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’m not trying to promote a website. I wrote an email to Disney World and thought maybe others could use it as a template or inspiration for their own. This post is currently the only content on the site, and it may well remain that way.
https://chris4ester.wordpress.com/2019/09/24/save-photopass
This is tragic. My daughter was a Photopass photographer. These indoor photo spots were coveted among the photographers (getting them out of the heat, sun, pressure of MainStreet) But half of the fun the photographers captured, is lost on a “magic box”. Too bad. I hope Disney changes its mind… and soon…
We experienced the “magical bookcase” last weekend with my 13 family members, 5 which were age 7 and under. It is impossible to get a large group photo timed correctly with that many people and young children. This was a special photo we were all looking forward to only to find out it would be the most impersonal photo of our 3 days together at WDW. We all went to WDW to engage with each other and reinforce with our children the value of face to face family time instead of time on their tablets and phones. Disney of all companies should know the value of engaging with faces, everything they animate has a personality and face. How unfortunate they have decided to reinforce the reward for children staring vacantly at a machine.
Surprised they have eliminated the human photographers here. Was one aim to also stop them from taking pictures for guests with their own cameras and phones? Maybe Disney thought taking our own pictures cut into their profits?
There is no way a robot photo is going to be as good as one taken and timed right by a human. Some of our best were candid shots with a character that no robot could appreciate.
You may be on to something here. Only it’s going to backfire because we can just ask the person behind us to take it. That’s my plan. I’m not paying that much for a photobooth.
Asking the person behind you in line is a great idea! I too, do not want to pay that much money for a photo booth. I signed the petition on change.org and emailed Robert Chapek. If the person behind is not allowed to take a picture, I guess I won’t be in the shot unless it’s a group selfie. Crazy!
From the online petition, try emailing some of these folks directly and report back here as to what kind of response you got, if any.
Walt Disney World Guest Relations
[email protected]
Bob Chapek, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts
[email protected]
George Kalogridis, President of the Walt Disney World Resort
[email protected]
Signed the petition and emailed Robert “I can’t understand why he is changing so many things that Disney fans love” Chapek. Zero response. Not even an autoreply! Oh the irony….
I agree…there is nothing like the personal touch. The DMV never takes a good shot, right? LOL Well done!
We had similar problem with photos not coming through. When at Disney Springs we went into the a Photoshop shop and the cast member was able to search through all the photos taken and added them to our magic band. We did know the day and time, which helped track them down.
We experienced the automated cameras with tinkerbell in June. I am NOT a fan!! You are correct, it takes a person to capture those special moments or interaction. Disney needs to rethink this budget cut!
I don’t like this at all. While we’ve had some dud photos, we are normally always pleasantly surprised by the quality of the photos.
Of all the news/information I’ve ever read in Tom’s blog, this is the first time something’s upset me enough to cause me to both email Disney, and seek out/sign the online petition. This seems to have struck a chord with all of us, and unlike most of Disney’s changes, this might be something we can reverse if enough people complain. If nobody’s pictures are turning out well, then nobody is going to buy Memory Maker or individual photos, and that might be something that makes Disney pay attention. Like another commenter advised, take a moment to email Disney guest services and ask that your feedback be passed on. Let’s bombard Disney with our thoughts on this! Those photos mean too much!
I too am very upset. I took the time to email the Photo Pass department regarding our disappointment. We are faithful Memory Maker purchasers on our annual trips. We are now rethinking this. It’s just purely cheap on Disney’s part.
Automated cameras are a horrible idea. The pictures we took with tinker bell were a joke. I got more pictures of our backs as we walked up to where she was standing than of us standing with her and it was almost like tinker bell didnt even know where the camera was because she was looking way off to the side. So they were useless. Also the handler there was no help in directing she just said there is a camera in the wall now look at the leaves. She seemed more interested in rushing us through as fast as possible. If I wait in line I want my picture, especially with my favorite character. Going to Disney isnt cheap and we should be able to see the characters and take a few pictures if we have waited patiently in line for our turn. Not, then to have some automated camera screw it up and waste our time. We use Disney photos for our christmas cards every year and spend good money on the photo pass and I felt really jipped this year. I hope they learn quickly how bad of an idea these automated cameras are and go back to real photo pass photographers. Especially before their big birthday celebration. I am big on scrapbooking and its irritating to have crappy photos all due to them cutting real people out for automated cameras.
