Is Photopass taking over???

[WDWRLD]

We just returned from the "World" and it seemed that more than ever that the photopass photographers are taking over. What I mean is when photopass started the photographers were there and took more spontaneous pictures. Now every picture they take they spend too much time posing everyone. They have also taken up all the good photo spots. The days of catching a quick shot of the castle through the archway on the path to tomorrowland are gone. The same with the front and center of the train station. They take so long with each group that the lines are always really long. Also with the character photos they stand right in the middle and constantly tell the kids to look and by the time they get their shot most kids are tired of standing there so your personal photos end up with smiles that look "forced". Some even look at you like your taking pictures of something you should not be. We even had one that as soon as he would get his shot would turn and say next family. The character handlers are now just standing around and talking with guests and the photopass photographers are running the show. Now not all are bad and some are really good and get some great shots but I think things would be alot faster if they would just hang back and get some more candid shots.

 

[Alztybrn]

I was there 2 weeks ago, and every time we had a photopass photographer at a character stop, the pp photog always let the parents take pics first, then they took their pics afterwords. I appreciated this.

 

[MousDad]

^^Me too. If you're aggressive and start taking your picture, they'll wait for you.

 

[krisrunsdisney]

I think it's funny you say PP is taking over. When we were there last (early May) I wished I was able ot find them more often. I see them mainly at DHS and MK. I found one at Epcot, near Canada. We spent so much time at Epcot with the family members who joined us for a day and I wish they would have taken bunches of pics. The Canada photog took great candid shots of me, DD, DDad, and one DS. Then we sorta posed while he clicked away. It was awesome.

I am sure there's more PP there now because people want pics from very well may be their only trip, or the first in a long time. Disney charges a lot for the CD with full rights, $120, I think. One pic is $12+ alone. Lots of $$$ to be made. (By the way, you can prepay for a PP CD before your trip. $99 and it's all the pics you want. 30 or 3000. When you get home, add borders, B&W some, cut and crop, all for $99. Just a thought.)

 

[Alztybrn]

^^Me too. If you're aggressive and start taking your picture, they'll wait for you.

I did not need to be aggressive...they just let me take mine first...I noticed this with all the other parents as well...they let them take their pics first, then they took their own..

 

[MousDad]

I did not need to be aggressive...they just let me take mine first...I noticed this with all the other parents as well...they let them take their pics first, then they took their own..

:lol: Maybe aggressive was not the best word choice. I wasn't elbowing them out of the way or anything. What I meant was, I had my camera in my hand and was ready to take a pic as soon as they got their autographs.

 

[Erin_Akey]

I personally LOVE photopass. Our last trip in October, we had a grand gathering and i paid the 99.00 before the trip for my CD. I now have an amazing CD with zillions of pictures.

We did all kinds of crazy poses and got some of just the kids, some of just the adults, etc. It is the BEST value going. I loved being able to personaize them once we got home and got online. We don't use our personal camera too much anymore.

I will DEF. be buying this package again. And when we did want to do our own photos, the photogs were really nice about it.

Sorry you had a bad experience.

 

[Richie248]

I found all the PP Cast Members to be a delight, and I enjoy having them around. it works out well when you want a photo with everyone, I also wouldn't mind if they added more of them throughout the resort, I wonder how much it would cost to have your own personal Photo Pass Person?

 

[rickdrat]

I have to say that after our recent visit in April, I was not put off by the photopass guys. Most seemed to do their best handling the groups and lines. True enough, they are stationed at all the prime photo spots, but then weren't countless other "amateurs" always juggling for position anyway? I will say this, I did not buy the CD and I'm glad we didn't because I found none of the shots to be substantially better than the ones I took. Some were even badly underexposed or used no fill flash. In the end we ended up purchasing 1 photo from them.

To their credit, the photographers were always willing to take shots of our entire group with my camera as well. I was quite stunned that Disney allowed this, although I suspect that practice may change soon.

Richard

 

[DizneyPryncess]

I'm actually really excited to hear about Photopass people being around more. When I was there in March I couldn't find any. I got about 20 shots, and most were duplicates. I found one that wouldn't take any of the "special" shots like Stitch, Simba, & Tinkerbell. He said only certain CM's were allowed to do that? :shrug: I was very confused.

I'm looking forward to my trip in a few days to finding new photo pass photographers. I do agree that they need to speed it up just a little bit though. Character lines are getting longer & longer every time I go.

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

I do agree that there are more Photopass photographers around these days, but I don't think they make it all that difficult for us guests to take our pics. Personally, I think they provide a nice service for guests who want to get their entire family in a picture. I will say that it wouldn't hurt for them to speed the process up. The posing is nice, but after the first 10 seconds or so, it just becomes tiresome. Just take the picture and move on.

