New Automated Cameras at Mickey & Minnie Meet in Magic Kingdom
New automatic cameras have replaced PhotoPass photographers at Walt Disney World, most recently at the Minnie & Mickey Mouse meet and greet in Magic Kingdom’s Town Square Theater. In this post, we’ll share thoughts, photos, and info.
By chance, we’ve done this exact same meet & greet several times in the last two weeks, both before and after it switched to automated cameras. Our first two times were a couple of weeks ago during separate Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Parties (the low crowds ones mentioned in this post when Mickey had literally no wait) with a PhotoPass photographer.
Our most recent two visits over the weekend when both Minnie and Mickey Mouse were meeting in their Surprise Celebration costumes after the automated cameras were installed. As such, we figured it’d make sense to explain how the new system works, and offer our before v. after review…
The before experience is more or less your standard PhotoPass interaction. Note that this isn’t exactly an apples to apples comparison, as during Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, it’s just “County Mickey” dressed up in his costume. During Surprise Celebration, it’s both of them in their Wonder Bread get-ups.
Our interactions with fur characters are incredibly formulaic: we approach and do basic introductions and almost without fail, they notice something that Sarah is wearing that either feature the character or something that the character(s) “like.” Both times, this happened with Count Mickey.
At this point, the interaction is totally about Sarah, so I usually just awkwardly back off a bit so it’s not like I’m the third wheel creeping on the action in photos. This is pretty easy for a human to observe, and usually (75-80% of the time) the PhotoPass photographer will zoom in to focus on Sarah or compose the photos so I’m not in them.
With that said, the success or keeper rate on these spontaneous interaction photos still isn’t the greatest. A fun or cute moment in person with Mickey Mouse pointing to a hat might inadvertently look like him hitting a nose, etc. I’m sure anyone who has done a character meet and greet has been there, and has that uncomfortable mid-hug shot or something of the sort. It comes with the territory.
Nevertheless, human photographers generally do a good job with timing their photos for maximum impact, capturing awesome and special moments along with a few of the awkward ones. We have plenty of fun and goofy photos from interactions that we still look back on today and smile or laugh at, remembering the exact experience, all thanks to the timing, skill, and intuition of a good PhotoPass photographer.
Now for the automated cameras. As you can see in the photo above, there’s now a bookshelf directly opposite the character meet & greet, and there are two cameras installed (upper and lower) in the shelf on the left side. As guests are meeting with the characters, these cameras take photos (with flash) about every 3 seconds or so.
I have no clue how the technology behind this works (facial recognition? some sort of fancy algorithm?), but I don’t think it’s simply a timer as it wasn’t consistently 3 seconds. In any case, the technology is far from perfect, as the cameras continually captured those in-between moments of awkwardness as people were getting positioned or moving around.
In watching other groups during both of our times through, this is the first thing that struck me–the ‘trash to keeper’ ratio is undoubtedly worse with the automated cameras. The new system is perfectly adept at capturing the perfectly-posed moments, but not so good with anything else. This simply requires instinct and a deft photographer’s touch, and a computer lacks both.
Then there’s the obvious impersonal quality of it all. There’s still one Cast Member (character attendant) working at this meet, and that person does an admirable job attempting to direct guest attention towards the “magical bookcase.” However, even with a superlative Cast Member this still feels a bit like getting your picture taken at the DMV.
That might seem hyperbolic, and perhaps it is, but there should be absolutely zero room for comparing a meet with Mickey Mouse to the DMV. There’s nonetheless a discomforting quality to both and it’s hard to fully articulate this, or appreciate it until you’ve experienced it.
“Discomforting and impersonal” is probably the best case scenario if you’re a party of adults. We observed several families with small children have more issues than that. In fairness, this happens even with a PhotoPass photographer, but the Cast Members in that role have plenty of personal experience and humanity to employ every trick they know to overcome this. A bookcase has no such tricks up its sleeve.
On the way out, you scan your MagicBand at a kiosk to save the photos. I would share ours from this meet & greet to show what they looked like, but unfortunately, we still don’t have any of them. (Hence doing it twice.) It’s odd that this happened with both of our meet & greets, but we’ve now waited 48 hours and filed a claim, and still nothing. (We’ll update this if/when we get them.)
Here’s a file photo of us with the Surprise Celebration Mickey & Minnie, just so you don’t feel cheated:
Walt Disney famously once said, “You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.” That quote is famous in large part because the modern Walt Disney Company has made it famous. The line is used a lot when touting Cast Members and the Disney Difference.
