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Mom and Daughter at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort Room
  • On Mar 13, 2008
    Jennifer from KS Asked Note: This answer was provided prior to the change to planDisney and may still contain references to Disney Parks Moms Panel.

    Experiences, policies, pricing and other offerings are subject to change and may have changed since the date of this answer.

    We don't have a compact camera, is PhotoPass a good option INSTEAD of bringing your own camera?

    I would NEVER be without my own camera at WDW. I always bring a pocket camera, AND a digital SLR, AND I use PhotoPass. (One could argue that I am freakishly obsessed with taking photos of my family at WDW.) But the real answer to your question depends on how well documented you want your vacation to be. If you would be happy with having a small number of posed photos as the record of your vacation, then you could get away with just using PhotoPass. The PhotoPass photographers are stationed in some key areas of the parks: the entrances, SOME of the character greeting spots, the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, the slides at the water parks, and a few other places. As an experiment on my last vacation, I tried very hard to take advantage of the PhotoPass service. Over 8 days, I ended up with 80 PhotoPass pictures. I actually liked about half of these. A net total of 40 vacation photos may be sufficient for you.

    What I enjoy most about PhotoPass photos is that I am actually in them. As the family photographer, I am seldom in photos with my children; so I cherish my PhotoPass pictures for that reason. But I feel like if I only had the PhotoPass pictures, the best parts of our family vacation would not have been preserved. Here are a few WDW moments I have captured over the years that the PhotoPass photographers could not have taken:

    -My girls burying my husband in the sand at the Grand Floridian beach
    -My daughter's chocolate-smeared face as she attempted to conquer the Kitchen Sink Sundae
    -My husband goofing with Goofy at Chef Mickey's 
    -My dad being kissed on his (bald) head by Dolly Drew at the Hoop De Doo Revue
    -My girls holding hands at the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom

    You get the idea ... PhotoPass is great for "formal" photos, but the small, precious moments of your personal experience would be lost without access to your own camera. 
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Meet the Panelist: Erin, New York

I have three teenage daughters. We're DVC members obsessed with Disney travel. We've been to Walt Disney World countless times and have visited Disneyland & Disneyland Paris. We've taken several Adventures by Disney and Disney Cruise trips. Learn More About Erin

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