Post Covid Photopass ideas

Ldno

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Given the notion that mask less pictures are a no go at the parks, can anyone post some of your photopass pictures to see what kind of creativity is possible now that you can’t see your smile? I’m just curious, is it worth buying photopass because of it? Thank you so much!
 

Gillyanne

Well-Known Member
Not sure about "creativity" seems they were basically doing all the same stuff as before (hands out, magic shots etc). The only thing I can think I did different/hadn't done before was turn my back to the camera and make a heart with my hands (sorry didn't snip that one) but not sure if it's just one they hadn't pulled out w/ me before, or if it's one of their ways of masking the mask.. Here's a snip of a few from my trip 2 weeks ago; and 1 from Feb for comparison. Not sure I'm the best to judge from either b/c I don't always smile well and I wear glasses so w/ mask you don't see most of my expression anyway....

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Ldno

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Not sure about "creativity" seems they were basically doing all the same stuff as before (hands out, magic shots etc). The only thing I can think I did different/hadn't done before was turn my back to the camera and make a heart with my hands (sorry didn't snip that one) but not sure if it's just one they hadn't pulled out w/ me before, or if it's one of their ways of masking the mask.. Here's a snip of a few from my trip 2 weeks ago; and 1 from Feb for comparison. Not sure I'm the best to judge from either b/c I don't always smile well and I wear glasses so w/ mask you don't see most of my expression anyway....

View attachment 498048
Those pictures are amazing!!! I’m taking my daughter and I plan to match her mask with her minnie ears but wasn’t sure on the execution, you took over the top 1000% and made it good thank you so much!
 

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
Rather riduculous I think. The guests having photo shots are distanced and placed far enough away that there shouldnt be any contact issue. The CM's taking the photos remain masked. Other guests arent invading the space, but if they do momentarily walk through, they are masked. I'd think theres more risk in virus spread when dining maskless over an hours period at a table than the 5-10 minutes of pictures being taken. I see guests getting up from their tables and walking past others eating while walking to the restrooms unmasked. But I dont know why Disney is doing lot of nonsensical things.
 

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Rather riduculous I think. The guests having photo shots are distanced and placed far enough away that there shouldnt be any contact issue. The CM's taking the photos remain masked. Other guests arent invading the space, but if they do momentarily walk through, they are masked. I'd think theres more risk in virus spread when dining maskless over an hours period at a table than the 5-10 minutes of pictures being taken. I see guests getting up from their tables and walking past others eating while walking to the restrooms unmasked. But I dont know why Disney is doing lot of nonsensical things.
Disney doesn’t want any official Photopass pictures of unmasked guests circulating. The optics need to be “Disney is a safe place” and guests without properly secured masks do not send that message.
 

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
Disney doesn’t want any official Photopass pictures of unmasked guests circulating. The optics need to be “Disney is a safe place” and guests without properly secured masks do not send that message.
I understand your point and arent arguing why its being done. All I'm saying is its nonsence. A photopass photo taken in a few brief moments isnt dangerous. Guests are posting photos of their dining experiences unmasked.. those diners photos are out there. And all those Youtubers who promote their Disney dining reviews/ experiences are unmasked on tape are also out there. A ruined photopass experience is another guest feature that once was an important part of a trip, and memorable part that the guests are being robbed of.
 

Ldno

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
A theme park in the UK has teamed up with a printers to offer masks with your smile printed on so your ride photos can look "normal".

That’s not a bad idea at all!!!
I understand your point and arent arguing why its being done. All I'm saying is its nonsence. A photopass photo taken in a few brief moments isnt dangerous. Guests are posting photos of their dining experiences unmasked.. those diners photos are out there. And all those Youtubers who promote their Disney dining reviews/ experiences are unmasked on tape are also out there. A ruined photopass experience is another guest feature that once was an important part of a trip, and memorable part that the guests are being robbed of.

I completely understand, I am a huge germaphobe but at the same time I have seen how other venues due meet and greets, My local theater chain did an Anthony Michael Hall and RDJ setup, where we sanitized before hand and they let us take our masks off for pictures while socially distanced and we had a safe time, but after watching a youtube video recently where this blogger was on main Street calling out people taking pictures without their masks as they walked without getting caught i can see why Disney is wanting to play it safe.
 

Ldno

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I hope to do the magic pictures the next time I'm at Disney World. Excuse the fact that I'm a doofus, but how does that work?
So when you buy photopass you will be able to create picture-perfect memories of your whole family at iconic park locations—plus capture photos and videos at select attractions. Camera phones have come a long way for sure but to be honest they carry the big guns in terms of professional cameras that are so worth the price and are trained to be professionals because it will Include family photos captured throughout the parks, from iconic park locations to participating attraction locations, that are easy to share. They also have access to magic moments in different locations, like add in a special character to your photo or record a video of your photo, more than anything you can always find a select Photopass Cast member because they have a camera on hand, or find their locations on the Disneyworld app if need be.

