Memory Maker, worth it or not?

[Disney_JB]

My two siblings and I are going on our first trip to Disney World at the end of this month. We are contemplating whether we should Memory Maker. We have never been, so we don't really know everything that is included, when we will get the pictures, and how the whole process works during our trip. Could anyone help explain the gist of it and if it is worth the cost?

 

[CinderEmma94]

My two siblings and I are going on our first trip to Disney World at the end of this month. We are contemplating whether we should Memory Maker. We have never been, so we don't really know everything that is included, when we will get the pictures, and how the whole process works during our trip. Could anyone help explain the gist of it and if it is worth the cost?

All of your ride photos and photos taken by photopass cast members across property are included. Your photos will link to your my Disney experience account as soon as they are taken (there is sometimes a lag depending on where the photographer is located because of Disney WiFi. There is also a lag on “magic” photos). They will have a watermark unless you purchase MM. Once you purchase you can download immediately to your phone or on your computer later (or both).

If it’s worth it depends on if you stop to take pics or not. One photo is around $20 or so to download individually.

 

[elvispursley]

We always purchase MM and have always found it worth it since we end up with over a hundred photo pass shots (not including ride shots) where we have our whole family in pictures. The only time where it wasn't great was this past summer where we all ended up with COVID and missed several park days and the days where we were able to go, no one felt really up to taking pictures. But they make great phonebooks, gifts, etc and I love looking back at all the pics we've gotten from our trips (in addition to the ones we take). But as the pp mentioned, YMMV...

 

[katied]

We just got back and have great pics. We hit photopass photographers when convenient, plus all the ride pics. I do buy every year… the only time I wasn’t thrilled was when masks were still required on rides, but I guess that’s a kind of memory too.

 

[100AcreWood]

We've bought it for some trips, and not for others. I don't look back at the ride photos, so for us it's not worth the money. I just ask the photographers to take pictures using our phone.

 

[boredghost]

We bought it for the first time last Feb. we were a group of 8 adults there for a solid week- it incentivized us to get group shots and take advantage of the photographers throughout the parks. It was a great value.

We’re trying it again in a couple weeks- just me and my wife, so we’ll see how that goes!

 

[chris benton]

For a first trip, if you plan on taking photos yourself, you might want to think long and hard about the price of having everyone in your photos vs one person being out of the photo because they are the one taking the photo. The ride photos are nice as heck, too. The character photo spots, and photopass spots are nice as heck, too. If you make it a point to take advantage of what MM offers, for a first trip, I'd say it's a no brainer, if you like taking and having pics. It's pretty convenient to have everyone in the picture, and some of the pics you will get might have little extra touches.

 

[DeeBee3]

We are off and on with Photopass, but we bought this past Christmas because it was a really big treat for our family. It was well worth it as I'm going to be making photo books and the pics are far superior to the random ones I snapped on my phone.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I buy it occasionally but not often. If I really like a photo I purchase it separately. Yes, it’s about $20/photo but normally there is only 1 or 2 I want.

 

[CarolynFH]

A first trip with your siblings sounds pretty special to me, so I would tend to get it. We had to buy it this year for the first time in many years because it’s now an add on for APs, and we still bought it for just DH and me because we like the memories. (We use them as screensavers and desktop photos on our PC.)

 

[DisneyDadWV]

We are terrible as a family of thinking "oh, we should take a pic here" with our own phone or camera. After purchasing MM and seeing the Photopass cast members all around the parks it makes it a lot easier to remember to get memories made during your visit. At least it is for us.

 

[GoHorns94]

We purchase it every single trip and are happy we did every single time.

Family pics are made so much easier by MM and the Disney photographers know how to get awesome shots routinely. Not the mention the Magic Shots and newer Super Zoom (or whatever it is called) shots.

For my family of four, it is worth every penny!

 

[_19disnA]

When we last went to Disney a couple of years ago with other relatives, someone else purchased Memory Maker. You get a LOT of pictures from each location which we didn't find of particular value. It partly depends on how many pictures you actually want vs. taking a few snapshots here and there. Some of the ride photos got jumbled and we ended up with several where the car didn't contain anyone we knew. (I assume we were the car before/after the picture was taken).

The owner of Memory Maker has a certain number of days to download all of the pictures once your vacation has ended. As I recall, the download isn't formatted in a convenient way (typical of Disney IT) and it took a good bit of time to rename/arrange/store all of the pictures in a folder on our PC that would be convenient to access for later use. We wouldn't buy this feature again.

Using the downloaded pictures, you can send them to be printed at any of the online photo places for far less then Disney charges. Most online photo places charge only $2-3 for an 8x10 and often there are specials if you check around. If you only want a few group pictures, it would be cheaper (and more convenient) to find a Disney person to hand your camera to so everyone can be in the picture.

 

[loislane]

It really depends on what kind of person you are I think. If you are someone who likes to get group photos during your vacations, MM is worth it for that alone. We haven't always purchased it for every trip, but usually do. For us, it makes it really convenient and easy to get the pictures we like - without having to fumble with our phones, hand our phone off to a CM and then of course it always locks before they take a picture and I have to unlock it and then dash back to pose. You get the drift. When I've broken it down in the past, we get so many MM photos that they cost less than $1 per photo.
When we get MM, we have 2 sets of photos and between the two, they are a pretty comprehensive memory of our trip. We use our own phones to take pictures of things that capture our attention - animals on the safari or how yummy my Dole whip looks, for example - and then MM has all our ride photos (which usually make us laugh), character meets, magic shots (which are fun!), and group shots that include everyone.
I do make a photo book from every trip that incorporates ALL of those different photos, so it's important for me to have them.