Disney's Photopass - worth the money??

[Gorjus]

I think my statement was taken the wrong way. When I said it is rude to ask a photopass photographer to take a picture with your personal camera, what I meant was that it is one of the photopass photographer's job to get as many people to take their picture with the photopass system as possible. I wouldn't have a problem taking someone's photo with their camera as long as I also was allowed to take it with the "official" camera. Apparently whether people buy or not has no bearing on your job, but how many people you photograph does.

And if I am photographing an event, say a prom or a first communion, I get people all the time who want to use my background my props, but their camera. And then they ask me to take the photo with their camera. That is where I draw the line. I'm trying to sell a service and a product and you are trying to get that service and product for free.

Now Disney is a bit different. BIG PROPS (Castle, Hat, Space Ship Earth, Tree, Character). Public props. But the service of the photographer is still the same.

But, if the photopass photographer offered, hey...great!

 

[hankhill]

Cd

I think it really depends on the number of pics you like. We had 87 taken and liked 6 so we just bought the 6.

 

[schachteles]

Do keep in mind...back when we were there in April you were able to enhance your photos and have those burned to your disk also, when we went back in May they were no longer allowing you to enhance ANY of your photos...it was a HUGE disappointment!!!!!!!!!!!! Personally it is a great deal, I am not about having to teach every person in WDW how to use my camera, it was just so much easier to have the photopass pepole do it...and it was GREAT to finally have some family pictures. Guess you have to weigh the options.

 

[Kriszee1]

http://disneyphotomovie.go.com/movie/customerservice/detail?name=LearnMore

I read about this DVD photo movie as well, anybody else try it? I was thinking of working the photopass and DVD into my budget.

 

[Tramp]

Yes, I'm a photo freak!

We were there for 3 weeks beginning July 1st. We took 712 PhotoPass photos, apparently a record of sorts. It became a game for us to hunt down the photographers and ask them to take as many photos as possible. By the end of our trip, the photographers recognized us as we walked thru the parks and called us by our first names. I bought the $99 package and they put all our photos on two CDs. I have no intention, at this time, to have prints made from the CDs. I made two copies of the CDs and stored them away. The photos are not for me, they are for my daughter and, God willing, her children. If, 30 or 40 years from now, they want to use the CDs as coasters, it won't mean a hill of beans to me. But I'm betting that they may want to print one or two of the pictures of their Grandparents and Mom, and I just want to make it easy for them.

The many photographers we met were very friendly and willing to use my camera to take a photo. I never sensed an iota of reluctance not to take a photo but, then again, we never asked them to take a photo with our camera without having them take one with theirs. In fact, in the permanent photo locations like the Tent or Sorcerer's Mickeys, you'll find someone standing there to take a photo with your camera even though there's a PhotoPass photographer taking one too.

Here's the bottom line for everyone. No one is twisting your arm to have the pictures taken and, certainly, no one is holding a gun to your head to purchase anything. It's really a judgement call on your part and I wouldn't presume to know what's best for you. If you can't afford it, just say it, there's no shame in that. But, please, don't knock a program that is designed to provide you with quality photos at absolutely no risk or obligation to anyone who participates. How many times do you run into something like that in your daily life?

I have to say that the night photos in front of the castle, hat, RnR, TOT, and SSE are really awesome shots.

I also want to give a shout out to one of our forum members who is a PhotoPass Photographer trainer and one of the sweetest young ladies on the planet. I bumped into her on Hollywood Blvd purely by accident and I recognized her from one of the pictures she posted in this forum. I had no idea she was a photographer and I think she was a bit stunned when I introduced myself.

 

[ZapperZ]

http://disneyphotomovie.go.com/movie/customerservice/detail?name=LearnMore

I read about this DVD photo movie as well, anybody else try it? I was thinking of working the photopass and DVD into my budget.

We got one, and we love it. I only wish we could include more pictures than the number that they allow.

I also wish they could have a choice of "themes", so that if you wish to make another DVD photomovie, it won't have the identical theme as the first one.

Zz.

 

[FSUgly]

We thought it was well worth the $99. As a matter of fact, we plan to do it every year now. We had both the original photos, as well as the "enhanced" photos with special logos and frames on the cd. We just had an 8x10 printed at Sam's to see how well it would come out.....WOW! Even the Sam's Club employee that saw the picture after it came through was impressed (we uploaded it via the web, and picked it up an hour later). Plus, assuming you have a membership, it only cost $1.46.
If you think this is something that interests you, definitely get the card as soon as you enter the first park, and look for these photographers every where you go. You might as well get as many pictures on that cd as you can.

 

[Valawen9]

I do not think it is worth it unless you obviously have ALOT of pictures taken and they turn out good. The quality of the kodak photos are great- we ordered one (see profile picture) and we got the biggest size. You have to get lucky with the photographers though.

You're picture is really cute :animwink:

 

[Sledge]

I'm a "Certified Photo Specialist". Let's see if I can help.

Is it a good deal or not? It depends on how you look at it. If you've ever been on a cruise you know how you pay a buttload on pictures only to find out when you try to make a copy of them that they are copyrighted and you can't. The same thing applies at Disney.

You have two options:
- Get the $100 photo CD and have the rights to all of the "professional" photos that they take and getting them printed out at Walgreens. If you were to have all the "professionally taken" photographs actually printed for you by them it would be hundreds of dollars. With this option you can print them through someone else with the same quality for a fraction of the price.

- On the other hand you can take your own pictures on a digital camera, take it in to Walgreens and get them put on a disc for $2.99. You can then get them printed for pretty cheap. $.29 for 4 wallets, $.29 for a 4X6 ($.19 each if there are 50+ prints), $1.99 for a 5X7, and $3.99 for a 8X10.

Personally I'd go with the second option seeing as their "professional" photographs looked EXACTLY like our pictures on our last trip. The only real advantage is you don't have to carry your camera around all day.

Hope I helped.