the bargain of Disney’s PhotoPass+ at Disneyland

On Miss L’s most recent trip to Disneyland, I sent a present along with her: Disney’s PhotoPass+ card. On recent trips she’d wanted to take photos with every character she met, so I thought that she’d definitely get some use out of it on a trip with Grandma & Papa L.

If you purchase PhotoPass+ 14 days before your trip (and yes… it will take 14 days to get to you!), it’s only $69.95 instead of $99.95 at the park. [note: Walt Disney World’s version is called Memory Maker and is $149 to pre-purchase and $199 to purchase at the parks]

What makes PhotoPass+ great is that you walk into the parks with a lanyard ready to take photos anywhere you see a photographer!

And all the photos that she took were available right when we got home either via downloading or by CD in the mail! (I opted to download them for instant gratification of course!)

You can also add as many Disney-styled overlays to the photos as you’d like, including character autographs! I may, or may not, have added an overlay to every single photo just because I could, and because you get the original (non-overlayed) photo in pristine condition as well.

They also have these lovely things called “Magic Moments” with certain photographers in the park, where they superimpose graphics into your image! It might confuse your kids a little bit when they’re doing it, but trust me that they love the results!

Another bonus is that you get copies of all of your ride photos from Radiator Springs Racers, California Screamin’, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror! Normally we would just do the cell phone trick and capture them second-hand instead of paying $15+ for a copy.

But thanks to Photopass+, we now have evidence of Miss L’s sheer terror on Splash Mountain in high resolution! And if you’re at WDW, you can capture your memories in VIDEO on Tower of Terror! (p.s. all the rides at Disneyland for PhotoPass+ are 40+ inches so keep that in mind for the short kiddos)

Now from a price perspective, pre-ordering PhotoPass+ is a great deal. Purchasing any photos you have from a PhotoPass card will cost you $15 an image, whether it’s sent in the mail or downloaded. And if you’d like to grab a CD of all the photos you take, it’ll cost $69. Last trip we ended up buying a CD because of Miss L’s epic fight with Darth Vader. So we paid the same price for a CD that you would have paid for PhotoPass+ before you left… but without the opportunity to get any of the ride images for free!

If you’re going for a 1-day trip, it’s not optimal. But if your trip to Disneyland is a leisurely one, than it’s a great souvenir.

And if you’re a “local” this is a great thing to share among your extended family, as it is good for 14 days! Use it over a couple weekends and bring all your friends along for the photo ops!

So keep PhotoPass+ in mind for an upcoming trip to Disneyland or Walt Disney World, as it might be a better investment than an autograph book! (That might just be my “permanent ink phobic” and “autograph loathing” alter ego coming out)