Lots of people are trying to decide if the $149 pre-purchase price of Memory Maker is worth it for their trips.
Today, I have some thoughts to help you decide.
I also have a quick tip about adding items to My Disney Experience that aren't automatically linked.
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These are notes from this episode. There's much more info included in the audio so be sure to listen to the episode for a better explanation.
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About Memory Maker
Read my post on how Memory Maker works which covers many of the details (plus more) discussed in this episode.
Quick tip of the day
If you'd like to add a note to your My Disney Experience daily plans for things that aren't automatically linked, go to "My Itinerary" and navigate to the day you'd like to add something new.
In the upper-left corner, go to "Add Plans" and then choose "Add a Note." This will allow you to insert something new into your plans that won't link (such as FastPass+ reservations at Be Our Guest).
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10 Comments
Hi Shannon,
This is my daughter’s first Disney trip. 🙂 We are debating whether it will be worth it to get the Memory Maker if we are only going for 3 day. Can you give us any advice what you think? I’m a huge picture taking fanatic.
Thanks,
BriAnna
We just got back from Disneyworld and DID get the Memorymaker. This was the first vacation my husband and I have been on where we were both in the picture. I am a scrapbooker, so every time we saw a photographer (and we made it a game to see who could see them first), we jumped at the chance. We got some incredible photos. We did park hop, and each photographer took several to ensure we got a good picture. All-in-all, we got 143 photos, plus 73 extras that Disney threw in. If I had to purchase each one, figuring I’d only get 50% of them (because of the duplicates) and none of the extras, at $18/photo (that’s the cost I saw), we would have paid $1,287.
We say the Memorymaker is worth it.
I purchased memory maker for our trip in August, and I have to say, I wouldn’t do it again. The photos we got through memory maker were awesome, and I’m glad we were able to so easily get some of our whole family; however, Disney lost probably a dozen or so pictures (of course, from some of our son’s favorite experiences). Some we were able to recover by taking time out of our trip to scan through pages and pages of files at a kiosk. Others, Disney told us, they weren’t able to find. I am happy we have the photos we have, but very upset with the ones they lost. Other than that, Disney did an amazing job at making our trip special!
I’m wondering if I have memory maker (and I am the one who controls the my disney account/ purchaser) and I’m not on a ride that takes pictures/ videos but my son and husband ride the ride will their picture be linked to our account even if I’m not on the ride? Thanks!
Yes he can still get the picture or video as long as he has your magic band or your card. Whatever memory maker is on, if you husband has it, you can get the picture
Hi Shannon
I do intend getting the memory maker for our trip in September but a little confused with what happens with the photos and videos after we arrive home. Personally I think I would pay $30 for the CD so do I pay for that after our trip and will they send that to the UK and I can then take the photos I want from the CD to drag them onto my home computer to do what I want with them.
Thanks
We bought the memory maker, but we were also hopping to all the parks and were there for 6 days. I thought it was worth it. Especially with the magic shots. I took over 300 photos of my own and with the Memory Maker we ended up with a little over 175 between the photos and the videos of us on rides. The magic shots are the best and I find it to be worth it just to be able to get them. It made the pictures a lot more fun.
I think if you are visiting more than 2 parks and/or buying a 4+ day pass and/or traveling with a large party it’s worth it. I had nine people in my party and we got over 400 pictures. Oh, and if you are going to meet a lot of characters then you should DEFINITELY get it because you can use those character greeting photos in the autograph book later. Keep in mind that you will be waiting in lines for those photographers in the park and plan accordingly. The castle at night is a great shot – use the photo spot at the main entrance and/or the one at the rose garden. Epcot had some really great shots as well.
We are Floridians, annual pass holders, and have been numerous times. I’m a photo buff and enjoy taking photos of my wife and daughter. I’ve taken my dslr to Disney (and Europe, and across the country … etc) a number of times so I have no problem taking my own photos. Also, I will say that in the past I’ve had NO problem with asking cast member taking photos with MY camera. All I had to do is ask.
With all of that disclosure out of the way; on our trip to Disney this past weekend we DID get a memory maker. We did it for two reasons, on our last trip there were some great moments with Mickey and my one year old that we ended up not getting (we should have bit the bullet) but the per photo price was just so high, and we were taking a niece who had never been to Disney so we wanted to get as many photos as possible. I will say that I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed the service. I did carry my camera as I always do, but we ended up with a TON more photos especially of the entire group simply because we knew when we found a cast member with a camera we could just and them the card and have the photo taken. It was great and we ended up with great photos! So all in all I would certainly recommend it but I really value have great photos.
We are going in December, so does that mean we will still get a “hard” copy picture of my daughter and Cinderella at our CRT breakfast? If I understood correctly, starting in January they will no longer be handing out the actual picture.
Also, you mentioned that Tusker House did pictures only at breakfast. Is that new? We went in August of 13 for lunch and got a picture of my daughter and Safari Donald before we went inside. We will be back there for lunch on this trip and was wondering if we should expect the picture or not.
Thanks!