I think Walt Disney World leaders would be well-advised to take this quote to heart when undertaking decisions that impact Cast Members and the guest experience. Again, people aren’t coming to Walt Disney World simply because it’s a collection of rides. As with entertainment, face to face interactions with Cast Members are one of those essential core underlying components that help define a trip.
I understand that automation is a fact of modern life, and something that will occur more, not less, going forward. With that said, there are good and bad forms of automation, and it takes thoughtful leaders who understand what defines Disney’s theme parks to realize that just because something can be automated doesn’t mean it should be automated. In some cases, automation is great. I don’t think many guests are going to come out against Mobile Ordering, even if its ultimate goal of cutting labor costs is identical to these automated cameras.
The differences lie in the how, why, and ultimate feeling it gives guests and Cast Members. It doesn’t take extensive studies with psychologists or human behavioral experts to tell you how people were going to respond to these automated cameras. As a society, pretty much our only experiences with automatic cameras are in “negative” situations, and this stands as a very obvious and in-your-face example of removing the humanity from what should be a fun and personal interaction.
Just about anyone reading this could probably predict the consensus reaction to automated cameras at meet & greets. I’m honestly a bit surprised that Walt Disney World has plowed forward with the idea, and I’m even more surprised that the face being attached to this is now Mickey Mouse. I would’ve thought that a meet with the company’s most enduring and beloved icon would’ve been safe from this–or at least one of the last in a slower rollout–but it looks like I guessed wrong.
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Your Thoughts
Have you done the Mickey & Minnie Mouse meet and greet or any of the meets with automated cameras? What did you think of the experience? Do you agree or disagree with our review? Do you think Walt Disney World should be more careful when eliminating Cast Member roles like this? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I will say this, the automated system is not the end of the world. We got pictures with Chewbacca with the automated system, and we got 12 pictures during the meeting,many of them were fantastic. We’ve had Photopass photographers stand there doing nothing during the interaction phase, wait for the posing, take 3 quick shots and shoo us on our way. So in that way, at least with the automation, you know it is constantly taking the pictures and you will get plenty of opportunity for good shots. It is CERTAINLY no replacement for a GOOD photopass photographer, who is adept at capturing your interaction at the perfect moment, but its also not a reason to never get memory maker again. It still takes the photos often enough that you’ll capture a lot of greatness.
If you want to protest this, DO NOT BUY MEMORY MAKER and make sure everyone you know doesn’t buy it either.
hoo boy – it gets more fun with each passing day. I wish like heck I had not purchased memory maker for upcoming trip now, but just me and DH and likely our last trip if/until grand kids. And I don’t like to stop a random stranger and ask they take our pic (although I would certainly do it for someone else)
Tom – are you saying you haven’t received ANY of the automated photos yet?
Is that possible because the bookcase takes bad pictures?
Maybe someone is screening them and not sending the bad ones?
Just wondering…
I’m quite good at taking photos, but utterly shocking at being in them- I’m the worst poser around. The only time I ever get natural, happy looking photos of myself are at Disney; I’m in my happy place, and there’s a CM to interact with who gets the best response.
Guessing it’s the same in the US, but here in the UK there’s always a running joke about how dreadful everyone’s driving licence/passport photos are, mainly because you just have to stare at a blank wall that takes your photo. This just makes the Disney experience the same, no way will I get any smiling/happy looking photos from a computer.
Iger really doesn’t seem to get that the Disney experience is to a large extent about the cast members. He keeps taking away perks from them and just basically treating them like any other employee that can be cut to save a few bucks. This is so sad to me. I hope whoever takes over next can get the company back to it’s roots. If the parks become a place to go on cool rides, but without the enjoyable human interactions, I for one won’t keep going back.
I’m remembering the shot of our grand daughter’s excited face as she rushed toward Sophia the First after a very long wait. It was her turn and she was so thrilled! The cast member photographer captured it. She had been watching Ellie waiting patiently and was ready with the camera when it was finally her turn. The actual pics with the rather weird plastic(?) character were ok. Ellie had her smile on, but Sophia couldn’t interact like the “human princesses”. But that shot of Ellie’s excited face as she rushed over would not have been taken by a robot. This is ridiculous.
Ha, same with our child meeting Jessie and Woody. The hugs, the laughter, the dancing and joking around we got to do with them was so much fun. The photopass photog captured over 20 pictures for us and they were all pretty memorable. I can’t imagine what it’d be like to look through 100 pictures to find 5 or 10 good ones from a similar experience with an automated camera. My opinion, if they want to use automated cameras, do it for stationary objects.