This is an awful idea! Where is the personal touch during the meet and greets? How is a child to know where to look or be distracted to look up? We were going to buy the Photopass for our upcoming trip in December but I will now pass on this idea. What a complete disappointment!
Will they refund us for our Memory Maker if we now decide we don’t want it? My son purchased it but we’re not going until November.
I had planned on purchasing the PhotoPass
as part of my vacation package. I have always purchased this in the past since we have a very large family it was really nice to have some photos of the entire group. If the process goes automated there will not be a reason for us to purchase this package as it will be too difficult to get everyone in the photos. And the quality will certainly be compromised. So sad that Disney would change this package by eliminating the photographers.
This is a horrible idea for families. Small children need their attention grabbed for them all to be looking in the same direction. The thought of doing this with the most iconic character is moronic. Some of the zoom-ins are the best memories. One our last visit, Elsa played special attention to a toddler in our family. A zoom-in of Elsa blowing a kiss to them and the smile on their face was worth the price of the package. No machine will know the personality of the character to be able to zoom in at the right time. Two thumbs down.
I HATE the automated cameras. My kid never quite figured out where to look, and we got zero pictures of her actually looking in the direction of the camera. She kept looking for a person. I don’t understand the thinking here.
we are just back in the UK after 3 weeks in WDW. We LOVED the memory makers .. some of the cast members were brilliant to interact with. This is an extremely bad idea to go to automation !!! We had some automated ones with Chewie – apart from the posed ones, they were rubbish (poor angles. as randomly shot every 3 seconds took all sorts of rubbish )!! But all the human memory makers captured the most beautiful shots of our children in the park at greets – close ups of sheer awe and wonder on their faces(and i made it in them as well – Mum who takes most of the pics!!) This is really disappointing – we came home so impressed with memory maker !! LEAVE IT AS IT IS !!
My family always added the photopass but no longer. Our twice a year trip is going to be minimized changed and sadly less photographed. It was always,so much fun to have the photographers interact with us. No photo booth for us…STUPID MOVE FOR DISNEY
We had the automated experience with Tinker Bell, and it was horrible. Tinker Nell tried her best to interact with my girls, but she also had to try and pay attention to when the camera might go off and get a posed shot. The kids didn’t know where to look or when to smile. It was so far away that we didn’t get the sweet photos and interactions that we had loved with Tinker Bell so many times before! Then the machine was broken so we couldn’t look at the photos. The cast member said the machine acts up a lot & moved us on our way. Awkward, impersonal and not a good idea! Surely Disney doesn’t need to cut costs that badly to reduce these experiences! Character interaction should be fun and magical, not awkward and stressful!
*Tinker Bell*
We are coming this December snd I have purchased the photo package , I am very worried after reading all the remarks left . I am not paying for automated photos only the actual photographer pictures can capture the true aspects of a meet and greet. I am so worried snd now apprehensive about purchasing the photo package and it had always been my lifesaver that I would also be in some photos as otherwise I am always the one taking them. Very upset!!!!!!!
Just when I thought that PhotoPass couldn’t get any lower…I’ve never been a fan of PhotoPass as you may know. I worked 5 years for the people who run that department and frankly they don’t know what the heck they are doing, photographically. They do, however, know how to make lots of money. And lots of money WINS.
I’m totally against automated cameras; and to be honest I’m considering canceling my photo pass, if possible. Photos are the most personal memory guests have for their Disney experience and to remove actual human photographers will only result in a bad guest experience. And as it has been mentioned several times already, I don’t spend good money visiting WDW for the rides. For me it’s the connection to my childhood memories of watching Walt every Sunday night in the 60’s and visiting WDW as a teenager in the 70’s. Bringing my family in the 80’s and 90’s and now bringing my grandchildren. If management continues to do things like this, then the happiest place on earth just might become sad because it’s losing its magic.