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Disney’s Latest Cash Grab Is Disguised as a Fun Kid-Friendly Summer Activity
Disney’s Cool Kids Summer has been running since late May, and the additions keep coming. The latest one is a PhotoPass photo challenge that sends guests to specific locations across all four Walt Disney World parks, and it is the kind of activity that sounds like pure fun right up until the moment you realize what completing it is actually going to cost the families who do not already have PhotoPass coverage in place.
That is not a reason to dismiss it. For the right guest it is a genuinely great addition to a summer trip. But knowing the full picture before you commit is always the smarter move at Walt Disney World.
What the Summer Challenge Is
Disney’s PhotoPass team has set up designated photo spots at two locations inside each of the four Walt Disney World theme parks. Guests visit all eight spots, collect a PhotoPass photo at each one, and then share the completed challenge on Instagram, tagging @DisneyPhotoPass. That is the whole thing. Simple concept, well executed, spread across the entire resort in a way that gives multi-park summer trips a little extra purpose and structure.
Where to Go
The eight photo locations are:
- Tomorrowland near the entrance to TRON Lightcycle/Run
- Main Street U.S.A. at the center of Town Square
- Hollywood Boulevard in front of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge by the X-Wing near Resistance Supply
- Mexico in the Mexico Pavilion
- Spaceship Earth near the popcorn cart and Creations Shop
- Africa on the bridge from Discovery Island
- Asia near Yak and Yeti
The Cost Conversation
Here is where the challenge gets more complicated for guests who have not already invested in PhotoPass coverage. Completing all eight spots requires PhotoPass photographers at each location, and those photos do not come free. Disney currently offers the following PhotoPass options:
- Memory Maker Advanced Purchase: $185
- Memory Maker: $210
- Memory Maker One Day: $85
For guests visiting multiple parks across several days, the Memory Maker package makes the most financial sense and also covers every other PhotoPass moment across the entire trip, not just the challenge spots. Guests visiting on a single day, the One Day option at $85 covers the challenge photos within that park, but limits the coverage to that window.
For Annual Passholders who have already added PhotoPass to their pass, the challenge costs nothing beyond what they are already paying. For guests with Memory Maker included in a vacation package, same story. The challenge is simply a fun bonus layered on top of coverage that was already in place.
For everyone else, the decision comes down to whether $185 or more feels justified by the combination of the challenge photos and everything else PhotoPass captures across the trip. For families who were already on the fence about Memory Maker, the challenge gives them one more reason to lean toward buying it. Those guests who were firmly in the no PhotoPass camp, a scavenger hunt across four parks is probably not going to change that calculus on its own.
What Cool Kids Summer Has Going On Right Now
The photo challenge is one piece of a summer season that has been more active than most at Walt Disney World. Since launching on May 26, Cool Kids Summer has brought Bluey’s Wild World to Animal Kingdom, the new Walt Disney Studios Courtyard to Hollywood Studios, Soarin’ Across America to EPCOT, and a wave of new character interactions and entertainment across all four parks. Free water park access on check-in day for resort hotel guests has added another layer of value to on-property stays, and special character appearances during Early Theme Park Entry have given morning guests an added incentive to show up ahead of the crowds.
The photo challenge fits naturally into a summer when guests are moving between parks more than usual. If you are already doing all four parks and you already have PhotoPass, there is no reason not to add this to the plan.
If you do not have PhotoPass yet, now might actually be the right time to reconsider.
