Disney's PhotoPass Service and Yummy Holiday Food

Today is Walt Disney's birthday, so what a better way then to be at a Disney Mommyblogger event.  I am here to hear about their holiday celebrations. Below are some notes from the presentation, there is lots more to talk about, but for now here are some liveblog notes.  Updates to follow, along with adding the names of those that spoke.....

Danielle Dubois is one half of the Disneyland Resort Ambassador Team. She is talking about the Disney's PhotoPass Service (DisneyPhotoPass.com). It is a new service a Disney that provides photographers around the park that will take family pictures at all the major spots - then the pictures can be redeemed online.

What is the service? The first step is to take a picture with the photographers and get a PhotoPass cards. They have photographers in all sort of locations around the park. They take pictures then associate with that card. Guests have 30 days to claim photos online. Then you have 30 days to decide what you want to order - and share with friends and family. You can edit photos by adding borders (zoom, rotate or adjust). You can purchase prints or order .jpgs.

You can also use your own pictures for the PhotoPass service. Some of the products are holiday cards, cups, paper weights. All can be found on DisneyPhotoPass.com.

How to sign up? On the top right corner login (to DisneyPhotoPass.com)  or create a new account with your email. Your card will have a " 16 digit code" that you enter in. Once you pull up your photos you have three different types of photo to look at: Photo's the photographer took, photo's you took or photos from the Disney gallery.

Once you choose which photo is your favorite, you can edit your photo (zoom, adjust, rotate, add borders). At the bottom is the slide chooser so you can choose which photo's you want to edit. You can log in anytime during that period to see your photo album. Photo products tab on the site will show the products available, including the newest which is a calender (you start your calender on any month and control the calender layout).  There are also photo greeting cards and ornaments.

You can name products with a "project name".  The checkout is secured shopping and they accept any credit cards. If there are special offers, it will be applied at checkout.

Ride photos like splash mountain are not included in the ProjectPass card yet.

Disney said, don't be shy - go up to the PhotoPass photographer and ask them to take a picture. And ask them what "magic" they can put in the picture.  PhotoPass cards can be used at Disneyland or DisneyWorld (they are on one system). You can combine pictures on other families cards?

You can send a free "snowglobe" and will show up on the recipient's screen (with snow and magical music). Bloggers can link to it in their blog posts. You can also send a Disneyland Resort e-card to friends and family for the holiday.

Carlos, who manages the food for the resorts,  started the talk about the yummy holiday foods at the Disneyland resort:
The theme for the holiday is "Merriest food on earth, all about celebrating the holidays". To spread the cheer we use recycled holiday napkins, we use special artwork on the popcorn buckets. The bakery on main street has gingerbread men. One of Walt Disney's favorite treats were cookies, but his favorite was gingerbread.  Snowman cookies that don't melt, cranberry and pumpkin mini loaves. We have almond and chocolate Yule logs. They even have holiday brownies. They also have a special a special spanish treat. 

We have cookie kits with three different designs (including Reindeer and Gingerbread).

The French market has special decorations and turned into a haunted mansion (Tim Burton themed), including a gingerbread skeleton. They have a gelatin desert made with 100% juice, Jiggle mortis with whipped cremation. The real winner is the pumpkin king cheesecake.

At the Haunted Mansion ride, there is a  coffin that is stretched out version of the haunted mansion. It opens up and out pops a gingerbread zombie (500 pounds of gingerbread  - 6 feet long). Underneath the coffin is a gingerbread haunted procession.

Through out the years, they made gingerbread houses replicas from many of the major attractions at the park, including a castle.

Our Pastry Chef from France (real french accent) The "Chef".

Next they had a demo of how to make a gingerbread house from "The Chef".  Great to hear hints from a real Chef!

Best way to make a gingerbread house is to use melted white chocolate to hold it together. White chocolate dries better then regular icing. First step is to but the square floor down and connect the walls using the icing. Have one person hold a wall while the other is put up. It should rest a day after making it (before the roof is put on).  Two of the walls they used have Mickey Mouse Windows.  After the walls dry (24 hours later) then put on the ceiling. The decoration icing is just egg white, powdered sugar, a little lemon. No grease on the bowl when mixing the icing.

It is all edible so if you make a mistake it does not matter. For the decorations on the ceiling, it is important the pastry bag has a thin tip. The put peppermints and other candies on the roof..

Question: What is in the Yummy Rice Crispies?  Rice Crispies are made in house. It is made with miniature marshmallows, unsalted butter and Rice Crispies. Goofy's Kitchen has chocolate rice crispies.

Starting Jan. 5 it is all about celebrations. They have a special treasure chest for birthday boys and girls, goody bags and special birthday card.

We did not get a chance to meet Disneyland decorating expert David Caranci, but he did share his holiday decorating tips online:

Quicktime embed code:
Disneyland Decorating Tips from Heather Hust on Vimeo

Comments

[Michelle Kostya]

Disney Photo Pass is amazing! Unlike other amusement parks and places - there is no pressure to buy right then and there. AND, while they will take a picture of your kids with Mickey - you can take one too. Then go home, think about it, look at the photos, and buy if you want. You can also add logos and borders to the photos. Last vacation I bought three of the pictures taken by the PhotoPass folks. I know I wouldn't have bought any if it was high pressure. Disney does a lot right - and this is just one of many!

[Erika]

I too LOVE Disney's Photopass. I am a scrapbooker, however, I, like everyone else out there, am extremely behind. Photopass allowed me to get my Disneyland Trip scrapbook completely done, printed, and in my hand in less than two months after my trip. It was amazing! What a great producut!

[Beth Blecherman]

During my last day at the Disneyland, I realized I hardly any pictures with the whole family. So I asked one of the PhotoPass photographers to take a family picture. She posed us (even reminded my sons to smile) and took a few pictures. She has a handheld machine that printed out a card (with my login number) - that will help me find the pictures online. I appreciate that the pictures are available online - I only had a short time to get back to our hotel to catch the bus. At least I knew that I had alternative ways of getting the pictures.

[Becky Emmett]

I'm a huge fan of Photopass too. Sadly, we didn't discover the service until the last day of our trip. We still were able to get a few shots that I ended up buying once home.

Of note, the photographers also took some with my personal camera. I'm not sure if that is in the rules, but they were happy to do it.

[brad]

You can read virtually everything there is to know about PhotoPass and then some too at http://www.stitchkingdom.com/photopass