One question I get asked a lot is “Should we purchase the Memory Maker?”. The short answer: It depends.
Ok, for me, it’s pretty much always YES…but I’m a HUGE photo nerd.
For more NORMAL people, there are several things to consider, and I will get to those in a moment. But first for those of you that DON’T know:
What is Disney PhotoPass?
Disney PhotoPass is a service that Disney added years ago, and I think it’s absolute GENIUS. Basically, they have photographers stationed at numerous locations around each park to take pictures of you and your group. This completely solves the “Did Mom even GO on that vacation? She’s not in ANY of the pictures” dilemma. For many families, there is always one person that takes all the pictures and they are never in any of the shots. Or, people rotate who takes the pictures, but there are never any pictures of EVERYONE together, because one person always steps out to take the picture. For some, Selfies have helped to address this problem, but with a Selfie, it’s still really tough to get a group or to include people AND a landmark in the picture.
The Solution
Disney has solved that. Basically, the PhotoPass photographer will take your group’s picture, usually with a park icon or landmark in the background, and then they will either scan your magic band (the easiest) or give you a PhotoPass card with a 16-digit number on the back. Note: If you are given a Photopass card, immediately take a picture of the back of the card just in case. If you lose the card, but have the number, you can still locate your pictures.
Big Group Attractions
Generally, at big group attractions where PhotoPass take lots of pictures (Enchanted Tales with Belle, for example), the photographer will hand out PhotoPass cards at the end; once you enter the number on your computer, you’ll have access to ALL the pictures they took during that particular event. If your kid had a role in the show, you do NOT want to lose that number! So take a picture of the back of the card, just in case!
PhotoPass photographers will also take pictures using YOUR camera or phone, so don’t be afraid to ask. This can be a way to save on Memory Maker or PhotoPass downloads.
Ride Photos and Videos
Some rides take your picture during the ride…those are now PhotoPass pictures, and can be attached to your Magic Band or PhotoPass card. The RFID technology in your MagicBand communicates with the reader at the attraction and automatically adds the photos or videos to your account.
Character Meals
Some character dining meals also offer PhotoPass pictures, but not all of them. Also IF there is a PhotoPass photographer at a character meal, it will usually just be for a picture you take before you enter the restaurant. PhotoPass photographers do not go around with the characters as they visit your table, so ALWAYS bring your camera to character meals.
After You Get Home
After your trip, you will be able to visit the PhotoPass website to view all your pictures. You can add borders and stickers to the photos, and you can make products like Photobooks, calendars and mugs featuring your pictures on the Disney PhotoPass website. One picture can turn into 10 or 15 by the time you are done playing with borders, cropping, black and white, etc. Some borders are unique to particular locations, seasons, or events, adding a little extra magic to those photos.
PhotoPass pictures are also now available in the My Disney Experience app, so you’ll be able to look at them as your trip goes along. Most photos and videos appear in your app within 20 minutes.
NOTE: Pictures are only available on the PhotoPass site for about 30 days (unless you are an Annual Passholder.)
What is a Magic Shot?
Magic Shots are pictures taken by a PhotoPass photographer with a little something extra magical added later. The most common ones feature TinkerBell standing on the palm of your hand, or a bunch of balloons added to your upstretched arm. There are a variety of Magic Shots available at different times. During Star Wars Weekend a few years ago, we got Magic Shots with light sabers added. Recently, they added some pirate themed Magic Shots near the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction.
During Mickey’s Not-so-Scary Halloween Party, there are special Magic Shots offered near the Haunted Mansion that feature some Happy Haunts.
How to Get a Magic Shot
Disney changes what Magic Shots are available from time to time, and not all PhotoPass photographers will offer to do them. Your odds are better if there’s no line and if you’re nice and friendly. PhotoPass photographers work very hard, and are on their feet for many hours a day, usually in pretty hot temperatures and sometimes not treated very well by guests. In my experience, if you are nice and there’s not a line, they’re more likely to spend a few extra minutes with you, and usually that results in some Magic Shots. To see what Magic Shots are currently available, visit the albums at the Disney Photo Pass Facebook Page.
What is Memory Maker?
Memory Maker is the product Disney sells that enables you to download all the PhotoPass photos, including attraction pictures and videos, linked to your My Disney Experience account for one price. You get the rights to the photos, allowing you to print them through any service you like. If you DON’T purchase Memory Maker, you can download individual PhotoPass photos, Magic Shots or attraction rides or videos, but individually, they are priced high.
Another benefit of Memory Maker: SHARING. If you have friends or family that share media with you via My Disney Experience, you will have access to all the PhotoPass photos and digital content on THEIR PhotoPass account, too. For our wedding trip, this worked out AMAZING. We purchased the Memory Maker and our whole group shared their pictures with us. Combining pictures from everyone, we got to see lots of amazing moments that we missed during the trip. We made CDs for everyone after the trip with all their pictures after we’d downloaded them. This is a great way to help defray the cost of Memory Maker—if you can share the cost with other family members, it makes the purchase much more palatable.
