Info on new PhotoPass system

[Mickeymac]

LOL, no, couldn't tell you're excited at all!

Would you do me a favor when you go? Try out that new PhotoPass system and let me know how you like it. When Disney's photographers take a picture, they give you a plastic card with an ID number on it. You then give that card to the photographer every time they take your picture. You can then see and order your pictures online - it's fairly new. I'd love to hear how it works, if you do give it a try!

Have a wuuuuunerful, Tiggerific time!

[tad]

hi mickeymac.
i have just got back from disney and before i went you asked me to see what their new photopass service was like.
well we took advantage of this service while we were there.
our 2 kids had their first photo taken with Mickey and the photopass guys were there.
they took their photos and handed us a plastic card.they said if the kids had their photo taken again anywhere by their photographers,just give them the card and they will swipe it for you each time and then when you get home,you log on to the site named on the card and you register with the personal number on the card.
the kids had loads of photos took,and last night we went on to the site to view our photos.its really easy to do and it was lovely to see the photos.some of them werent very good,but we ordered 2 enlarged photos which were really nice.you can choose what size you want and you can add borders,messages etc... to the photo if you wish at no extra charge.
The prices range from$12.99 for a 5x7 photo.we paid $16.99 for the next size up but i cant remeber what size that was,then you add $6 for shipping.
I think the whole concept is a great idea.the only fault i do have with the service though,is that someone elses kids photos also came up with ours.it may just have been a mistake,however,i wouldn't be happy having my photos available to someone else to view.
hope this info is useful for you and i would recommend using the service when you go.
regards,tracey(tad)

[Mickeymac]

Thanks Tracey! I really appreciate it!

I do know they are running a couple of specials if you order off the internet right now, but am not sure what they are.

Thanks a ton for your feedback, and I hope it is very successful!

[dcfromva]

(This thread was split off from another thread (http://www.wdisneyw.com/forums/showthread.php?p=383541#post383541)

Thanks for the review Tad!


-DC :ears:

[jen]

Hi

We used the Photopass sytem in Dec and I think it could be very good when they iron out the creases. We lost a lot of our pictures as the number rubbed off the back of the card, and we could not trace them in time. In Aug we are going to be more careful and make a separate note of the pass numbers.

I think the photos of other people problem is something along the same lines, ie sheer numbers of photos being taken make it impossible for Disney to keep a complete track of all of them without a few hiccups. I think we were asked somewhere to inform them if photos appeared on our account which were not ours.

Incidentally, those extras aren't my kids are they ?! If they look really cold, two girls and a very shy little boy they could well be!

Jen

[Vikki]

Does it work if you live in the UK?

[Johnie]

It should. There is a link on the site for international shipping.

[Vikki]

Thanks :)

[PaulaK]

If I can offer a tip, it would be to write your name on the pass somewhere too. A few times the photographer took mine and almost gave me the wrong one back because they had a few on their cameras at once. You have to eyeball your card until you get it back! :D

[jetboy]

We used the pass in February. While I had no problems with the new way of doing things, I thought the quality of the photos was poor. We didn't order any because when we went online, it seemed there were problems with all of the pics. In one the kids and character were well off of center, and in many others, there were lighting problems. This didn't seem to be the case back when you had to stop at the front of each park to view and perhaps purchase the pictures.

Like I said, the service worked well as far as I could see, but maybe they are training more and more photographers. It did seem that they were offering the service at more of the character greetings.

[luvalab]

Is there a time frame as for how long you have to view them and then order?
Sounds like that would be nice. Thanks for the info. :thumbs:

[Mickeymac]

LOL Jen, I think I got those pictures on my Photopass!

Paula - great idea! I'll have to write our name on it.

One thing a photographer told me, was to ask whomever is taking the picture, to show you the photos after they take them, and to verify that they have been read.

Jetboy - you are spot on!! She also told me that they have hired a bazillion more photographers, and some are better than others because they've been doing it a lot longer. The guys in AK (DH calls them 'hawkers') were spot on with everything with us, but they seemed to have been doing it forever.

Luv, you have 30 days from the time you first access your shots, to buy them. I just access my December pics a few days ago. Oh! Weird story:

I didn't get a Photopass from the UOG gathering. I wrote to the Photopass department, told them what my gathering number was, and what the kids were wearing, what park we were at on which day, etc, and to see if they could find them. They wrote back saying it wasnt' enough detail, however, when I went to look at my photos from last week, ALL the December shots I was lookign for were there! I was so impressed by their research capabilities (and must remember to tell them that!)

[jen]

As I mentioned above we travelled in Dec 2004 and accessed our pictures as soon as we got home (about Dec 22nd). We decided not to buy any pictures this time as we had taken so many, but thought we would use the system again in the future.

About the Beginning of March we got an email from Disney offering us a discount on an order. As this was a marketing email clearly sent to many people I didn't think anything of it, assuming our pictures would have been deleted as per the details given above. I only mentioned it to DH as an example of what might happen in the future, but he decided to check the site again and our pics were still there.

We then decided to order one 8x10 as we wanted a really good shot of oldest DD on her own to compliment the one we took ourselves of other DD, and use the offer we had been sent. This went through great and we awaited the delivery.

Unfortunately it never arrived and Disney, to their credit, offered to reprint and resend it, for free. Again it has not turned up, but through some detective work of our own we have discovered this may be the fault of the good old Royal Mail and we are pursuing this line of enquiry.

My point though ("finally" you are all thinking!) is that at this moment my pictures are still available to view online and order from, and this is 4 months plus since we first accessed them (they never did find our other pictures :( ). I just this minute got an email saying that they will be erased on May 17th, so is it now policy to keep them on much longer than the 30 days or did we slip through the net.

Keep your fingers crossed for me that we find the naughty postie who has misdelivered our second copy and he still has this picture or else my DH will be fuming.

Jen

[djhammon]

HI we used Photopass in Jan,
The idea is brilliant as long as you give your card and get the correct one back.
Seams that there was some photos that we had taken that did not appear on our card.
However there website is quite good

David