Memory Maker

[Nona]

We will be in Disney in less than 2 weeks. We have gone back and forth about whether the Memory Maker is worth it. Thoughts??

 

[RememberWhen]

If you like getting your picture taken, and would want all those pictures somewhere, then yes! We like to make books for the kids with pictures from their previous trips (not just Disney). But we always have somebody along with an AP, so I don’t think we’ve paid for memory maker in awhile. The ride pictures/videos are cute too.

 

[I am Timmy]

I always get it - there are rides that take automatic pics, and some you have to scan after the ride, we get em' all. It's fun to go through and see all the different expressions your family had - even if they rode one ride 100 times. Then there are the all the photographers throughout the parks where you can line up for pics - they even have them at some resorts. If you take the time to do some of these, it's worth it.

 

[Tom 55]

If you have any plans to buy just a couple of the ride photos to remember your visit to the world. Then the cost makes it a better deal to buy Memory maker. I have used it for a number of trips. I always stop at the Photopass cast members and have pictures taken. I have more than 200 photos per trip. Plus they include professional photos of parks and events.

 

[Weather_Lady]

I may be in the minority, but we bought MemoryMaker once at WDW (back when the price was less than $100) and wouldn't do it again even at that price. Here's why:

- There's no reason to pay somebody to do something they'll already do for you for free: I think a lot of guests who buy MemoryMaker don't realize that any cast member, anywhere, from all of the MemoryMaker photographers down to your restaurant server or the greeter at your onsite hotel, will gladly take your picture with your own device, on request. And the quality of the MemoryMaker "professional" photos is no better than what you'd get from a decent smartphone or point-and-click camera: the one time we purchased MemoryMaker, we put together a lovely photo book of our trip when we got home, and about 90% of it was photos we'd taken ourselves or asked someone to take with our devices, because very few of the MemoryMaker photos even made the cut.

- The on-ride photos were fun, but they're not great quality. Most of ours were dark or blurry, some didn't come out at all due to flashes not being properly synchronized, and in some cases the photos were of the wrong people/wrong ride vehicles. They were fun to look at for a minute, but not something we'd frame and put on the mantle.

- The "magic shots" (where they Photoshop in a character in cartoon form) weren't of any value to us. I know it's down to personal opinion, but we thought they just looked stupid.

- The cost of MemoryMaker has gotten so high ($169 in advance) that there are myriad things we'd rather spend the money on that we'd enjoy more: that amount could cover a lavish table service meal, or souvenirs for the entire family, or upgraded seats on our flights both ways, or 3 parkhopper ticket upgrades! Heck, with that much we could rent a stretch limo to take us from the airport to our hotel! Spending it on pictures that we can already get taken for free (other than the on-ride photos) seems ridiculous.

 

[DisAl]

The worst thing about MM other than the cost is the idiotic automated systems they have a some of the character M&G locations. I think the only one at the MK is Tinkerbell. You most likely will NOT get any decent candid pics there but if you are lucky you may be able to get some decent posed pics. Even the posed pics are not nearly as good though because there is no one to get the attention of younger children and to perfectly time the shot.
That being said, my daughter and her family did MM this past weekend because they wanted to make sure they got the marathon photos of my son-in-law. (Yes, he did complete it!) I think they consider it worth the cost; they had about 450 photos total for their three day visit including about 50 from the marathon.

 

[Nona]

Thanks all for the input I think we are going to pass and take our own (or have folks take some)

 

[DimpledDevil18]

We did it on our last trip and have purchased it again for this trip at my Mom's request. Our reasoning is that we hardly get any family pictures where we are all in them, so its nice to return home to an assortment of them plus the on ride photos and videos. It is what you make of it though. There is no limit on the number of photos you can have so make sure you stop at a Photo Pass photographer when you see one.

The quality can vary between photographers but we were happy with what we ended up with and some of them were a bit more creative in posing us and such. To us it is easier than constantly giving a CM our phone or camera and sometimes they get great candid shots.

 

[dreamfinder]

Until they completely rip out the human soul and replace it with the dreaded boxes, Photopass still shines in 2 places. Character interactions, and night time shots.

Often, Photopass is ready/able to take pictures of that first meeting/hug with a character. Yes, the handlers will take photos for you, but at that point they are making sure that you put your bags in the correct spot, that the next family doesn't jump in your group shots, etc. So that shot of little Tommy running up for a big hug with Mickey, or that kiss from Cinderella for little Jane would get missed. Some photographers will miss it as well, but the odds go up greatly with Photopass.

Night time shots, particularly to take advantage of the lighting, requires a tripod and certain settings on a camera. Cell phones are getting better, but a properly exposed shot on a tripod camera will still blow a cell phone picture away any day of the week. So unless you are sclepping a tripod, and know how to do night photography, most Photopass pictures will be leaps better than ones a random CM will take.

In both cases, yes there are exceptions. But MemoryMaker lets you take as many pictures to make sure you get good ones. So one photographer may not be great, but the one 20 feet up main street may be phenomenal. Yes, you can still pay for them individually if you get one you like, but MemoryMaker lets you get them all.

 

[Herdman]

We are the type of family who doesn't always think about stopping to take pictures so Memory Maker has been great for us.

 

[Jon81uk]

There's no reason to pay somebody to do something they'll already do for you for free: I think a lot of guests who buy MemoryMaker don't realize that any cast member, anywhere, from all of the MemoryMaker photographers down to your restaurant server or the greeter at your onsite hotel, will gladly take your picture with your own device, on request. And the quality of the MemoryMaker "professional" photos is no better than what you'd get from a decent smartphone or point-and-click camera: the one time we purchased MemoryMaker, we put together a lovely photo book of our trip when we got home, and about 90% of it was photos we'd taken ourselves or asked someone to take with our devices, because very few of the MemoryMaker photos even made the cut.

The only major advantages of having the PhotoPass photographer take pictures at characters is that they will often take multiple photos and different angles etc (although if more of the automated boxes come in this will probably change). The character handler will often only take one or two with your own device.
Also I would feel more awkward asking the PhotoPass photographers in the street (in front of the castle etc) to take photos on my own device.

 

[Dinardo]

We get memory maker on our trips. The cameras they use are often better than my iPhone6 because I don’t rush out to get the latest greatest.

I also like the fact that I can watch my kids laugh and have fun interacting with the characters using my own two eyes instead of watching it through a 5” screen.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

Got it for the first time on our last trip, wish we had done this on prior trips, it was totally worth it. You can even leave your camera at home if you want.

 

[Ray B]

We get it on every trip. I will say that they are degrading it with the "photo boxes" rather than photographers in certain spots. They have also done away with the stickers and borders that you can put on photos. My daughter loved adding those to the photos when we got home and before we downloaded them. Getting Memory Maker also makes the decision about buying individual ride photos irrelevant. Yes it is expensive and yes they are lowering its value, but for us, it is still worth it.

 

[dreamfinder]

They have also done away with the stickers and borders that you can put on photos.

For whatever stupid reason, you can still use these, just not online. You need to do the edits via the MDE app, and then download the picture one by one to your mobile device as you edit.

 

[Ray B]

For whatever stupid reason, you can still use these, just not online. You need to do the edits via the MDE app, and then download the picture one by one to your mobile device as you edit.

That's interesting, thanks for the tip.