Same with my toddler meeting Elsa. He was SO excited and overcome with emotion that he took two steps towards her and just sat on the floor looking at her. The Photopass photographer was able to capture the hilarity of it all. A machine would totally have missed it!
I am blown away by this. I feel like the Disney Magic is slowly being taken away but by bit and it breaks my heart. I could literally (and I use the word correctly) count the bad experiences on one hand that my family of six have had with cast members in the past twenty years on one hand. I can do the same for the past year. I have also had truly magical experiences and met wonderful CM’s. But the prices are going up continually. Disney continues to strive for high attendance instead of high guest satisfaction. Automated Mickey pictures? What is next???
But will the one person left still take photos with your phone if you ask?? Agreed with other commenters- I will not purchase memory maker in the future since this is the trend Disney has decided to move to. A photopass photographer at this attraction should be akin to ride operators and its ridiculous they are cutting them. This 1 person makes a huge difference. The experience and quality is undoubtedly worse.
Wow! You know, Disney had that saying,”Keep moving forward!” Well, I guess I’ve been stuck in the dark ages with family photos! Here I was thinking I would always need a human being to get my baby and toddler to actually LOOK and SMILE in the right direction, but seems I’ve been short sighted. It’s obvious that a bookshelf that doesn’t resemble a camera to a child will get them to take the picture of my dreams! Definitely something I can blow up into a huge canvas and hang predominately in our home! So silly of me to waste money on people all these years when I can definitely just get my child to smile all by themselves! Add a huge crowd of people patiently waiting behind us and we will get a great picture for sure! Oh Disney! Thanks again for being the leader of innovation and continuing to move us all forward, where would we be without this wonderful guidance!
And just so we are clear (I don’t want any Disney employee actually reading this and saying, oh, someone on Tom’s blog actually was excited about it!), I think this is the most ridiculous, penny pinching scheme created by this company. And that’s saying a lot because they’ve obviously come out with some great ones lately. The EMPLOYEES really are what make Disney world better than the others, and now they are slowly dwindling them. So sad.
I’m curious, can you ask the ‘Character Handler” to take a pic with your phone or camera?
If so, more people will decide not to pay for Memory Maker when it’s free to have the better experience of a sentient human taking your family’s photo anyway.
I appreciate you contrasting mobile ordering with with the automated cameras.
Mobile ordering may reduce labor costs but it also enhances the guest experience. It makes your day more efficient; it lets you spend more time enjoying your vacation (at least I’ve always had a good experience).
On the other hand, the automated cameras may reduce labor costs but they don’t enhance the guest experience. It seems like they are actually detracting from the overall experience.
When Disney corporate kind find things that save money and make the park better it’s great it’s a win for everyone. On the other hand, cutting corners while continuing to hike prices isn’t going to serve them well in the long run.
i was looking forward to trying mobile ordering on this trip and was severely let down by the entire experience. tried several times at several locations. once, we couldn’t get mobile order to work at the location, period. another time after telling us our order was ready, we waited probably 10 minutes at the counter trying to get someones’ attention so they could give us our order. and two others times, the menus on mobile order were totally incomplete and we were having to make adjustments as we picked up the food. in the end, i really don’t feel it saved us any time and wound up being more of a headache.
my point, since mobile order was brought up as a comp, these autophotos aren’t going to fare any better.
I really hate to see this, as you mentioned, takes away a human element from what is supposed to be a magical day. Impersonal photo boxes are wrong on many levels. Less interaction with people, you don’t feel special. Here, stand on this X, say cheese. You lose CM to paying jobs to a stupid box in the wall. I wonder if Disney also saw that the human side of it was taking too long? I didn’t go on my last trip because the wait times were high. Is it more efficient for the box? Still, Disney should reconsider this and some of the other changes in the parks, like the Muppets in history show.
Wow, these reports just seem to be getting worse and worse. Over the years we have found the “money” shots are the interactions before and after the actual posed photo. And we have some incredible ones that no automated camera would ever capture. Poor idea all around. Again trying to save money on their end but not on ours. Continues the trend more for less. At what point does this all go up in flames for Disney. I’m a shareholder and I voted against almost every one of the board’s recommendations this year including giving Mr. Iger a bigger piece of the pie.
Agreed. Hands down the best Memory Maker pic of our trip was when Ralph “stole” my daughter’s Minnie ears and she tried to get them back. It wasn’t posed. It was the photographer realizing this is a good thing to take a pic of, and every time I see it, it delights me. Whenever I hear things like this, I have to wonder if Disney invests anything in UX.
As someone who creates automated processes for a living, I couldn’t agree more with your statement “just because something can be automated doesn’t mean it should be automated.” perfect summation of how businesses should currently look at what they are automating and have good reasons on why automation vs utilizing a human being.
