Disney’s Memory Maker: Improving on PhotoPass+

Another improvement is being able to link your photos to your account via your Magic Bands. These wristbands are your park tickets, room keys, and PhotoPass cards, all in one device that you can conveniently wear on your wrist, or carry with you.  With each member of your family having their own Magic Bands, you can link pictures easily even if you family splits up for parts of the day.  No more keeping track of multiple PhotoPass cards.

If don’t have a Magic Band, PhotoPass photographers still carry the old PhotoPass cards to hand out.  To link those photos to your account, simply login and enter the 16 character code on the back of the card.

You can then view, edit, and enhance your photos before making any purchases or downloading.  Your photos are available for 45 days from the date the photo was taken. 

This is an important change from the old system.  It used to be you had 30 days to claim the photo, and then another 30 from the date you claimed it to view, edit, and download.  Now it’s 45 total from the date taken.  A one-time 15-day extension can be purchased for $19.95, bringing it to 60 days total.Crop, adjust, and add magical borders and “stickers” to your photos.  You can then download digital copies, order prints, or choose from the many photo products you can purchase as souvenirs or gifts.

There’s also an option to select photos to share as a slideshow on Facebook, or by sending a link to the pictures via email.

Walt Disney World has started adding videos to Memory Maker.  So far, just two attractions have this option, but we think there will be more to come.  If you ride The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror or The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, a video of your experience will be uploaded to your account for you to view.  This video can be downloaded with your Memory Maker entitlement.

Here are example videos:

 

 

 

We’ve taken 2 short weekend trips since Memory Maker was introduced, and knowing we weren’t going to get a lot of photos taken, we didn’t opt for it.  But our upcoming trip is going to be more like our average trips, and we know we’ll be getting Memory Maker for the first time.Pre-Purchase vs. Full Price

Memory Maker is available for pre-purchase online at $169.00 ($30 discount), or at the full price of $199.00.

PhotoPass Archive CDs are still available for purchase on the PhotoPass website, and Attractions+ is available for purchase at the parks.

If you pre-purchase, you receive a confirmation number via email that you can use to link your entitlement to your account in My Disney Experience.  If you purchase on-site, you’ll have a card with a number on the back to enter to link to your account.  Either way, you must have a “My Disney Experience” account to use Memory Maker.

If you purchase Memory Maker using the advanced purchase discount, the entitlement will not be available for 3 days.  You can only download pictures taken after that 3rd day, and once you download your first photo, the entitlement will stay active for 30 days.  That is your “window” to download.

With the full-price purchase, you can access regular PhotoPass photos (not dining or attraction) that were already in your account up to 30 days before you purchased and linked the Memory Maker to your account, and for 30 days after the first download.

 

Attraction and Dining Photos

Now you simply only need to inform the Cast Members at the photo kiosk at the ride exits that you have Memory Maker and they will link your attraction photo to any Magic Band or PhotoPass card you have.  The photos will show up associated to the person whose Magic Band/card was used.

The information on Memory Maker FAQ page states that the person who has the card linked to their account must be present to obtain attraction or dining photos, but I’ve confirmed with 2 separate PhotoPass employees that this is not the case.

The same is true for dining photos.  For Cinderella’s Royal Table and Akershus, which include a photo print as part of the experience, you’ll also be able to link a digital copy to your account. For the restaurants where the print package is offered at an additional price, you can get the digital copies linked at no extra charge.

Our experience with PhotoPass+ was that the locations also gave you the prints.  This may or may not have been policy, I’m not sure.  Official policy with Memory Maker is digital copies only, so it may be up to the restaurant location if they decide to give you the prints since you already bought the digital package… I guess we’ll find out on our next trip if we do one of those dining experiences.

Another reason Memory Maker is great is that you can view your photos as soon as they are available!  You also don’t have to wait until you’ve completed your vacation to redeem your photos and download them (or order the CD).

With Memory Maker, you can edit and download as many times as you like until the window expires, which is 30 days from you download your first picture or “otherwise redeem” the Memory Maker entitlement.

Friends and Family

One of the neat things about the new system is the ability to link your friends and family to your My Disney Experience account and see all of their photos, and allow them to see yours.  Even better is that if you have Memory Maker, you can download any pictures your friends and family share with you, provided it’s within your 30-day download window.  Only the person who has the card/entitlement linked to their account can download the pictures. 

This opens the door to some money saving opportunities.  The old way, you could add as many PhotoPass cards/Photos to your account as you had, even if they weren’t your own.  This enabled families to go in together on a PhotoPass CD and split the cost if they were traveling around the same time.

Now, with “friends and family”, that is even easier.  You can have as many “friends and family” as you want, and if you’re all traveling around the same time, the person with the Memory Maker entitlement can download them all, as long as the pictures are there in the account during the 30-day download window!

As fans of the old PhotoPass+, you can see why we’d be excited about Memory Maker. What do you think?