Do all kids at Disney end up wanting Autographs?

[dia]

We are Disney newbies and as I have been reading about the Autograph books, I am wondering if this is something my 4 yr old will want to do after seeing other kids with them.

Anyone with experience, not planning to do autograph books and then ended up doing them?

Since we haven't been before, I suppose I just don't understand it. I'm just not interested in carrying them around and waiting for autographs.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

to the Dis, dia!

We found that our kids wanted autographs, DS was 3 when we first went and thought he would be too little to care but he did and has become the little charecter hunter since. If you plan on seeing the charecters anyway for picture I don't see why you wouldn't get the autographs. The books are less than $10 and you can go real cheap and take a regular notebook if you wish and you get some great souvineers for that low price.

If you don't plan on meeting charecters at all then I wouldn't worry about it. Jr will never probably even know he can get autographs.

Not everyone gets autographs and it seems the tween/teen set are sometimes more resistant b/c it's "not cool" but I don't think that attitude sets in until they are 10 or so.

 

[trinchick]

When DD was 4, she looooved collecting autographs. She can be a bit timid at times, so the autographs gave her a way to interact with the characters and overcome some of the shyness. I didn't think she'd care about the autographs, but she still looks through her autograph book sometimes (2 years later).

We're getting her another autograph book for our trip this year.

 

[AndreaDM]

My DD8 has been there 4 times since the age of 4 and we've never done autograph books. I think she's wanted to, but was easily talked out of it, one less thing to carry and she's happy with just taking pictures. This past trip however she did the passport book in Epcot and the CMs in the different countries wrote a little something which was cool.

 

[kwdw]

You know - it really depends upon the kid - or the adult.....

This time - I plan to buy one of the autograph books that holds a picture on one side - that way I can insert the photo next to the character I saw.

Okay - so I'm an adult....... but I LIKE saying hello to the characters. I love watching their antics with the other folks in line ahead of me and even with single adults - they always do something to make you smile. And it reminds me of how MAGICAL it was to do that when I went as a kid.

I've seen some little ones just not like dealing with the "book" and fuss around annoyed when a parent encourages them to get it signed - and others who were excited about using it and giving it the character. Maybe buy one and try to be objective about whether your kid likes that part.

 

[eelderm1]

My kids have always loved getting autographs. My son got autographs from age 6 (our first trip) till around age 12. My girl started getting them at age 2 and still gets them at 9. My son is now 17 and doesnt care about autographs but still loves meeting characters! At age 4 I would say it is a must do!

 

[TiffanyPartyOf7]

My kids really just do not care for autographs. They like pictures. We get pictures with characters and then create a "brag book" of character photos. It's about the same size as the autograph books but it's full of pictures instead of signatures.

BUT I told my husband when the kids are bigger and we aren't feeling so chaotic at Disney (2 adults, 6 kids under age 8 - 1 with Aspergers and 1 with Apraxia) then I want to create missions at Disney. Have a checklist of characters to get autographs from, pictures with, hidden mickey hunts, etc..

 

[glamfish500]

Getting autographs is one of the few things I remember about our trips when I was a small kid. It was fun picking out my book and I was always on a mission for certian characters. I still have my books and love looking through them when I find them around the house. If kids aren't interested in it, I wouldn't force it upon them by any means, but it's totally worth the $10 to have a something that will last a little longer than that pricey plush or shirt they'll grow out of in six months. When you get home you can scrapbook the photos or put them in an album with the pictures of the characters. I'm getting ready to go to WDW for our honeymoon and I plan on finding a book with 4x6 pages that will come out easily so they can go into the album with our pictures. I'm hoping to find a spiral bound index card pad in the back to school supplies and then I'll decorate the cover.

 

[Julylady]

From the very beginning of our park visits (oldest grandchild then age 5, now age 25), we did not allow them to wait in lines for autographs. In my opinion, it is a huge time eater. I am not a good "waiter" and would much rather be touring the parks. Our tradeoff was that we scheduled 1 or 2 character meals with those characters that the kids wanted to see the most. Then as we passed the autograph lines and the kids would want to stop, we would say "No, we are going to see them at Chef Mickeys on Friday. It is other kids' turn now." I also remember telling them that we would see them in a parade or in a show, but that we weren't waiting now.

However, if we happened upon a line with only 2-5 people in front of us we would sometimes wait. (Often happens with Mulan at China Pavilion). Since we usually had a stroller we always carried the autograph books with us "just in case."

Our grandkids (7 in total) never seemed to mind. They all have autograph books now that have lots of signatures. In our 20 years of going to Disney world we have never waited more than 5 minutes for an autograph.

 

[wolf29]

My kids have never wanted to collect autographs at WDW. We do plan on buying postcards and sending one home each day after writing a synopsis of our day at the World on each for our scrapbook. I might get a couple of those autographed, though not if it involves a long wait.

 

[disney travel bums]

our guys love it. We usually get most of them at the dinners. Last year we didn't do an auto graph book instead we had a picture matt and had them sign that. it was great.

