Hi Amy,
Welcome to the Disney Parks Moms Panel! I'm so glad you dropped in with your question. It can be challenging to pick and choose between items with additional costs when planning a trip to Walt Disney World Resort and in my opinion, Disney Memory Maker is one of the best investments you can make to enhance your vacation.
Just this weekend, my husband asked me a hypothetical question. He said, "if you could only have one photo of our family, which one would you choose?" I thought for a few minutes and landed on a photo of the four of us dressed up as Star Wars characters in front of
Cinderella Castle during
Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. His response was that he also had a photo from Walt Disney World in mind (though it was a different one).
Both of these photos were taken by a
Disney PhotoPass Photographer and added to our Memory Maker account. And while you can certainly use your own camera to capture memories, I love knowing they will all be in my account ready to download within minutes in some cases. The attraction photos and videos that are also available make this choice a no-brainer for me. I believe photos make the best souvenirs and I create a photo memory book after each visit using my Memory Maker photos.
If you do choose to
purchase Memory Maker, be sure to do it at least 3-days in advance of your arrival so you can benefit from the advance-purchase discount!
Wishing you a magical vacation, Amy. Please let us know if you have any other questions!
Andrea U.