TheVBs
11-19-2011, 08:59 AM
This year, for the first time, we pre-purchased not only the CD but the photobook as well. It was a difficult decision because I found little to no info on the book while trying to browse the site. Luckily, I was able to ask around here, and between those answers and some answers I got through their customer service site, I had enough info to decide to give it a try. Why they don't allow you to browse what they have to offer is a mystery to me. Most sites let you preview their covers, backgrounds, etc. I didn't even have any idea what the size of the book was until it actually arrived! There is only one size and it's 8 1/2 x 11.
They have a handful of nice covers to choose from, a couple more options couldn't hurt. It did take me awhile to figure out that you could change the photo cover options from portrait to landscape. You have to use the toolbar at the top to change it. Like most sites, you pick a themed background to start, even though you're able to change your backgrounds as you go. A little bit of a pain because in some cases it automatically inserted some text boxes and stickers. I had to remove them. They have a nice selection of backgrounds, but could have varied the themes a little better. The only park specific pages were in a vintage sepia style.
I absolutely loved the free form picture arranging!! This site is the best I've ever experienced in that regard. It works exactly like it should. You drag your picture to the page and can freely move it, resize it, tilt it, flip it, zoom in, etc. So easy! When you have a lot of pictures you want to include, this is wonderful. The photo layouts that you typically have to choose from on other sites can be so limiting. You can upload and use your own photos as well as the PhotoPass ones, any bonus content they give you and you can even use the standard park/resort photos that are available to buy! However, if you've added borders to your photos, those don't show up to use in the book.
My biggest complaint would be a weird problem with the text boxes. In the sticker section they have shaded text box backgrounds in a few different sizes, from one line to a huge block, and you can resize those as well. Then, you add a text box by selecting that option from the toolbar at the top. The weird part is that, on double page spreads, it would only show up on the left side. I tried everything I could think of to get it on that right hand page and couldn't. Not a huge deal for me because I was using them like journal entries, with a lot of text going in. But, if someone wanted to add text under a picture on the right side, they wouldn't be able to do it as far as I could tell. If I missed some trick on this that someone knows of, please let me know! You can easily resize the text box, choose a font, size of type, color of type, etc. Just couldn't get a text box on that right side page.
There was a huge selection of stickers! That was a treat because I've yet to encounter this option on any other photo site. My only complaint here is that it would have been nice to have a larger variety of characters. Instead of 10,000 Princess or Mickey options, it would have been nice to have some other options like Stitch and Pooh. Since people are using PhotoPass pictures with a variety of characters, you'd think they'd have at least some of the more common ones. There was a selection of Disney Cruise stickers that had a couple Stitch and Chip and Dale stickers, but they're dressed in sailor suits. It also would have been nice if there were some park, ride and event specific stickers. The stickers were really easy to add, move and resize, just like the photos.
I didn't end up using any of the photo frame options. They had some cute ones, and I might have been able to make it work if I'd framed them before resizing them. But, I went through all the pages putting in the text and squeezing in as many pictures as I could manage, then went back to add stickers and try the frames. When I tried adding a frame, my photo was automatically resized to fit the frame, undoing the sizing I'd done. So I just skipped it rather than try to figure out if I could add them and then resize all the pictures again.
One more small complaint; on the review before ordering, it took you through your pages, but didn't start at the cover. Unless you selected a "change your cover" tab at the top, you couldn't see it. That made me nervous!
Placed my order after obsessively going over every page and the text a million times. It seems that it arrived fairly quickly, but can't remember how many days it actually took. The end result was great! The cover came out beautifully and all of the pages came out exactly as I saw them on the screen. Well worth the pre-purchase offer in my opinion. Especially when I think back to what I have spent in the past putting together a scrapbook! Far less of a time commitment as well. The downside is that tangible things you bring home like your KTTW aren't in your photobook like they would be in a scrapbook. You could easily scan them and add the images though. I thought of doing that, then decided to pass because just the amount of photos we had were overwhelming enough. The upside is that it was easy for me to include our journal entries, which I was always too lazy to make work in a scrapbook.
