Should I purchase Memory Maker???

[afergvip]

Please help! We will be at Disney for 4 days. Our kids aren't really into "characters" per say they are 11 and 21. We do have character dining scheduled at Tusker House. Is it worth it for me to purchase memory maker?? Will we do a character meet and greet - I have no idea - maybe if time allows. I'm sure we will do the star wars ones. Should I get it or no??

 

[tori.bh3]

I honest to God buy memory maker every time solely for ride photos. Those are my most cherished souvenirs. I'll stop in front of the castle and tree of life for photos too. But I buy it for the ride pics.

 

[dachsie]

Please help! We will be at Disney for 4 days. Our kids aren't really into "characters" per say they are 11 and 21. We do have character dining scheduled at Tusker House. Is it worth it for me to purchase memory maker?? Will we do a character meet and greet - I have no idea - maybe if time allows. I'm sure we will do the star wars ones. Should I get it or no??

You do have the option of doing a one day memory maker if you want a bit of a compromise. Tusker house does not use photopass so you would use your own camera/phone for pictures. But if you wanted some good pics say at MK which would also give you several ride photos, it may be worth one day of memory maker

 

[nas1861]

Best part of Memory maker is the magic shots! I really like the ride photos too but the magic shots are something you can only get through memory maker. You do have to be aware and stop for the pictures when you see a photographer and in many cases, you need to ask if they do any magic shots. Some will automatically do them but most won't. The Tangled night time shoot with the lantern is my absolute favorite followed by the one in Pandora with a Banshee flying in the sky and the night time pic of the seeds of Eywa. There are tons of different magic shots. The other best part is getting a family picture with everyone in the shot. No mom not in the picture because she is taking the picture. Sure, you can hand your camera to the photographer and they will take your picture for free but that is usually one picture while they usually take a minimum of 3.

But the bottom line is would $30 make or break your budget? If not, then you can purchase memory maker after your trip if you are on the fence to see if you have enough pictures to make it worth it. There is also the new one day memory maker so you could do all of your photos on one day and then purchase that day for $69 (I think) instead of the length of stay pass.

 

[kelmcg]

I love it!! My boys are 17 & 15 and don't like doing the character "meet and greets" but we still come away with hundreds of photos each trip. I promise to not make them wait in any long lines for photographers but if I see a photographer with no wait they are not allowed to complain! They know to just stand there, smile, say cheese and it'll take 1-2 minutes at the most. We also try to take funny pictures on the rides. Throughout our 6 day trip we'll ride some rides multiple times and the first time is usually a regular picture but any time after that we'll try to pose for the camera!

 

[Lesley Wake]

I think it is entirely up to your own tastes. My sister and I (late 20s/early 30s) did not plan on getting it. But then I upgraded my ticket to an AP, so it was automatically included. And we LOVED IT! So many awesome photos, including rides, characters (we aren't even really character people), random shots, and especially Magic Shots. At the end of our trip we made it a mission to get as many Magic Shots as possible! If we had not gotten it, we would have very few photos of both of us together (I know we can ask the PP, but we probably wouldn't have bothered stopping for most of the photographers we did stop for). For example, during our trip we went to Universal and didn't get any photos done. We didn't have any shots of both of us together and I have only one photo of myself the entire day!

So, for my opinion, I'd say, yes, get it. It's a drop in the bucket when you consider the overall expense of the vacation, and helps give you tangible reminders of your trip.

 

[bwbuddy5]

I just bought it too. Can’t wait to use it. I ordered through the same MDE where my reservation resides. When does it activate?

 

[nas1861]

I just bought it too. Can’t wait to use it. I ordered through the same MDE where my reservation resides. When does it activate?

It activates after you start taking pictures. You can redeem it right away to remove the watermarks or you can wait until you get home, which is my preference. I believe the days start when you activate so if you wait until you get home, you have a few extra days to add boarders and download. But don't wait too long to activate because the pictures only stay on the server for so long. When you see your pictures in MDE, there is an option to start your memory maker to remove the watermarks right away. Either way, you can still see all your pictures. Unless you have an AP, those rules may be different.

 

[tlmadden73]

Worth it if you go out of your way to get photos taken. It's not all about meet and greets and there are no photo pass photographers at character dinners.

But if you find the shots in front of the castle and such, they make great keepsakes. Plus the ride photos are just fun.

So just depends if you are going on rides with photos and if you are going to go out of your way to get your picture taken in key spots.

I've used it on my last two trips and plan on getting it for next.

