Our First Flytographer Experience

If you know me at all you know I’m kind of obsessed with pictures. Yours, mine, people I don’t know, beautiful, blurry, all of them. I seriously don’t know what it is, but I just love to look at pictures. So when we happen to be doing something fun I kind of go crazy and take a million.

While we were in Destin over the summer (read about it here), every day at sunset the beach would be covered with families and photographers. It got me thinking. Why do we only have professional family photos taken at home? Having pictures taken while on vacation is a genius idea.

And you know how Facebook ads can read your thoughts? I immediately started seeing ads for this Flytographer service. While that usually freaks me out, I was definitely interested in this one.

So after looking into it, I found that Flytographer has photographers in cities all over the world and they arrange everything for you. All you do is enter in the location and it gives you the list of photographers in the area along with a bio and some examples of their work. You pick your favorite(s) and Flytographer checks their availability for your dates and arranges all the details. After your shoot, you get the digital prints within a week. Click here to go to their website!

Sign me up!

When we were planning our trip to Disneyland, I knew I wanted to try to work in a Flytographer session wherever I could. For one, I just needed to try it out. Two, my kids are growing way too fast. And three, I am almost never in any of our pictures. I have to consciously remember to tell Dustin, “Hey, take a picture of us,” and then I am inevitably making a weird face or something. It took some convincing, but Dustin agreed to try it out.

The Anaheim photographer we went with was Samantha. There are currently 2 listed for Anaheim and both have some amazing Disneyland photos, but to be completely honest, we went with Samantha because she is a season ticket holder and we didn’t have to pay for her admission ticket. So yes, that was how we chose, but after having worked with her I would choose her over and over again.

Once your session is confirmed, your photographer sends you a meeting location (complete with photo), and Flytographer helps you exchange phone numbers. As much as I wanted to do our shoot at Disneyland Park, the only day available was the day we were going to be at Disney’s California Adventure. This was actually a blessing in disguise. I didn’t realize until we were there that Sleeping Beauty’s castle was under refurbishment and there was really nothing to see. Plus, Hudson is kind of obsessed with the movie Cars which really worked in our favor seeing as how Cars Land is located in California Adventure.

When it was our time to meet with Samantha, Dustin and Harper were taking longer than expected on a ride and Hudson had just fallen asleep. Being late and knowing I was about to awaken a sleeping giant made me edgy right from the get-go. But guys, Samantha is gooood at what she does. I had mentioned Hudson’s love for Cars, and she immediately had him smiling. This never happens so soon after a nap, especially when we have to wake him up. She said she doesn’t have kids, but I think she might be a baby whisperer nonetheless. Or maybe he just woke up in Cars Land and all his dreams came true. Whatever. However it happened, he was happy, so I was happy.

After Cars Land, Samantha took us to this perfect spot across the water from the Ferris wheel. Of course, when we got there, the perfect spot she had in mind was roped off. Being the lunar new year, they had a show in that area throughout the day, but it was currently vacant. Samantha says, “They’re going to come tell us we can’t be there, but if you guys can stand just on the other side of that rope, we’ll get a couple shots before they come kick us out.” Kick us out they did but get a good shot we did too. Man, that guy was grumpy!

From there, we headed to Pixar Pier where she got my number one favorite picture from this whole trip (keep reading, I need a grand finale picture)! And then to a spot on Pixar Pier that I never would have stopped for pictures, but that I absolutely love.

Finally, we headed over to Grizzly Peak to get a couple last-minute shots with the mountain in the background. Not gonna lie, I never even noticed that big rock was the head of a grizzly until she said something about it. We tried to get a few with us sitting up on the wall, but you guessed it, we got kicked off. Samantha is such a rebel!

The session went by so fast, but we had so much fun. As soon as we got home from our trip, my inbox held 34 beautiful pictures and countless memories. This may have been the first time we used Flytographer, but it won’t be the last.

Being a Disneyland season ticket holder, Samantha is already there all the time and consequently knows ALL the good spots. This is something I assume would be true with all Flytographer photographers (say that 5 times fast). For instance, on their site there are a ton of photographers in Paris. Now, I have been to Paris. I have precisely 10,637 pictures of the Eiffel Tower from what I thought was every single vantage point within the city. But you know what? There are apparently a few spots I could not find. Or maybe I just didn’t have access to them. The thing is, I spent days photographing that thing over and over, but I don’t live in Paris and do this for a living. These photographers do. They are going to know the best places and get you the best vacation pictures you could have ever dreamed. While the rest of us are over here with these vacation pictures:

Yes, those are French fries in France. But just imagine what a real photographer could have captured!

But isn’t it expensive?

Flytographer prices are fixed for each city no matter the photographer. Being in Anaheim (Disneyland specifically), I assumed the prices would be inflated, but it was no more than we would have paid for a family session here in Houston. We paid $350 for a one-hour shoot that included all the digital prints. Just to make sure, I did check into other photographers in the area outside of Flytographer, and they were all at least twice the price. Disneyland also offers a “signature photo experience” after hours for a one hour shoot, but it costs $1,700. Uhh.. No thank you. Even knowing this, Dustin wasn’t completely sold on spending an additional $350. I mean, Disneyland is expensive enough. But after we saw the pictures, even he was so glad we did it. I mean, look at this!

If that picture is not the reason you go to Disneyland I don’t know what is.

If you happen to use my Flytographer link (here) to book a shoot or purchase a gift card, then you and I both will get a $25 credit toward a shoot. Otherwise, I am not affiliated with Flytographer and assure you this is my honest review. If you are wanting to try it, I appreciate you using my link! I really do plan to make this a new vacation must-do for my family!