I get a lot of people asking if they are allowed to wear certain shirts. So here is the question to ask that will answer your question: Could someone get offended or insulted over what is on your shirt? If the answer is no, then the shirt should be fine. Anything that isn't promoting drugs, violence, discrimination... things that aren't "family friendly" should be fine.
Paige Collins I saw one of his vids late at night and decided to watch, I got hooked and watched more and more. Then I realized it was 5:05 in the morning and had to get ready for school.
When I went to Disneyland in 07' we thought it was funny to flip off the cameras 🎥 in Tower of Terror and they HELD us at the drop until we put our hands down!! Lesson learned
It always amazes me how the Photo Pass Photographers can take a picture of guests and the castle while on a tremendously busy Main Street.... yet it looks as if it's just them there in the clear. I know it's the angle....but how tough is that? The pictures are always perfect. Is it timing? The crowds (especially at closing and the street is so crowded) are so thick, and no-one is directing them to stay out of the way.
+Mc Kenna a lot of it is the angle and the cropping of the shot. You set it up so that the people you are shooting fill up the front of the picture and there isn't a lot of room on the edges to show other people walking by. That helps to hide the others that might be there.
Caitlyn Boyle I was going to say, he sounds a lot like Wallace Shawn...although that may be a bit...inconceivable...to some. (Wallace Shawn voiced Rex)
This was fascinating! All the little things that I would never think about from a photographer's standpoint. And from a PR standpoint too on Disney's side.
As a Spectrum Photo photographer (later to become Sharpshooter Spectrum Photo before Kodak took over) at Disneyland (1996-2002) its amazing how rules & regs have changed yet stayed the same in relation to photographing Park Guests w/ the characters and locations. The only times rules were stressed (since its all common sense anyway) was when we were photographing the Princesses. We had to act as body guards in concert w/ the Character Hosts we worked with keeping Guess from groping, grabbing, picking up the girls. I was Ariel's personal photographer for 5 years and i shot the head shots of the face characters for the Character Department Portfolio. I was also the "on call" photog for when the Disney Staff Photogs werent able to cover an event (before the whole department was closed and freelance photogs were utilized). Those were some fun, groundbreaking times being a first generation Character Photog.
Thanks for making this video. I am a former Disney cast member who was on the opening Photopass crew. Watching this video was like a flashback to my Photopass cast member days in 2005-2006. At the time I worked in the Photopass division, those FCUK t-shirts were really popular, and I was constantly re-positioning guests to avoid showing the logos on those shirts. At the time I worked there, we were also strictly forbidden from taking photos of the Seven Dwarfs, as Disney had some sort of licensing issue with those characters. Other photos we couldn't take included photos backstage, photos where there were wardrobe malfunctions (on either the guest or the character), photos which showed cast members sitting down or holding drinks, photos where guests had spilled food or drinks on themselves (happens more often than you think), photos where it looked like the family was fighting (for example, the dad with his hands around his son's neck), photos where children were crying, photos where characters from different universes were in the same picture (except princesses, which were somehow okay), photos where someone was doing something inappropriate in the background, and photos that showed too much skin. I was very excited to be on the opening team; unfortunately, several of the managers at Photopass at that time were extremely mean. I left the Photopass division in 2006, and always wondered why that department was so messed up. I'm glad, though, that the program continued; it provided a great service to guests.
Thanks for posting! You caught a number of the things that I missed or left out. 2006- I wonder if we crossed paths at all. I started in June and was posted to MK at that point. The nice thing was that for me in 2006-2010 most of our managers were raised up out of Photopass, so they were pretty good (only had issues at all with one or two). That started to change though when entertainment absorbed Photopass and started putting their own people in as managers. Those first years were great ones, at least for me. I've heard from others that stayed that it changed quite a bit after I left.
I knew from the video that you had to have worked during "my" era, just from the original purple Photopass card you held up in the video (I still have some, from accidentally leaving them in my uniform repeatedly). I don't think we ever met; I left in March 2006, and I would have remembered you, though it's cool that we worked basically during the same era. When I came to the department, there were just 50 cast members in the department and it was still a pilot program that was phasing out Kodak. Everyone knew each other. Then the program grew, they added 300 new photographers, my old manager left, and my new manager never even bothered to learn my name. I always saw him look at my name tag before he said my name... and he only had eight people under him. So frustrating! He wasn't the worst one, though; there were a few managers that were way worse than that. However, I also have very happy memories of the program: some great "friends of character X" who were so fun to work with, making little kids smile by giving them stickers, the whole Make a Wish program, people coming from all over the world, Asian girls always making the "peace" sign, magic shots, fixing botched images so they were saleable to the guest, helping people, and taking a record 1,960 photos in a single 16-hour day! Good times. Thank you, Sir Willow, for uploading this video, which totally made me revisit memory lane.
