How Memory Maker works at Disney World

Memory Maker is a hot topic since Disney promotes it a lot, but many (most?) people are really confused about how it works and whether or not they should buy it for their trip.

Today, we have details about how the entire PhotoPass system works, including how Memory Maker works.

Let’s get started…

In this article

NOTE:

Walt Disney World has officially reopened, however, for the safety and wellbeing of both guests and Cast Members certain policies and procedures (including ones that impact PhotoPass and Memory Maker) have been put into place.

For the most up-to-date information, we recommend you read our reopening guide on PhotoPass & Memory Maker.

What it is

We need to start with some definitions since this is the root of a lot of confusion.

First of all, PhotoPass is the overall system that Disney uses to take your pics in the parks, on rides, and at some character meals.

Anybody can use the PhotoPass system whether staying off-site or at one of the Walt Disney World Resort hotels.

Within the PhotoPass system, you can do lots of things including:

Having pics taken in the parks, including Magic Shots where Disney will place characters in your pics after they are taken
Capture photos from runDisney events (by linking your bib number)

There are several kinds of products you can buy with your PhotoPass pics including:

Items with your photos printed on them – calendars, greeting cards, mugs, phone cases, mouse pads (do people still use those?), etc.
Individual photos – for $16.95-20.95, you can order individual prints
Memory Maker – a digital download that includes all of your pics taken in the parks and on rides. People who buy this package have the rights to use the photos however they’d like, including printing them at a local printer and ordering products with the photos (such as ordering products from Shutterfly or Snapfish). Purchasers also get on-ride videos and animated Magic Shots that are not available to anyone else.

How Memory Maker works

First of all, you can purchase it at any time (including after your trip), but to take advantage of the pre-purchase price (which saves you $30), you’ll need to buy it at least 3 days before your trip.

The pre-purchase price is $169 and the full price is $199. Purchase it online at https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/memory-maker/.

Side note: many types of Annual Passholders get free photo downloads, which is basically getting MM for free!

When you’re in the parks, you can just take photos with the Disney PhotoPass photographers as you encounter them.

Disney has a map of Disney PhotoPass photographer locations (scroll down the page at that link to see it), but the reality is that it can really vary and they aren’t always in these spots.

When you approach one of the photographers they’ll scan your MagicBand or photo card (park tickets can also be used if they are linked in your My Disney Experience account; people with park tickets that are not linked should use PhotoPass cards given out by photographers instead to avoid losing photos).

Scanning these will link your pictures to your MDE account – so if you don’t scan something, it won’t link!

When you’re on rides, if you have a MagicBand, Disney will automatically add your ride photos to your My Disney Experience account (made possible by the RFID technology in the bands).

It does seem to work well for most people, but just to be sure, you can scan your MagicBand under the ride photo screen as you exit.

Note: not all rides have the option for scanning a ticket or MagicBand after you exit. See the list below.

If you don’t see it in your PhotoPass account within a day, call 407-560-4300 and give them your ride photo info (such as the date and time you were there) to see if they can find your pic and add it to your account.

Special situation with on-ride photos: you must either purchase them in the parks or have MM to get them.

Attractions that offer ride photos

Magic Kingdom

Buzz Lightyear
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (a MagicBand is required for this attraction photo)
Pirates of the Caribbean (a MagicBand is required for this attraction photo)
Haunted Mansion (a MagicBand is required for this attraction photo)

Epcot

Test Track
Frozen Ever After (a MagicBand is required for this attraction photo)

Hollywood Studios

Rock ‘n Roller Coaster
Tower of Terror
Slinky Dog Dash (a MagicBand is required for this attraction photo)

Animal Kingdom

Dinosaur
Expedition Everest

Attractions that offer ride videos

In addition to photos, on-ride videos are also currently available to people who purchase MM:

Magic Kingdom – Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Hollywood Studios – Tower of Terror

Meals and shows with PhotoPass photographers

These meals/shows often offer PhotoPass photographers and the digital photos will be added for MM.

Note: These locations can (and do!) change, so it isn’t always a guarantee you’ll see a PhotoPass here.

1900 Park Fare
‘Ohana (breakfast)
Hollywood & Vine (dinner)
Chef Mickey’s
Cinderella’s Royal Table
Tusker House (breakfast)
Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue
Akershus
Be Our Guest (This isn’t a guaranteed opportunity as Disney doesn’t promote the fact that the Beast often takes photos. It only happens at dinner, and the Beast is the only character available.)

A couple of notes: 1.) most of those photos are taken outside the restaurant/show, not at your table and 2.) these are digital photos; the printed pics are no longer offered at the meal as of January 2015.

Other PhotoPass photo opportunities

PhotoPass Portrait Studios

Disney has 3 PhotoPass Portrait studios that are free to use.

Studio locations:

Magic Kingdom (inside Sir Mickey’s)
Disney Springs (in the MarketPlace section)
Grand Floridian (2nd floor of the main building)

They are conveniently located near the 3 Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique shops but are open to anybody (no reservations needed!).

Find out more about the Disney PhotoPass Portrait Studios.

Capture Your Moment

In addition to the Fine Art Photography Disney also offers (which can be pretty pricey) guests the opportunity to book a mini session with a PhotoPass photographer.

These sessions are 20 minutes long and cost $50. If you need (or want) more time, you can also book back-to-back sessions for $100.

The photos taken are not included (unless you are an Annual Passholder or have purchased Memory Maker).

