PhotoPass+

Photography comes as a part of the Escape wedding package, but I think it's also going to be equally important to make sure we capture a lot of the moments from the first two weeks of our marriage, aka the honeymoon. However, if there's one thing I know I don't want to do, it's lug a camera around the parks; I'm already nervous about taking my iPhone on Splash Mountain (yes, I think about these kinds of things while trying to fall asleep at night), much less a decent digital camera. Yet, I know some of the most candid and memorable photos that will ever exist of us as a couple will come from Disney World on our honeymoon.

Otherwise, we'd miss out on my Space Mountain Face™

When my parents recently took my brother and my sister-in-law down to Disney World, they tried out the Photopass+ service. In my youth, we always kind of shrugged off the Disney photographers there in the parks, especially the ones where you took a photo and then they actually superimposed your family onto a much cleaner, less crowded background. I really didn't like that; it's just fake. That's not a real memory, it's something manufactured. Yeah, it's cleaner, and the Bodunkus Family from Arkansas isn't in the background of your picture picking their noses, but I think I'd rather have something weird and wacky in the background than have something visibly fake.

Or Girl Scout Fiancée's Splash Mountain Face™

This time around, my Mom decided to use Photopass+ and she had nothing but positive things to say about it. Apparently, the Disney in-park photography has come a long way, and they've really made it easy to grab all the memories you want from the park. According to the research I've done, it works like this: before your trip, Disney sends you a Photopass card that you bring with you on vacation. In the parks, they have Photopass photographers scattered throughout the parks, and when you see one they will take your photo and add the photos to your card. Whenever you ride a ride that features a photo opportunity (like the above Space and Splash Mountains, Tower of Terror, Rock 'n Rollercoaster, etc.) instead of buying a print they swipe your card and put the photo on the CD for you. The best part is that if you ride the ride multiple times, you can add the photo from each time riding it to your card. Additionally, if you go to a character meal, they have photographers that take your photos with the characters for you, hopefully ensuring a nice, clean shot. When you get home, you can download or order a CD full of your photos, and have them in digital form.

Of course, I'm sure we'll still bring along Girl Scout Fiancée's digital camera, for those random moments, but the real appeal for me is the ability to get all of the ride photos, all of the character dining photos, and also the occasional random inside the park photo taken for us. Possibly more exciting for Girl Scout Fiancée is that the Photopass+ CD also comes with a bunch of stock photos on it, which will be perfect for decorating our wedding/honeymoon album, guestbook for the Seattle party, and so forth. Now, we just have to remember two things: to order the Photopass+ package far enough in advance to take advantage of the discounted rate (it's $50 cheaper if you order it more than 14 days before your trip), and flag down every Photopass photographer we see while in the parks.

Have you had any experiences with Photopass+? What did you think? How was the quality of the photos you received?