Love the stories from that era. I'm hoping to put together a "history of Photopass" at some point. it's been on the burner for a while now but just haven't managed to get it done. So I might be bugging you with some questions since you were in that time period. Did you have the pleasure of the brick?
You are welcome to "bug" me with questions any time, Sir Willow! Yes, of course we had The Brick. We also originally had a bigger, heavier PDA than the ones we later used, and we also had to carry tripods through a china shop, as our HQ was originally behind a shop on Main St (last time I was visiting, that location was a glassblower's shop). With cameras strapped to our necks, The Brick, the big PDAs, the tripods, the spare Brick, the radios, the batteries, the extra batteries, and whatever else, we were loaded down!
Most of these rules I'm going: "DUH". I actually got a great photo of Tigger giving me bunny ears, but I knew it was coming, so I looked up and laughed. One of my favorite pictures ever.
When I went to Epcot with my wife, she was pregnant, and we asked to take a picture with Chip 'n Dale kissing her belly. But they said no, and the photographer explained to us that they couldn't do it.
As a Photographer who is not a professional but more than an enthusiast, and loves Disney World I loved watching this. To often people don't realize what a photographer must do to get the shot. Even in what may seem the most simple situations. You have gained a new subscriber.
Hey Sir Willow I am from the UK and am pretty sure you took the photo pass photo that adorns our piano. We were in WDW in 2007 and you were the first cast member we spoke to. You arranged us and even took the photo using my own camera. So thank you. People like you made the 3000 mile trip worth while and totally magical!
Awww, that makes me feel so good knowing I could have blessed you. That was the best part of the job. Since it's on your piano I'm guessing I did good. :-) Thanks so much for sharing. I'd love to see it if you don't mind sharing it. (my facebook page works for that ifyou'd like. You certainly don't have to. The link is in the video description.)
I'm a 59 year old Disney Super Fan. Where were you when I needed to know some proper Disney etiquette???. Thanks for being here.......Now I have to go back and apply what you taught me......And my grown up children.......Subbed!!!
Just love this guy, and I'm pretty sure I've seen him when I went to Disney several years ago! Disney needs to clone about 10,000 of this guy and load the park up with him!
I use to be a photopass photographer. I remember having a fun time with the guitar at studios. I loved working Epcot for some reason. The energy there was so calm.
Thanks! It is fun to go back and look at those first videos and see how much I've learned and improved already. Still lots of room to doing things better, and I've got some ideas about other things I want to try in the future as well. (think greenscreen if I can get one! :-) )
You're welcome! It's so exciting! I really love your Disney videos, especially now that I'm living in Florida, haha. "Look at the castle!" has become a family tradition now, thanks to your vids! Greenscreen is great! I can recommend some good and affordable products if you're interested! (They've worked great for me!) It's super fun working with it.
What kind of rules are there for people that aren't characters (regular cast-members like photographers and janitors) being in pictures with guests? Let me give an example: a few times when meeting a character, I like to ask that their photographer/handler steps in and I take a selfie. So far I haven't had a character say "No, that's not allowed." But I have had photographers that said they weren't sure it was okay, and I had to ask the character. I also had two cast-members that looked like supervisors of some kind (they were carrying clipboards) say they wouldn't be in my picture with Rabbit. I also had one guy ask me to delete the photo after I mentioned what I was planning to do with it. I do it as a sort of "Thank you", because the cast members make the parks possible. I even made two RU-vid videos about it (they are still on my channel). Have I been breaking the rules this whole time, they are just too polite to say so?
Cast members in costume aren't supposed to be in any pictures with characters. And they aren't supposed to be in photopass pictures either. Out of costume (their work clothes) is fine, but not in it. However, you should be perfectly welcome to use your camera to take pictures of cast members while they are working. The reason they asked you to delete it after they found out you would put it online is because if they are seen in their costumes in a photo with the characters, then it could cost them their jobs. (and just a name tag and/or Disney ID is enough to qualify)
I've gone to WDW many times and I gotta say the Photo Pass photographers are some top shelf employees. I can't say I've ever heard a remotely negative word from any of them. Always polite, fast and eager to get you that perfect shot.
