I haven’t been to Disney hundreds of times (yet. Give me a couple years), but I’ve been my fair share.

I’ve done it with crazy intensity, and in a casual jaunt.

I’ve done Disneyland (finally), and Disney World.

I’ve picked up a few tips along the way.  And while there are blogs across the web, I wanted to hand out my own Disney advice I’ve learned along the way, and tips I’ll be learning as I begin to go more frequently.

This months tip is best for longer trips rather than shorter ones, you get more bang for your buck, as it were.

Use Photopass so you can live your memories instead of watching them.

We were blessed on our first couple of family trips to have free photopass with a free memory maker CD, thanks to Make-A-Wish. I didn’t realize what an asset it was at first, but over the course of the 5 days I really got a handle on it.  Since on the first year we didn’t have it at Universal (though it showed up for year 2) it was even more clear.

First off, with photopass you can take advantage off all the photographers at the prime spots. In front of the castle, character meet & greets, and those pictures on the rides.  If you have your magic bands, those are the easy way to do it, they just scan your band and your picture is added. You can also use a photopass card, your ticket (park or annual), or a memory maker card. That way all the pictures are linked together for easy viewing at the end of your trip.

*side note: I’ve seen it said that sometimes those ride pictures or some pictures in general get lost. I, personally, have not had this happen, but it is a possibility.  In this case I’d contact the photopass customer service. In some cases, they may be able to locate those pictures.

You can easily locate the photopass locations using the MyDisney app (which I HIGHLY recommend for so many reasons…another post for another time).

Another fun thing with photopass is the special Magic Shots. In these they have you pose in a certain way and by the time you can say “bippity boppity boo” there are magical enhancements to be viewed in your photos.

Like this shot of my girls holding Tinkerbell in their hands.  Ignore Molly’s expression. It was day 2 of our trip, first time in the Magic Kingdom. We had some total sensory overload going on here.

(To be fair…this is much better than the other picture when the photographer told them to look surprised. I’ll post that one another time. It’s HI-LAR-I-OUS)

Those magic shots are some of my favorite.

Now there aren’t photographers in every nook and cranny following you around to get every single perfect vacation shot. You’ll still have to carry a camera (I suggest a great point & shoot, not like ours, which was horrible), but you get to spend a lot more time enjoying the trip instead of seeing it through a view-finder.

Afterwards, you can view the pictures online. You can purchase photos and photo groups.  If you’re only going a day or two, you can stop right here…using the photopass service is probably your best option.

However, if you’re going longer than a day or two, photopass is only half the magic. It isn’t complete without…

Memory Maker.

Memory maker isn’t a service, it’s a product.  If you buy it up to 3 days before you go, it’s only $169 (if you wait until you arrive and decide you want it, purchasing it at the parks bumps the price to $199.  If you pay the advance price, nothing in those first three days will be saved…so buy in advance to save the cash!).

*side note: if you have an annual pass at the level of Passport, Platinum, or Gold – memory maker is included with your annual pass. Score!

With memory maker, you get unlimited downloads of not just yours, but up to 25 friends and family images from their/your trip!  This is especially handy when you have a family with older kids that get separated during the trip and don’t get all your pictures on the same magic bands. The one downside is you have to be quick to hop onto the site after your trip, because they’re only available for 45 days.

Trust me, for those saying “That’s over a month!”…after a big trip like this, that first month passes quick as a wink when you’re trying to reacclimate to real life.

Personally, if I’m going to be taking a longer trip, I totally plan for the Memory Maker because I like to put aside my technology as much as possible when in the house of mouse…so this lets me enjoy the day and still capture many priceless memories.  I’ll usually take along my point & shoot for things that really need capturing if there’s no photopass photographer around…but for the most part, I let the magic of Disney do its work. I like to live in the memories rather than seeing them through my camera.