Anyway! That's my review. I felt so in the dark pre-ordering this. I hope this helps someone else who's considering it. :mickey: I would definitely go for this option again.
They have a handful of nice covers to choose from, a couple more options couldn't hurt. It did take me awhile to figure out that you could change the photo cover options from portrait to landscape. You have to use the toolbar at the top to change it. Like most sites, you pick a themed background to start, even though you're able to change your backgrounds as you go. A little bit of a pain because in some cases it automatically inserted some text boxes and stickers. I had to remove them. They have a nice selection of backgrounds, but could have varied the themes a little better. The only park specific pages were in a vintage sepia style.
I absolutely loved the free form picture arranging!! This site is the best I've ever experienced in that regard. It works exactly like it should. You drag your picture to the page and can freely move it, resize it, tilt it, flip it, zoom in, etc. So easy! When you have a lot of pictures you want to include, this is wonderful. The photo layouts that you typically have to choose from on other sites can be so limiting. You can upload and use your own photos as well as the PhotoPass ones, any bonus content they give you and you can even use the standard park/resort photos that are available to buy! However, if you've added borders to your photos, those don't show up to use in the book.
My biggest complaint would be a weird problem with the text boxes. In the sticker section they have shaded text box backgrounds in a few different sizes, from one line to a huge block, and you can resize those as well. Then, you add a text box by selecting that option from the toolbar at the top. The weird part is that, on double page spreads, it would only show up on the left side. I tried everything I could think of to get it on that right hand page and couldn't. Not a huge deal for me because I was using them like journal entries, with a lot of text going in. But, if someone wanted to add text under a picture on the right side, they wouldn't be able to do it as far as I could tell. If I missed some trick on this that someone knows of, please let me know! You can easily resize the text box, choose a font, size of type, color of type, etc. Just couldn't get a text box on that right side page.
There was a huge selection of stickers! That was a treat because I've yet to encounter this option on any other photo site. My only complaint here is that it would have been nice to have a larger variety of characters. Instead of 10,000 Princess or Mickey options, it would have been nice to have some other options like Stitch and Pooh. Since people are using PhotoPass pictures with a variety of characters, you'd think they'd have at least some of the more common ones. There was a selection of Disney Cruise stickers that had a couple Stitch and Chip and Dale stickers, but they're dressed in sailor suits. It also would have been nice if there were some park, ride and event specific stickers. The stickers were really easy to add, move and resize, just like the photos.
I didn't end up using any of the photo frame options. They had some cute ones, and I might have been able to make it work if I'd framed them before resizing them. But, I went through all the pages putting in the text and squeezing in as many pictures as I could manage, then went back to add stickers and try the frames. When I tried adding a frame, my photo was automatically resized to fit the frame, undoing the sizing I'd done. So I just skipped it rather than try to figure out if I could add them and then resize all the pictures again.
One more small complaint; on the review before ordering, it took you through your pages, but didn't start at the cover. Unless you selected a "change your cover" tab at the top, you couldn't see it. That made me nervous!
Placed my order after obsessively going over every page and the text a million times. It seems that it arrived fairly quickly, but can't remember how many days it actually took. The end result was great! The cover came out beautifully and all of the pages came out exactly as I saw them on the screen. Well worth the pre-purchase offer in my opinion. Especially when I think back to what I have spent in the past putting together a scrapbook! Far less of a time commitment as well. The downside is that tangible things you bring home like your KTTW aren't in your photobook like they would be in a scrapbook. You could easily scan them and add the images though. I thought of doing that, then decided to pass because just the amount of photos we had were overwhelming enough. The upside is that it was easy for me to include our journal entries, which I was always too lazy to make work in a scrapbook.
Anyway! That's my review. I felt so in the dark pre-ordering this. I hope this helps someone else who's considering it. :mickey: I would definitely go for this option again.