Photopass: To Do or Not To Do?

[smallworldmom]

We are blessed and have been able to come to WDW every year since 2004. I have been pre-ordering the photopass. At first I felt I was well getting my monies worth. The past 2 trips yes we had our photos made numerous times but the quality was the pits.

What do ya'll think try again or skip it and stick with our own photos?:confused:

[PETE FROM NYC]

Photopass costs nothing until you chose your pix, and order them. If you see nothing you want, don't order.
Nothing lost.
I don't think we could ever do a WDW vacation wothout our own camera, and video recorder, photopass or not.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

We, like you, always pre-order the photopass. It is just so easy with being able to get everyone in the picture, and sometimes some cool shots.

Even if you pre-order, if you're not happy with the pictures, you can cancel and get your money back.

I do find if you tell the photographer that you've pre-ordered, they take A LOT more pictures, so at least some are quite good.

[PopPhan]

Just for clarity sake -- You are pre-ordering the PhotoPass CD. The PhotoPass itself is free.

But, to answer your concern, the quality of photos taken by PhotoPass photographers depends on the photographer. The cameras they use are high quality digital SLR cameras and take marvelous photos. Lighting, staging, and the photographers ability determine hwgood or bad the shots turn out.

[Jennifer_and_Chris]

We always preorder. I feel like I can get my money back if I don't like the pics. But, sine we average over 150 - 250 pictures, its so worth it to us. Never even considered returning.

I like how you can get "experiences" added to the pass lik BBB, resorts, some restaurants and ride pictures added.

They also add the pictures of rides, characters, parades, icons w/o anyone int the backgroung or anything. I would never be able to get pictures like that no matter how early I got to the parks.

[Jennifer_and_Chris]

I forgot to add that we usually have a few families with us and we like to split the cost of the photopass. We don't always have to be together to take pictures but, we can share all the pics.

[NJGIRL]

I do not feel that the quality is there. I take better pictures than they do. There are many pictures that I know were taken but don't show up on the disc. How many pictures can you have with the same borderers over and over again. I think you have to remember these people are not photographers. I did the photo pass twice but won't be doing it anymore. IMO there are better ways to spend $100.

[JenniferS.]

We've pre-ordered the photopass cd a few times over the years. We did it again on this past Halloween trip. We did get a bunch of nice pics, but I gotta say we were really disappointed this year. We had a lot of pictures with the sun in our eyes and our kids hands above their eyes trying to block it out. They also had us do things like point and my husband's arm is directly in front of my son's face. I don't know why they didn't re-position us so that we got a nice shot. We also had glare's of sunlight on some of the pics that kind of ruined the pic. Also, this is a question for those who may know. In HS in front of the big hat, they had our kids hold their arm out and pinch their fingers together as if holding something in their thumb and pointed finger. Well, they never put anything in there. Does anyone know what was suppossed to go there? They did do the tinkerbell thing in my daughter's hands, but this was different. The pic was really cute, but it looked stupid with the kids hands out in front of them. It has made me re-think buying the cd.

[TinksGoofyMom]

On our 1st 2 trips to WDW, i ordered 1 8X10 of each of my 2 kids. In 2007 we got the Disney visa card. After each of our last 2 trips in 2009 & 2011, I had @70 rewards points left. You can use your photopass pics to make a photo book. I've even been able to download some of my own pics to the site to fill in the extra pages. It ends up costing @$80 for a whole book instead of $15-20/pic or >$100 for the CD.
I've paid <$10 each time after using the balance on my rewards card.

[gaffz70]

I forgot to add that we usually have a few families with us and we like to split the cost of the photopass. We don't always have to be together to take pictures but, we can share all the pics.

Thats a great idea, wish I would have done it last time, maybe it would have been worth it.

I also didn't know you could get your money back, we barely had any pics on ours and the ones we took ourselves were better!

[TinksGoofyMom]

You're not getting money back, just saving some on the rewards card. It's not just for within disney but anything Disney-based in or out of the world. I know they are points we earn but I think of them as free stuff. I only use the card for tax and tips with our dining plan througout our trip then souveniers and the photobook at the end.

[EeyoresBestFriend]

I agree. The quality of the pictures was terrible!!

But it had nothing to do with the photographers ~ it was the group that I was with and that they are not picture takers. And thanks to them I have a garbage can full of pretty bad pictures.

Why must people do that?!?! And, unfortunately, I cannot photoshop them out of a picture through Photopass . . . . :(