When I was planning our Disney trip I came across info for Disney's Memory Maker, a service that allows you unlimited downloads of photos taken of you and your family taken by Disney photographers throughout your vacation. This service costs $169 if purchased ahead of time. While planning I went back and forth on whether or not to invest in this service but ultimately decided to give it a shot because I wanted family photos of all three of us and didn't want to have to rely on bothering strangers. I am glad I went ahead and did go with this but was disappointed in a few things about the service. As with anything there were pros and cons and I will now break it down for you.
PROS:
You could check out your photos in a matter of minutes. Most photos were able to be viewed just minutes after they were taken through My Disney Experience. This was awesome because if we didn't like a batch of photos we could make sure we took them again.
The ability for us all to be in the photo. This was a big one for me. I didn't want a bunch of photos of Joe and Liv and a bunch of Liv and I. I wanted photos of the three of us as a family and we were able to get many of them.
Not having to lug around a camera. It was nice to be able to be camera free, plain and simple.
Character photos. There was a photographer with every character who got photos of Liv getting her autograph book signed as well as getting a posed photo of her with the character. This made things stress free for us, not having to worry about getting these photos and we have a photograph to to go with every signature.
Special Effects. A few of the photos that were taken had Tinkerbell and other characters added in the photo which created some fabulous Disney photos.
Memories to last a lifetime. So many times I bring my camera to special events and on vacations and I hardly ever take many photos because I am caught up in enjoying the moment. This is a good thing but leaves me disappointed when it's over with very little photos to capture the event. Getting this package was a way to make sure that didn't happen.
CONS:
Weren't as many photo ops as I thought there would be. There were a decent amount of photographer setups but not nearly as many as I thought there would have been. I was most disappointed in Epcot. We went "around the world" and only came across two photographers. I thought there would have been one in each country. Also in Magic Kingdom there were many photographers on Main Street to take your photo with the castle in the background but otherwise I felt there weren't many elsewhere.
No ride photos. I assumed there would be ride photos, you know the ones where you get those photos of everyone screaming at a certain point on the ride. Well, only one ride we went on had a photo available for download.
You have to ask to get photos. The photographers aren't hunting you down, you need to hunt them down. The first day we were there I felt awkward asking random photographers I saw to take our photos but by the following day I realized this was the only way we were going to get them.
No resort photographers. We stayed at the Art of Animation Resort which had so many amazing photo ops but there were no photographers on the resort property. This was a bummer because I would have loved family photos at the hotel.
Lack of props and original posing ideas. Only one photographer had some huge heart prop which was cute but made me think there should have been more props. And I must have at least five photos at different locations of Joe and I kissing Liv on the cheek. Each photographer had the same three poses they wanted you to do. You can tell each photographer has the same list of poses they are given in training but it would have been nice if they had some of their own ideas to add to the mix. A few did but most didn't.
Overall, I am happy we decided to get the Memory Maker package. Even with the cons I listed I am grateful for the photos we did get and we wouldn't have had them otherwise. If you are going to be at Disney for more than a day or two I believe it is well worth the $169. But you have the honest list of pros and cons above which will hopefully help you make a more educated decision. Below is just a small sampling of some of our photos from the package.
Have you purchased the Memory Maker in the past? Or are you planning a trip to Disney? Is this a service you would invest in? Would love to hear your thoughts. xoxo
