We just returned from 10 days at Walt Disney World, and I was quite intrigued by the whole PhotoPass system myself. We have a photo business that could use something similar to this, so I googled and found this thread. Since it contains a lot of speculation, I began to ask the photographers. Most of them were willing to share a little bit about how it worked (I got the feeling that they're not supposed to), but I pieced enough together to give some insight:
1. The system works on WiFi. They said there's WiFi hotspots all over each park. I'm guessing that the Disney Imagineers have devised a private WiFi system that's not visible to the public (and isn't hard to do).
2. They use a Motorola piece of hardware - none of them offered to remove the canvas case it was in, but they did show me the device. It looks very much like this: http://************/6vmzs8b
3. The software is proprietary to Disney.
4. It uploads almost immediately after the image is taken. I think the photographer has a grace period where they can delete a really bad image before it goes to Big Brother.
5. They scan the PhotoPass which tags the photos the photographer took (since the last scan) with that PhotoPass ID. It's a 2D barcode, like a QR code.
6. For run-of-the-mill park photos, they pretty much go immediately into your PhotoPass account, meaning that you could pull up your account 60 seconds later and see the image. They WILL be reviewed by Big Brother, and may get deleted if they are outside of Disney Policy.
7. For character photos, they USUALLY get reviewed BEFORE they go to your account. They have really strict guidelines (which, personally, I think is great). No alcohol in the photo, no offensive T-shirt designs, no weapons (they told my 9yo son he couldn't be wielding his new LEGO Ninjago sword in one of the photos).
They shot with Nikon D90 cameras, and SB-800 flash units.
That's about it. I'd love to put together something like this for our business.
