already interested.

 

[lisa3635]

For me it's worth it to not have to ask someone to take pictures of my DH, DD and I. The quality of the pictures is pretty good as well and I like the borders. We typically do CRT and Arerkus (i can never spell that) and you can put the pictures in your photopass to reprint them. I've been able to do a few shares before so it's very affordable if you can split it with a few people.

 

[Schachteles]

They are high quality pictures that the average camera will not get as nice of a picture. We have gotten some awesome night shots with the castle in the background that we aren't able to get even with our high end camera. I LOVE finally being able to have family pictures without having to bother people to take pictures of us.

To each their own, I personally would NEVER go without it. And at $79.95 it is a steal.

 

[DatBB]

To each their own, I personally would NEVER go without it. And at $79.95 it is a steal.

$79.95 is a steal but the code seems to have stopped working.

The CD is worth it. Photopass is awesome. It is the one way that I get to be in all the pictures with my family instead of standing behind my camera or trusting a stranger to take a good photo! With the CD I can print as many as I like for family and friends, use it on my Christmas cards or whatever!

 

[miknsusn]

Thanks for the info. I do not mean to sound like I don't think Photopass isn't worth the money-I honestly don't know and want help figuring it out.

When you do the enhanced (character added in)photos, do you have to wait in line? How about regular photopass photo opps? Is there a lot of waiting for your family's turn to be photographed?

 

[TnTWalter]

I did it all 3 times....I have learned to take as many pics as possible with it. I am NEVER in pictures so it's wonderful to have me in them with the family. Also they do start shooting sooner if you tell them you have photopass so I got some great moments of my kids with characters too.

 

[csmommy]

Can you use it on more then 1 trip?

 

[PinkRhombus]

I bought the $79 one today. Sharing the pass with another family we're friends with, so it's basically only $40 each family.

WELL worth it because we have so few pictures of all of us (DH, DD's and myself).

We never get the ride pictures either. Would like to have ones of the girls on TOT.

 

[mom of princessx2]

We get the CD every time. We love all the different character pictures, adding signatures and boarders and all the family pictures we get. I am never comfortable asking others, including Photopass photographers, to take pictures with my camera.

 

[mrsklamc]

Honestly? Our photos were terrible and we weren't tempted to buy even a little. If we had pre-purchased I'd have been annoyed.

 

[roscoepc1]

Photopass rocks! We had one incident where Sheriff Goofy was goofing around with my dds....pushing their hats over their faces so he was the "only one" in the pic, then looking innocent. My "regular" digital camera could have NEVER captured it all....when I got my photopass online, I saw the photopass photographer had captured what must have been about one pic per second of the whole thing! I won't even have to journal the experience, the pics tell the entire story!

The other thing I loved was al of us being in all the pics...whenever i took the pics myself, I felt like I was holding up the line, so to speak, but if it was the photopass hotographer, I figured as long as they were "clicking" we must be ok on time! It really relaxed me a lot, plus I didn't miss as much fiddling with (fighting with, at some points!) my own camera!

 

[roscoepc1]

Can you use it on more then 1 trip?

No, it's only good for a certain length of time after you enter your photopass numbers online...I think 60 days?

We used one account for everyone in our party though (I'm thinking we ended up with about 6 cards)...then waited for a printing deal at our fave printer's, and saved a bundle!

 

[csmommy]

No, it's only good for a certain length of time after you enter your photopass numbers online...I think 60 days?

We used one account for everyone in our party though (I'm thinking we ended up with about 6 cards)...then waited for a printing deal at our fave printer's, and saved a bundle!

Thank you!

 

[thorphin]

Anybody have any idea why PHOTOCD isn't working for me, or if there is a replacement? I was nearly convinced at $80, but $100 just sounds a bit too expensive.

Also...if you do the preorder, the terms indicate that you can cancel for a full refund. Can you do this cancellation AFTER your trip, if you decide that you didn't use the Photopass photographers as much as you thought, or if the pictures they take aren't great?