"No photos of dangerous behaviour" "Mickey! Mickey! Watch me eat this fire!!" But I guess standing on trashcans probably happens more often. Best photo with a chracter and logo tee shirt I have seen? That one floating around with someone in a Dead Mau5 tee and poor Minnie looking horrified XD
dangerous behavior could be tossing a kid in the air, doing flips, jumping off of walls/ rocks or a variety of other things. A Disney photographer taking a photo of that could be considered endorsing it, which could lead to a variety of problems. That's why it's not allowed. But I would have loved to see a fire eater with Mickey!! LOL
I'm into photography and I love Disney so much! I have been wanting to be a Disney photographer and this video was really interesting. I love behind the scenes of it all.
Oh so the characters can give us bunny ears, but we can't do the same to them? Double standard much?! Ha ha just kidding. Still though, I never really got why the whole bunny ears with characters thing was such an issue? Could someone explain this to me please?
Zach Harris it may be because you don't know guests' intentions, whereas characters like Goofy and Gaston and many more are known across the world as the silly type and therefore people would see it as a harmless prank. Like they'd expect it from a silly character that they know. Yknow? That's just a guess though 😂
Some facial hair is allowed now, but it is still extremely strict defining specific shapes, lengths and the color must look natural. Just as a side note, almost all Disney Villains have facial hair.
My Dad took a picture with a First Order Stormtrooper once and the guy acted like he was choking my Dad, and my Dad had his mouth wide open with his tongue sticking out. Seeing the picture, you can obviously see that the trooper's hands are no where near my Dad's throat, but the photographer would not take the picture until my Dad put his tongue back in his mouth. I was actually surprised that the photographer took a picture depicting a stormtrooper "choking" my Dad. It really was a funny picture though. Great memories.
Far as I know it should be fine. I remember talking some photos with guests doing that and Goofy trying to (it was quite funny) so that one might be ok. I can't say for sure as I don't know if the rules on it might have changed in the last few years, but it was fine when I was there.
Fellow Photopass photographer from long ago ('06-'08 @DAK & MK). This was my first video to watch of yours, but it brought back so many memories. It amazes me how much there was to remember of spiels and rules and working as fast as possible with the characters.
I'm sure we have. My base park was DAK, but I worked all over when I could get a chance, including resort dining. Epcot and DTD were the only two places I didn't work. My last six months were at MK, and I loved getting the Magical Moments position for the day.
i just found your channel and binged watched like ten of your videos XD. You are so entertaining to watch and seem like such a nice person! I really hope you never run out of content!!
Paulieag 12 Same! I live in England so getting to Disney is pretty expensive. Before the holiday/vacation started (this was our first trip) my mum swore up and down that she wouldn't go again due to it being so expensive, but before it was even over she was already booking our next trip 😂 It's absolutely amazing there 😍
Always amazed at how much time and effort goes into Disney's brand control - I highly doubt other local theme parks are anywhere near as strict with their photographers.
You can't take photos of cheerleaders doing stunts? Wow! That good to know! My cheer team is going next year and they all wanted to stunt. Thank you for the info!! Always good to know😊😊
Disney Dreamers not only can they not take pictures of it, but if you are doing stunts in the park you can get in trouble and possibly kicked out. don't do it. :-)
I'm working on another one. I had hoped to have it done earlier, but losing my "filming location" for the week and a half threw it off schedule. Hopefully within the next 2 weeks. :-)
Nice video, but, couple of points. I have had some very poor quality photos in my photopass account, too dark, out of focus etc, so how did they get through QA as I was so disappointed when I viewed them. Also, some photographers need an update on their training, one guy in MK (I could name him) made a horrible comment to me when I told him I was from the UK, I actually reported him, but, I don't know if anything was done and a Main Street photographer had a Princess Diana obsession and wouldnt let me get away to my early morning ADR at Be Our Guest, she was also inappropriate about other members of the UK Royal Family. But, the worst are the ones who stand around looking bored at Meet and Greets when kids are interacting with characters instead of snapping away and capturing priceless moments, especially when little ones are involved. Some of my favourite photos have been taken during the interaction before we pose, a priceless memory of Carl Fredrickson from UP dancing with me while Russell and Doug were still larking around with the guests before me was captured forever by a marvellous photographer and I have it on my wall forever. I also love the ones who will agree to a pose (appropriate of course) like me swooning over the statue of Gaston, he loved the pose and I hope he used it for other guests too.
