I’ll be the first to admit that I was skeptical about getting my money’s worth out of Memory Maker, and consequently very hesitant to pay the $169 purchase price. During past trips, I’d been more than content to bring a nice DSLR and take my own pictures or ask the PhotoPass photogs to snap one of all of us with my camera. The big difference this time was that we decided to ditch the strollers now that our kids are 6 and 7 years old. Skipping strollers was great and very freeing in many ways – but it also meant losing out on a lot of storage space for things that we now needed to carry in our backpack. DSLRs are pretty heavy so that was the first thing to go.
We relied on our cell phones and PhotoPass photographers this time and really have no regrets. The $169 was well worth the price. Here are just a few things we loved about Memory Maker:
- Professional, high quality photos with characters and in various “photo op” locations around the four theme parks.
- Ride photos are included in this purchase – there are always at least a couple of ride photos I want to purchase but end up thinking “oh, what would I do with it?” They’re pretty expensive to buy individually. Turns out ride photos were absolutely priceless this time as my 6 year old rode Space Mountain and Expedition Everest for the first time and my 7 year old rode his first upside down ride – Rock n’ Rollercoaster – for the first time. These were some of our favorite memories!
- You can be in the moment during character greetings instead of worrying about if your picture is going to turn out blurry.
- Did I mention not having to worry about carrying around a heavy camera, keeping the battery charged, and living in fear that you’ll leave it lying somewhere? Or dealing with getting it in and out of the bag over and over.
- The fun magic shots (like the one included with this post) were a neat surprise when we looked through our photos at the end of each day.
Here’s what we wished was different about Memory Maker:
- No PhotoPass photographers at the water parks, Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. If they were there, we never saw them and this would have been such a valuable opportunity since I wasn’t carrying my phone around to take pictures.
- No PhotoPass photographers strolling around Disney Springs, which is absolutely beautiful and has lots of great spots for neat pictures to be taken.
- During our character dining experience, only one character was being escorted around along with a photographer. We were only able to get part of our party or some extreme close-up selfies with the other characters.
The positives far outweigh the negatives and I’m not sure I will ever be able to go to Walt Disney World without purchasing Memory Maker ever again!
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Candice was raised in east Tennessee. While in college, her best friend dragged her to a Walt Disney World College Program recruiting session at the University of Tennessee and the rest is Disney history. In the Fall of 1999, Candice became a quick service food hostess for Sunset Ranch Market and Fantasmic at Disney-MGM Studios – or what is now known as Disney’s Hollywood Studios. While soaking up her time as a cast member, she met Ryan, a neighbor and a fellow college programmer who worked as a custodial host at Epcot. Four years later, Candice moved to the Midwest and married that boy from across the hall. They now live in Greenwood, Indiana with their two little boys. The Disney-loving foursome took their first family trip to The Happiest Place on Earth in 2013 and Candice is eagerly planning their return. Candice also works full-time at a community mental health center and enjoys taking photographs and blogging at Mommy in the Midwest.
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