During a recent visit to Disneyland, I brought along my Nikon DSLR to take a few photos of our family. While I love using my fancy camera, I have to admit that it can get heavy and cumbersome when you have to carry it around the parks all day.
I had never used Disney’s PhotoPass service before, but was curious to see what it was all about when I saw a photographer hand out a plastic card after taking a photo. I soon learned that Disney has really upgraded the way that they take souvenir photos in the parks. It is actually worth leaving your fancy camera at home and letting the professionals do the work.
Disney’s PhotoPass is a fancy name for the team of photographers that you see throughout the Resort. When you get your first photo taken, ask for a card and they’ll scan it to track your photos. Every time you get another photo taken, just have the photographer scan the card again. It even works for the photos they take on the rides like Space Mountain and Tower of Terror.
If you want to see the photos during your visit, you can view them at the Main Street Photo Supply store inside Disneyland. This is a nice way to double check that you have the photos you want, or that you really got that perfect family photo in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.
I found that because the PhotoPass photographers take shots inside Disneyland all day, they really do know the best angles for your family photos. For example, our photographer suggested we take some photos from the side of Sleeping Beauty Castle instead of directly in front of the Castle. This angle made it so that there weren’t any other people in the shot and it gave us a perfectly framed view of Disneyland’s icon. The photographer also took some shots of my son holding out his hand, which later was Photoshopped to have Tinkerbell resting in his palm. It was a cute idea and one of those special touches that you get from the PhotoPass team.
If you pre order Disney’s Photo CD, the cost is $119.95. It can cost up to $169.95 if purchased after your vacation, so we highly recommend making the purchase in advance. The price does not include taxes and any shipping and handling fees.
Disney also has a new PhotoPass+ option (basically a deluxe Photopass package) for $169.95 if ordered in advance (usually $199.95). You get quite a few extra perks with this option. You receive a voucher to exchange for your PhotoPass+ card once you get to Disneyland, a Photo Gallery CD with 400 stock photos, a code to create and order a PhotoCD online, reserved seating for World of Color (like you would get with a dining package), and digital photos from select Attractions.
I’m glad that our family gave the PhotoPass service a try during this recent visit. It was a nice way to let someone else do all the work and then have some wonderful photos to check out when we returned home.
Photo via Disney Photopass
I usually just hand the photopass employees my camera and ask them to take a picture. They don’t seem to mind, as long as you let them take a few photos with their camera too. I like to do this because it lets me have a copy of the photo on my camera that I can post on facebook right away. If the photopass picture turns out nice, I can always buy it later when I get home.
Our family got the tinkerbelle photo too. It turned out super cute.
I’ve used the photopass service at Disney World, but haven’t tried it at Disneyland. Is there any difference in how it works or is it the same at both locations?