Disney's Memory Maker

Several years back (probably at least ten) we were at Disney World when they started using their, then brand new, photography system, which was originally called Photopass.  Park photographers took photos and then handed us a plastic card with a number so that we could take it to a viewing station and see our photo on computer screens, or put the number in online to view the photos from home.  What a great idea!  So much better than having to try to view it as a negative through those tiny little viewers or the waste involved in photos being printed on the off chance that someone would want to purchase them.  We thought it was a pretty cool system, and stopped for more photos, and viewed them from home, but never bought anything.

Then, Disney got even smarter.  With photographers stationed all over the parks (even in the water parks!), they began to offer that you could buy a CD with all of your photos for one set price.  The price wasn't bad, and we could get lots and lots of photos of our family with all four of us together (something that is rare for us) AND we could get photos in the parks without having to lug a camera around (we love not carrying things in the parks).  So, we went in with the friends we were travelling with and prebought the CD (it is cheaper that way).  We got some great photos from that first time, and again two years ago.

This past winter, Marika asked for us to prebuy a CD for this year's trip as her birthday present.  Taking lots of awesome photos in the parks is now one of her favourite activities.  By now, Disney has photographers in many areas, all sorts of special little things, ride photos included, etc.  It is a pretty good deal.  We ended up with about 450 photos for $150--not bad.

We took family photos in iconic places in the parks:

with the characters:

on rides (well, we just rode the rides and the photos were magically there--such a cool feature of the magic bands):

in the water:

and even with animated characters:

Overall, I am really glad Marika wanted to get the photos again this year.  This is probably one of the last great bargains left at Walt Disney World (as much as I love it, with the current cost of tickets we probably would not have gone; we had old tickets that we could use.  I can't believe how their prices have surged) and, in my opinion, it really is a great deal and a fabulous product.  Now, if only I could have teams of photographers take photos for me on all of my other wanderings . . .

--Hadley