News PhotoPass at some character locations being replaced by automated cameras

[tissandtully]

I thought WDW was offering a premium product, and especially at the latest prices. A camera in a box is not a premium product. Everyone write to GR!

 

[nolatron]

Kinda disappointing to hear. Some of the best meet & greet photos we have of aren't the staged group shots but those candid, closeup, interacting shots the photopass photographer would get of my kids, and even the parents. Stuff like the hugs, the laughing faces as Mickey talked to them, Belle sitting down on the floor with my little one for a chat (one of my favorite photos of all time), etc... Stuff that a fixed camera would never capture.

So with the automated system and this Kiosk system like a ride photo, does that mean you'll now get just the 1 photo it takes? No more multiple photos like the photographer would take? That was one thing I liked Memory Maker for, you got to get all those photos the photographer took at the meet & greets.

 

[geekza]

Please please please write in, complain at Guest Relations, do any and all feedback you can about this poor decision as I feel that will be the only way that some kind of reversal of this decision could happen, but even then that’s a stretch still.

They won't care. It saves money and people will quickly get used to the lesser experience. Just add it to the list of things that Iger and Chapek have cut or diminished while continuously raising prices.

 

[KBLovedDisney]

They won't care. It saves money and people will quickly get used to the lesser experience. Just add it to the list of things that Iger and Chapek have cut or diminished while continuously raising prices.

They won't care and they don't care. Money is all they want and they are finding other ways to get it.

 

[mm52200]

They won't care. It saves money and people will quickly get used to the lesser experience. Just add it to the list of things that Iger and Chapek have cut or diminished while continuously raising prices.

But if you choose that attitude and don’t do anything at all then you truly have no right to complain.
Sure they still might not do anything but atleast the guest feedback will be on the record.

 

[drizgirl]

bringing a stuffed Mickey Mouse to their local Sears and scheduling a portrait session?

You might want to do that sooner as opposed to later...

Too late. Those studios have been gone for years.

 

[HauntedPirate]

View attachment 326312
I guess this is what "evolving with the times" looks like and certainly what guests want! Right again Chappie!

I swear, if I ever see him in person, and I get close enough, my foot will meet his groin area. The permanent ban will be worth it.

Back on topic: Nothing says, "MAGICAL!!!" like half-arsed automated photos with characters! Who's going to tell you to pose for those cheesy character add-ons now? This has "bad idea" written all over it, in big neon letters. But I guess reading and comprehension are not job requirements for TDO these days.

I... just don't have the words to properly express my level of disappointment and just outright disgust with this decision and with whoever green-lit it.

 

[amylynn4k]

I have purchased the Memory Maker as part of my package for December 2019. If this is so I will want to cancel the memory maker as part of my package. This is sad. Disney is suppose to be the most magical place on earth. People is what makes that magical not machines. I am very dissappointed Disney.. I will not be paying that price for a machine to take photos and lose that personal touch,

 

[LSLS]

But if you choose that attitude and don’t do anything at all then you truly have no right to complain.
Sure they still might not do anything but atleast the guest feedback will be on the record.

Letter writing is fine, but it means nothing unless you are willing to speak with your wallet.

 

[jt04]

I would call this Declining by Degrees. Where is Kevin Yee?

 

[jt04]

Photogs add a sense of security. I always assumed that was in their job description. Was I wrong?

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

View attachment 326312
I guess this is what "evolving with the times" looks like and certainly what guests want! Right again Chappie!

I saw this yesterday and the only thing that came to mind after reading that is this.....

 

[seascape]

This is what happens when starting wages go up to more than what it costs to automate. Every company is replacing people with technology. The good new in Orlando is that with all the new additions, rides, hotels and restaurants there will still be more jobs at the higher wages. It's in places that don't have all this growth that jobs will actually be lost with no replacements.

 

[peter11435]

Photogs add a sense of security. I always assumed that was in their job description. Was I wrong?

What?

 

[MaximumEd]

What a ridiculous and blatantly obvious cost cutting measure. No more Memory Maker for us and I will be sending them an email, for what it’s worth. I’d like to kick Chapek right square in the Jimmy.

 

[jt04]

This is what happens when starting wages go up to more than what it costs to automate. Every company is replacing people with technology. The good new in Orlando is that with all the new additions, rides, hotels and restaurants there will still be more jobs at the higher wages. It's in places that don't have all this growth that jobs will actually be lost with no replacements.

Progress has a sinister side.

 

[geekza]

But if you choose that attitude and don’t do anything at all then you truly have no right to complain.
Sure they still might not do anything but atleast the guest feedback will be on the record.

I agree, but I've had the fight all but beaten out of me by the general ennui of today's park visitors. Disney is now a faceless corporation. They don't care as long as they're making more money every quarter and they've made enough cuts in the parks to know by now that the masses will take it and the vocal ones will give up after a while. (Sorry. I'm feeling surly today.)

 

[jt04]

What?

It was a question because I have no way of knowing that. Never been employed by Disney.
Surely they get CPR training.

 

[TOCPE82]

Yeah this is awful. I actually stopped taking my own photos with the memory maker included in the AP. Nearly every automated shot I've seen looks like garbage.

 

[IanDLBZF]

Not to thrilled about this either.

However, in that regard, hasn't Universal been doing this for a while now, not with character meets, but Photo Spots?

And speaking of which, this was trialed last year to negative reaction. Seems like they fixed the kinks or made improvements.