Memory Maker- Buy it or Skip it?

Hi everyone! This week I want to talk to you guys about a question I get a lot from friends- should we get Memory Maker on our Walt Disney World vacation?

The answer is almost always a resounding YES! Memory maker is a wonderful tool that allows you to take wonderful photos and get every family member in the picture! Are you always the one who gets stuck taking the vacation photos, so you come home with a bunch of photos of everyone but you? Memory Maker takes care of that problem. You can add Memory Maker before your trip while purchasing your tickets, or once you get to Walt Disney World. I recommend buying it ahead of time, since you do get $30 off. (The actual retail price at the time of this post was $169 ahead of time). Memory Maker can give you photos like
these:

In front of the fountain at Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival!

In front of the fountain at Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival!

This was our second night at Disney World on our last.  We NEVER could have gotten this great of a photo by just asking a passerby to snap a shot. You can get photos in all four parks, but it doesn’t end there:

 

If getting iconic pictures in front of main points in the parks isn’t enough to sell you on thisawesome package, look at this photo:

Kevin and I at Typhoon Lagoon

You could NEVER capture a moment like this, halfway down a water slide, without a Photopass Photographer (the people that load all of your photos onto you Memory Maker account). They were standing right there at the bottom of the slide to catch our super happy faces coming down. Memory Maker works at both Disney water parks, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach as well as the four main parks.

Speaking of catching happy faces- did I mention Memory Maker includes ride photos? Yep! Say goodbye to the days of spending a half hour in line after the ride for a chance to see your photos, then having to decide if the picture’s good enough to warrant wallets for grandparents, an 8 x 10 for the living room, etc. Now, all you have to do is bump your Magic Band against the Mickey head below your photo, wait for Mickey to turn green and you’re good to go! You can decide on what sizes you want later, even years from now, because Memory Maker allows you to download your digital copies of images so that you can keep them- forever! Just make sure you download them soon after getting home, they’re only active on the Memory Maker website for a short amount of time after returning home. (And hopefully you never have a house fire, but if you do, this is a great failsafe to guarantee the family photos are saved, as you can upload them to Facebook or a dropbox for safekeeping). Another thing I love about the Memory Maker as far as ride photos go is that it’s unlimited, so if your family rides Tower of Terror 3 times, you can pick the funniest picture to display. How many times have you bought the first ride photo you took on a ride, only to have a much better one later on? Those days are beyond you now!

So now that you’re practically salivating over this awesome deal, let me tell you how it works!

Essentially, you buy Memory Maker and have it added to your Magic Band. (If you buy it online with your tickets, it will be automatically discounted and added to your Magic Band). After that, just look for the Disney Photographers all around the Parks. They will have a tripod set up and can often be found near (though at some distance for photographing, obviously) iconic places like Cinderella’s Castle, The Epcot Globe, etc. You can also find them at Typhoon Lagoon (where my above photo was taken) and Blizzard Beach. Just walk up to the photographer after the photo is taken and they will scan your magic band, loading the photo onto it. Then when you get home you log on to your Memory Maker account, download your photos, and that’s it!

*Fun fact! If you are planning a vacation to the “Big Three” in Orlando (Seaworld, Disney World, and Universal) both Seaworld and Universal do similar programs! Here’s a ride photo from Universal’s Photo Connect:

MIB 1

As you can see, we take shooter rides VERY seriously.

All in all, Memory Maker is for just about everyone. If you’re only going for a day or two, or if you’re an Annual Passholder, you may be the exception. It really just depends on how much you care about high quality photos from your trip!

3 Comments on Memory Maker- Buy it or Skip it?

  1. ejy5033
    April 19, 2015 at 12:13 pm (9 years ago)

    Yes, they do! You can choose to purchase each picture individually, but that can end up being much more expensive if you decided you wanted to purchase all of them. Plus you then you only get the print version and not a digital file, and you run the risk of it getting damaged or lost while you’re carrying it around all day. I’m also not sure how much longer they are going to run individual prints because of the success of Memory Maker! : )

  2. blt5163
    April 17, 2015 at 1:23 pm (9 years ago)

    don’t they offer you pictures after each ride you’re on though?

  3. kno5043
    April 17, 2015 at 12:12 pm (9 years ago)

    I love this post! So honest and really helpful. Just seeing your photos is convincing enough for me. I would definitely get this if and when I ever go to Disney World. I especially enjoyed your gaming photo. I wish every place would offer a Memory Maker, though perhaps at a lower price. I’m glad it was worth it for you guys, and thank you for all the Disney tips!

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