To get the Memory Maker, or not to get the Memory Maker...

[Meglin]

That is the question.

I am going to be visiting Disney World in 4 weeks for the first time (yay!) to celebrate my college graduation. My boyfriend will be accompanying me, and it is his 2nd visit. I had budgeted some money for plane tickets but because his dad works for an airline company, it turns out he was able to get us round-trip tickets for free.

Now that I have the extra money I budgeted for, I'm tempted to pay $170 to get the Memory Maker. I love pictures and love the idea of collecting all our photographs from the trip... not to mention, I am getting strong inclinations that this trip may also include a marriage proposal from him. This will also very likely be a one-time trip, in that I don't anticipate us returning for many years (more than likely when we have our own children to take.) However, $170 is very expensive, and I'm not sure if I would be better off just taking my own pictures with my phone.

Was Memory Maker worth it to you? Thank you in advance!

 

[heidijanesmith]

We enjoy the memory maker, as all of our shots with my camera and disney's photos are all in the same place. When I have not used memory maker, 99% of our pictures were taken by me. When we use Photopass, I am actually in the picture. These are some of our favorite pics. We love magic shots.

I love watching the pics on our CD. For us it is worth it.

 

[Tippytoes1111]

I have a nice DSLR, and photography is somewhat of a hobby of mine (or used to be when I used to have time for a hobby), so I enjoyed taking my own pictures. After our trip when I reviewed our MM pictures online, there was only one I wanted, so I purchased. Every other picture they took, I had just as good a shot of on my own.

 

[robndani]

We love MM and get it every time! Magic shots are the BEST - my kids ask for them all the time! With just 2 of you, it also avoids selfies/asking someone for a million pictures. You can embellish them after, which adds to the fun! Even though you would be using your phone and not a big camera, it's nice to just BE and enjoy, rather than worry about snapping your own pictures the whole time.

I do admit, I also bring my camera to almost every park (I lug it around along with my 2 5 year olds) but in February I left it at the hotel a few times and just enjoyed the MM. It's also great if you are doing any character meals and for ride photos!

Congrats and keep us posted if there's an engagement!!!!

 

[Nwall81]

I have a nice DSLR, and photography is somewhat of a hobby of mine (or used to be when I used to have time for a hobby), so I enjoyed taking my own pictures. After our trip when I reviewed our MM pictures online, there was only one I wanted, so I purchased. Every other picture they took, I had just as good a shot of on my own.

Except you were not in those pictures?

 

[IndianaRRT]

I got the MM for our trip a few weeks ago, and I'm so, so glad I did. We had over 300 pics, and I only carried my DSLR one day (when we went to AK. I wanted safari pics.) The rest of the time, I was free as you please to ride whatever and not have to worry about standing twice as long while I took a pic and then handed my camera to the PhotoPass CM to take a pic with me in it. (They do it very cheerfully, but it takes more time) Instead, we had our photo taken, scanned my Magicband, and we were done. The downloading is so easy, and I got some extra stock photos I'll use for scrapbooking. And all our ride photos. Love, love, love the MM. We'll get it again!

 

[kmoore7]

We purchased MM for our trip last July 4th. 400+ pictures later,it was well worth it. Not just the obvious shots,group in front of castle,etc. I had photographs of random moments. I asked them to take pictures of our kids eating ice cream waiting for the parades. Hard to do when I'm eating too. We got some great close-up shots of the shows on stage. We will definitely do it again on our next trip

 

[bluezy]

That is the question.

I am going to be visiting Disney World in 4 weeks for the first time (yay!) to celebrate my college graduation. My boyfriend will be accompanying me, and it is his 2nd visit. I had budgeted some money for plane tickets but because his dad works for an airline company, it turns out he was able to get us round-trip tickets for free.

Now that I have the extra money I budgeted for, I'm tempted to pay $170 to get the Memory Maker. I love pictures and love the idea of collecting all our photographs from the trip... not to mention, I am getting strong inclinations that this trip may also include a marriage proposal from him. This will also very likely be a one-time trip, in that I don't anticipate us returning for many years (more than likely when we have our own children to take.) However, $170 is very expensive, and I'm not sure if I would be better off just taking my own pictures with my phone.

Was Memory Maker worth it to you? Thank you in advance!

We think it's worth every penny....especially since the ride photos started being included with it a few years ago. And the "magic shots" are fun, too. Any time we stop for a MM photo, I always ask the photographer if they do any magic shots. And it's nice to have pictures of our whole family without having to stop someone and ask them to take a picture for us. We still take our own camera to the parks because we want casual and spontaneous photos along with the posed MM shots (though some of my favorite MM photos from our last trip are the shots the photographer took of my daughters while interacting with Mickey before posing for their photos). We've had a lot of fun conversations with some of the photographers as well.

 

[cjparker0110]

I have a question to add here: We will be going to WDW in 2017 in a rather large party. If one of us buys the MM, would we be able to get pics of EVERYONE on there? Or just our immediate family?

 

[Mindwellwasted]

For 2 people I think the MemoryMaker is great because you end up with tons of photos of the two of you, without having to ask anyone. Plus, factor in the on-ride photos which you can't get on your own. As for character photos, some of my favourites from my trips are candid ones the photographers have taken while we were meeting characters

True, a lot of the photographers just take the picture with a nice camera and that's about it, but some are really good at what they do! I have one in front of the castle that we took when the stage show was going on, and the photographer made us wait until the fireworks went off so in our photos it looks like we have fairy dust around us!

 

[Tippytoes1111]

Except you were not in those pictures?

True, but I prefer it that way. I hate being in pictures. I am in a few my husband takes so my children will have some of their mom, but it works for me not being in them.

