This post is a little more personal. My fiance and I got engaged back in August. When we realized that we had a trip to Disney World planned for a month and a half later, it was a no brainer that we would be getting our engagement photos taken while there. Disney World is a special place to myself, KC and to our relationship, so we knew it was the perfect spot for such important photos. KC grew up in Florida and as a Disney World season pass holder, he went to Disney all throughout his childhood. I also grew up taking family trips to Disney World and developed a love for Disney that is even stronger now as a Disney adult. Disney World was one of the first vacations we took as a couple and has since become our favorite spot to visit together. It holds a special place in our hearts and we will continue to vacation there for the rest of our lives. We even hope to become Vacation Club members in the future.
After deciding on Disney World for our engagement photo shoot, it came down to who would take the actual photos? It is technically against Disney park rules to bring an outside professional photographer into the parks for photo sessions. I assume that is to help with crowd control and to prevent constant photo shoots all over Disney World. While this rule exists, it does not seem to deter all photographers. In my search to find someone to take our engagement photos, I spoke with multiple professional photographers willing to take photos in the parks and who had done so many times before. I was definitely a little surprised, because I have never seen professional photo shoots happening in the parks in all of the times that I've been there.
When I learned of the rule, I decided to see if Disney offered some type of private photography service of their own. I did not want to risk getting in trouble and ruining our engagement photo shoot. That is when I came across Capture Your Moment. This is a private Disney photographer that you are able to book for 20 minute photography sessions. Capture Your Moment is offered in all of the 4 parks, and you can book consecutive sessions if 20 minutes does not seem like enough time. Each 20 minute session is $99, which I personally thought was an amazing deal. I would've expected a private Disney photographer to be much more expensive, especially seeing the prices that the outside photographers were charging for the same service.
We chose Animal Kingdom as the park for our Capture Your Moment. The ambiance of this park is my favorite and there are so many beautiful spots to capture photos. I love the bountiful nature look of the park and the authenticness of the theming. It is one of our favorite parks and we feel at home there.
As for timing, we decided to book two back to back sessions. We though 20 minutes felt too rushed for such an important occassion and we wanted to feel relaxed without the pressure to get a good shot in just 20 minutes. There were also a couple of locations in Animal Kingdom that we wanted to get photos in, so we thought 40 minutes would be more appropriate. This worked out perfectly for us, but I do think 1 session would be more than enough for a less monumental occassion. If you are just looking for a nice family photo, the photographer uses their time extremely well and you can definitely accomplish that within 1 session.
We decided to have our Capture Your Moment right when the park opened, at 8:30am. We knew we would look our best first thing in the morning and would look fresh and put together. Also, the park was sure to be less crowded first thing in the morning due to people rope dropping and not having arrived at the park yet. Also, it would hopefully not be too hot out yet!
The Service
About 30 minutes prior to our session, I received a text from our photographer, inquiring into the occassion of the photoshoot. She wanted to figure out if she would need any props and what the vibe of the session would be. I thought that was very thoughtful to figure that out prior to the start of the session. Also, when we first arrived, she asked us if there were any specific locations within the park that we wanted photos, which was great to figure that out prior to the start of the 40 minutes, rather than waste time during the session.
The first locations that we visited during our Capture Your Moment session were the locations that we specifically requested upon arrival. We knew that we wanted photos down below the Tree of Life near the waterfall, as well as on the bridge leading to Africa where you can see the river and Everest in the background. Being a Disney employee, the photographer knew the fastest way to reach these spots so that we didn't waste time searching for the exact spots we had in mind. It was also awesome that the photographer knew exactly where the sun would be located in the sky at that time in the morning and the best spots to avoid glare and bad shadows. Only a photographer with a lot of experience in Animal Kingdom would know little tidbits like that, which is just another plus of using a Disney photographer rather than an outside photographer.
After knocking out the locations that we requested, the photographer started taking us around to spots that she thought would be good. We had told her that we wanted to focus on the "nature" aspect of Animal Kingdom, rather than animals or buildings. With this information, she brought us to the most beautiful spots, that I honestly did not even know existed in Animal Kingdom. That insider knowledge was great. Those areas were completely deserted and it felt like we had the park to ourself to take our photos!
Not only did we get insider tips, but we also got a second staff member who acted like a "bodyguard" during our session. This staff member's job was to keep people out of the shots. I really felt like a vip when people were being held off from walking down a certain path while we took a photo. Very cool.
The two session back to back was the perfect amount of time. We got to take photos in 6 different locations in Animal Kingdom and ended up with 125 photographs. I think one session would have been too short but any longer than 40 minutes would have felt too long.
Photo Quality
This was a slight disadvantage of Capture Your Moment. The photos were delivered to the My Disney Experience App as they were taken. This means that they were not edited, like most professional photographers will do for you. There were pros and cons to this.
The "con" was obviously that the photos are not retouched and edited to give that professional quality. However, the price charged for the session was reasonable because it did not include the extra editing. I was not particularly bothered by this, because I am pretty good at editing images on my phone and the photographs were still pretty nice to begin with. For the price, I did not mind at all having to do some touch ups myself.
The "pro" to no editing meant that we were able to see the photos on the My Disney Experience App within 30 minutes of the session. Normally you have to wait days if not weeks to see professional photos due to the editing time. But these were practically instantaneous, which was really nice.
Purchasing the Photos
This is another very strong pro for Capture Your Moment. By purchasing Memory Maker for the day that you have the Capture Your Moment session, you have access to download ALL of the photos that were taken. In addition to those photos, you also get all of the Photopass photos that you take for the entirety of that day as well as any ride photos. You better believe that we were hitting up every Photopass photographer we could find that day, to make it even more worth it. A One Day Memory Maker pass is $75, which is an amazing deal because normally one digital download of a Photopass photo taken at Disney World costs $17.
We purchased Memory Maker for our Capture Your Moment day and got 125 engagement photos as well numerous photos taken around both Animal Kingdom and Epcot. It really is a great deal, especially if you don't mind editing the photos yourself after you download them from the My Disney Experience App.
I really liked the Capture Your Moment service offered at Walt Disney World. The price was extremely reasonable for the amount of photos that you received and the expertise of the Disney photographer. Not only do they know the park like the back of their hand and can offer lots of insider tips, but they are also pretty skilled photographers and have good work product. The fact that you have download access to all of the photos on the My Disney Experience App immediately after the session is a nice bonus. I could definitely see us utilizing this service again, even if not for a special occassion but to just get a nice photo. It is a much more relaxed and personalized service than just walking up to a Photopass photographer in the parks, with crowds in the background and potentially a long line forming. I highly recommend it!
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