This reminds me of a current events report my daughter did in 5th grade last year. She reported on the “robot hotel” in Japan that tried to operate with a human-less “staff.” The story was about how the robots failed and half of them have since been replaced by humans.
We’ve actually stayed at and visited several hotels in Japan that use robots (or automation) to varying degrees. Literally the only places it works are where the robots are a novelty (there’s a dinosaur hotel near Tokyo Disneyland that’s cool) and not the sole staff.
As much as we love Japan, it already has its share of problems with being an isolating and impersonal society. Even though they’re also on the bleeding edge of technology, I think in the ‘battle’ of tech v. humanity that has been playing out there, humanity will win out.
we purchased memory maker on the trip we just returned from. if this trend continues and they install more of these kiosks, we won’t purchase it in the future. is that what disney wants? i’m far from the only person who feels this way either, if comments on social media are any indication. a good photographer can make or break a good photo, especially with little ones trying to get them to look and smile. the photo package won’t be worth it moving forward. you’ll get ride photos and a heap of crappy automated kiosk photos, probably most of which are trash. i already didn’t appreciate that probably half of the characters we met no longer had a photopass photographer along. in 2016 on our last trip, every character i can recall we met came with a photographer. this allowed me to jump quickly into a few more photos. without the photographer, it’s tougher to do and takes more time, which equals longer waits, and the character wait times are already beyond ridiculous (i’m all for interaction and memories, just maybe add more rooms somehow to allow the lines to move faster). these cuts will equal less photo packages purchased (of which the price will probably just continue to go up) and go back to the days of “would you mind taking a photo of us?” to the person in line behind you.
I totally understand what you’re saying about the characters. When we did the character dinners, they only have the one photopass photographer at the entrance, then the rest you’re on your own to get pictures. When you’re with Mickey and Minnie, you want the best, not some terrible iphone pic and that’s not what we got.
On the other hand, the automated photo kiosks would be a great idea for stationary objects, like buildings, photo walls, etc. they could theoretically line up several cameras in a row and get numerous photos taken quickly in front of cinderella castle, the haunted mansion and other places and do it a lot better than having several photopass photogs.
Either way though, I agree, if they continue to get automated cameras instead of humans and Disney continues to expect 170-200 from us for that service, most people will probably say forget about it.
Yep. We prefer to continue paying for Memory Maker because it’s always felt like a worthwhile splurge when we consider the experiences it captured.
Now I feel the need to rethink our next purchase because we really don’t want to invite the aggravation of being dissatisfied and ending up with the crappy recourse of getting our money back but losing the handful of good shot we got elsewhere with MM.
disney under Igar sucks now why do people keep forking over their $$$
Just because Iger runs disney doesn’t mean the mouse is less attractive to kids and families.
yes it does. His IP themed new rides bombed. Fireworks every night now gone. Elimination of underpaid employees for robots, price hikes galore….oh yeah he gets more $$$. The term imagineer is a joke now. Movie Ride gone, haunted mansion ruined by IP, Muppets fail. I wont give Dis a penny
I did not see any automated cameras but it sounds like a terrible idea. It takes talent and artistic ability to create beautiful pics. Automating sends a message we don’t really care. I did have a run in with a photographer in Batuu she was in a furry taking one photo after the other screaming next. I wondered if she was being paid by the number of photos she took? I tried in between her photos to get a quick shot of the millennium falcon but she would not have it!!!!!!! Do they own the spot?
I really can’t understand what in the world Disney is doing anymore. They just keep making awful decisions. Why would people want to keep paying more for less. Disney is not a collection of rides. It’s absolutely the people and entertainment that make it special. For just rides we can all go to much cheaper theme parks. Galaxys Edge would become far more popular if they would get the droids roaming around and the skilled character actors doing entertainment throughout the area. No one wants an automated camera taking these special pictures of their family. We want and expect photographers. So good to know to skip this meet with Mickey and just see him at Tusker House.
per your mention of tusker house- we planned on this trip thanks to free dining specifically to eat at character meals to get the widest variety of characters as possible to avoid as many lines as we could. we started this on our disney cruise last year- if we already met a character and got their autograph, we don’t stand in line again. regardless of outfit (i know that’s important to some people but not for us). since we no longer go s often as we used to, my hope is perhaps the next time we go (if they haven’t severely cut back on even more magic) is that some meals will have changed attendees. but i agree, why stand in line for mickey and minnie when you could meet them at 6 character meals? and why bother period if it’s just a box taking your picture?