Tell me about Photopass

[mlggator]

This is a feature that I have never used before nor have I spent much time exploring it. We have always just had our own camera and used that. We haven't purchased any of the photos taken by Disney before.

However, it sounds nice and so many of you use it. Maybe I need to look into it. So, tell me more about it. How it works. How much it costs. Is it worth it.

Michele

 

[disneyfaninaz]

It should not be a replacement for your own camera. However, it is a great opportunity to get everybody in your group in the same picture in front of some of DL's most iconic views.

When you see a Photopass Photographer around the park, especially at the entry. Ask to get your picture taken, they will give you a credit card size photopass to have scanned everytime you get a picture taken with them. They will pose you for certain special effects or not. After your trip you can go home and look up your photos on-line. You can add Disney borders, characters and sayings and order them. Some people who get a lot of photos taken purchase CDs with all of their photos to print off.

Photos aren't cheap and run around $10 for a 5x7 and $13 for an 8x10, but for a special keepsake they can be worth every penny.

 

[dr&momto2boys]

We purchased the photopass CD last year for our extended family WDW trip. It was worth every penny to us because we had a lot of group pictures taken (at least one at every park) and the 4 kids had a lot of pictures taken with various characters. We had three families (MIL & FIL, SIL's family, and us.) We each had a photopass card so even when we split up we could have as many pictures taken as we wanted. At the end of our trip, when we got home, I just had to go to their website, enter the numbers from each photopass card and it created one acoount. So we got all the pictures from each of our families on one CD. Before they send you the CD, you can view the pictures, zoom, crop, add borders, and even character autographs to them if you want. Then Disney sends you a release along with the CD so you can print these pictures wherever you want. I used them along with my own photos to make a photobook online. (On a site other than Disney's.)

It costs nothing to have the photos taken and linked to a photopass card. It costs nothing to view them. You can buy a CD containing all the photos you had taken (unlimited) or you can select certain photos and pay per print.

You'd be surprised at how many opportunities you can find to have a photo taken and how nicely they turn out. I think it's definately worth it. At the time we bought ours, there was a discount to pre-pay for the CD (before your trip.) I do think you could get a refund though if you decided afterward that you didn't want it. Last year, with prepay it was $99. I think I've read that it is less now. Maybe $59? Fantastic!

 

[tink2dw]

except for the fact that you pay $98. before any pic is taken just for the the privilage of those expense photos you have to buy later??

Take your own pics! CM's will take pics with your camera, of your whole family for you. FREE

 

[Queenbillabong]

except for the fact that you pay $98. before any pic is taken just for the the privilage of those expense photos you have to buy later??

Take your own pics! CM's will take pics with your camera, of your whole family for you. FREE

You don't have to pay for anything before any picture is taken. You have the option of purchasing the photos after you leave the park (it's actually cheaper this way) and you can choose which photos you want, edit them, add your own photos, etc. You can either buy prints of photos, a CD of all the photos (or the ones you like plus the ones you edit), or a book of your favorite photos.

The CD is currently $59 for however many photos you have taken - and you can get lots, just look for the photographers! You can then make prints at home of the ones you want prints of.

We like to do a combination of both - Photopass and our own camera.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

except for the fact that you pay $98. before any pic is taken just for the the privilage of those expense photos you have to buy later??

Take your own pics! CM's will take pics with your camera, of your whole family for you. FREE

It doesn't cost anything to have the pictures taken. It is your option to purchase any of the photos taken by photopass photographers. No obligation to purchase before hand.

 

[annieb727]

The others pretty much summed it up. We did it last September with a photopass share, and I think everyone paid about $20 to do it that way. I ended up with over 600 photos - just of me and my family...we ended up with like six discs for the entire group. I love the additions you can make to the pictures...they make them a lot of fun. I just finished my scrapbook from that trip and was showing my four year old. He said, "oh look! the REAL tinkerbell!" on one I had used the border that had tinkerbell. He was in awe. It was precious. And totally worth it!

 

[mott]

Ok, we were just there a few weeks ago and I'm not sure where the photopass photographers were hiding. We saw one in front of the castle, one in toontonw and one by the walt & mickey statue. I saw one by the bridge in CA. We saw a couple of characters and expected a photopass person, but no. I kept hearing people who have hundreds of photopass pictures taken - WHERE are these picture being taken?

 

[cmjaffe]

Can you use photopass for Tower of Terror picture or Splash?
That would be fantastic.

 

[bumbershoot]

Can you use photopass for Tower of Terror picture or Splash?
That would be fantastic.

Nope. Only ride picture available on photopass at ANY Disney park is Test Track at WDW.



tink2dw, I'm sorry you thought you had to pay ahead of time even to have your pix taken! Since I've been very active in photopass threads, I almost feel like it was somehow my fault (I'm a little paranoid today, LOL).

As others have said, you don't have to pay even one cent to have your pictures taken.

The pre-pay option WAS a good option before, because until February, the CD price was 124.95 when you bought the CD after the trip. Pre-paying through the special link brought it down by 20%, and that was great! Especially b/c the pre-purchase price was totally refundable, if you decided you did NOT want to get the CD after all.

But now that DLR's photopass price has gone down, it makes absolutely no sense to use the pre-purchase link. When I went in late May, the editable pictures on CD was 79.99 buying it after your trip, and if you just wanted the pure pictures (no editing) in hand as you left the parks, you could buy it and 3 5x7 prints for just about that same cost.

But now it's $59.99 (though I think there's about 5 bucks for shipping on top of that) buying the edited pictures on CD after the trip, so definitely do not pre-purchase for a trip to DLR!



OP, you can check out my Sept and especially December trip reports for examples of the editing you can do online with the photopass pictures. If you're a terrific scrapbooker with all sorts of editing software, you might just want the plain and simple pictures on a CD, and you can check out the price for that CD (which you buy in the parks) during your trip. But if you like the editing ability, to add fun borders, Tinkerbell swooping over your head, and so on, then the after-the-fact CD purchase is fun.

Buying one 5x7 print from the Photopass centers costs about 12.95, and you don't have legal rights to copy it, so you can see how things could add up if you like the pictures taken (for free, just walk to a photopass photog, have pix taken the first time, and they give you a card to use with other photogs) and/or have many family members who might want copies!

The CD gives you the rights to print the pictures so that's nice, instead of just getting the prints from Photopass. And you can use any printing place you like when you have the CD.


There are also fun "magic" pictures that the photopass system allows (can't get them on your own camera), such as hitchhiking ghosts near Haunted Mansion, swordfighting with Captain Hook in NOS and crossing lightsabers with Darth Vader in Tomorrowland, and many other things like that. You arrange with the photographer to do that, it's not something YOU edit it after the fact.


Hope my thoughts help!