Disney’s PhotoPass Service Combines New Tech With Disney Storytelling

Guests who walk into the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, often spot photographers around the park snapping pictures of families and friends who are traveling together. These Disney Cast Members are part of the impressive PhotoPass team that is in place to help Disney fans capture their memories.

While many people who venture into the Disney Parks think of the service as a way to simply get their photo taken in front of the major park icons, there’s a lot more to Disney PhotoPass than a click of the shutter button.

In 2021, Disney launched a new way to get unique photos at the theme parks with Disney PhotoPass lenses. The lenses are included with the purchase of Disney Genie +, the paid skip-the-line service at the theme parks, and can be accessed through the My Disney Experience app. The augmented reality lenses allow guests to put themselves into a fun Disney-themed background or munch on virtual snacks all through the power of technology, much like Snapchat or Instagram filters. According to a press release from Snap, “Our AR developer tool, Camera Kit, makes it possible for apps like My Disney Experience to bring the power of Snap’s Camera into their platform.”

The partnership between Disney and Snap, the company that owns the popular social media service Snapchat, has continued to evolve and allowed Disney to launch more PhotoPass lenses. Some of the newer lenses are park-specific, including a fun one where guests can stand in front of Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom and see the park icon transform from being built with scaffolding all around it to the shimmering castle that’s in the park today. Other fan favorites include seeing yourself as a ghost from the popular Haunted Mansion attraction or shooting icy powers out of your hands like Elsa from Frozen. The lenses are available to use up to 45 days after the last day of someone purchasing Disney Genie+, so Disney fans can have fun with augmented reality after their trip to the parks too.

Along with the use of augmented reality lenses, Disney Genie+ allows guests to download their onboard attraction photos from their day at the Disney Parks. While some of the attraction photos are simple with friends and family in a roller coaster ride vehicle whizzing by a camera, others, like Haunted Mansion add a bit more excitement.

As guests glide through the first part of the attraction, there is a hallway where there are portraits on one side. The photo is taken towards the end of the hallway. The nice thing about this onboard attraction photo compared to others is that there is no need to tap a MagicBand or park ticket on a touchpoint at the end of the ride because the photos automatically get added to a guest’s PhotoPass library through Bluetooth technology on the My Disney Experience app or by connecting with a MagicBand.

No matter where someone sits in the ride vehicle, the photo will always turn out great. This is because Disney has worked on new technology that places the photo artwork around each guest or group of guests in the best possible position. The spooky photos include images of the Hitchhiking Ghosts seen at the end of the ride.

With Disney PhotoPass, guests can also virtually add their photo to Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World through a program called “Cinderella Castle – Mural of Memories,” which is also in partnership with Snap. With this, guests can pick a photo from their Disney PhotoPass library, and using augmented reality technology add a selected picture to the growing mural of photos that are digitally imposed on the castle through an AR lens and will last at least three years. Guests can view their virtual photos over and over and see other family’s photos too.

Disney has announced that annual passholders and Cast Members will get one free entitlement for the activity, but a start date hasn’t been announced yet. For those outside of the aforementioned groups, Cinderella Castle – Mural of Memories does come with a hefty $9.99 price tag, which may deter some Disney fans from participating in the experience.

While Disney continues to add more PhotoPass experiences into its parks, it’s up to the individual guest to determine if the cost of Disney Genie+, which is on a sliding scale each day, is worth it for them to skip the lines and have access to some of the new innovations from Disney PhotoPass, or if they want to purchase the option to download their photos from their trip, including ride photos and pictures they’ve taken with photographers around the park for a set fee, which starts at $69 for one day.