Another PhotoPass Question

[Figgyluv03]

DBf isn't big into suvineors (sp?) and I'm not big into them either, we have been discussing the PhotoPass CD. I've been doing my research and reading up on a lot of reviews and what not and it seems that there are alot of people who end up with someone elses photos or photos are lost. What has been your expierence with PhotoPass and would you recomend it? Also, we were interested in doing the Photoshoot at GF as well. (Hopefully be then we'll be engaged and we can use them as engagement photos. Someone drop a hint to DBf for me! Ha ha)

[DDuck66]

We have done the CD the last two trips. We really like it because we can print the pics at whatever location we like. We just printed an 8X10 at Walgreens and it only cost 2 bucks versus the 20 dollars or so that you would have to pay at WDW. The only down side is that you cannot get all of the borders and signatures when you buy the CD.
I would recommend that you hit every Photopass Photographer that you see. Also tell them that you are getting the CD and they will take some extra pictures for you. Also, I believe if you order the CD online, you can add some of your own digital pics to the CD. I have never done the photographer, but we just did the Memory Book from the online site, and I cannot wait to see how it turns out.

[KylesMom]

We have also done PhotoPass the past two years, and highly recommend it. Our pictures have never been lost, and we have never gotten someone else's.

We ensure that we put our name in permanent marker on the photopass card as soon as we get to Disney and have the first photo taken - that way, we're assured of not getting someone else's card in error.

I will also say that we were able to add all of the borders we wanted that were offered online prior to ordering the CD online when we returned home this past June. They did not allow this the previous year.

So you can have your original prints with no borders, and then add a border to totally change the look of the picture, all for the same cost. Really neat, and we have some truly fabulous pictures of the three of us together (not that we didn't take a combined 1,800+ on our cameras ) but we really have some great family shots.

[tinksmom02]

Here's another vote for the CD!

I've had 2 experiences with PhotoPass, one good and one not so good. On our January trip, we only got about 60 pics w/the Photopass, and only 3 of them were shots that I hadn't gotten with my own camera. Obviously, that wasn't worth $125 to me, so I just ordered 3 5x7s. They printed one of them vertically, instead of horizontally, and I didn't get anywhere with emailing them until some lovely person here on Intercot gave me a direct email address.

My good (great!) experience was just in September. This time I went to Disney determined to utilize the Photopass more, and actually ordered it ahead of time for $99. We got 123 pics on the card, and by the time I edited, added borders and signatures, etc., I had 170+ pictures! And many of them were pics I didn't have (the BBB photo shoot, for example), so it was well worth the $99.

I ordered the CD on a Sunday and received it that Thursday. Super-quick. I would definitely get the CD again--pre-order it to save $$--and I would highly recommend it!

HTH!

[Stormer]

I recommend the CD also. I preordered it before we went down in August and then hit every photo pass person I saw. I had them take photos of the entire family and then just the kids. When we got home I added borders to some and it brought my total to over 300 pictures. They sent them to me on 2 CD's because there were so many pictures and there was no extra charge.

If you let them know you preordered the CD they are great about taking a lot of pictures for you.

[scootch713]

I initially was not going to use photopass this year as they would take pics,t hen I would take pics and by the time I took them, my kids smiles were not geniune.... and I couldnt' afford to buy all the ones online. BUT... with the 99$ shipping included cd offer, I decided to use it... and NOT take my own pics when we are with characters... but just sit back and enjoy watching them. Plus I can get in a few more shots too. I do plan on taking advantage of stopping as often as I can to grab a pics since I did the prepay. I will still take pics with my camera, but just not as many.

[Figgyluv03]

Thanks everyone! I think I'm going to preorder the cd. Has anyone done the photoshoot at GF?

[Tez]

Doing the photo pass CD is the only way to do it! We loved our pictures from our last trip. I think we had over 80 of them. Make sure you take advantage of as many of the photo ops. as you can. It does not matter how many pictures you have!

There were six of us that traveled together. We had three different cards and they will let you add all the cards together and the six of us split the price and we have all the pics form our trip.

[Jook]

I just preordered the photoCD yesterday, preorder price is currently 99.95.

If you are not happy you can get a refund within 2 weeks after you leave disney.

I'm going for a full week, with dd7, dd5, and dw, with all photo op's a week gives me, I think it will be a good deal.

[EPCOT84]

One more tip - when you get home, go ahead and add all the borders they offer. Since there is no cost differerential, make all the alternative pics you can. You can always edit and crop on your own computer photo program but give yourself the option of all the available borders and decide later. For example, for most Epcot pics, there is the Disney 2007 w/ the characters, one with Mickey and Minnie (dreams theme), and an Epcot 2007. I save each Epcot picture with each border.

AND they JUST added an Epcot 25th logo with Mickey and Figment ! Since I had not yet put in the order (thank goodness), I now added those too so my picture count is growing.

Make mutliple cropped versions with the borders too , like close ups of each family member. Later on then you can choose which to print at your leisure.

[CBMarks]

We also did the Photopass CD (preordered) and received my copy today, it's great as I can upload them or take them anywhere to have prints made, beats the Disney price and you can only get the larger size photos. Plus having them on a CD you can create your own Christmas Card.

