Photopass - Quality & Accessibility?

[Blueskyze]

Hello! I'm spending a week in WDW next month, and plan to purchase the Photopass, to make sure we get some great shots of all 3 of us (me, my husband, and my son), since it's our first family trip. I'm a bit of a photography nut, so I will definitely be bringing my own camera, as well.

I'm thinking about pre-purchasing the pass before we go to get the $99.99 price, but had a couple of questions:

1. I saw some threads from late 2010 that expressed some concerns with the quality of photos. Has anyone gotten the Photopass recently, and how was the quality?

2. Is it difficult to track down the Photopass photographers, and once we find them, will we have to wait in line to have our picture taken? I want to take full advantage of this if I buy it, but I don't want it to take up a large portion of time that could be spent enjoying the attractions.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Steve-B]

Go for it

1. I pre-purchased the PP CD before our last trip and I believe I got my money's worth. Those are some of the best pictures from the trip. Also, those are the only ones with the entire family in them.

2. PP photographers are practically everywhere you look and are easy to recognize. In some cases, two or three may be working the same spot or within a few feet of each other.

 

[marcriss]

We pre-ordered the CD in December. There were definitely more blurry pictures than I would've liked, but the number of good shots made it more economical to have the CD anyway. Single shots are really expensive.

My suggestion would be to pre-purchase the CD, get as many shots taken as possible and then take advantage of all of the borders you can add on. The percentages should work in your favor.

 

[coachwnh]

we usually purchase the CD and photobook before we go. i never thought it was a waste of money. we had almost 600 pictures in 17 days. there are so many good shots, i never worry about the quality. there are a few bad pictures, but most are great. i highly recommend it!!!

 

[erasure fan1]

We have purchased the photo pass a couple times, and for the most part it is worth it. If you are there for 6 or so days and have enough pictures then its fine. As far as the quality goes it can be hit or miss. Like anything some of the photographers are good and some, not so much. The actual picture quality isnt as fantastic as I would hope for. Not too many of the pictures are light years ahead of my cameras quality. The real benefit I think is the family shots so everyone is in it. The last time we went we didnt get the CD, there wasnt enough (that was different than what I took) that we wanted. So when we got home we ordered a couple family shots and saved 80$. Now if they had more of the ride Pics (like test track) that you could get on the pass, we would get it every time.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I guess I'll be the sour apple in the bunch. We've been using the Photopass service for years. I pre-purchased the photo cd at least 3 or 4 times. Maybe more. I'd have to go look. It's been every trip we've taken (at least 1 or more per year) since they offered the pre-purchase cd. I believe after our most recent trip last November I'll no longer be bothering with the cd. Over the years the quality of shots has so vastly diminished. Seriously. The last trip we had somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 photos. Of that many we had maybe 1 or 2 that were halfway worth having, but not really all that great. Everything else was blurry, poorly timed, etc. It's just not worth it to us anymore. Whenever you have a Photopass picture taken the photographers will take the exact same picture for you with your camera. If it's pictures with everyone in the family in the frame, take their picture then have them take the same shot with your camera. I still plan to hit up the Photopass photographers when possible just to have the option of buying the photos. It'd be a lot more economical to buy the 1 or 2 decent shots in 8x10 then do high resolution scans than it is to spend $100 for a cd full of pictures that almost all stink. Plus, whenever we hit those Photopass photogs we'll just hand off one of our cameras... :wave:

 

[Susan Savia]

We had the photo pass back in January for our 10 day trip and found the pictures we had taken on our own camera to be far better. We did pick out one from the photo pass we liked and had a 5x7 ordered. Many pictures were off center, or caught one of us not ready, and of course sometimes we couldn't find a photographer or when we did had to wait for other families and often just gave up and went on rather then take the time to wait.

 

[Blueskyze]

Thanks for the info! We are going to be there for 7 days, so I figured we'd be able to get a fair number of shots.

Are there any other promotions (like purchasing while in the park) to get the discounted $99 rate, or is the only way to do that to purchase in advance? After hearing everyone's experiences, I'd kinda like to see the pictures first. I can always set the timer on my camera and get all three of us in the shot!

 

[Kirk88]

We bought ours from our 1st trip with the kids. There are some GREAT photos on there. The Photo Pass photographers are very friendly and acutally get some shots you would never expect. We are debating right now whether or not to purchase the one from our most recent trip. $150 is awfully steep. Wish I had known about the pre-purchase! Since we're on the subject, does anyone know of any discount promo codes for Photo Pass this month?

 

[dreamfinder]

Pre purchase it. No reason not to. If you get home and decide you don't like it they will refund you the money. So you can't lose.

Regarding quality, the cameras they use are Nikon, I believe a middle of the road pro-sumer model from 4-5 years ago. So not cutting edge at this point. Some of the CM's are shutter bugs and know what they are doing, and others are just CM's with minimal training other than the preset they were told to use for a given shift.

Most seasons have plenty of photographers around the parks. Every icon has multiples, many characters have them, and sometimes they end up in random places. Ran into one at the exit of the safarii once and ended up with some cool photos there. Usually any place there is an awesome "something" in the backdrop they may show up.

Most will take extra photos if you tell them you already have the cd. Stopping at multiples is always a good idea. The only time I think we have had a long line is during the Osborne lights at DHS and that is due to the limited time they have to take photos. Otherwise its usually just a family, maybe two. So it never hurts to hit up another photographer as you never know which will do something cool or different, give you a special magic shot, or even just have a problem with their camera etc. Also, getting photos at the different times of the day helps. A daytime photo of spaceship earth is very different than an evening photo due to the lighting and such.

The magic shots and borders are the highlights for me. Yes, I like having just the pictures, but those embellishments set the tone and help to immediately differentiate one trip from another.

As mentioned, they will take photos will your camera and I still have them do that often, but as an FYI its normally 3-5 with theirs, and only 1 with yours. Not a big deal, but the odds of someone in your party having an off photo are much more with only the 1.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

We bought the CD but unfortunately we did not pre-purchase it. We weren't sure if we were going to be seeing a lot of characters (it varies with us because we don't like waiting in long lines to see them) but the crowds were so low we were able to see many characters and the CD came out pretty good. We added borders to all the pictures so we have the option to print out one without a border of one with a border as it saves the original photo even if you edit it. It all depends if you feel like you will see enough characters to make it worth it!!! :wave:

 

[CaptainShortty]

1. I've always received photos of great quality as long as I've used PP. Of course you're going to have some that aren't good. But for the most part they've been really good.

2. They are almost EVERYWHERE but keep your eye out for them. And don't be afraid to ask them to take a picture with your camera and a PP one. They will 99% of the time do both.

 

[brisem]

We used it on our last trip and loved it. Like ppl say the photographers are all over the place. If the photographers took a picture they thought wasn't good, they took multiples.
Plus we were able to add pictures we took to the cd.

 

[Blueskyze]

Thanks! I've decided to pre-purchase it. I want to capture as much magic from this first trip as possible!

ONE MONTH from today - I can't wait!!! :sohappy:

 

[olinecoach61]

I have had good experiences with photo pass. I would definitely pre order. The photographers are everywhere during the summer.

 

[WildcatDen]

We had good luck with it in 2007 and again this past June. Did not pre-purchase but got a "Deal" at the park when we ordered and received another CD with a bunch of premium Disney pictures on it. Resorts, characters, park Icons, it is nice.

Just wish they would incorporate more of the ride pics onto the PhotoPass

 

[Skippy's Pal]

We're going to be at MNSSHP in costume - wondering if PhotoPass photographers are typically out in force at that event given all the guests in costume.