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!
This was the original idea that eventually evolved in to what you know as PhotoPass. In 2003ish the idea for this came about with digital cameras getting better. The first VP of DPI (photopass) had this idea but the technology wasn’t there. They wanted to have stations pretty much with the icons where you see the photographers today. 2004 the first set of interns were hired and had the job of finding all of the spots that could be used at the time. There was still a contract with Kodak photographers so there were only certain locations they were looking for in MK and Epcot. By the end of 2004 the next set of interns were hired along with a few full timers and PhotoPass officially rolled out. They spent a few month tweeking things until the next of interns came in spring of 2005. By then it was much more of what people have been used too. The idea was always on the backburner just waiting for the technology to catch up with the idea.
I wonder if this is about Disney’s return on investment. I suspect more and more people are buying the photo package ahead of time or purchasing an annual pass with it included. If there’s no one purchasing individual pictures, which would be directly dependent on the quality of shot captured, they don’t have the “need” to ensure candid moments are captured.
Don’t like the photos? Too bad – you already paid for them.
If they’re going to continue rolling this out to new photo locations, it sure would be nice if there was a way to know whether or not the photos were going to be taken by a person or a robot before getting into an hour-long line.
I always think back to one of the cutest pictures we have of my nephew running across the room while Tink and my niece look on at the ‘cheeky little brother’
I just hate to think that this could never be captured again now with these boxes. Not just for my family as well – for everyone.
Sometimes a human touch, not another cost cutting measure, is what is required.
Tom–I couldn’t agree with you more–this initiative is de-humanizing. It’s amazing that they can spend hundreds of millions on an attraction but not want to pay for photographers.
I was so disappointed with our ‘garbage shots’ on our last trip when meeting Kylo Ren and Chewbacca. My son was dressed as Kylo, and my girls both as Rey. Kylo and Chewbacca had awesome interaction, and none of it was captured. Instead we got tons of mid motion pics of nothing. Then we went to see bb8 AND THEY HAD AN ACTUAL PHOTOGRAPHER! For the static robot that doesn’t move or interact. ??? We paid for the memory maker, which is a nice chunk of change. These garbage shots need to be eliminated.
I’m not paying $169 for poor shots from an automated camera. They need to figure this out, yesterday.
I can definitely say I’m not a fan of the automated cameras. I just got back from a quick trip over the weekend to celebrate my birthday. Of course I wanted to get pictures with Mickey and Minnie in their confetti outfits, given the occasion. When I met with them, two carefully posed pictures were taken and that was it. And, don’t get me wrong, they are nice pictures and good keepsakes of the moment. But Mickey and Minnie were really hamming it up when I met them, and it would have been nice to have at least a little of that clowning around captured. I also met the characters at the temporary Character Spot at Epcot, and while they weren’t goofing around as much over there, I still ended up with some nice candid moments captured by the photographers. There’s just no replacing a human photographer for something like this.
For what it’s worth, it took about a day for my photos from the automated camera to show up. I met the characters yesterday afternoon, and while the photos weren’t there this morning, they were by the time I got home this afternoon.
We got our photos taken today at 9 and they have yet to appear in the app as well, so looks like it’s not an isolated case. We’ve never had trouble before. And like you said none of the spontaneous, more precious moments were captured by the automatic camera.
We had this problem and was able to call Disney with the time and they pulled them up and added them to our account
Disney has sunk to a New Low with picture automation, Unbelievable the steps they are taking to increase there bottom line profit, it is such a Big Turn Off……..For the first time ever, our annual Holliday trip is a split stay, but not on site, it’s with Universal !!!
Sad. No to automation. A new low!
I don’t like that bookshelf. Being asked to smile at a bookshelf is creepy. A product and platform based on emotion and experience needs a human to decipher the nuances and subtleties of human interaction.
And, this is off topic– I really don’t like the new Tomorrowland entrance archway. I don’t get the tilted base and it looks like they’ve left something off of the top. Maybe it looks much better in person? I’m hoping for an entire post dedicated to your opinion on this!
So if I’m just getting my photo in front of the castle or some other landmark, that’s *fine* if WDW wants to automate it. Not ideal but fine. But if you’re interacting with characters, you need the human!!