 

[TxRabbit]

One more benefit of Photopass...

Here is a very specific example but it is another benefit...

Our AK day started out with a before the park opened ADR at the Donald breakfast. After the park opened, we were headed over to the EE line. The trail from the restaurant to EE is absolutely LOADED with characters. One of the first ones was King Louie and Baloo. Amazingly enough, my DH was the one that was so enthused to see the characters, especially since the lines were non-existent this early in the morning.

When we walked up to King Louie and Baloo, King Louie IMMEDIATELY started playing a game with DS. They were doing a kind of follow the leader kind of mirror dance thing. There would have been no chance at all for me to catch the moment on film. As the keeper of the camera, I would have had to be the one to catch it too. I was so happy that the Photopass photographer was on the ball and caught it.

He took an amazing series of pictures, at least half a dozen, of the interaction between DS and King Louie. SO. MUCH. FUN. And yet, the pictures themselves aren't anything that you would really want a big 5x7 of, if you KWIM? They are the kind that you would want to have smaller, in a series, in a scrapbook, to recapture that moment. Thus the beauty of the Photopass CD, where I can easily print out the whole series.

There were other times where I was actually the one having more interaction with the characters. It was also caught by the Photopass photographer.

Another thing that is so very fun about getting the CD is the ability to mess with the photos. To add borders. To change them to black and white. Some of the pictures really look so much better in black and white, and you still capture the moment.

With so many people in your family, it would just be one more chance, one more eye, one more camera, to try to get that great photo of your group. Given the price to purchase individual photos, the pay off for the CD isn't high at all. The cheapest print is $14.95, so at $80, your pay off is 6 photos. If pictures are something that you value, then the CD is well worth the cost.

That's my two cents.

 

[Ava]

The CD is worth it. Photopass is awesome. It is the one way that I get to be in all the pictures with my family instead of standing behind my camera or trusting a stranger to take a good photo!

This is why I want to do it for our trip next year. I feel like I have almost no good pictures of myself with my DD because I'm always the one taking the photos. I've also learned that my father (the other person in the family who will willingly take photos) is a horrible photographer. I asked him to take a family photo of us at Easter and he zoomed in so far that you can't even see DD's adorable outfit! I guess that will also teach me to check the photos other people take if I care about them, but you can't really do that with a stranger in WDW. With Photopass they will take several until they get a good one for you.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

I wish I had bought it for our last trip. We used our own camera and photopass. When we got home we bought about $60 of prints from photopass that were better than our camera or that we didn't have on our camera. That $60 also included the discount I got from buying tickets to MVMCP.

 

[alimbrogno]

I don't think it can be "sold" when coming from that perspective. If you're happy to hand your camera to the CMs, and you don't have interest in the "enhanced" pictures you can make via the account, and no interest in the cute pictures the CMs can do with their system (like holding Simba, or Stitch popping out of a bench, etc), there's no reason for you to do anything with photopass.

The bonus of the CD comes when you ARE interested in the photopass product, have multiple pictures you want to own, and realize that the cost of the CD is much less than having them print all the pictures you want. Plus, you get the non-business rights to them, and can print them at will forever more, unlike the print you buy which does NOT give you rights to copy it even one time.

That's where the value of the CD is, when you're already interested.

Can you explain to me what this is? I received my Photo pass card but I don't know what this cd is or anything? HELP! 21 Days and counting!!!!

 

[EKW]

Sorry, no can do! You can ask the photopass photographers to take pics of you with your own camera and they gladly do it! They always take a photopass pic, too. The truth: the pics on my camera come out better!

Here's why...when I went to look at the ones from last summer, all the effects they did didn't work. They did the Soarin' pic...and Mickey was on the opposite side of the photo from where we were pointing!

If you really want the effects you can upload your own photos, add them, and purchase them individually.

I guess if money is no issue, try it and see if you like it. For my family it just doesn't make good sense financially!