Here is Susan’s review of Disney’s Photopass Plus.
Do you typically buy the Photopass CD in advance of your trip? For a few dollars ($30) more than the standard photopass CD advance price, you can pre-purchase the Photopass Plus CD, at a significant savings prior to your trip.
You must pre-purchase at least 14 days before your trip, reason being that Disney will send you a certificate to redeem for your Photopass Plus lanyard via USPS .
I pre-purchased Photopass Plus at a price of $149.99 (standard price is $199.99), and within 8 calendar days a small package arrived at my house, containing all the information I needed to get started. The package, which was the size of a DVD case, included
- a CD of over 400 bonus WDW photos ( in addition to the ones they usually add to your account based on where the actual Photopass photos are taken),
- a certificate with a unique code on it, that you must take to Disney to redeem for the actual Photopass Plus Card ( keep it in a safe place- with your park tickets!)
- a certificate with a unique code on it that is used online after you have uploaded and edited all the Disney Photopass pictures and are ready to order the CD. Keep this at home in a safe place
Process:
Disney issues a red Photopass Plus card when you turn in your certificate at any Photopass Sales Center around the WDW Resort. They are usually located inside the entrances of the parks, and there is also one at Downtown Disney Marketplace. Be sure to exchange this right away upon arrival at your first park visit, so you can start your vacation with the red card from the beginning.
Once you turn in your certificate, you will sign a short form and receive a red Photopass Plus card on a grey lanyard (you only receive 1). This card will be punched with the expiration date of your Photopass Plus card. You have 14 calendar days to use this Photopass Plus card before it expires, it cannot be used beyond this time frame. I was the first one in line (right after rope drop) at the Animal Kingdom, and the entire process took about 10 minutes (the Cast Member couldn’t find the hole puncher initially, which is what took a few minutes). This is a good time for someone else in your party to go ahead and obtain your first Fastpass of the day! When I left the Sales Center, there were probably 5 people in line behind me. Take a picture of the # on the back right away in case you lose it!
The main benefit of the Photopass Plus card is that digital images of many ride and dining photos are included with this card. Most dining photo packages are $29 and the ride photo packages start at $15. Upon exiting a ride with photo, make note of your photo number, and take your Photopass Plus card to the registers, they will scan your card and upload a digital image of your picture to your Photopass Plus card (note: you will not get a print out of the photo). They will also hand you a receipt. Keep this as well, in case you have any problems uploading your card to your account. The list of attractions includes:
- Space Mountain
- Splash Mountain
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
- The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
- Rock ‘n Roller Coaster
- Expedition Everest
- Dinosaur
- Test Track
- 1900 Park Fare
- Ohana (Breakfast only)
- Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show
- Chef Mickey’s
- Cinderella’s Royal Table
- Tusker House Restaurant
- Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue
- Princess Storybook Dining at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
When dining at Cinderella’s Royal table or Akershus, even though a printed copy of your photo is included in the meal price, don’t forget to give them your Photopass Plus card so a digital copy is included on your account.
At all other dining with photo meals (Ohana, Chef Mickey’s, 1900 Park Fair, etc), show your Photopass plus card when they bring the printed photo to your table, and you will receive it without paying extra for it.
You can combine regular Photopass cards onto your online Photopass account and include them when ordering your CD, however, you will only be able to claim the dining and ride photos with the red Photopass Plus card.
I did notice that the Photopass photographers tended to take more pictures once I handed them our red card. Additionally, anytime we saw a Photopass photographer standing idle, we would always stop and ask him to take our picture. Don’t forget to ask them to add Magic Shots as well. I was told by 1 photographer that as long as the camera was not mounted on a tripod, they could do a Magic Shot.
Once you upload your Photopass card #s to your online account, you have 30 days to edit and order your photo CD that you pre-purchased, as well as any other additional Photopass items. They do not advertise this, but if you call within that 30 day time frame, they can and will if you ask, extend the expiration date. For this past trip, they extended my photos by 14 days.
If you are inclined to buy a dining or ride photo package, and usually pre-purchase the regular Photopass CD in advance, then it is certainly worth the $ to purchase this Photopass Plus option. I will definitely do this again at this price, after editing and adding borders, my CD contained over 500 pictures.