It really helps when you are splitting it with another family or two that is travelling with you. Then it is REALLY worth it for that cost.

 

[starry_solo]

Try a Photopass Share?

 

[amy1115]

After much debate we purchased Memory Maker on our last trip. We did not regret it and will get it every trip from here on out. We did the Star Wars Meets, but other than that the only other characters we got pics with were Chip and Dale because they are our favorites. I agree with a previous poster about it being worth it for the ride photos. Our family hates taking pictures but we ended up with some really great ones. The photographers are around every corner so it's easy to work some great shots into your park days. Have fun!

 

[deuceswild10]

YES! Worth every penny.

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

Depends

I took over 1000 photos last trip and all were with my phone. Everywhere that a Disney photographer was, they would use my own phone to take our photo and then use there’s Incase we decided to buy it at trips end.

I’m debating for the next trip but I doubt it.

 

[Roy Disney]

Could some of you post some of your Memory Maker pics ?

Would love to see some magic shots, ride shots or regular shots.

I’m getting MM for the first time in October.

 

[Elle23]

I’m one of the few who didn’t think it was worth it.

The pictures were honestly not great quality. And my kids threw a fit every time I tried to make us stop to take pictures (teenagers...) And we don’t do meet and greets so no need for pictures there.

The ride pictures were fun (especially the gazillion splash mountain ones), but not worth $169.

ETA....I thought the photographers would work with us and help us set up poses and shots, but none did. So it was just us awkwardly lining up next to each other for basically the same picture of us over and over with different backgrounds.

 

[GPC0321]

We got it when we went at Christmastime, and I was floored at how many pictures we got without really even trying that hard. The only character meets we did were Santa Goofy at JBJB Dessert Party and Mickey at the MK. The rest were in front of Christmas trees, the castle, and the Tree of Life. Oh, and one in front of the floating mountains at Pandora (magic shot). We had several magic shots, and the on-ride shot on Pirates of the Caribbean (we didn't ride anything else that had pictures).

Along with our photopass shots, they also include a bunch of really nice stock photos of the landmarks and (because it was Christmastime) holiday festivities.

I was blown away by how many pictures we got. It was worth it.

ETA: My profile picture/avatar is cropped from a PhotoPass picture in front of the MK Christmas tree.

 

[Stigsmom]

I’m one of the few who didn’t think it was worth it.

The pictures were honestly not great quality. And my kids threw a fit every time I tried to make us stop to take pictures (teenagers...) And we don’t do meet and greets so no need for pictures there.

The ride pictures were fun (especially the gazillion splash mountain ones), but not worth $169.

ETA....I thought the photographers would work with us and help us set up poses and shots, but none did. So it was just us awkwardly lining up next to each other for basically the same picture of us over and over with different backgrounds.

This was us. I bought it because my mom thought she needed to have it, but then we didn’t end up getting many pictures at all. I actually commented to a waiter at a character meal about how little used it and she made sure they took a whole lot during the character meal. Aside from those we really only got a handful in the parks most of which were from the rides. I would not buy it again.

 

[lolomarie]

We get it every trip and I wouldn't go without it, but it's not always great. I will continue to get it because I'm the picture taker, so it's really nice having photos of me in them. On our last trip I didn't know that the photo pass cast members don't automatically take magic shots. Now that I know to ask hopefully we get more next trip. But most importantly to know, the cast members are not always photographers. Some of our photos were bad, like really bad. Out of focus, cropped poorly, missing people in our party. What I plan to do next time is get the photo pass photos, but then also take them with my own camera of just my kids. That way I know I'll be happy with at least the photos of my kids.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

I honest to God buy memory maker every time solely for ride photos. Those are my most cherished souvenirs. I'll stop in front of the castle and tree of life for photos too. But I buy it for the ride pics.

We do too. Honest to god!

 

[mrsclark]

To offer a slightly different opinion, DH and I get Memory Maker every trip and we love it. DH actually hates the Magic Shots, so we don't get it for that reason. I am a really big character person so that is a great benefit. But we also love it for the ride photos and all the photos in front of iconic locations like Spaceship Earth, the Castle, the fountains in France, etc. Yes, some shots would come out just as well on our own camera, but I think a lot of the photos due to the lens or the setting on their cameras come out with much better backgrounds than what we could get ourselves. Also the night shots that we get are way better than what we could get on our phone or point and shoot camera.

We normally go to Disney for nine or ten nights, so the cost is much better on a per day basis, but I would suggest that if it doesn't put too big of a dent in your budget to go for it.