Thanks for the comments. As you've experienced, not every photographer is a good one. Most of them are, but it can take a while to weed out the not so good ones, and when you have 55k employees (I've heard 70k recently), you're hiring constantly and some are going to slip through. Same is true of QA. They may have also debated whether it was better to delete the photo and have the guest (you) wonder why it wasn't there, or better to leave it, even if the flash didn't work (dark) or there were other issues and let the CM's at the counter try to make what adjustments they could. That happens sometimes as well.
this video really helped me out! I'll be going to Disney soon so it's nice to know all the do's and don'ts of taking picture's, so it can be smooth and easy!! X)
Thanks for uploading this! :D I'm actually thinking of visiting soon and I was wondering if you knew if cast members are allowed to carry guests for photos? I'd really like to have my picture taken with Gaston carrying me hahaha
Wow... Just watched this video and already I have learnt an awful lot especially how to direct people when taking photographs! Very simple and the key points were clear and precise! Seriously, this information has really helped me (and others) understood the nature of Quality Assurance! Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and experience! I do not work for Disney but now that I have witness this video, I feel confident in wanting to capture better images for future events...
Neat, I love the attention to detail that Disney does in EVERYTHING. Thats what makes it the most magical place on earth! I cant wait til September when I get to go on my 5th trip. and since I have AP I'll be sure to get lots of pics.
I was at a restaurant in Animal Kingdom, me and my fiance had sat down at a table to eat our meal and a group of people sat next to us at a separate table and they were talking quite loudly about how they hate guests and the only people I've ever known to use the word guest are theme park employees and I slowly started to realize that they were PhotoPass cast members who were visiting the park and they were talking about how PhotoPass sucks and how they will sometimes purposely mess up the photos and how they hate certain kinds of guest and how they will miss the special moment with the family and they won't take the picture of It, then realized one of the people that was sitting with this group was the PhotoPass person the day before that I was taking my pictures and i then discovered why I had messed up and missing pictures. I guess my point in telling this story is have you ever worked with someone like this and what is your solution if you notice your PhotoPass person not taking pictures like they are supposed to.
+Erica Smith there were a few. Very few. They usually didn't last long before they left or were "encouraged" to leave. In a case like that I absolutely would have reported that to guest relations. For them to talk that way in the park could lead to termination, and I feel like that would be deserved in this case. Any other info you can give would be nice as well so they can track down exactly who it was.
Just found your channel. Really enjoy the backstage look into how everything works! It's fascinating! I already hold Photopass photographers in high regards, but my goodness I had no idea how many details you were aware of to have (or not have) in photo.
How does this photopass thing work? How for instance do you make sure that the photos you take of a guest get to that guest? Do you take a photo of a ticket or something or somehow mark the photos in the camera as coming from a certain person? What kind of gear did you actually use?
+cheese my next video may help answer your questions some as I will be talking about all the stuff I carried. There is a photo pass card we would give out that would be scanned and that would keep track of all of the pictures that were taken. I know there are some other vids from others that also talk about and show how it works as well.
cheese I wouldn't know about disneyland, but I work at an amusement park in Australia and here we scan the guests wristband (there is a unique bar code on each wristband) and then when the guest goes to one of the photo kiosks they can scan their wristband and all of their photos will come up
So this explains why a few of the photopass guys asked me to position my arm in a manner I thought was a little strange. I was wearing my festive Grand Marnier shirt!
Buying the photopass was probably one of the best decisions I have ever made. Money well spent, great photos, great memories, some of which never would have happened without those photographers.
