Do you want to make sure you capture as many photos as you can of your vacation to Disney World? Have you considered Memory Maker, but cringed when you saw the price? Yup, that’s a common reaction. Memory Maker comes at a bit of a hefty price, but the photos and videos you will walk away with make it very desirable. In this blog post, I am going to tell you how you can get a discount on Disney Memory Maker!
What is Memory Maker?
Memory Maker is a package that you can purchase through Disney in which you pre-pay for all the photos that will be loaded in to your My Disney Experience account. How do you get photos in your account? Anytime you see a Photopass photographer in the parks, you snap a picture with them and your photos will go in to your account. They are stationed at several points throughout the parks and every character meet will have one as well. You just need to look for someone in a uniform like this (below):
With Memory Maker, you will also have access to all your on-ride photos and videos. Here is a list of the rides that have either photos or videos included:
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
- Space Mountain
- Splash Mountain
- Frozen Ever After
- Test Track
- Tower of Terror
- Rock n’ Roller Coaster
- DINOSAUR
- Expedition Everest
- Haunted Mansion
- Slinky Dog Dash
You will also get access to the special Magic Shots that the Photopass photographers offer. If you take a picture with one of them, ask them what magic shots they do. They will then instruct you on how to pose and when you look at the photo on your account, some extra magic will be added to it. Oftentimes, they insert a Disney character or other fun special effects. You can check the Photopass Facebook page to view the latest magic shots that they are offering.
If you utilize the photographers enough, you could easily have hundreds of digital photos available to you for download at the end of your vacation. It really does provide you with a ton of memories, however it comes at a price. If you purchase Memory Maker at least 3 days before you plan to begin using it, you will pay the advance purchase price of $169 USD. To purchase it for immediate use, it will cost you $199 USD. Ouch!
How to Get it for Cheap
With the cost being a lot for one family to add to their vacation budget, it had many asking “Is Disney’s Memory Maker Worth it?”. With how the technology works on your My Disney Experience account, it makes it possible for you to “share” the cost with others and thus reduce what you pay for it. Here is how it works:
You find another family (or several) that are traveling to Disney World around the same time as you. As long as they will be at Disney World within 30 days of the end of your vacation, then you will be able to share the cost. You link your My Disney Experience account with the person you want to share it with and then all the photopass photos will appear in the main purchasers account for download. Since it does involve some exchange in money, I would only recommend doing this with someone you trust or someone you connected with through a trusted source.
Let’s go through the process step-by-step:
- Find someone that is traveling within 30 days of you that you could split the cost with. You could split it with more than one person if you’d like. If you are traveling with friends and/or family, then they would be the perfect ones to split this cost with.
- Link your My Disney Experience account with the people you plan to split Memory Maker with. You just need to go to your Family & Friends List in My Disney Experience and “Add a Guest”. Once they accept to connect with you, they will be added to your Friends & Family list.
- One of the accounts will need to assume responsibility for the purchase of Memory Maker and you will have to make separate arrangements on how you will split the cost and collect everyone’s payment.
- Once all your accounts are connected and Memory Maker is purchased, you will all be able to see each other’s Photopass photos on your My Disney Experience accounts.
Only the person that paid for the Memory Maker will have access to download the digital prints, so you will need to arrange how everyone will access their photos. If you completely trust them, you could allow them to log in to your account so that they could download them themselves. Alternatively, you could download the digital photos for them, and upload them to a file sharing service such as Google Drive or Dropbox.
It’s important to note that Memory Maker photos are only available on your account for 45 days after the photo was taken, so you will want to make sure you download them in a timely manner before they disappear. If you would like to extend the expiration date, Disney does offer an option to extend it an additional 15 days at an extra cost.
I hope this tip helps to save you some money on your Disney vacation. What cost saving tips do you use to reduce the cost of your vacation without losing any of the “magic”? Leave me your comments below!
Our preferred travel agency is Click the Mouse. They specialize in Disney destinations and will help you plan out all the little details. Best part is that their services are FREE when you book your vacation with them. Personalized service at no extra cost to you! To get a quote from a Click the Mouse travel agent, simply click on the quote button below and they will be back in touch with you:
Laura is a mom of one adorable girl with a love of all things Disney. She traveled to Disney World with her family in 2010 and was hooked. They have since been a total of over 15 times. With all her knowledge of planning Disney trips, she now wants to share that with others. She loves giving guidance, tips and advice to others planning their magical vacation!
Are the pictures free to download if you use Memoy Maker? We are a CA family (3 generations) of 10 coming for our 1st visit. I think it would be worth the $ if no additional money is needed.
Yes, once you purchase Memory Maker, there are no additional charges to download your photos and videos. We’ve come home with over 600 photos before, so it really makes it worth it when you can then just download them all since you purchased the Memory Maker 🙂
I never thought to share the cost of Memory Maker with family or friends… thanks for the great idea!
It’s such a great savings! I split it 3 ways on our trip last year, so I only had to pay a third of the cost and got all the benefits 🙂
Is the price listed for the entire family traveling together, or per person?
It is for the entire family, so everyone that is connected to the account that has purchased Memory Maker.
If family 1 purchased the MM, and a member from Family 2 is added as guest to F1 my Disney account, how can F2 use MM if they are on different parts of the parks. How would you link the band for F2 to MM?
You need to make sure that someone from family 2 is linked in the Family & Friends section on family 1’s My Disney Experience account. The person that is linked from family 2 will need to be the one to scan their MagicBand when you take photos and then family 1 will have access to download the digital copies of their photos.
How does it work if you don’t have magic bands, do you just get the photo pass card and link them to your My Disney Experience and they will appear?
The photos will link to your account with the card, but you will not get your on-ride photos and videos. You have to have a MagicBand for them to pick you up on the rides.
So for instance will it work if I am traveling to Disney February 8th through 15th and a family friend is traveling March 6th through the 15th. I would purchase the Memory Maker for my family account and then add main family friend for their family account and we can both utilize the Memory Maker Photo Pass correct? Then do I have 45 days from March 15th to download all the photos or do I have to download everything 45days from the end of February 15th?
I am not entirely sure if it would work for the entire length of your friend’s trip because you can only capture photos for a period of 30 days from the time you start using it. For your own photos, they expire 45 days from the day you took the photo.
My sister is traveling to Disney World on august 30 with her family; I am traveling from september 19 yo september 25. Can we share a memory maker account?
Yes, as long as the second visit is within 30 days of the first visit. Make sure you each pay attention to the expiry date of your photos immediately after your vacation so you can download them before they expire.