A Change.org petition to keep PhotoPass photographers in the Walt Disney World theme parks has picked up in popularity. As of the writing of this article, over 80,000 people have signed the petition, more than half of its 150,000 person goal.
The petition, started by @Martsartuk, reads as follows:
Disney are planning to replace photopass photographers with Disney photo boxes in many different areas of the parks. This doesn’t seem the right thing to do as I feel it deflates the magic. A Disney Photographer can capture more than just a picture. They are there to give you the best experience possible. They bring out the best of you in each and every snap of the lens. It’s an added magical touch that can’t be replaced. Technology can work in some areas, but it can’t replicate every field. Please help overturn this decision and keep our wonderful Disney Photographers. It’s so important we do not let the magic slide. Keep the magic alive Disney.
Recently, automated cameras have been installed at several prominent character meet-and-greet locations, including Princess Fairytale Hall in the Magic Kingdom, Royal Summerhus in Epcot, and Star Wars Launch Bay in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Keep reading WDWNT for more on the automated PhotoPass camera rollout.
Was not aware of this happening, glad to see people are responding. Another reason I’m glad we didn’t go to WDW for the 1st time in 10 years.
Disney = CHEAPSKATES
With this now on WDWNT also maybe the right people at WDW will reverse this bad decision. There is a couple of other things that need to be reversed also. One of them will be hard for them to do but it needs to be done!
I hope WDWNT will keep the petition up front so more guest can sign it & maybe get to a million & also get up with ALLEARS.net to do the same thing!
Disney will do whatever they want to the cast whenever they want… As long as the higher ups are making the cash….
Well, that’ll make a big difference to the 153,196 guests that visit Walt Disney World every day.
80,000 signatures vs 55,916,540 guests every year.
Yeah, I’m sure Disney will change their minds.
The Ripples… small at first but look how they grow! But someone has to start them! – Grandmother Willow
Yeah, online petitions are a huge waste of time.
We just finished our vacation. Each picture taken from the automated box never showed in our photo memories. They stink
Just signed this, I agree that the photographers really make a magical difference to the Disney experience and losing them is not an option
Three of the last five Cast Compliments I gave were toward Photopass photographers because the interactions were meaningful and the photos that came from them were extraordinary. Disney has, several times, made a photo sale off me because these same photographers gave us the kind of candid, emotion capturing shots that people want. The same kind of shots that build memories. A box can’t do that in the same way. People make these parks different than their competition. Please stop with the removal of people.
Future update: WDW raises prices 5% across the board to keep the jobs of these photographers. Same 80,000 people now complain about Disney pricing out the middle class.
I guess that fight for minimum wage increase is working out for the employees now 😬
As someone who’s fanatical for Walt Disney World, but could care less about character meet-and-greets, I find this whole controversy extremely amusing.
Although I do want people to be content with their little “cast member in a costume” encounters.
It keeps them out of my way in the parts of the Parks that really matter.
I remember being at Magic Kingdom for rope drop one morning and the woman next to us had a young son that pulled away from her and started running, pell-mell, towards the castle. It was adorable, like a commercial for Disney. She, of course, was frantic to catch up to him, and couldn’t enjoy it in the moment. A photopass photographer stationed just in front of the castle snapped a picture of him running towards the camera as he pelted by–it must have been one of those perfect shots that a family would cherish. Then he scanned it onto a photopass card and handed the card to the mother as she ran by him in one quick motion. Tell me one computerized box that could have captured that memory for that mother to enjoy later. It had to be a human. that’s the magic.
Leave the photographers there. I don’t want to go into a box to get my picture taken. If they start using the boxes instead of ppl I’ll just take my own pictures and they want get any money.
Very disappointed. Keep the magic alive, Disney! Boxes can’t capture the angles or move as needed!