How Much Does Memory Maker Cost?
Currently, you can purchase Memory Maker for $199. If you plan ahead and order Memory Maker at least 5 days BEFORE your vacation, you can purchase it for $169. Note: Photos in your PhotoPass account will expire 45 days from the date taken, so make sure you download all your pictures before you hit that 45-day mark.
Note: If you are an Annual Passholder, PhotoPass downloads are included with your Annual Pass (Photos and other digital content expire 365 days from date of capture for Annual Passholders). For us, this was a big factor in choosing which park tickets we’d purchase this year. But that’s a topic for another day 😉.
So, back to the original question: Should I purchase Memory Maker?
Yes, I strongly recommend you purchase Memory Maker for your vacation (purchase it in advance to save $30) unless
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- you hate having pictures from your vacation with everyone in them, including you
- it’s a super short trip, and you’re not likely to have the chance to have many PhotoPass shots taken
- you (or most of your group) refuse to pose for pictures
- rides: you don’t care about attraction photos or videos or you don’t tend to ride any rides
- Basically, if pictures are NOT a priority for you or your group, Memory Maker probably DOESN’T make sense for you.
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If finances are a concern, and let’s face it, for many of us, finances are a major concern, you can try and play the odds. If you think you’ll end up with 10 or less pictures that you’ll really want to “OWN”, you could try NOT purchasing the Memory Maker. But if you get home and find there are 50 pictures you can’t live without, you’ll find yourself spending MORE money after the fact. At the prices Disney charges for individual photo downloads, if you end up wanting 15-20 of the pictures, you’ll spend more on individual downloads than you would on Memory Maker, which would get you EVERYTHING taken during your trip and linked to your account.
Note: You CAN purchase Memory Maker after your trip, but at the $199 price, not the pre-trip $169 price. But if you find you have LOTS of pictures you want to download, it will probably be cheaper to buy Memory Maker, even after your trip, than to purchase individual downloads. (Tip: if you have any friends or family traveling within 30 days of your trip, you could split the cost of the Memory Maker and share your photos and digital content. Just make sure to add your borders and download the pictures relatively quickly after the second trip is complete–you don’t want to risk any pictures dropping off).
A Disney vacation is a significant investment, and I firmly believe capturing those memories in photos is an important part of that investment. So, I plan for Memory Maker (and the post – vacation photo book I will make) in my vacation budget and savings plan.
Maximize Your Investment
I will say this: If you DO make the investment in Memory Maker–make sure you take advantage of it! Hit lots of PhotoPass photographers around the parks, use different poses, ask for Magic Shots. You don’t want to get home and regret the purchase. As long as you use it, Memory Maker can be a good value. With individual pictures priced at $12.95 (5×7), it doesn’t take THAT many photos for Memory Maker to make sense.
As I mentioned before, I’m a total photo nerd. I make my poor husband stop at almost every single PhotoPass photographer in every park. I LOVE having pictures from our vacations. We went once for a weekend trip (Memory Maker was more economical in those days, granted) and I almost didn’t buy the Memory Maker…I decided to go for it, and was so happy I did. I think I ended up with 45 PhotoPass pictures from that trip, before I started adding borders and stickers, and cropping them, etc. It was well over 100 by the time I was done “playing” and downloaded them. That’s a pretty light PhotoPass load for us, but I wouldn’t have wanted to miss out on any of them.
Sharing
For the wedding trip, there were only 3 park days, but we ended up with more than 200 pictures, once everyone shared their media with us. It was AWESOME. (Note: If one person buys Memory Maker, that purchase is linked to THAT account and they are the only account that can download the pictures for everyone that shared media. Everyone linked to the account can VIEW them, but only the purchaser can download. It’s super easy to share after you’ve downloaded though, so I don’t view this a big concern—just wanted you to be aware.)
Also, I like to stack the odds. If you take one picture, the odds are fairly high that you won’t love it. If you take 20 pictures, the odds are fairly high that you will love AT LEAST 2 or 3 of them!
Photos are a great way to relive magic moments. Disney vacations are typically FULL of magic moments you don’t ever want to forget. Disney’s PhotoPass and Memory Maker are great tools to help make sure your memories are preserved.
Make a Copy!
One more tip: If you do purchase Memory Maker, or even just individual PhotoPass photo downloads, make sure you make a back up copy of the files and store it somewhere different from where you store the original files. The cloud, another computer, a jump drive–just have a copy. I’m currently hunting for PhotoPass pictures from our January 2014 trip. With all the wedding planning that year, I didn’t do my usual routine with Disney trip pictures, and they are NOT where they are supposed to be. {sigh. I know I made a copy. I just don’t know WHERE I made the copy 😉}.
Do you have any questions about PhotoPass or Memory Maker? I’d love to hear from you! Or send me your favorite PhotoPass pictures and I will share them here, with your permission (of course!).
Happy Dreaming!
Brooke