 

[hgreene87]

I haven't been yet (12 days!!!) but I did buy an autograph book....actually, it's a hard cover journal I found at Walmart with a picture of Mickey Mouse on the front, fits right into my cross-body bag. DD is only 3, and may not be interested, but honestly, I bought it mostly for ME

 

[iamadisneynut]

We did it for the first time our last trip because we were doing some character breakfasts, and the kids LOVED it!! I didn't think they would really care but they did.

We don't usually wait in line at the parks to see the characters, but we even ended up doing that a couple of times to get autographs because the kids were keen on it.

 

[DZNEE4US]

I did not buy a book for my daughter until she ASKED me to. I put a suggestion out a few times, and she didn't seem to be interested. I was happy, since it was another thing to lug around and constantly keep track of. She didn't start collecting until she was about 7 or 8.

Also keep in mind how your child will interact with the characters. Have you been to Disney before? Is the child afraid of characters elsewhere or even Santa? If they are timid, then maybe now is not the time to start autographs. It may be just more work for you! It's a fun idea, and collecting can be cool, but it gets to be time consuming and once they start, they may not want to stop!
Good luck!

 

[loislane]

This is the first trip for our kids and the younger two (ages 6 - will turn 7 there! - and 12) wanted books.

We made these for them - cost around $10 to get the blank books and we just printed our own covers on label sheets.

We're just figuring if they have a chance to grab an autograph, great. If not, well...it didn't cost much to make them and they can just use the books for whatever.

We do have one character breakfast planned and I do hope we get to meet at least a few other characters though. I think the youngest especially will love that.

 

[tmarquez]

No autographs for us. DD is 8 and has been going since forever. She has never asked, and I've never brought it up...because like you, I don't want to wait around for that. If we happen by a character and there's no line...sometimes we'll stop for a quick hug/picture, but that's all.

I doubt your 4yo will ask you or even REALLY notice (there's so much going on) so just don't bring it up.

 

[maiapapaya]

This will be our third trip with our girls and when asked, they both wanted to do autograph books, again (even DD8 who will be 9 by our trip). For each trip I've made the girls books with all blank pages. We've had the characters sign the pages only on one side and then after we get home I match up the kids' pictures with the autographs on facing pages. These are by far the girls' favourite souvenirs from our trips and they look through them again & again.

 

[bumbershoot]

We found that our kids wanted autographs, DS was 3 when we first went and thought he would be too little to care but he did and has become the little charecter hunter since.

Ayep, same experience. We had NO clue that DS might get into it, but the very first character he saw, which was the very first character he had EVER paid attention to despite two previous (short) trips), was Buzz Lightyear, and he just couldn't stay away. As he and DH waited in line, without an autograph book, DS saw all these other kids handing over a book. He wanted one badly. I was somewhere else and I never hear my phone at Disneyland, and DH would have lost his spot (line already closed behind him) if he'd gotten out to buy a book, so they went without the book and DS didn't much like that. He wanted to be like the other kids.

After that we bought a book (what, $5 for a small one?) and he was happy. He even gets autographs of not-really-characters, like at Disney*land*'s Princess Fantasy Faire, he got the autographs of the ladies in waiting, and the young man working the line to the princesses.

 

[coopersmom]

We are Disney newbies and as I have been reading about the Autograph books, I am wondering if this is something my 4 yr old will want to do after seeing other kids with them.

Anyone with experience, not planning to do autograph books and then ended up doing them?

Since we haven't been before, I suppose I just don't understand it. I'm just not interested in carrying them around and waiting for autographs.

Each child is different, of course, but I couldn't imagine why my very active and not even totally familiar-with-Disney-characters child would be even slightly interested in such things, but last year when we went (he was three, almost four at the time), it was literally all he wanted to do for the first two days. He liked meeting the characters and getting autographs. Taking photos with them was almost annoying to him. Something mommy made him do. Autographs, on the other hand, were essential. He became intent on getting signatures from all the characters pictured on his autograph book. (Missed out on Chip and Dale and he's still talking about it.) When characters didn't sign autographs, for whatever reason, he was definitely disappointed.

Though he branched out and was less autograph-obssesed for the last half of our trip (after getting just about every characters autograph already), he still always wanted his autograph book with him, just in case. And when we went to Disneyland this past summer he was just as insistent about taking the book into that park. (Where, by the way, autographs, and characters in general, seem less common and he didn't get a single signature, much to his chagrin.)

Why is this fun? I have no clue. Maybe it's the group mentality (every other little kid is doing same thing). Maybe it's the guaranteed interaction. Or maybe it does just make them feel special.

I couldn't believe my very active little boy was willing to stand, quietly even, in 30 minute lines to get signatures. Preferring it even to going on rides. I really didn't think he would be into it. My friend assured me he would. She was right, I was wrong. Not something she hears me admit too often

 

[jdb in AZ]

My kids love the characters and could name all of them in a parade when the kids were still in preschool, but autographs were never a priority. They were too bizzy running to the next ride.