I had a hard time finding recent info on Photoconnect before our trip, so I thought I'd post what I learned this past week.
We bought Photoconnect because we've always liked using Photopass at WDW. I knew ahead of time, based on what I found here, not to expect the same level of service or nearly as many photos as we get in WDW. But both the UG and the threads here indicated that there were enough opportunities for photos that I thought the prepurchase was worth it. I was particularly looking forward to the Simpsons Couch Gag opp, as well as Spider Man and the Raptor Encounter.
Alas, the UG was outdated. The Simpsons couch gag photo op, the primary reason I wanted to do Photoconnect, isn't there anymore. The clerk at the Quik-E-Mart looked at me like I was insane when I asked about it.
We also realized in short order that several of the photo opportunities are in the standby lines of certain rides -- if you use Express Pass, you will not encounter them. Of course, we could have gone through the standby lines to get the photo ops, but we made the decision to use our time elsewhere.
In addition, just because a photo op is supposed to/normally has a Photoconnect photographer available does not mean that they will actually have one available. I asked at Raptor Encounter, and was told that they should have a photographer there, but they weren't sure when he'd arrive (this was mid-day). He hadn't shown by the time our turn came.
Finally, the system was unreliable and even when there were opportunities to get photos, they often didn't work. Our MIB ride photo disappeared, as did the photo of my son on Elliot's bicycle, and they were not recoverable. Our Spider Man shots went to my account with a plain green screen; I had to make a special trip to the park before our flight to have it fixed (and I'm glad I checked my account before we left!)
All in all, I can't say that the prepurchase is worth the time and money we spent on it. In fact, by the end of the first day, I was ready to request a refund, as we didn't get a single shot. We did eventually get enough photos we liked that we didn't seek a refund, but I don't think I'd buy it again unless we were doing a long trip and were prepared to focus significant attention on chasing down those photo ops.
We bought Photoconnect because we've always liked using Photopass at WDW. I knew ahead of time, based on what I found here, not to expect the same level of service or nearly as many photos as we get in WDW. But both the UG and the threads here indicated that there were enough opportunities for photos that I thought the prepurchase was worth it. I was particularly looking forward to the Simpsons Couch Gag opp, as well as Spider Man and the Raptor Encounter.
Alas, the UG was outdated. The Simpsons couch gag photo op, the primary reason I wanted to do Photoconnect, isn't there anymore. The clerk at the Quik-E-Mart looked at me like I was insane when I asked about it.
We also realized in short order that several of the photo opportunities are in the standby lines of certain rides -- if you use Express Pass, you will not encounter them. Of course, we could have gone through the standby lines to get the photo ops, but we made the decision to use our time elsewhere.
In addition, just because a photo op is supposed to/normally has a Photoconnect photographer available does not mean that they will actually have one available. I asked at Raptor Encounter, and was told that they should have a photographer there, but they weren't sure when he'd arrive (this was mid-day). He hadn't shown by the time our turn came.
Finally, the system was unreliable and even when there were opportunities to get photos, they often didn't work. Our MIB ride photo disappeared, as did the photo of my son on Elliot's bicycle, and they were not recoverable. Our Spider Man shots went to my account with a plain green screen; I had to make a special trip to the park before our flight to have it fixed (and I'm glad I checked my account before we left!)
All in all, I can't say that the prepurchase is worth the time and money we spent on it. In fact, by the end of the first day, I was ready to request a refund, as we didn't get a single shot. We did eventually get enough photos we liked that we didn't seek a refund, but I don't think I'd buy it again unless we were doing a long trip and were prepared to focus significant attention on chasing down those photo ops.