If you buy memory maker and photopass within 3 days of your trip you will pay full retail of 199usd, if you have plenty of time get it for 169.
 

NelleBelle

Well-Known Member
I hope to do the magic pictures the next time I'm at Disney World. Excuse the fact that I'm a doofus, but how does that work?
You don’t have to buy Memory Maker, you can have you a PhotoPass photographer take your picture for free. Just have them scan your MagicBand/Park ticket that’s linked to your MDE acct. You’ll be able to look at the pictures fairly soon after they’re taken on MDE. If you want “magic shots”, ask the photographer if they can do some. ImThey will have you do some “odd” poses and then when you look at your pictures later on, there will be a surprise that’s been added to the shot. You can opt to pay for the downloaded pictures you want (if you don’t have Memory Maker). What makes mMemory Maker great is that the pics are free to download—take as many PhotoPass pics as you want (we searched them out one vacation and came away with great pics—the ones from MNSSHP were awesome)! You get pics with M&G, rides, and professional stock photos of the parks thrown in. It note: not all photographers are good. On our last trip, we had quite a few who must have been new to photography in general. The entire composition of the pic was awful! And then some were out of focus. Disappointing. But what can you do? In summary, I thought it was well worth the price and would even get it now with the limited offerings in place (e.g no M&G).
 

Gillyanne

Well-Known Member
I hope to do the magic pictures the next time I'm at Disney World. Excuse the fact that I'm a doofus, but how does that work?

If they don't already have you do it (they'll ask you to do a pose and you see them fiddling with their PDA to enable it) you can ask for a Magic Shot, Then they'll have you make a specific pose. It takes a day or 2 to come through, but when you get back into your photos, you'll see whatever super-imposed onto your picture :)

I'm not sure if you want it spoiled or not, some of the ones I get regularly/remember getting:

Flat hand out, look surprise - Tinkerbell in your hand
(in epcot, during F&W) Flat Hand out, - Remy in your hand
One Hand up (towards the outside of the group maybe?) - Holding Mickey balloons
(epcot) thinking - Figment over your head
(AK) Hands out/down look down - Lion King Characters on the group (forget which ones, maybe stinky pumba)
Sitting, looking down at a spot - Mickey (or Minnie?) added to look at you (maybe looking to your right is Mickey and Left is Minnie?)
(HS) Be Chilly - Olaf next to you
(MK, Haunted Mansion) Hitchhike pose - Hitchhiking Ghost next to you (will note, they always seem to have us thumb to the left, but the ghost thumbs to the right)
Finger Tips kinda curled up - Snowflake (like elsa)

Holidays/Parties have their own special ones too, not sure if they'll have them "out" for day use too this year
Halloween - Headless Horsemen, More hitchhiking ghost (all 3 vs. 1), bubbling cauldron,
Christmas - Tin Soldiers, Miseltoe, Snowglobe frame, (AK) point down and look and Meeko is peeking out of a present

Looking on google I see a few varying characters for the palm of hand, and sitting next to. I haven't experienced those. But maybe if you want a specific character you can ask. It may depend on the specific location (like the ghosts only being at, near Haunted mansion) but some of the "everywhere" ones may be available from most Photogs. Not sure how setting them all work, it could be "more work" to find the shot in their PDA, so they stick w/ 1 of 2 they use regularly so they don't have to search/scroll....

Some also don't seem to need specific poses, like various frames, or other characters flying above you (I've had Peter Pan in 1 and Tink in another before)
 

MickeyLuv'r

Well-Known Member
So when you buy photopass you will be able to create picture-perfect memories of your whole family at iconic park locations—plus capture photos and videos at select attractions. Camera phones have come a long way for sure but to be honest they carry the big guns in terms of professional cameras that are so worth the price and are trained to be professionals because it will Include family photos captured throughout the parks, from iconic park locations to participating attraction locations, that are easy to share. They also have access to magic moments in different locations, like add in a special character to your photo or record a video of your photo, more than anything you can always find a select Photopass Cast member because they have a camera on hand, or find their locations on the Disneyworld app if need be.
WOW! This totally reads like an ad!

And I couldn't disagree more.

As an AP holder, I've gotten Photopass photos for free for the last few years, and I barely remember to even look at the photos. While I always end up with some Photopass photos every visit, I've never understood the big appeal. I'm much more happy with the photos we take with our own phone. In short, partly I'm a bit lazy, and it is just easier to download and play around with my own photos over the Disney ones. It has always been time consuming to deal with the Disney Photopass software, and the quality of my phone photos is more than adequate.

