You are gearing up for a visit to the “most magical place on earth,” Walt Disney World® Resort. You pack your sunscreen, MagicBands, selfie stick…
No doubt during your next trip you will witness the hilarity of the selfie stick (and maybe even the pain if you are accidentally hit with one!), a pole on which guests mount their cell phone to enable them to take not-so-great pictures of themselves enjoying a magical day. During our recent vacation, I was shocked to see so many people toting around these not-so-inconspicuous poles ALL DAY LONG! Now, if you are like me and that is not your idea of fun, Disney, of course, can help.
Disney’s Memory Maker is the clear solution. Want vacation pictures of your entire group? Tired of never seeing yourself in any of your memorable photos? By purchasing Memory Maker, your family enlists the help of Disney’s PhotoPass® Photographers in making memories for the whole family…without the added inconvenience of a selfie stick!
So, what is it?
Memory Maker is an entitlement you purchase that allows you to keep all images taken of you with your friends and family by Disney’s PhotoPass® Photographers. This includes “magic” shots, photos at some character meals and even select ride photos. During our week-long Christmas trip, the ride cameras captured our laughter, screams, thrills and even our battles with Evil Emperor Zurg. We amassed pictures from the following attractions:
- Magic Kingdom® Theme Park: Space Mountain®, Splash Mountain®and Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios® Theme Park: Rock ‘n Roller Coaster® and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™
- Epcot® Theme Park: Test Track
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park: Expedition Everest and Dinosaur
Memory Maker can be linked to your MagicBand, so you can simply have the photographer scan your band after each set of pictures and later you can review them on the Disney PhotoPass® website. No MagicBand? Scan the Memory Maker card you receive in the mail. Memory Maker collects all photos taken in resorts, parks and the Downtown Disney® area and they remain in your account for 45 days.
How do I get Memory Maker?
Memory Maker can be purchased on-line and linked to your My Disney Experience account. Currently, if you purchase Memory Maker online at least 3 days before your trip, the cost is $169. Didn’t plan ahead? You can still enjoy all of your photos for $199. Memory Maker is also sold in many shops throughout the Walt Disney World® Resort. If Memory Maker is purchased at the reduced price, only photos taken 3 days after purchase will be included.
DIStracted money-saving tip: Travelling with friends and family? Know another family who will be vacationing within a few weeks of you? You can split the cost of Memory Maker and share it. Because I was travelling with three other families, we were all linked together in My Disney Experience and set our permissions to allow the sharing of all photos. That enabled us to split the cost of our Memory Maker and all 15 members of our party could view all of the photos. Think of how many Dole Whips and turkey legs all that saved money can buy!
How can I get the most for my money?
Every time you see a PhotoPass® Photographer, STOP. Ask for “magic shots,” where the photographer superimposes images of beloved characters into your pictures. Our recent magic shots include my nephew flying away with the balloons from the movie Up, my family encountering Stitch and my niece shivering with Olaf! Tell the photographer you have purchased Memory Maker and ask them to take shots of several different poses. Many will happily oblige if there is not a line waiting behind you!
DIStracted tip: Some magic shots are now animated (think Olaf dancing around your family!). Purchasing Memory Maker will give you access to these, as well as adorable videos of your thrilling adventures on The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™ and the Seven Dwarves Mine Train. These can’t be purchased separately and we love ours! However, you must have a Magic Band to receive the videos and only the purchaser of the Memory Maker will get them. A simple solution is to ride those attractions with your whole group. Because we all rode in the same “elevator,” each person in our party of 12 is a star in our “terror-filled” video.
How do I get my pictures?
Simply log-in to your Disney’s PhotoPass® account to check out all of your amazing memories. Before downloading any photos, make sure you have linked Memory Maker to your My Disney Experience account.
DIStracted tip: Try to view your pictures daily to be sure all images have been added to your account. Missing a favorite shot? Contact the Disney PhotoPass® Guest Support team by calling (407) 560-4300.
Although anyone on your Friends and Family list can view and share photos (if you grant them permission), the Memory Maker entitlement can only be assigned to one guest, and only the person who purchased Memory Maker can edit (crop, add borders, change to black and white, etc.) and download all images. The lead person can then save all images to a disc for their friends and family.
DIStracted tip: Because everyone I travelled with is a trusted family member, I simply gave them my PhotoPass® log in and password so they could edit and download all photos they wanted. Remember to make a copy of the picture before editing if you want to save both images. You can create photo books and gifts through the Disney’s PhotoPass® site, print your own pictures or order prints from your favorite non-Disney printer.
Is it Worth the Money?
While everyone’s financial situation is different, if you are travelling for more than a few days or vacationing with a group or multiple families, Memory Maker is a great deal. Each individual 5×7 will set you back $14.95; one 8×10 picture costs $16.95 if purchased separately. So if you wanted to purchase 10 or 11 magical images, Memory Maker would be more than worth the cost. My group ended up with over 400 pictures from our week-long holiday vacation, most of which were shots we will treasure for a lifetime. And not one of them involved hitting fellow guests over the head with a selfie stick!!
My family and I are big Disney people but we have never done this before. Will have to think about it for our next trip. Thanks for the tips. Great article!
Can I link photo pass card I received to the memory maker account if I didn’t use the band?
You absolutely can, Klaus! Just type the number on your PhotoPass card in on the PhotoPass website and all pictures will be added to your account.
Thanks Katy. As someone who frequents Disney, I am always looking for ways to do things smarter. You have certainly helped. I look forward to future posts!
This seems like a great opportunity for pictures that you really aren’t able to capture on your own. It sounds especially affordable for groups of people traveling together. How “friendly” is the program when working with the photos after the trip? Is it easy enough to manage for people who aren’t too savvy with computers? Thanks for your tips!
Hi Sonja: The program is really easy in terms of adding borders, cropping, etc. Downloading the pictures took a very long time (400 pictures!)and I did need a little help from my techie hubby!
Thanks for this informative piece! I love the idea of pictures that are professionally taken for me! We are planning an upcoming trip and I have been dreading the thought of dragging my big SLR camera all over. Now I don’t have to! I am definitely going to use Memory Maker!
Katy, This is one of the best & most informative pieces I have ever read about Disney. Too bad they didn’t have this when I was taking my kids & having to lug my full size VHS camera around!
If this helps at all, the Magic Shots Photographers typically do not have their cameras on a tripod. They usually are holding a camera or have a camera strap around their neck.
I really enjoyed your article and it was very informing! Memory maker seems like a very cool thing and I will make sure I try it out!!
Great idea Katy. I have enough to carry with 5 kids, Maya, Molly , Lucy, Trudy & Misty without having to worry about a camera