Additional opportunities for photos as well:

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique takes LOTS of pics
Most scheduled character meet-and-greets have photographers (Note: some of the character greeting locations utilize automated PhotoPass camera boxes)
The NBA Experience has PhotoPass opportunities with the automated camera boxes
Enchanted Tales with Belle has photos taken of the people who participate in the show
Most parties (including the Halloween and Christmas parties) offer exclusive PhotoPass pics
Deluxe Resorts during the holidays have photographers at times to take pics
Many other things that aren’t listed here, but the bottom line is that there are lots of opportunities for pics

PhotoPass Guide

It has been notoriously difficult to locate PhotoPass photographers and Magic Shot opportunities in the parks but Disney is trying to make it a bit easier.

Disney sometimes offers handy (and cute) PhotoPass Guides that you can save to your phone to use while in the parks.

Memory Maker One Day

If your trip is short or if you just want to capture the photos from a single day (for example, photos from either Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party), Disney does now offer a single day version of Memory Maker.

The Memory maker One Day costs $69. Once you have taken at least 1 PhotoPass photo you’ll see the One Day option appear in the My Disney Experience App.

Sharing Memory Maker with other people

In order to share with other people, you can either:

Make sure you’re all listed in the same My Disney Experience account OR
Make sure you’re linked as friends within My Disney Experience and have checked the option to allow sharing of photos for all people

When you’re logged in, go to the family and friends page and make sure this option is selected for the people you’re connected to.

Only the person that has purchased Memory Maker and holds the “entitlement” will be able to edit and download the photos, but anybody that’s linked can add pics.

The person with the entitlement does not need to be present to have pics added. Anybody who is linked can do that.

What happens after you pre-purchase?

The simple answer: not much. You’ve essentially pre-purchased a credit which resides in your My Disney Experience account and can be applied after your trip.

Some people will receive a Memory Maker card by mail, but most people don’t. You should make sure it shows up in your My Disney Experience account.

Note: you should consider waiting until after package/room discounts have been released for your trip dates to add Memory Maker because modifying an existing resort reservation to use a promotion has at times been more difficult when you have Memory Maker than modifying one without it.

How to get your Memory Maker photos after your trip

After your trip, be sure to log on to your PhotoPass account (from your computer, not in the MDE app) well before your 45 day expiration and do these things:

Make sure all of your photos are there and that any Magic Shot pics you took have the characters inserted. If anything seems off, call the PhotoPass support number at 407-560-4300 or you can report missing photos online.
Make a copy of the pictures you want to edit so you can keep the original and the edited version
Add the pictures you’d like to download to your cart
Go to “My Downloads” in your account and download pics as many times as you’d like within the allotted time period. The download is a zip file which doesn’t work well from phones or tablets. You’ll either need to install an unzip app on your phone/table or download from a computer.

Now that you have your photos, you can use them however you’d like.

Is it worth it?

We think Memory Maker is worth it for people who:

Have trips that are at least 5 days in length
Plan to ride most/all of the rides that offer ride photos
Will be eating at the locations that have PhotoPass photographers
Are willing to stop and get plenty of PhotoPass pics taken in the parks
Have special events such as Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique booked since lots of pics are taken there
Will be meeting lots of characters, since PhotoPass photographers take lots of pics of these encounters, including both candid and posed shots (if you hand your camera to the photographer to take pics, he/she will likely just take 1 or 2 posed pics, so you get many more when the PhotoPass photographers use their own cameras)

You don’t have to be doing all of the items above, but at least a few of them should be true for your trip to make sure you get plenty of pics.

Memory Maker promotions

Disney occasionally offers promotions that included a free MM which is essentially a $169 savings to your package. Not only is that not a lot to save on a vacation package, but Disney often releases other promotions that can save much more.

The other promotions are almost always worth more savings but since people may have previously added the Memory Maker to their package, most ended up keeping it and not removing it when they change to the new promotion.

My advice is that these kinds of promotions generally aren’t a good idea (you can usually save much more with another promotion) and you should be sure to remove MM from your package if you originally got it for “free” but don’t want to pay for it under another promotion.

FAQs

I’m staying off-site so how does Memory Maker work for off-site vs. on-site?
Off-site guests won’t have MagicBands to use unless they are purchased separately (they are available to buy in the parks) but can use PhotoPass cards or park tickets to scan pics. Since some new MM features (like on-ride videos) are only available to people who use MagicBands, it might be worth it to have at least 1 person buy one to get the full benefit.

I have more than 1 trip planned. Can I use it on more than 1 trip?
You can take pics for up to 30 days after the first time you download a photo to your account and then Memory Maker photos must be downloaded within 45 days of the first day you download pics (translation: if you time it right, you could get up to 75 days of use out of MM). You’ll most likely just end up using it for 1 trip unless your two trips take place within that 75 day period.

How do I get photos if I don’t purchase Memory Maker?
You can still buy individual pics, order products that use PhotoPass pics, etc.

I like having a CD backup. Can I get that?
People who have purchased Memory Maker or who have an Annual Pass have the option to purchase a CD of pics for $29.95.

Can I upload my own pics to the PhotoPass site?
You can upload your own pics for certain products on the PhotoPass site (like the photo book), but not for MM.

I’m combining Disney World with a Disney cruise. Can I use Memory Maker on both?
No, there aren’t PhotoPass photographers on the ships so that’s not possible. There are separate photo packages that you can purchase onboard.

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Have questions or comments? Feel free to share in the comments.