 

[WDWRLD]

I do agree that there are more Photopass photographers around these days, but I don't think they make it all that difficult for us guests to take our pics. Personally, I think they provide a nice service for guests who want to get their entire family in a picture. I will say that it wouldn't hurt for them to speed the process up. The posing is nice, but after the first 10 seconds or so, it just becomes tiresome. Just take the picture and move on.

Thats exactly what I mean...

 

[eliezrah]

I don't care for PP at the parks...but I do wish they had it on the cruise line.

Me too! OMG we spent sooo much $$$ buying pics on our cruise this past Fall. We spent way over the $99 we paid for the CD for PP in the parks and got no where near as many pics!

I loved seeing PP everywhere when we went since it was our kids' first trip. By having so many PP, we got TONS of full family pics at every major spot we wanted.

 

[DisneyGigi]

I love the Photopass and our experiences have been great. We take our own photos but also really try to maximize our Photopass pictures as well. We ended up with around 200 or so last trip, which makes it well worth the price of the CD not to mention that we love the Photomovie. They always let us snap our pictures first and they are able to capture the moments that you may miss being caught up in the moment. I don't care how fast you are if you are trying to watch the faces of your family and snap too, you will miss some things. Not to mention that it lets the whole family get in the shot.

 

[sbkline]

I don't understand why you think that the days are gone that you can take a picture of the castle through the archway? Unless you go on a totally dead day or something, then it's inevitable that there are going to be people in your picture. Given that, then what difference does it make if the background people are photopass photographers, or just general people? You've still got your picture of the castle, or whatever else it is that you were trying to take a picture of.

Personally, I wish they would expand photopass. As beautiful as the countries are at Epcot, I was quite disappointed that we couldn't get some good photopass shots in front of the countries. Maybe they do that a little here and there, but when we were there, the only photopass people we saw in WS were the ones taking pictures for a character meet and greet. We saw none just stationed at random spots in WS, and I was really hoping to get some pictures there.

I also wish that they would put photopass people at the resort restaraunts, because I would love to have had some professional pictures at Artist Point, for example.

 

[CrazyViolaGuy]

My girlfriend and I went down to Disney this past March (Her first time, my billionth ) and I really enjoyed the fact that the PP cast members were so abundant. We got a few pics from their cameras but they were more than happy to take pictures with my camera, which came out nearly as well. A very positive experience.

Perhaps even more shocking were the random people who saw one of us taking a picture of the other and volunteered themselves to take a picture of us both together. Needless to say, I dont see that sort of generosity and helpfulness from random guests at Six Flags over Georgia...

 

[eppaspc]

On our last two trips (07 and 08) I did not find any problem with the PP photogs, the only problem I observed was that some (not all), but some of the familys and couples acted like they were taking wedding photos or A. Adams stills. It wasn't the photogs taking too much time it was the obsessive-compulsive parents wanting everything to be absolutely perfect, nevermind the fact that little Jimmy was having nothing to do with it and just wanted to get to IASW.

 

[PrincessBitty]

I love photopass!! Since it is just me & DH, we'd have hardly any photos of the 2 of s from our trips if it weren't for the great photopass peeps. I also wish there were more throughout the parks, especially world showcase. The photogs have always been so professional & we've gotten fantastic photos. We always get as many pics as we can b/c the cd is so worthwhile especially now that you can add your own photos. Plus it's great to sit down when you get home and crop / edit the photos yourself (that way you always get your best angle:lol and add the special graphics.

 

[DABIGCHEEZ]

Here is my $.02.....

I have used the PP in past years and I have to honestly say that most, NOT ALL, of the PP pics were not any better than mine. I am nowhere near a professional photographer. Now some pics in front of Castle / Tree of Life and such may be a little better but nothing substantial. I think some may be professional photographers as stated but the blanket statement applying to all PP photographers can not be true.

Regarding the other mentioned comments, I have never had a problem with a PP photographer allowing me to take my own pics, usually before they do. As far as the PP at character meet and greets, I think they should only be at the cetain spots where the character changes are only a few minutes in between (Camp Minnie-Mickey, Judges tent). Having PP at the other locations like the characters that come out by the Hat at DHS or the countries in Epcot does take up some time and I can understand peoples frustration as my kids have been one just missing a character leaving once or twice.

Also people who say " we can never get the whole family in the picture because someone has to take the pic"...I am a little confused. Is there a problem with nicely asking someone nearby to take your picture??? I have done it on more than one occassion and have been aske to take another family's picture more than once as well. I still think most people would not have a problem helping you out.

Well guess that was more like $.03

 

[disneytopdog]

(By the way, you can prepay for a PP CD before your trip. $99 and it's all the pics you want. 30 or 3000. When you get home, add borders, B&W some, cut and crop, all for $99. Just a thought.)[/quote]

How do you go about prepaying for the cd? It was soooooo worth it last year. Do you still get the 2 free 8x10's if you pre purchase the cd?