 

[siskaren]

I have a question to add here: We will be going to WDW in 2017 in a rather large party. If one of us buys the MM, would we be able to get pics of EVERYONE on there? Or just our immediate family?

Assuming no changes are made to how it works in the next two years, anyone who's listed in your Friends and Family list will be able to have their pictures included.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

It was well worth the cost for us on our last trip, but I participated in a share from a Facebook group. I think it was about $30 per family.

 

[cjparker0110]

Assuming no changes are made to how it works in the next two years, anyone who's listed in your Friends and Family list will be able to have their pictures included.

Thank you!

 

[Disney Mom 7272]

That is the question.

I am going to be visiting Disney World in 4 weeks for the first time (yay!) to celebrate my college graduation. My boyfriend will be accompanying me, and it is his 2nd visit. I had budgeted some money for plane tickets but because his dad works for an airline company, it turns out he was able to get us round-trip tickets for free.

Now that I have the extra money I budgeted for, I'm tempted to pay $170 to get the Memory Maker. I love pictures and love the idea of collecting all our photographs from the trip... not to mention, I am getting strong inclinations that this trip may also include a marriage proposal from him. This will also very likely be a one-time trip, in that I don't anticipate us returning for many years (more than likely when we have our own children to take.) However, $170 is very expensive, and I'm not sure if I would be better off just taking my own pictures with my phone.

Was Memory Maker worth it to you? Thank you in advance!

I think memory maker is well worth the money. I like having our whole family in pictures without having to ask random people to take the picture for us. I also really enjoy the pictures on the rides that you get. We purchase it evey trip that we take!

 

[Minniekins]

Would someone mind explaining how this works? Don't you have to find a photographer to take pics anytime you want pics of something? I don't recall seeing all that many photographers around all over the place. Thus thing sorts confuses me, lol.

 

[Disney Mom 7272]

Would someone mind explaining how this works? Don't you have to find a photographer to take pics anytime you want pics of something? I don't recall seeing all that many photographers around all over the place. Thus thing sorts confuses me, lol.

Everytime we have been we haven't had any trouble finding a photographer to take our picture. Especially at Magic Kingdom, they are just lined up on Main Street ready to take your picture. There have been some of the character restaurants that we go to that there is a photographer there to take your picture. For example for Ohana breakfast a photographer is there to take your picture with Stitch. He is the only one that they will photograph you with so when Lilo, Pluto, and Mickey come out you have to take a picture with your own camera. Then after they take the picture they will scan your magic band and it will be uploaded to your account and if you have memory maker then you can print all of those pictures when you get home. You can send them to be printed at like Walgreens or Walmart. If you think that you will only want a couple of pictures then they will still take your picture and you can buy them off a website. They are a little pricey to just buy them from the website. On my last trip I had over 400 pictures that I could upload to my computer and print. My girls pictures from the BBB were on there also. Then some of the rides also have pictures available for upload on the memory maker. Seven dwarfs mine train, Tower of Terror and some other ones are available. I still take a small camera with me for times that there isn't a photographer but last year I just relied on the memory maker for most of my pictures. My first year I took my big camera but it began to be a big hassle to keep getting it out of the backpack for every picture that we wanted. Plus through memory maker your whole family gets to be in the picture. Hope this helps!!

 

[Minniekins]

Everytime we have been we haven't had any trouble finding a photographer to take our picture. Especially at Magic Kingdom, they are just lined up on Main Street ready to take your picture. There have been some of the character restaurants that we go to that there is a photographer there to take your picture. For example for Ohana breakfast a photographer is there to take your picture with Stitch. He is the only one that they will photograph you with so when Lilo, Pluto, and Mickey come out you have to take a picture with your own camera. Then after they take the picture they will scan your magic band and it will be uploaded to your account and if you have memory maker then you can print all of those pictures when you get home. You can send them to be printed at like Walgreens or Walmart. If you think that you will only want a couple of pictures then they will still take your picture and you can buy them off a website. They are a little pricey to just buy them from the website. On my last trip I had over 400 pictures that I could upload to my computer and print. My girls pictures from the BBB were on there also. Then some of the rides also have pictures available for upload on the memory maker. Seven dwarfs mine train, Tower of Terror and some other ones are available. I still take a small camera with me for times that there isn't a photographer but last year I just relied on the memory maker for most of my pictures. My first year I took my big camera but it began to be a big hassle to keep getting it out of the backpack for every picture that we wanted. Plus through memory maker your whole family gets to be in the picture. Hope this helps!!

Thank you, Disney Mom 7272, appreciate you explaining it! It just seems so expensive when I can easily take most pics myself. And seems sort of a pain to ask a guy to take our pic. What about simple things happening in the moment? I often think about trying it but I'm afraid I wouldn't get as much out of it as I should for the cost. Plus, how would I know, at say a character breakfast, that they'd only photograph us with some of the characters there, not all? If I didn't bring my own camera I wouldn't be too happy about that. Otoh, many people seem happy with it!

 

[Disney Mom 7272]

Thank you, Disney Mom 7272, appreciate you explaining it! It just seems so expensive when I can easily take most pics myself. And seems sort of a pain to ask a guy to take our pic. What about simple

It is actually very simple. All the photographers are standing in the middle of the street just waiting to take pics. But yes you could take the pictures yourself. I really enjoyed the pictures of my kids and my husband on the rides that I don't ride. For example I won't ride the Tower of Terror but my husband and my oldest daughter does so it's cool to get those pics of them on there that I couldn't normally get.

 

[Chrelaine]

I decided to get MM for our first trip (in 2 weeks!!!) because I want to be in some of the photos for once! My daughter is 4 and I swear we only have one photo of me with her from any vacation. It looks like DH and DD always went on vacation without me