I used the Intercot sponsor Stan Kelley photography for professional photos when we were there for my mom's 70th birthday grand gathering. We had photos taken at the Caribben Beach Resort and MGM Studios. The personal service and quality can't be beat. Below are the links to a sampling of the photos he took for us. His link is on the left of the site under ICOT Sponsors, Stan Kelley Photography. He takes amazing photos and goes to the parks or resorts, he's amazing! Not sure if there is anything else that is offered through Disney itself.

MGM Studios

Caribbean Beach Resort

Happy Planning.

[BugeyedMuggy]

Does anyone know what the maximum number of photos you can have on a photo CD?

We have 345 and wanted to add more boarders but dont want to lose photos if we go over the CD's capacity.

[CBMarks]

There is information on the link below, it states that each CD contains 300 photos, but if you have additional photos you would receive 2 CDs, the site has good information for photopass. I had 225 but that was after adding borders and cropping and they were all on one CD. I noticed once I created an account there was a contact us link at the bottom
with an online help section or also you can send an email.

Photopass Information

So I would think that you would receive 2 CDs due to the quanity, I do know when I went to order my CD it told me how many pictures were in may account and to make sure that I had added borders, etc. to all the pictures that I wanted before I placed the order and that only the photos in the account currently would be on the CD. I would think you would get all your photos on 2 CDs.

Hope this helps!

[BugeyedMuggy]

Thank you very much for the quick and very informative answer.

[tnpoohbear]

We too did the Photo book in March for DD 16th birthday and you can upload your own photographs plus you can add photos on the phot pass site of the parks and hotels as well as the characters. It was well worth the money. If you do the CD then like others said you can take it anywhere and print it much cheaper.

[watchaminnie]

Does anyone have their photopass photos in an online album that they would be willing to share? I'd love to see some!

[mickey-mouse35]

Plus having them on a CD you can create your own Christmas Card.

I am wanting to do Christmas cards, too. Two questions:
1. I was going to order cards from photopass site. How do you create your own?
2. We're going to be there this next week, with no Christmas decorations up. Anyone have a suggestion for a good place to get picture for nice Christmas card? Thinking the castle will be too big/too far for a close-up of us.

[tinksmom02]

I am wanting to do Christmas cards, too. Two questions:
1. I was going to order cards from photopass site. How do you create your own?
2. We're going to be there this next week, with no Christmas decorations up. Anyone have a suggestion for a good place to get picture for nice Christmas card? Thinking the castle will be too big/too far for a close-up of us.

1. If you have the CD, you can upload the pics and make cards at any of the websites, target, walmart, etc. Winkflash is running a special right now, but I just got mine done from shutterfly (yes, I'm **** and ordered my Christmas Cards already!) I wanted a card with space for 3 pictures, and shutterfly was the only place I could find with the layout I wanted. More than I would've paid with Winkflash (usually my go-to for prints and cards), but what I wanted.

2. The photopass photographers took some nice close ups of us. They would do some with the castle in the background, and then some close ups, where we were more in the frame, but you could definitely tell where we were. One of the pics I'm using for my card is a closeup of the 3 of us in front of SSE at Epcot.

My advice is to just get as many pictures as you can; one will definitely stand out as your winner!

[Noahrk]

I have read the photo pass website, read some of your responses but still a bit confused. When you pre-purchase the photo pass for $99 are you sent a digital memory card or just a card with your assigned account number? If it is just the assigned account number, then can you go to the photopass website and look at, design, boarder, signature, etc your photos? Then once home from the trip, can you upload photos taken by your own camera to ADD to the photos taken at WDW? Whew! Too many questions! 29 days and counting down!!

[EPCOT84]

I have read the photo pass website, read some of your responses but still a bit confused. When you pre-purchase the photo pass for $99 are you sent a digital memory card or just a card with your assigned account number? If it is just the assigned account number, then can you go to the photopass website and look at, design, boarder, signature, etc your photos? Then once home from the trip, can you upload photos taken by your own camera to ADD to the photos taken at WDW? Whew! Too many questions! 29 days and counting down!!

You will be assigned an account number with a card and a barcode. When you go to a photographer to get a pic taken, the photographer will scan the card so the photos he/she takes are linked to that card number.

You then go online to find your pictures, edit, crop, add Disney borders, start building projects.

Actually any visitor can get a free card from any photographer, or multiple cards. Say for example I take a pic at MK. Then I am at AK and I forgot to bring it. They can give you another card and add the new pics to that card. So you say, why pay upfront?

The pre-purchase is for the CD that will contain all the photos taken by Photopass photographers. Technically you are not buying a Photopass since the "pass" is free (just a card with a number). Get all the pics taken. Log on to the website, load the card numbers on the website, and all the pics will show up.

When you get home, yes, you can upload pics from your own camera to share on the site with family and friends, order prints (pricey !), create memory books, create screenshows. They just can't be added to the CD but your uploads can be used for all the other products. Also DIsney has some stock pictures you can add to those products (again not the CD).

Just remember you cannot upload your own pics from your camera to the CD when you finally 'order' it. It will be only those that the Disney Photopass Photographers took. But please go crazy editing the DIsney pictures, adding the borders they offer, cropping etc. before you place the order for the CD.

Have a magical trip ! I was there last month and it was great !