Photopass Questions

Hi drj -

Good timing! Kasey actually did a nice feature piece on this back in January of this year. Here's the link:

http://www.wdwforgrownups.com/articles/disneys-photopass

From my perspective:
1. We get a Photopass card with our trip information from the Disney Travel Co. You don't pay for it - you will pay if you decide to purchase Photopass pictures during or after your trip.

2. We use the Photopass photographers on occasion. We used to shy away from them because I always felt obligated to buy something from them on the spot - but it does not work that way now (not sure it ever did, but that was always my impression - lol). They just take your picture, scan your card and you move on. Your pics from the Photopass photographer are then available on the photopass website . In our case, I've registered my card before we leave, so when I get home, I'll have access to any pics that were taken.

3. I've bought one, I think, so far out of all our trips. They are a little pricey, but it's so rare that we ask anyone to take a picture of us together (and thus have so few pics of us together from Disney!) that every now and then, it's worth it for us.

Bottom line, as far as I am concerned, it's a free service to use and worth at least getting some pictures taken. Then you can decide when you get home if you want to buy any. I am sure others can add to this or fill in any blanks

Hope that helps!

Hi Drj!

JeffC gave you a great overview on PhotoPass, but I realized that they just released Photopass+ today as well! Here are the details on this from the Photopass Facebook page. It sounds like a LOT of money to me, but I don't usually take a lot of pics of myself when I'm there.

Capture more memories than ever with Disney PhotoPass+! With Disney PhotoPass+ you can have all your Disney's PhotoPass Photographer photos PLUS select Attraction photos AND Dining Print Packages " All for one price.

Product Details:

* PhotoPass+ will be sold at PhotoPass view stations located throughout the Walt Disney World Resort.
* With PhotoPass+ you will have digital files of all your PhotoPass photos, Attraction photos, and Dining photos taken within a 14 day visit to Walt Disney as well as Print Packages at select Dining locations.
* Once you arrive home from your vacation, you can view your photos and order a PhotoCD with all the high resolution photos plus a limited license agreement, which allows you to print photos at any local photo processing center.

Participating Attractions:

* Space Mountain
* Splash Mountain
* Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
* The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
* Rock 'n Roller Coaster
* Expedition Everest
* Dinosaur

Participating Character Dining Locations:

* 1900 Park Fare
* Ohana (Breakfast only)
* Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show
* Chef Mickey's
* Cinderella's Royal Table
* Tusker House Restaurant (Breakfast only)
* Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue
* Princess Storybook Dining at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall

Disney PhotoPass+ Includes:

* PhotoPass+ Card and Lanyard
* A gallery CD with over 400 stock photos
* A unique code to create and order a PhotoCD with all your photos online at DisneyPhotoPass.com
* Print Packages at select Dining locations
* Digital Downloads of select Attractions

All for $199.95

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q. I pre-purchased a PhotoCD online before my vacation, can I upgrade to PhotoPass+?

R. Yes, if you pre-purchased a PhotoCD online before your trip you may upgrade your PhotoCD to PhotoPass+ at PhotoPass view stations throughout the Walt Disney World Parks, Downtown Disney, and select Resorts. You will need the name, phone number, and email address that was used to purchase the PhotoCD.

Q. Can I pre-order PhotoPass+?

R. At this time PhotoPass+ will only be available for purchase at the PhotoPass View Stations located throughout Walt Disney World and is not available online or for pre-purchase.

Q. I have a large family"how many PhotoPass+ cards will I receive?

R. Only one PhotoPass+ card will be provided with each purchase. However, multiple PhotoPass cards can be accumulated during your visit, and all of those photos can be added to your account. In order to receive your Attraction and Dining photos, the PhotoPass+ card holder must be present at the time of photo capture.

Q. PhotoPass+ is not the right product for me at this time. Will the PhotoCD still be available for purchase?

R. Yes " if you decide that PhotoPass+ is not the right product for you at this time, you can still purchase the PhotoCD.

Q. Can I add attraction and dining photos that were taken before I purchased PhotoPass+?

R. Unfortunately we cannot add photos previously taken to the PhotoPass+ product. Only photos taken within the 14 day window, which begins on the date of purchase, will be included in your PhotoPass+ package and available for you to add to your PhotoCD.

