Is the Memory Maker Worth It?

[timsueshd]

I was thinking about buying the Memory Maker for our 4 night trip in November.

Is it worth it?

 

[stace1214]

Yes! We get so many great pics and videos each time. My kids love to watch the ride videos over and over. If you decide not to get, in my experience the photopass photographers have never minded taking pics with my phone for me.

 

[Deuce84p]

For us, it was, because my parents went with us and my dad loves to take pictures. So we were able to get him to leave his camera equipment at home by getting it. You also get all of the ride pics, which is a plus.

Normally we do not get the memory maker, and for the most part it’s fine to not have it. If you take pics with your cell phone the majority of the time, you probably don’t need it. But if you want generally higher quality pics without having to worry about bringing your camera, then it’s worth it.

 

[lillyshula]

We have so many wonderful pictures from rides and character meet and greets that we may not have had if we did not purchase Memory Maker (my profile picture is from our honeymoon). There are also many spots throughout the parks where you can get great pictures with or without magic shots as well. I am usually the one taking all of the pictures, so a lot of the time I am not included. It was nice to have pictures taken with the whole family without asking someone else to use my camera to get a shot of all of us together. Several of the times we had our pictures taken by a photo pass photographer there were 0-3 people in front of us, so we usually waited less than 10 minutes. I know a lot of people look at the price and think that it won't be worth it or a waste of their money if they do not stop at every photographer, but for us the pictures of the whole family enjoying a magical vacation together makes it something I know we can't pass up.

 

[kitkat4622]

I personally would not take a trip without it, it's just 2 of us and we get to be in all the pics together, high quality photos and the ride photos/videos are awesome

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Yes! Love all the ride pics and magic shots. DH always takes pics so he’d be left out of all the pictures, so now he can actually be in the pics.

 

[bsj1701]

YES

 

[agavegirl1]

I never bought the (Then Photo Pass Plus) prior to our 2014 trip but decided to splurge on it then. I am so happy I did. It is just DH and me but on our previous trip, all I seemed to have was pictures of the sights, fireworks, and DH. There were exactly two photos of me. One in front of the castle wearing a coat and one at Raglan Road on a bar stool. Not exactly representative of the entire 7 day trip. I was in the pictures! So absolutely worth every penny. We didn't take nearly as many pictures as most folks do because we will not stand in line for a photographer. But, just stopping every time we saw one that wasn't busy, along with rides and one M&G, we ended up with 158 pics. Do it. You won't regret it.

 

[kj2mom]

It was worth it for us, definitely. It was great making sure everyone was in all of the photos.

The videos are our favorite part! Not sure if you are staying on property but if not, and you decide to do MM, it might be worth it for at least one of you to have a MagicBand. Unless something has changed recently, the only way to get the videos is for the system to recognize a MagicBand. You don't all have to have one, as long as you have everyone on your MDE account or linked as friends/family, just one person needs it so the video goes to your account.

 

[BrookieM2001]

We loved it and would’ve bought it again this trip if it wasn’t for my moms AP getting it for free. The magic shots were definitely frame worthy and when we were standing looking down Main Street one morning, I turned around and a random photographer had gotten pics of my girls twirling in their Mickey dresses. I never would’ve seen it or even thought about a pic because it’s so everyday for us, with 3 girls, someones always twirling. But he saw how magical it was with the castle in the background and caught the moment. A quick swipe of our MB and the pics popped up in my phone. That right there made the cost worth it.

 

[kniquy]

I was thinking about buying the Memory Maker for our 4 night trip in November.

Is it worth it?

It is worth it, even for just the ride photos alone. With only 4 nights you will have to make a point to stop at the photopass photographers to make sure you get you moneys worth of the pictures. It really shouldn't affect your touring plans as they are in various places around the parks. The MDE app actually shows where you can find photographers.

 

[tlmadden73]

Yes -- with some caveats:

1) The longer the trip the more "worth" it.
2) You need to be willing to spend the time to find and go to (and wait) for the Photo Pass photographers. With the shots they get -- worth the wait. We purposely stop and spend 5-10 minutes getting that done. At Epcot (during Flower and Garden) we basically went out of our way to get some shots taken.
2a) You need to be willing to do Meet and Greets (as they get some great candid shots during those as well).
3) You need to go on the rides that have the ride photos

It is even more worth it if you share it with another family (to help divide the cost). On my last trip we were there with 4 families and besides the obvious cost savings, it was fun to see the photos of the other groups throughout the day (as they went to different parks or different rides, etc.). We'd gather back at the end of the day and talk all about our days and ask about the stories behind some of the photos, etc.

 

[Elle :)]

Absolutely. You get all the ride pics, which makes it more than worth it IMO. You also get random pics throughout the parks and meet & greets with characters. I easily come home with 500-1,000 pics.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Another yes vote! However, you do need to make sure you actually stop and get the pictures taken. I absolutely love all the unique shots and having the entire family in the pictures.

 

[Lovetherodent]

Sure. You get a lot of pictures (or as many as you want to stop for) and everybody can be in them.

 

[PSUGuy]

We get Photo Pass with our AP, a similar photo service. We wouldn't pay $$ for it but we get a lot of use out of it, especially since we get two 10 day trips out of it during Food&Wine. Actually, our adult children and 5 grand kids joined us last Nov for a party of 11. I made them all Friends&Family and they used it heavily.

Bill From PA

 

[Linkura]

I did it for my big trip with my husband, but for my smaller solo trips, I just can't justify the cost. Sometimes I'll buy a couple pictures I really like.

 

[WaterLinds]

I think the big thing to keep in mind is whether you will take the time to make it worth it to you. I bought it for our last trip thinking we would just snag a photographer while we were at various points, but we didn't see that many photogs and when we did it was either shots that didn't interest us or long lines. The few photos we got were of so-so quality. I opted to not download anything and am saving the MM credit for our trip next year...when I hope to plan better and do a better job of jumping on photo ops, be more willing to seek out magic shots, and accept the waiting factor a few times a day to get some fun shots. I think if I go into it better prepared, it could end up being worth it...it wasn't this past trip because we didn't make it work for us.

 

[Kaleidodad]

If you want to purchase any of the Photopass pictures the Memory Maker is probably worth it, as the break-even point is like 12-15 prints/downloads. I have not regretted purchasing Memory Maker for as short as a 4-day trip, but getting all those pics was also a nice incentive to upgrade to Annual Passes this year.

 

[Tomh]

We have used Memory Maker several times. I am the photographer in the family, so for the most part, I am not in pictures. With Memory Maker, I can be in the shots.

As others have pointed out, the longer your trip, the more value you get. You do have to take the time to find photographers, and to have the photos taken, but some of the pictures are really amazing. For us, it is worth it.