Learn more about souvenirs in the Walt Disney World parks Plus Destinations in Florida can help you choose your souvenir purchases on your next Walt Diseny World vacation.
Suzanne Manning is a working mother of 2 from Buffalo NY and would live in Cinderella’s Castle if they let her.
Jessica says
According to the cm I spoke to, the magic memories option is taking the place of the photo pass cd option. All the files would be online, with basically the same perks, but no physical cd and it would tied to tickets/magic bands. She said the CDs were being phased out, but wasn’t sure how long it would be for that to happen. That was a few months ago, so my memory is fuzzy.
Corinne Carruthers says
I ordered the package but have yet to receive anything in the mail in regards to the photo package. We are going February 18th. How far in advance have people received the package?
Corinne
Jaime Licata says
Is this now the Memory Makers option? Can u still get a cd with it?
Lisa says
would like to do this for our up coming trip, but my question is… When we arrive we are going right to chef mickeys for dinner, is there anyway to get the photo there without checking in to get our red card?
Suzanne says
I am not sure about that- there is a phone number on the photo pass plus website that you can call to ask – good question!
Bunnie says
I redeemed my photopass plus coupon at Animal Kingdom resort two weeks ago. The desk is right across from the front desk. There must be other locations, but we caught him right before he closed. I’m still adding borders before I order my disk. My account also did not have all my pictures, so I filled out the missing photos form and they found them!
Reta says
Is there any additional cost for the CD after you pay the $149.00? I’ve heard you have to pay for the pics after….but not sure. Thanks!
Krystal says
Thanks for the great info! After reading, I prepurchased the photopass plus for our August WDW trip. We are very excited to try this for the first time. Our package arrived only 4 days after ordering :)
suzanne says
Great – I’m sure you’ll love it!
Rhea says
What is a magic shot??
Kristin of Couponing to Disney says
Check out this post :) http://www.couponingtodisney.com/list-of-photopass-magic-shots-at-walt-disney-world/#more-177324
Rhea says
I saw it! Thanks for postng it! :)
april says
So you only get one card? That would be a problem for my family as my husband and I often split up due to the gap in ages between our 4 kids. Am I understanding this correctly?
Suzanne says
Yes, you only get one card. You should call the Photopass number (listed on Photopass website) to confirm.
Tammy says
you only get one red card (which must be used for the ride photos) but you can add the regular photopass cards to the red card and you can later add the ride photos to it if you go back to the ride it was taken at
Caralee W. says
I have always purchased the CD and am super excited about the plus option. Added it to our vacation package and can’t wait to try it out in September. Great article!!!
Tracy says
I’ve pre-ordered the regular photopass CD before. I’m very excited about the new Photopass Plus. Thank you for sharing your experience. I definitely want to do this next time we go to Disney.
christie says
got this for our last trip and it was wonderful!! i only got the CD (was really tempted to buy their prints and borders but used self control— it will be tough!) I used the prints to make photo calendars for holidays, we made them in to photo books for the kids, and other family members who went on the trip with us printed off what they wanted. i made a few collages too when walgreens had free offers.
one other thing, i didnt get the CD- you get a choice to download the pics that would be on the CD- i didnt want to wait for the CD so downloaded to my computer immediately- worked perfectly. love this product!
Suzanne says
Once you get the CD, you can print you own pictures ( at home, at store, online at Walmart, Walgreens, snapfish etc) just like you would pictures you take on a digital camera
Jnet says
So with paying 149.99. Do you get to print the pictures at home? Or do you just get a CD too look at? I
Allison says
Great article! Definitely doing this on our next trip!! Usually we try to take a picture of the screen of our ride photos…doesn’t always work out so well.
Suzanne says
At dining you get digital and the prints, at the rides you only get Digital images.
Mary Smith says
Thanks for all the great information. I wondered how this worked and my kids are always mad that we don’t buy every picture. I’ll be doing this for our trip next April. You just get a CD? Prints are extra? Wonder can you download from the CD and print yourself?
Thanks again
Mary
Mel says
Mary, you can download and print yourself if you chose too.