PhotoPass is a photography service offered by Disney that captures your special moments at Disney parks. Disney photographers can take individual or group pictures and with a swipe of your Magic Band, you will be able to view them online that day on the website. You have access to get your picture taken around different parts of the parks at the best picturesque areas and are easily accessible. You’ll be able to find photographers spread out throughout the park – they are the ones in white button up shirts with tan vests on.
Trust me, you can’t miss them. They have a camera that they use to upload the pictures or you can have them use your cellphone or camera, which is free. So lets look at what Photopass is before we get to the Disney Photopass review!
How does it work?
In the past few years, Disney has upgraded the Photopass service. You can now quickly scan you magic band to save your pictures to your account. The benefit of this is that, if you have a big party and are splitting the P, their bands can be scanned as well to upload to the online library. Just make sure that you link the other magic bands. From there, you can log in online and view the pictures that were taken during your trip. At that time you can purchase gifts, accessories. When you scan your Magic Band, you can get a copy of ride photos or video from big rides such as Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or Tower of Terror.
If you don’t have a band, they can give you a card that they scan. You can take the code and submit it online to get your photos at the end of the day.
Benefits?
This provides an option to capture magic moments around the parks without having to always carrying your camera. Nevertheless, I do still recommend bringing your own camera. But this gives you the option to leave the camera at the resort a couple of days. It helps to conserve some memory on your SD cards. However, it is important to note that if you bring your camera or cell phone, the photographers will also take pictures with your camera as well. This is very convenient, in case you opt out of getting prints or Memory Maker later on.
Disney has photographers all over the park, including overlooking iconic places at Disney (Epcot globe, Cinderella’s castle, etc.), at most of the character meet and greets, as well as outside some character breakfasts. When your vacation is over, you can log into the online library of photos and edit all your pictures. You’re able to add borders or stickers to the pictures, adjust the colors. view all your Magic Shots. You can then make purchases such as gifts or Memory Maker.
Someone isnt stuck taking all the photos and everyone can be in the pictures.
What is a Magic Shots?
Magic shots are pictures that is staged to add Disney characters into the photos. Disney is continually rolling out new magic shots. If you are walking down Main St. and see someone holding the hand out like holding an invisible tray, they are likely holding Tinkerbell. You should always take advantage of the Magic Shots.
What about the Cons?
The biggest con to getting the Photopass is the price. Depending what you are buying, it can be expensive. For example: it current costs 16.95 for photo downloads, $24.95 for calendar and $79.95 for a photobook to name a few. You can also get Memory Maker which is a complete download of the pictures that were taken, pictures that you edited and the ride pictures or videos. The price is a little expensive at $169.00 if you buy the Memory Maker 3 days prior to your trip. However you can buy it later on, which the price increases to $199.00. If you are taking a lot of pictures, then it can be worth it. The individual restaurant photos were about $20 last time we went, so that adds up quickly. You don’t get a discount if you only use it 1 day vs 7 days.
Pictures will expire after 45 days, so you do have to edit pictures pretty quickly. The website is slow at times, which can be very frustrating. Another thing to remember is that the quality of the pictures can vary. They do take several photos which you can then choose your favorite later on. I opt to have them take 1 with my phone as well to have more to choose from. The biggest con is that they are not available at all Disney Dining locations such as Chef Mickey’s
So what’s the difference between the Photopass and Memory Maker?
Photopass is the service that Disney has started to provide photography services at the Disney parks. You can select certain photos to print or make gifts from with Photopass. The Memory Maker is a product that you can download all of the pictures and ride photos from your entire trip. Pictures will be saved as a zip file that can be opened on Mac or PC. You can have pictures taken part of the Photopass program but not buy Memory maker. With the Photopass program, you can buy each photo rather than all of the pictures as this can be up to a thousand pictures. The last trip we had around 600 pictures and over 1000 after the edits.
Conclusion
I know what you’re thinking where is the Disney Photopass Review? Well in the end, it comes down to personal preference. I like the option to use the Photopass service to see if some of the photos come out better than the pictures I took. It is a free service that you can then buy the photos or gifts. The Memory Maker is a little expensive but can be worth it. This is depending on how many days you are there and how many pictures you plan on taking. If you are at the parks under 3 days and not a big picture person, I would skip the extra cost. But it does have its place.
For our next trip, I will likely opt for the memory maker as we take a lot of pictures and this will be my Daughter’s first trip. I find a lot of value in it as you get unlimited photos and can edit them, although options can be limited. The best value is to make the decision to get it or opt out before the trip starts as this can save you $30 off the total cost.
You can always have the PhotoPass photographers take a picture using your camera and a picture with theirs. You have the option to edit them later on and decide which photos to keep. It is always better to have too many pictures than to regret not taking more. Hopefully you have found this Disney Photopass Review helpful.
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