Discussion question: Is it ethical for non family / not traveling together parties to share a memory maker?
I love that my entire party can share a memory maker purchase but I fear this will be taken away if people abuse the system.
I see postings for people looking for groups to share memory maker purchases with. To me, this doesn’t seem on the up and up? Will Disney catch on and amend so that nobody can share?
To me, the spirit of the program is that if you are traveling with your friends/family you can share the purchase. Not that you can look for strangers on the intern to share with…
Thoughts?
I have always felt the same way! I thought I was the only one. I got asked a few times to share and did not bother with it. My mom, dad, sister, and I are splitting the cost between the 4 of us.
I’m with you. Personally, I have no interest in MM as we have no kids, don’t do M&Gs and don’t really need tons of pictures of us standing in front of various buildings, but I don’t believe in “gaming the system”. This also goes for people making dozens of ADRs so they can choose the day before which one they want (I’ve read about people who have made pre-RD CRT or BOG ADRs for 5 days in a row because they didn’t know which day they might want to go to the MK). Granted this has the positive effect that some lucky person may be able to get a last-minute ADR - or even a walk-up, but this practice makes it much harder on everyone else who is trying to do a solid plan well in advance. But this is a symptom of having to make ADRs 180 days in advance if you want the popular ones; I kind of miss the days when ALL dining reservations were same day…
But I’m predicting that this thread may get nasty…
I agree…I was intrigued when I first read about the extra FPs w/ a party ticket but decided against that as well, just didn’t feel right. Not to mention, not sure what Disney may do if they see that you’ve done this, obviously cancel the extra FP selections, but then would they just cancel your original selections as well for attempting to abuse the system? I personally don’t think it’s worth the risk/trouble, and it could be taking selections away from others who are just trying to book their original 3.
I have mixed feelings about this.
Disney is very up front about advertising that friends and family can share MM for all their photos. The MM product is exceptionally expensive for families planning a short trip or to not take many photos. And the system has logjams built in: too many photos or too many downloads and the whole thing takes FOREVER… so it’s negatively reinforcing.
SO, if I share MM with some online friends vs my neighbours and families, WDW sees it the same way… but it’s a huge pain to do so unless you’re really hell-bent on saving every single penny possible. We did an MM share once because I wanted some photos but my Dad and I were going for 3 days… we had 22 photos total, pretty hard to justify $200 for 22 photos. The MM share worked perfectly for us. But our last family trip, we bought our own MM because I didn’t want to deal with anyone else. Ended up linking to a coworker who was going at the same time, turned out perfectly - shared the MM cost, ordered the DVD and each got a copy. I think exactly as intended.
I am also on the fence.
At first I viewed it as unethical, they’ll catch on and that will be the end.
However, that’s not how Disney works. They are going to figure out the best way to keep the cash flow without too much disruption to their “fans” which is why they are so successful. People keep paying the higher prices by any means possible (i.e. Sharing something like MM bc it’s possible).
I am sure that what they are charging and profiting from with memory maker plus individual photos sold not on MM is way more profitable than the old way of printing those 100’s of pictures you see at the end of the day or ride that a majority of people didn’t buy. Realistically, how many theme park pictures do you actually have hanging up in your house compared to the amount taken at the parks? (I have 4 in a storage box from 2001 - I quit buying pics from theme parks after that year.)
Also, Disney says CM’s will take pics with your camera instead if you choose, but for some people that takes away from their trip. I think what we are paying for is convenience and the experience. If a group decides to share MM, there are drawbacks to that so that still leaves the others willing to pay full price to not deal with that.
If Disney feels people are cheating the system or they aren’t making a profit, they’ll change the system. They always do.
Yep. There never used to be no-show charges for ADRs (except for some of the special CMs and shows), but they implemented that policy because so many people were “carpet bombing” ADRs with multiple “dummy accounts”.
We’ve been getting MM for several years in a row, granted we go for 8-10 days at a time. We really maximize it and get 100+ pics plus all the extras that they throw in now. The price was reduced from the exorbitant $200 back to $149 and there’s always some incentive to buy at least a few days before the trip begins.
My concern about sharing is that it would seem to be a major hassle to try to coordinate with a stranger to save a few bucks. I just never got the appeal of the idea.
As with others here, glad to know I’m not the only one…
Agreed. I don’t want to have to weed through 100s of pics of some strangers kids to find my kids just to save $50. I’m already paying thousands to be there. $50 ain’t gonna break my bank. I’ll gladly pay the entire $150 myself to have the pics be only my family.
As for the concept of sharing the MM… Disney is overcharging us for almost everything we do/buy there, so finding a loophole to save some money there is not a bad thing. I’m sure they know people do this, and if they wanted it to stop, they’d find a way to make it stop.
Maybe i’m alone in this but I think $149 for MM is a pretty good deal, all things considered!
If I bought a disney picture , it’d be what, $15-20? Who has time to decide which 2 or 3 pictures are the best ? With MM I can get them ALL and then some. I love the magic shots, too.
Plus you can get as many pictures as you want… it’s like having a prof photographer …
I’m not even bringing my “good” camera to disney next time.
Do you see this just on this board or in many places? My guess is that MM sharing isn’t as widespread as you think, given the sheer numbers of people that go through the parks and also purchase MM. I don’t think Disney cares. And if it means someone gets photos for much less, but then next time decides to buy their own, because they found out how great a MM is, then they’ve come out ahead.
I agree, $149 isn’t a lot for a long stay and now there’s the one day MM that’s much cheaper, if you’re only there for the day. If you look at what DCL charges for the photo package (somewhere around $399 per room, not family or account), you appreciate MM much more.
I have no idea how wide spread it is; i just saw some postings on this board and it kind of struck me funny and figured I’d ask what everyone else thought about it.
I would disagree with the point about Disney not caring, I would wager that Disney cares about this, but its probably not that simple to come up with a solution for them to “prove” in a fool proof way that families are or aren’t really traveling together… How would they prove it?
“I’m sorry, you can’t link your MM with this family because we really don’t believe you guys know each other”. It just wouldn’t work.
So, since they can’t really enforce it, they allow it, (for now, i’m guessing) until the day when they amend the entire program and disallow sharing with any family , real or fake. Just my .02
I think that Disney realizes that they have no way on earth to determine who is family and friends with whom. They are making exorbitant amounts of money on this since it changes their cost structure very little from the old PhotoPass days. They specifically advertise family and FRIENDS as a value add to the service.
