Is Memory Maker worth it?

[Erin Martin]

We are 2 adults with no kids. Been a few times before, but only bought Memory Maker once before (we were the first family at MK so we couldn't skip it that year). Granted, the photographers will take photos with your own personal camera if you ask BUT - Is it worth buying Memory Maker again seeing as we don't have kids and won't be doing a lot of character meet and greets?

 

[magical-me]

Probably not...

I only have memory maker cuz I enjoy meet and greets... I only use it for that.

 

[TawnyLynn]

We are 2 adults with no kids. Been a few times before, but only bought Memory Maker once before (we were the first family at MK so we couldn't skip it that year). Granted, the photographers will take photos with your own personal camera if you ask BUT - Is it worth buying Memory Maker again seeing as we don't have kids and won't be doing a lot of character meet and greets?

Personally, I love having the Memory Maker for all the photos. I enjoy having all those pictures that turn out great with the photographers at Disney. I had it just for me on my last trip and I had over 200 pictures. I love the characters, but I also love having those iconic photos. It's all personal preference, but I enjoy having it and love seeing all the pictures I get.

 

[MizSassy]

We are going for the first time without kids next week and I just added it last week. I was on the fence about it too. I decided I didn't want to have to worry about trying to do the selfie thing with my husband or handing my phone over asking people to take pictures. Plus I feel like we will take a lot more pictures taken knowing we have the unlimited availability!

Edited to add: Plus all the ride pictures are a perk!

 

[loves to dive]

We are AP holders and get it for free and don't even use it so for us, no it's not worth it.

 

[dosekies]

I just had it last week for the first time and we were only 2 adults. Personally, I went in to it knowing I wanted to take a lot of pictures, so we made sure to stop for every photo pass photographer that we saw. If we didn't do that, I'm not sure it would have been worth it.

 

[Nami]

I think it is totally worth it. We stopped at the photo spots and got some candid photos just from walking around the park and seeing things. It gave us a ton of cool pictures. I won't go without it. Carrying a camera is a huge pain!

 

[Ale Louise]

I got it last year for our trip in September and was worth it. What I loved the most about it is the photo ops at the MNSSHP and attraction photos. This year I became an AP and I have it for free but again, I think is worth it if you are going to any of the Halloween or Christmas events and are interested in those photo ops.

Also, you get stock photos of the parks included when you download all your pictures.

 

[Bete]

We were three adults and I did not pre-order memory maker. I'm on the fence whether I will buy it or not post trip. I did not want to get it ahead of time for two reasons: Sometimes the waits for photographs are ridulous and secondly, I wasn't sure I would take enough pictures.

If you are unsure I wouldn't pre-order. So, it costs a little more after the fact, but at least you won't have any doubts. Also, I don't want my trip dictated by photos and more photos.

 

[Erin Martin]

We were three adults and I did not pre-order memory maker. I'm on the fence whether I will buy it or not post trip. I did not want to get it ahead of time for two reasons: Sometimes the waits for photographs are ridulous and secondly, I wasn't sure I would take enough pictures.

If you are unsure I wouldn't pre-order. So, it costs a little more after the fact, but at least you won't have any doubts. Also, I don't want my trip dictated by photos and more photos.

My family feels the same way. We have decided to do what we do, and then if we think it is worth it, then we will buy it afterward. Thanks for the input!

 

[Bete]

Although, I did get enough pictures to justify buying the memory maker package I have decided not to buy.

We were able to get a lot of our own pictures and I'm satisfied with them.

I think for me to do it, it would have to be a very special occassion. I have done it in the past, but not that often.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Opinions on this are going to vary. I have some close friends that were on the fence about purchasing Memory Maker for an anniversary with no kids in tow trip. After I described it to them, they decided to give it a go. When they got back, the very first thing they told me was how happy they were they purchased Memory Maker.

Despite the inconvenience, I almost always choose to lug my camera around the parks. There isn't always a photographer around when you need one. Furthermore, I've found that Disney's photographers are excellent at capturing certain moments. I've found that some of the best photos are the ones Disney took with their cameras.

I like Memory Maker, but it's also worth examining how much use you would really get out of it. For those who like character photos, it's very valuable.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

The big question is, will you print out or have printed, your photos?

Just from my last trip, I've printed more than a dozen pictures. In addition, we downloaded all of them and we are using them as backgrounds on computers and phones.

It is worth it to us, just an adult couple, because we want the pictures.

 

[Bete]

I'm hoping to do a once only trip with the great grandkids, boy twins who will be 6, next year and I will absolutely do the memory maker for that trip.

I still want to say you can do a wait and see. You have an opportunity to view the photo pass photos before you buy. They will have an imprint on them, but you get a pretty good idea of the picture. You will get offers like 7 downloads for $77.

 

[Elizabeth Smith]

My husband and I bought it for a trip in November. We could survive without it, sure, but for us it was worth it. The longer you stay, the better value it is too. We got tons of pictures and use them for scrap booking and just for sharing on FB. I recommend it.

 

[starry_solo]

When I go, it's just 3 adults and we buy Memory Maker each time we go. I usually get in on a share (so the cost is split 5 ways).

 

[fizzymint]

We just had our honeymoon at WDW and I got Memory Maker. I initially regretted the purchase because we ended up getting wrapped up in going from attraction to attraction, not looking for photographers, but when we realized it and wanted to make sure we were getting our money's worth, we ended up stopping for tons of photos and getting in surprisingly short character lines.

Having the excuse to do it really paid off -- some of my favorite photos are things we never would have stopped for! Getting photos with Baymax was the best. I'm really glad we ended up getting it and made some extra time for really special pictures. The character interactions were much more lively than I ever would have expected (like Donald stealing our Christmas light necklaces).

 

[Valbot]

I found it worth the money, I only used Disney to print a few but downloaded all of them. Sent a few over to Walgreens to be printed out.

 

[MicroBeta]

If you want pictures from the rides and location pictures then IMHO it's worth it. I'm the guy who always brings the SLR on vacation but we went to WDW last month and not having to carry the camera and not pulling out was well worth the cost. We wound up with some 350+ pictures and I didn't bring my camera. Although, we did have a lot more pictures taken than we probably would have if we didn't have Memory Maker. Not to mention the ride pictures you can't get with your own camera. We had pictures at a lot of the Christmas Trees throughout the resort.

I guess it really depends on what pictures you want and how many you think you might want taken throughout WDW. If you figure that out to figure out if it's worth it for you. My wife and I will be going next Christmas and we've decided we're getting Memory Maker.

Mike

 

[YawningDodo]

I think it depends on how much enjoyment you'll get out of having a larger number of photos. If you're going to want to print multiple photos, use them as phone backgrounds, etc., that starts adding up to where it might make more sense to buy them all in bulk. For the week-long trip I did with my mom in 2015, though, we did not buy it and didn't have regrets. We stopped for a few Photopass photos (mainly on the Halloween party night, when we were dressed up), made sure any fun ride photos got linked to our account, and at the end of it had a decent number of photos to choose from, but definitely not hundreds of them. We got several printed (I've got two ride photos in a photo frame at work, and a nice one on Mainstreet USA in our costumes to hang on the wall), and since that was all we really wanted it was much cheaper to buy them individually. I think I would be overwhelmed if I suddenly had 200 photos to download and do something with, and not in a good way.