PhotoPass At Disney World

I love the photopass and was very pleased with it. Make sure you take lots of pictures the photographers are everywhere.

BTW I never had to wait in a line to have pics taken unless it was to have it taken with Characters and you would have to wait in line regardless if you were just using your own camera. But the photographers take pics anywhere and of anything you want. I love our pics with all of us in the gardens. It's also great cause all 7 of us were in all the pics, I hate pics of 1 missing person cause they were in charge of taking the pics,usually it's me, so then I don't have any memories with me and my kids nuzzled up together smiling.

Also if you have a smart phone, you can take a pic of your photopass card and have them scan that instead of having to look for your card each and every time.

Enjoy

Love the PhotoPass. One tip - be sure to ask each photographer if there is an add on. For example, in Animal Kingdom, my daughter held her arms like she was holding a baby and in the photo, there was a superimposed baby Simba. We used it as part of our Christmas card. But you have to ask.

Stop as often as possible for a quick shot - we did - and we got some great ones. They cost about $14 each to buy a print after the fact. So you'd have to get about 8 that you'd like to make up the difference.

I love our picture in front of Cinderella's castle at night - it was purple for the Halloween Party. I'd say buy it but plan to pose a lot. The photographers are everywhere. You can look it up to see where they stand. But there are lots of them.

Also, I loved the Disney Calendar. Worth every penny to have one of those made. Great quality and you can use your photopass pics (or personal pics) on it without having to buy each one.

I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with a "photo pass". Do you maybe mean the "fast pass"? The fast pass is pretty much just a line holder for you. It works pretty well if you take a moment in between rides and think 2 steps ahead.

Basically, some of the rides have a machine where you can swipe your ticket (tickets these days are a gift-card like card with the magnetic strip) and it will print you a paper ride ticket. That paper ticket cannot be used immediately. It will have a window of time printed on it that you are to come back. As long as you come back during that window of time, you go through the "fast pass" line instead of the "normal" line. It is much faster, but sometimes still involves a couple of minutes wait.
The trick is that you can only have one fast pass at a time. You have to use the prior one (or expires by time) before you can get another. Not all the rides have them either.

What we did was pick two rides in close proximity to each other. One with a fast pass and a time posted for the fast passes for about 45 minutes out, and one other ride. While the group waits in the non-fast pass ride's line, have one person in the group take all the tickets and go swipe them for fast pass tickets at the other ride and then come back and join you in line. By the time you get finished with the ride you are in the current line for, you can usually almost walk right into the fast pass ride.

As soon as you exit the fast pass ride, repeat the process. You can typically do about 4 rides in the time it would normally take for 2 or 3 doing it this way.

Each ride with a fast pass option has a display somewhere around the entrance with times posted for when you are due to come back for the currently being issued fast passes. So check those before you commit. Sometimes you have a big gap of time, and it can pay off to skip it and try that one again later, and get a fast pass somewhere with a shorter/closer window of time.

Enjoy!

There is no charge for the photo pass until you decide what photos you want to purchase (or the CD). If you are planning on doing meet and greet lines then it is worth it. They don't use photo passes at the restaurants (except maybe Cinderella’s castle and Akershus in Epcot). If you visit the new fantasyland then you will get a special photo pass with story time with Belle and you just add it on the website when you add your other photo passes.

If you are visiting the week of Christmas get to the parks early because they will fill to capacity early in the day.

I would skip the PhotoPass this time around and wait for when your daughter is older and "gets" the whole Disney World fantasy thing. She may be a bit overwhelmed at this age. I would say wait a couple more years and the reactions would be more memorable. Just take a camera and you can all take turns taking pictures with your little girl. Hope this helps and I hope you have a great time on your trip!

We go to Disneyland often and I have a photopass card that we hand the photographers any time we want them to take a picture of us. The cool thing is that they will also take a picture of your group with your camera. We have not ordered pictures from Disney yet, so I can't comment on how much they would cost. But I can tell you that unless you are planning on stopping and waiting in line for photos often I would think you would have only 10 or so pictures on your photopass card. Probably not worth $120 especially if you can have the same pictures on your personal camera. I would get the photopass card from a photographer when you get there and then wait to decide on the CD based on how many times you stop and have pictures taken and what they look like. I know you could save the money pre-ordering, but you may not even want the CD.

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When u have your first picture taken, they give you the card. When you have other pictures taken just hand them the card. That is a photo pass.
I wait until we get home and I can look at the pictures. Then I decide what I want.

The photo pass is worth it if you plan to be taking lots of photos with the park's professional photographers. They are throughout the park at every character meet and greet, in front of main attractions such as the castle, at character meals etc. If you participate in any type of show like the Jedi Academy (I know Disneyland has it and I think Disney World does too) they will take picutures of your kids at key moments during the show.
Your entire party can take pictures throughout the day with the professional photographers and they scan them on to a barcoded card that you later use to retrieve your pictures either in park or at home, online. Online you can add your own photos to the CD along with the professional ones.
When you purchase the CD you have legal rights to print the photos as you wish so you can print the best ones up for everyone in your party.
http://www.disneyphotopass.com/ This is the official site that will explain everything about the photo pass.
We have bought them a couple times on special occasions and it was certainly worth it for us.

I regret not doing the advance ordering. If you even want two or three of the pictures you will break even. It seems like a lot of money to spend, but I'm sure you will be glad you spent it after you see the pictures.

Have a magical time!