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.