One of the best ways to capture memories of a Disney trip is through photographs. But sometimes it's difficult to manage your children (and other adults!) and snap quality photos at all the Disney icons and landmark attractions. To help you out (for a fee), Disney provides the PhotoPass service.
PhotoPass is a program where professionally trained photographers are stationed at strategic points around each park - usually near park icons, with characters, or at other great photo spots. If you want to get your picture taken, simply ask the photographer, or stand in line if it's busy. The PhotoPass photographer will take your picture (usually several shots in various poses) and then give you a free PhotoPass card, or scan the one you may already have. You can re-use the card each time you get a picture taken by an official Disney PhotoPass photographer. If you forget your card, you can get another one and combine them at the end of your trip. This is a great way to get pictures at night, or family photographs all around the parks - with you in them!
One tip for families with children with autism is to tell the photographer about your child's disability. Our son doesn't usually look at the photographer - so we just tell them to snap away and not worry about whether he looks at the camera. The photographers are very willing to work with you - so tell them what you need!
The fun part is that you have the option of enhancing your pictures with borders, character autographs, and other fun embellishments. You can also zoom and crop to get the very best picture. To view or enhance your pictures, simply go to the Disney PhotoPass website and create an account using your PhotoPass card (or cards) for reference. You can view your photographs online for 30 days, and order individual pictures, PhotoCD's, or other items with your pictures on it. You can even upload your own photos to the service - as Disney says "it's personalization with a Disney touch!"
One of the best values is purchasing the PhotoCD - it generally runs $149.00, but can hold hundreds of pictures. When you purchase the PhotoPass CD, you own the copyright to the pictures, which means you can post them to your personal websites or photo sharing services, print out as many copies as you want, etc. Considering individual 5x7 photos at Disney Parks can run about $12.95 each, the PhotoCD is a great value and offers you a lot of flexibility to customize and personalize each picture before printing them out.