Beyond that, the ride photos have never wowed me. It is a little fun to see them in the moment, but I have never once looked at one and thought it was a super fantastic photo.

Beyond that, my favorite WDW photos are the candid ones we take. That's not to say Photopass is all bad, and the photographers are plenty nice, just waiting for a Photopass photographer to become available isn't really my thing. I can't say I don't have any photos of us buy the castle (ONLY if there' NO wait is our rule), but they aren't family favorites. The castle is just too much of a cliche, IMO. Much prefer the photo of us standing in a Beach Club garden with a random rainbow in the background. Or the silly photo of us all eating drippy Mickey bars.

There's also no promise that your family will successfully pose, or that the weather will cooperate either. Too many times, I've seen the parental meltdown on Main Street because a young child won't cooperate, despite the matching costumes parents worked so hard to make and convince everyone to wear. In summer, my family always looks downright drippy inside of 2hours in the 90 degree heat. No amount of pixels is going to fix what we look like after a good solid rainstorm!

On top of that, CM photographers aren't everywhere, only certain locations. For the most part, you are on your own at character meals. You're also generally on your own at the hotels. (One of my favorite WDW photo locations!)

Some years ago, a member of my extended family paid a premium to hire a pro photographer to take photos during a vacation (not WDW). She wanted the classic beach photo, but sadly, the weather just didn't cooperate. It wasn't even rainy, just windy. She spent 100's, but in every single photo our hair is windblown. I mean windblown to the point of being comically terrible. (a combover blowing around, long bangs poking someone's eyes) It was funny, but otherwise a total fiasco. She was also aiming to have a sunset shot, but many are just everyone posing on the beach in the dark, windblown. Super high resolution to boot!

Mind, none of this is a dig at Disney for offering the service. A few of the hidden item photos have been mildly amusing. Of all the Photopass photos though....probably the best were the non-posed candids taken at some of the character greets. I dunno, to me, the posed photo smiles often look forced/faked, but every once in long while a character gets into the moment and has a genuinely fun(ny) interaction; those are among the best, IMO.
 
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NelleBelle

Well-Known Member
Totally agree @MickeyLuv'r about only getting PhotoPass pics if there is no wait. The only time we've waited was at MNSSHP (and it happened to be on 10/31 that we attended) and the lines we chose to wait in were not that long (except for the ones by HM). The pics from that trip our truly my favorite because we did get some really good family pics (usually my oldest son REFUSES to smile and he actually did for about 95% of the pics)! One of my favorites is my avatar pic of me and DH. Here is another one of my fav's that we got (mind you, I told my kids how to pose because some of the photographers were fairly "blah" with their pose suggestions). While looking through these, I forgot that when we found the little photo booths that spit out little B&W pics, you can you your memory maker pass in that thing as well--we have some crazy pics we saved from that (goodness knows where the actual prints ended up, but if we download them, they're saved in at least 3 different locations, if not more).
 

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Ldno

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
WOW! This totally reads like an ad!

And I couldn't disagree more.

As an AP holder, I've gotten Photopass photos for free for the last few years, and I barely remember to even look at the photos. While I always end up with some Photopass photos every visit, I've never understood the big appeal. I'm much more happy with the photos we take with our own phone. In short, partly I'm a bit lazy, and it is just easier to download and play around with my own photos over the Disney ones. It has always been time consuming to deal with the Disney Photopass software, and the quality of my phone photos is more than adequate.

Beyond that, the ride photos have never wowed me. It is a little fun to see them in the moment, but I have never once looked at one and thought it was a super fantastic photo.

Beyond that, my favorite WDW photos are the candid ones we take. That's not to say Photopass is all bad, and the photographers are plenty nice, just waiting for a Photopass photographer to become available isn't really my thing. I can't say I don't have any photos of us buy the castle (ONLY if there' NO wait is our rule), but they aren't family favorites. The castle is just too much of a cliche, IMO. Much prefer the photo of us standing in a Beach Club garden with a random rainbow in the background. Or the silly photo of us all eating drippy Mickey bars.

There's also no promise that your family will successfully pose, or that the weather will cooperate either. Too many times, I've seen the parental meltdown on Main Street because a young child won't cooperate, despite the matching costumes parents worked so hard to make and convince everyone to wear. In summer, my family always looks downright drippy inside of 2hours in the 90 degree heat. No amount of pixels is going to fix what we look like after a good solid rainstorm!

On top of that, CM photographers aren't everywhere, only certain locations. For the most part, you are on your own at character meals. You're also generally on your own at the hotels. (One of my favorite WDW photo locations!)