I run into the issue when my kids fall asleep waiting in a character line. But usually the characters are cool with leaning over the stroller to get a picture.
in our last trip we had a photo taken with a streetmosphere performer at Hollywood studios with our fast pass. it was not with our own camera. he stayed for a couple a posed funny with us. we did ask him directly if he would join us. so maybe that was an excellent edition to the rule
If the streetmosphere performers, and those in similar roles, gave us express permission we could take their photos, but that tended to be the exception to the rule rather than the norm. In the cases where they did, we would find time later to call in to the office that screened the photos to let them know it was coming through and not to block it. They'd put a flag out for it so it would still be there and make a note that they would send up that it was cleared- all things you wouldn't see as a guest. That was all due to union rules, contracts, and copyrights governing "fair use" of the character, and while there might be some loosing of that restriction it was likely because they indicated to the photographer that it was ok and to go ahead and shoot. :-)
Just curios, when you said no weird touching or anything. What if a little child was squeezing mickeys nose? Or playing with plutos ears? Or something. I'm just wondering
That's a lot to memorise and have to mentally "checklist" when you're shooting 100+ shots every day. Hopefully you were well-compensated and appreciated!
This was actually pretty interesting! I can't quite figure out why the bunny ears are forbidden, and why characters can do it while guests cannot. But I think there are boundaries and limits that all photographers should respect. Everyone should have a safe, positive experience.
It's hardly a profane gesture or anything, but it is essentially mocking the person you're doing to. For a character to do that to a guest, it's all in good fun, but a picture of a guest doing that to a character could be viewed as mocking that character, and in extension, Disney itself. My guess anyway.
+Vice Ad not that I'm aware of. But we did generally only take pictures of people who wanted their pictures taken since we were hoping to sell them to them later, so it really wasn't a problem.
lol, did not expect to get "mentioned" in this video. I live in DC, but I play the Christmas show at Epcot the last 5 weeks of the year! Everything about Disney is thought out in every way possible, a complex machine!
As a guess of Disney that buys photo pass for my vaction can i request characters to be inserted in the pictures and if so which ones are available. Maybe you can do a video about how they decide what characters they insert.
Thank you! These are good to know! My little girl loves to give bunny ears in photos. I'll make sure she knows not to at Disney world so that we don't lose some of our pictures...lol.
i love your information, I watch your videos from Colombia, and your intro is improving, keep giving us your advices and adventures. I keep practice my English
¿Eres de Colombia? ¿Dónde? He visitado Bogotá y Medellín. También he visitado un par de parques de atracciones allí. Me gustó mucho el parque que visité en Bogotá. (Bima) Colombia es un país precioso.
have you ever been a, character photographer or a handler, when an even bigger character, from outside the park,, ever downsized the character you're escorting, ie . Michael Jenson ,ect.... btw love your videos. Thanx for the memories .
this is the first of your vids and I'm half asleep...I finally realize the stuff on your right side is from SDC!!!! that park is my favorite park in the entire world!!!! my parents worked their for years.
When I was very little, I mean like 3, I was at WDW and I was grabbing Mickey's nose; we got it from photo pass, any idea how this got through? I dont know...
It's not an issue for little kids. It's the ones old enough to know better that there is a problem. So a 3 year old will go through. A 10 year old or an adult won't. :-)
As long as they aren't trying to creep/ prey on the princesses, it's not a big deal. Who wouldn't want their picture taken with a beautiful princess? I've got several of me, and I'm happily married.
ive heard of some odd rules in disney theme parks, but these rules are actually quite reasonable, some parents get really offended with certain things and with such a big theme park you have to be concious of insulting other cultures and you have to make sure everyone is safe to prevent injury. and i completely agree with how to treat the costumes you see and take pictures of, even though i do not own one, as a furry, i know how much those costumes can go for. and for those who dont know, in some cases were talking low thousands. I cant even imagine how much the costumes worn in disney can cost. i know its one of two reasons why I dont have a suit of my own
All sounds pretty reasonable. No bunny ears though? Aww. :) I suppose I see why, but that does seem to push the edge to my mind. I'll admit I'd be amused to have a pic scritching Pluto's nose or (gently!) tugging Mickey's ear, but I suppose hands off policy prevents a world of problems before they start. Plus, as you say, more could be done with a guest camera, so that makes it pretty cool. Thanks for the fun info!
What about pentagrams? It's just a star circled by a... Well... Circle. What if the star is upside down? Does that change something? Thank you so much for answering. Sending lots of love!
Because of what it represents, it depends most likely on how noticeable it is. If it's large, like on a t-shirt, they may cover or hide it. If it's small or hidden- like on a necklace or earring that you don't really see they probably won't notice it.
SirWillow what about large crosses or other religious symbols on shirts? would those be okay, or would that associate the characters too much with a certain group?
