Waiting For The Princess

Yes, we waited over two hours to get pictures of my daughter with the princesses.

Disneyland has this cool (or so we thought) service called PhotoPass where photographers are stationed at various areas of the park and will take a picture of you with their expensive Nikon cameras. You carry a little card, which is scanned by each photographer, and all of your photos go into an account which you can check in the park or later at home via the Internet.

Or you can get some good pictures of your family by simply handing the photographer your little Canon point-and-shoot and asking them to use that instead. Not only is it free, but the quality is better.

There's really nothing you can do about the photographer's lack of actual photography experience. Out of nearly 40 pictures we had taken with their cameras, only two seemed to be properly framed. How hard is it to not cut off my head? But I also had them take pictures with my camera, and the difference was remarkable. Which only leads me to believe that these Disneyland employees need more training with their digital SLRs.

So if you wait two hours for the princesses (and you will), remember to take your own pictures. Your daughter will cherish the images forever. Leave it to PhotoPass and the only thing she might remember is the long wait.