PhotoPass Yay or Nay

[yedliW]

I am a fan, especially with the early purchase discount. What I tell people is that if you are going to go regularly, it might not be worth it.. but then you probably have an AP, and don't need it.. if you are a once in a lifetime type trip, or for special trips (first trip.. birthday... honeymoon.. anniversary.. etc..) then yes.. it is worth it.

Is every photo going to be a keeper? Absolutely not.. but in our experience, there are always enough winners to make it worth it..

Be sure to ask for the Magic Shots. They can be really cool, (but there are some lame ones as well). I also like that they have introduced the frames. It would be cool if they added some props (i.e. photobooths at weddings). Nothing too extravagant, that just makes things take longer.. but hats, or glasses.. or something to add a spark to the photos..

All that and the ride photos/videos included.

 

[Weather_Lady]

For us, it's not worth it. We take our own photos (or ask CMs to take them). We purchased MemoryMaker once because there was a discount for pre-purchasing and we thought it would be more convenient, but the pictures were no better (and in many cases, were worse) than the ones taken with our own little point-and-click camera, some of the on-ride photos didn't even come out, and the remaining on-ride photos weren't good-enough quality to do anything with. We felt like the money we spent on MemoryMaker was largely a waste.

Then again, all we really are looking for out of a trip is a few nice pictures to frame or make a photo book with at home (and we're not fans of the MagicShots at all -- obviously that's just a matter of personal taste). If you want dozens of photos of your family in every photo spot and lots of on-ride photos and MagicShots, then MemoryMaker is the way to go.

 

[dreamfinder]

Value is in the eye of the beholder. Are you a go go go type of party that really just wants one castle picture? Then not gonna be worth it. If you are a party that doesn't mind stopping a few times for different pictures, want's cool things like the Tangled lantern shot, then it might be worth it. If your party has small kids, or anyone really who is enamored with the characters then it will probably be worth it. They won't get every shot, but I find that Photopass is usually in the right place, with the camera ready to get that great shot of your kids running up to hug Mickey/Princess/whoever. Yeah, some won't be and it's obvious if you watch how they hold themselves/the camera, but some recognize that this may the one chance to get that picture of your 2yo planting a big kiss on Cinderellas cheek, and will shoot away.
And many of the photographers will feed off of your interactions with them. Just walk up and smile, odds are they will do their normal 3 or 4 shots, 2 portrait, 1 landscape and 1 closeup. But if you have a certain pose you want, ask for different groups, ham it up for the camera etc some will get very creative. Ran into one a few years back who didn't take a single picture with the guest in it. Think about that for a minute, all the pictures they were taking were posed shots of the shadows of the guests. He would do things like take flowers and lay them on the ground so that it looked like the husband was giving them to the wife, stuff like that.

 

[SteamboatJoe]

I'm pro Memory Maker. Selfies are hard to pull off and get a decent background and the wife and I loathe having to try to ask some random person or CM to take a picture of us. So the value is there for us even though it can't be quantified on a spreadsheet. We get our money's worth, stopping at about every out door photo person we see. Some are better and more into it than others. Once we've hit all the rides and shows, we also will go do some character meet and greets. You also get the ride photos, the magic shots, the post-trip editing capabilities for a short time, and a small collection of stock photographs.