Wow, I had no idea about this! Thanks AJ! That is indeed a big chunk of change.

AJ thanks for the update on photopass, I have purchased the prepaid option and in that case I stopped everytime we saw a photopass photog and it was worth it. I see the prices have gone up since I used it, of course it never goes down. Another thing I have done is asked the photog to use our camera to take our picture and they were always happy to do so.(at least they appeared not to mind.

The photopass Cd is expensive, but as we were travelling with friends when we bought it we split the cost with them which made it more reasonable. Stopping regularly photopass photographers and asking them to take each couple separately and then a group shot, we ended up with about 200 pics!

It looks like simply ordering the Photopass CD with all of your pictures is $169.99. That means that the additional PhotoPass+ content is priced at about $30, bringing it to $199.95.

Being that I usually order about two of the photopass picture download ($30) and get roped into buying a character breakfast package ($25-$50) it's still not that budget wise for my family. However I will absolutely think about it next time we go.

We bought our photopass CD before we left... it was only $99 for prepurchase vs. $149 if we decided we wanted the CD later. I'm glad we went ahead and bought it, because not only did we have the pics of us, we were able to get over 200 from when I did the American Idol thing =)

Those prices include a CD with all of your PhotoPass taken photos and a large selection of stock photos for your use. I would assumed that you give the guy at the end of the ride your photopass card and he works some magic that make your ride photos show up on your photopass CD after the trip.

Is it with it? I' a picture taker, I come home with at least a thousand from every trip. I love my photos and I would never dream of leaving my camera at home. Photopass Photos are very staged and only taken in some areas usually with a major icon in the background. You can buy just one or two Photopass Photos from the website after the trip (website access is free and you can get a normal photopass card for no charge) I usually get two poses and it costs me about $30 to download those. I end up buying a couple of pictures usually because I am the photographer, so I don't usually have pictures with me in them, and it's nice to see that I was actually on vacation too.

I have never bought the Photopass CD because we don't usually stop and have the Photopass Photographers take our picture, so we wouldn't have that many on the CD to begin with. It's really up to you to decided if it's worth it, and if you want to take the effort to make it worth it.

That's probably not a lot of help. Just remember this. You can get a regular Photopass Card for Free, then you can look at the photos at one of the Photopass Kiosks and decide if you like them. You can buy the photos a la carte, or purchase the CD either then, or after you get home. If you buy before you leave, it will be less expensive. You only have to hand over the money up front if you want the Photopass+, and that will come with your full CD.

Dear friend:

I have been at WDW 3 times in the past two years and going for another two trips by years end. I have alwyas bought the CD because I feel that often times as much I would like to say I take good pictures these photographers are professionals and take some of the best pictures. I always make sure to get lots of pictures from them when I am at the parks.

Consider this: If you get 200 pictures (and believe me I have taken more than that ) taken by these professionals (including around the park, character pictures, attactions, character dinning, etc.) the cost is of about $1 each. From this point of view, I beleive that I am getting a good value.

Also make sure that if you do use the service to always ask each photographer to add a little bit of "MAGIC" to your pictures. They often will ask you to put yourself and your party in different posses and add characters to the pictures like Tinkerbell and Stitch to mention a few or sometimes they will add Mickey Ballons.

Hope this helps and have a Magical vacation!

But do you get just the CD or do you get a physical copy of each picture? I'm thinking just the CD and that to me isn't worth it since you still have to print them...

You get the CD, and copyright permissions so that you can print the ones that you want. You can order prints from the website too if you're not interested in the CD.

We don't do the PhotoPass thing just because of how expensive it is. BUT... if we did... we would get the CD hands down. I would rather have the CD and no pics because we have a nice photo printer at home, and we can make our own for just the cost it takes to run the printer.

Question on this....I don't know if I've been to the parks since they started Photopass (or maybe I was just too young to remember) but do they have Photopass photographers at all of the characters, as well? So if DH and myself want a picture with a character, do we have to purchase Photopass or can we just ask a cast member to snap a picture on our own camera?

Do you have to purchase a photopass to purchase the photographer's pictures after you get home? Is there anyway to just buy the ones that you want?

They will take your picture with your camera.

I haven't purchased any photos from the photopass card but I believe you can choose the ones you want.