Photo Pass

[Sparky0569]

I am a little confused about the photopass service. My Bro in law was telling me about the service and said it was around $100. I was reading about the service and the info page sid it was free.

Can anyone explain to me how the service works? What he told me was you pay for it and all of the pictures taken by CM's are put on it and you can print and share or whatever you want. Is this true?

Thanks for the help.

Sparky

[McGoofy]

It only costs if you buy something. The actuall Photopass photographers take pictures for free and will give you the card for free. In fact, they will even take pictures on your personal camera if you ask. You can purchase one 5x7 for $12.95 or spend $100 buying a CD with all the photos on it. (Somebody will correct me if my prices aren't exactly right.) My point is, what you spend is up to you.

The way it works is the very first time that you encounter a photopass photographer, they will give you a card. It is about the size of a credit card. You can continue to use this same card during your entire vaction, but if you wind up with multiple cards, you can link them all together when you go on line. There are Photopass photographers all over all of the parks, and it is a great way to get a picture of your entire party. When you get home, you can look up your photos. The website info is on your photopass card. You can even share your pictures through e-mail to friends/family--for FREE!! Access to photos is available for 30 days.

[wdwnomad]

The part that is free are the photographers taking the pictures. The photographers are pretty easy to spot. They wear tan vests. You always find them by the major picture taking spots (in front of Cinderealla's Castle, Tree of Life, etc). Most of the time, but not always, they will be with the characters and various other parts of the parks.

Once you see your first photographer you can ask for a Photopass card. After they take your picture they will give you the card. You can then use that card when doing other pictures. Just give it to the photographer and they will scan it after they take the pictures.

The part you have to pay for is getting the pictures. The $100 thing your brother in law mentioned is the pre-purchase of the Photopass CD before your trip. After you get home from your trip you enter the Photopass card numbers (you might end up with muliple cards) and it loads all of your pictures taken. You can then edit them by cropping them, put icons, year and/or borders on them. Once you are finished they will put all of those photos on the CD and send it to you. You will have a copyright release with it so you can take them to Wal-Mart, Target, etc and print them.

Your other options would be to wait until you get home to decide to get the CD. In that case the CD is $125. Or you can order prints directly from DIsney. However, those prints are expensive and the costs add up quick. I think most people believe the pre-purchase offer is a good deal because there is a money back guarntee if you end up not liking any of the pictures.

[DDuck66]

We always think this is a great deal. In addition, the CD will have all of the pictures that you load as well as any changes, borders, autographs that you add. We usually have a 100 to 200 pictures, and when we finish with the edits, it is around 300 pictures. The $100 (or$125) is well worth when you consider the cost of buying them from Disney or even printing them yourself. We usually go to Walgreens or Walmart and get prints done for about .19 cents each. You can also get any size you want printed off so if we want to frame larger pictures we can get that done. WELL worth the cost.

[olinecoach61]

Its a great service. You can't miss the photographers in the vests and they take excellent pics! Last year I wasn't aware of the cd offer before you leave, I think we'll try that this year. I would advise taking a bunch of pics to get your money worth though.

[mook3y]

We especially found this to be a great service at the water parks. I don't bring my camera to any water park and it is great to be able to get pictures taken of our family having fun in these parks.

They were also on hand for the surfing school too, so I was able to get a LOT of great photo's of myself attempting to surf... some of them are pretty funny

[cwarner]

Where do I go to purchase the photopass cd before I leave?

[mook3y]

I couldn't find a link here on intercot.

but you can order it direct from Disney's photopass website. Specifically for the prepurchase special, go here

http://http://www.disneyphotopass.com/previsitcdplan.aspx

[Here we go again...]

We love the Photo Pass! We prepurchase the CD so we only pay the $100. Keep in mind that if you are not happy with the CD they will refund your money.
Take lots and lots of photos... and look for fun photographers. We had one young boy in Epcot that had my DD and her friend in some great poses. He even took one of them jumping in the air and it turned out to be the best picture ever.
We booked a stay at All Stars for Friday and we received an email from Disney with the link for the $100 CD.

[Kurtoon]

What about when they take your photo with Aerial at Akurshes or other dinning photo ops?
Can those go on your photo pass?

[Here we go again...]

What about when they take your photo with Aerial at Akurshes or other dinning photo ops?
Can those go on your photo pass?

No, those are the only ones that do not go on Photo Pass. They are selling the package for that.... What a shame, it would make the Photo Pass a better bargain.

I also wish all of the ride photos could be put on Photo Pass. Right now only Test Track can...