Some years ago, a member of my extended family paid a premium to hire a pro photographer to take photos during a vacation (not WDW). She wanted the classic beach photo, but sadly, the weather just didn't cooperate. It wasn't even rainy, just windy. She spent 100's, but in every single photo our hair is windblown. I mean windblown to the point of being comically terrible. (a combover blowing around, long bangs poking someone's eyes) It was funny, but otherwise a total fiasco. She was also aiming to have a sunset shot, but many are just everyone posing on the beach in the dark, windblown. Super high resolution to boot!

Mind, none of this is a dig at Disney for offering the service. A few of the hidden item photos have been mildly amusing. Of all the Photopass photos though....probably the best were the non-posed candids taken at some of the character greets. I dunno, to me, the posed photo smiles often look forced/faked, but every once in long while a character gets into the moment and has a genuinely fun(ny) interaction; those are among the best, IMO.
Totally agree @MickeyLuv'r about only getting PhotoPass pics if there is no wait. The only time we've waited was at MNSSHP (and it happened to be on 10/31 that we attended) and the lines we chose to wait in were not that long (except for the ones by HM). The pics from that trip our truly my favorite because we did get some really good family pics (usually my oldest son REFUSES to smile and he actually did for about 95% of the pics)! One of my favorites is my avatar pic of me and DH. Here is another one of my fav's that we got (mind you, I told my kids how to pose because some of the photographers were fairly "blah" with their pose suggestions). While looking through these, I forgot that when we found the little photo booths that spit out little B&W pics, you can you your memory maker pass in that thing as well--we have some crazy pics we saved from that (goodness knows where the actual prints ended up, but if we download them, they're saved in at least 3 different locations, if not more).


Everyone is different, my biggest pet peeve and something I am super wary of is that for me pictures serve as memories, especially in an ever changing landscape such as disney world or Disneyland. You and I know both know how fast the landscape changes in the parks especially during these times and in the last 5-10 years.

It also goes with technology, ten years ago I had an Olympus camera that i took to the parks and at the time it was 12 megapixels, we all know how the times have changed from owning handheld cameras to cellphones. When i started taking iPhones to the parks i noticed a trend in how i took pictures, rather than landscape, i almost took them all in portrait. That’s a big deal whenever I was trying to show my kids pictures and videos from 2012-2017 of the parks because I the rookie photographer in me sucks at taking pictures and videos literally wasted good trips because i nearly took all the pictures and recorded everything in portrait mode. That only works if you want to watch the media in the device you took it.

So when I reviewed the stuff from the time I had an Olympus camera(2011) I noticed everything in landscape and saw the difference of course. Let’s be frank. Cellphone cameras are not the greatest and at this time it’s only been recently since even iPhones offered 12megapixels and i’m pretty sure the average joe/sue does not enable flash, does not focus, or does not adjust the settings when snapping away. 2017 was an eyeopening experience for me because I learned to love photopass and memory maker.

It was the first time I went with my kids, I never paid attention to ride photos until 2017, so i never heard of photopass anyways but when they started pushing it more i never bought it but I did get the codes and linked them to my account, the thing Is each photo taken, be from CM or ride sold for 14.99 I remember the total was like 60 bucks for like 4-5 pictures I bought at that time, then i learned if i would had bought the whole package for 169 I would had gotten unlimited downloads to the photos rather than pay individually for each.

The ride photos and videos have improved in my opinion like you stated your AP and don’t see the necessity or appeal, me your regular traveler who goes there once in a while likes to make the most of it and to be honest the lines are always like a good 5-10 minute wait, i have never waited long at all anywhere most of them are always walk on And frankly I always do it while walking to other rides or if im’ in the area. The Biggest appeal to me is their cameras, Their Nikon D series SLR camera’s is way ahead of anything out on the market and their flash makes any picture i take anywhere stand out to be honest, that’s the ultimate sales point for me. I will always make an effort to pay, yes I can take pictures left and right, but it’s not the same even if i have the latest gadget unless i have a higheNd SLR camera on me haha, I remember the days of hauling my digital camcorder in a bag and a camera bag separate. But still here’s a couple of pictures so ya’ll can see what I’m talking about in regards to photographers, I have met some from beginners to experts and I learned something from a majority of them!!!

Here’s a progression of pictures of my visits within the last decade as an amateur haha
 

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Ldno

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After the second picture is when i first started using photopass pictures, there’s many more but here’s a few more examples
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Ldno

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
A few more, This is why it’s worth for me, I can see why it’s not for everyone. Disneyland’s system of magic maker is wayyy better than paying 169 but at the end of the day I feel no cellphone cameras will ever get me the quality of these pictures ever, I rather have them do all the work and they are pros! That’s what it boils it down for me at the end of the day!

Hope this helps!

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