We were in Disney last month (as we do every August), and noticed the decrease in PhotoPass options. They didn’t even put Tinkerbell in the classic Disney castle photo that we get every year, my son was so disappointed, he even had his hand out in just the right way. No photographer outside Haunted Mansion this year either. And our online photos didn’t come with the stock photos that used to come with PhotoPass. Definite downgrade from past years!
Planning a trip in January 2020. I no longer have a annual pass because of the price jump. Photopass was included with the the annual pass. This time around I planned to bring my camera because the last time, a couple of photo stops were never ‘loaded’ to my account. Lost forever. I used to do that years ago. If there is no photographer, now what? Do I stand in line to have pictures taken that I need to buy? Help….Confused…
Having just returned from a solo trip to Disneyland, I’ve been enjoying the poses “forced” on me (okay, strongly suggested) by live photographers. Though some are as dumb as you’d expect, others are actually pretty good, and are nothing I would have done on my own with an automatic camera. So, I’m hoping they keep lots of live photographers, in addition to select automated venues.
another photopass cut i just remembered when compared to our 2016 trip- harmony barbershop. my oldest got a haircut and the photographer got some great, crystal clear shots. no photographer this time for my youngest. i took a bunch myself of course, but just not the same.
Almost bought a photopass this time “Very glad we didn’t “ would have irked me to think of paying a a lot of money, to have an emotionless computer kicking a great photographer with real feeling for the craft, out of a job, on top of taking the Happy away from the meet and greet!
So now this leaves no option of having the photo taken with your own camera. Am i correct that now people must buy the photo or the memory maker to access it. Too bad.
Hi Julie! We were there today and I took lots of photos with my own camera, it wasn’t a problem. Only accidentally got in front of the robot camera once
I miss the traditional photographer though..
I’m guessing it means that someone in your party has to be taking the picture though. A few years ago, my husband and I went to Disney on our honeymoon and we were able to hand our camera to the photographer at all the photo pass opportunities so we could both be in the picture. We still had our photo pass photos, but also a few on our camera for good measure. I’m assuming this would no longer be an option. Sad.
Horrible! First time we had an experience here, Mickey talked, walked and the attendants were so nice too! It was Magical! Now it’s just crap. We should start a new petition! I had started one when Mickey no longer talked and I think we need a new one. Bring back the wonderful cast members and talking Mickey.
It’s so interesting different people’s thoughts, we were 100% not fans of talking Mickey and weren’t sad to see him go! But I’m definitely on board against automated photographers, we’ve had too many of our favorite pictures be very candid ones that the photographer noticed and we barely did.
Just curious, what was not fun about talking with Mickey? We loved that he asked us if hitch-hiking ghosts had followed us there and my daughter had a photo with her and Mickey with raised thumbs “hitching” a ride.
I also just thought that it was nice to have a talking Mickey as an option for those of us who do like him. There are plenty of places for photos without a talking Mickey. Besides the special Castle skits during the parties, there aren’t really any other times he does talk that I know of.
my oldest got to have talking mickey on her first trip and i was so sad my youngest won’t have that same chance unless one day they bring him back. he was so cool!
We just got back last night. Tinkerbell was our last to meet and the character my daughter was most excited about before going home. I didn’t bring my phone in because I didn’t know they removed photographer. Tink asked my daughter to lay on the floor and looked through her Tinkerbell book face to face. Both Tink and my 4 year old crossed their legs while on the floor and it was adorable. The automated machine probably didn’t see faces so we have 0 photos of this precious interaction. I’m really disappointed. I’m sure an actual human would have captured this “slumber pals” moment.
I’m so upset by this! We’re bringing my daughter for her very first Disney world trip at 8 months old, and pictures of her meeting Mickey are top of my list. However if this is the type of pictures we are going to get, it’s almost not even worth it. Hopefully my mother in law will be willing to take pictures for us instead of being in them!
Appalling. Spot on with your comment “just because it can be automated doesn’t mean it should be automated”. Unlike mobile ordering, this does not enhance guest experience, but detracts from it. SMH.