[yjgirl715]

I loved my photo pass pictures. I wish I had learned about pre-ordering in, but something I learned for our next trip. I was able to have a pitcure taken of our whole group and then some of the individuals. It was great and all of our pictures turned out wonderful. I too wish the ride pictures could be put on your cd.

[scootch713]

Buying the preCD is so worth it. There is no shipping and then you can get pics made anywhere. I even got a 10 x 13 picture made at winkflash for $4. What I told my kids was that we were taking advantage of the photographers... when we see one, everyone just go up, smile, take a fast pic... in 5 days at the parks, we had over 300 FANTASTIC pics to choose from. It also saved me time from taken so many pics AND I was able to get in many of the pictures too.

[doodleboy]

This sounds like a great idea, even for a photo enthusiast like me. I am always taking photo, never in any of them. But I have a couple of questions:
Is anyone aware of the file size of the photos?

Many of you have mentioned getting prints done at Target, Walgreens, and the like. Can you print your own off at home from this CD?

[WTDing]

No, those are the only ones that do not go on Photo Pass. They are selling the package for that.... What a shame, it would make the Photo Pass a better bargain.

If you buy the photo package from the Princess meal there is a photopass number in small print in the corner of the print so that the pictures can be added to the photopass.

We did this last year and got more than the one pose that comes with the package.

[McGoofy]

I too wish the ride pictures could be put on your cd.

You can insert your Photopass card at Test Track to grab that ride picture. In February we were there with 2 other couples. When we rode Test Track, it allowed us to put in all 3 of our Photopass cards in order for each couple to have a copy of the picture. As far as I know, Test Track is the only ride that will let you do that. I wish all the others did!

[DIppy Dawg]

Besides the capacity limit of the CD are you limited to the number of photos that you can place on the CD, What if you are nuts like we are and have more photos that can fit on one CD??

[mook3y]

Besides the capacity limit of the CD are you limited to the number of photos that you can place on the CD, What if you are nuts like we are and have more photos that can fit on one CD??

Same price, we had 2 cd's last year.

[nstarv]

When PhotoPass first came out, you could only get the borders, editing and character signatures you put on your pictures if you purchased a print. That has changed.

Here's what you get:

Disney's PhotoCD Includes:

High-resolution .jpg files of all Disney's PhotoPass photos in your account (photos from multiple accounts cannot be combined onto one CD). Each file is 300 dpi and ideal for creating great looking prints.

All original images plus copies of any you have edited, including those with added borders and character signatures.

Copyright release so you can print the images in the sizes and formats you want (for personal use only)

Cost wise, it is best to just load up the CD with pictures. The more you add, the cheaper the per picture cost is. In other words, the price of the CD is the same whether you have 100 or 300 pictures. The only difference is 99 cents vs. 33 cents for a Disney Professional Photographer photo.

The regular CD price is $125, so with the prepaid discount you save $25! If you look further, you'll see just how valuable that savings is when it comes time to make your own prints.

Here are some processing tips:

If you sign up to online services like Snapfish and Shutterfly, you usually get free initial photos. Open an account under each email address you have, and you have that many more free prints.

Also, CVS online Photo center is great. I signed up for notifications and get all kinds of deals on reprints, which can be picked up within the hour or mailed to your home.

Some of their deals include:

10 cent prints, unlimited quantity
Get 25 free on a 50 print minimum order (basically 1/2 price)
Free 5x7 or Free 8x10 with purchase of same or specific dollar value of order.

Walgreen's has similar deals including in store pick up.

Costco prints are generally 17 cents each, but they rarely run promotions.

I wouldn't bother making prints from my computer because the cost per print from the computer can be in excess of 30 cents on inkjet, a little cheaper on laser. Instead, save home computer printing for the couple or three pictures you want right away and save the rest for the online order/instore pickup services.

As a side suggestion; even though you will be having Disney Pro photos taken, I'm certain you will be taking some of your own. Try this idea, which we did when we took our daughter for her first trip:

I had a laptop with me, but if you can get access to a computer while at WDW, you can upload your own photos each day to CVS, Walgreen's, etc. I used CVS and sent the pictures to the store across the street from Grandma's office. By lunch time she had pictures to show her co-workers and for less than a couple of dollars.

Talk about no waiting!

Whatever you do, enjoy your tirp and your potograhic memories!

[doodleboy]

This is a great idea even for those of us that love taking photos at the parks. I get some great photos with my gear, but never manage to be in any since my wife is afraid to handle my camera. I also find my self dualing with the photopass photographer for shot at times. Now I can keep both his and mine and even be part of the photo.