Autographs & sharpies

[diamondview]

My kids have their autograph books ready. Will a regular sharpie marker be okay for the characters to write with or will they need something largers?

We leave tomorrow & I'm so excited!!!!!

 

[PandaBear & Boo]

I would suggest a fat ball point pen instead of a sharpie. After awhile you'll notice that the sharpie ink starts to dry up and then it can't be used.

 

[Tammi67]

We used a Sharpie (one of the click open ones) and it was fine. Of course I bought it brand new for the trip, so no chance of it drying out.

 

[tkd lisa]

The Sharpies have the added benefit of being used to put your name on refillable mugs, your camera, and many other things that you don't want to lose!

And the sharpie can be used if part of the family likes autograph books, and the other part uses something like a hat, t-shirt, or pillowcase for autographs. Just be aware that the item can't be on a person. You have to take off the hat, and not be wearing the shirt.

 

[princessgirl2238]

sharpies are great for the characters to write with! it's on the top of my list. just remember to either have the cap off of it before handing it to a character (that way there's no chance of scribbling on themselves- it happens all the time). the only type of sharpie to stay away from are the mini ones- most parents think it's easier to carry around, but it's so super hard for every character to grab- also regular sized pens work- the jumbo fat ones and the short ones are also hard to hold

 

[gigi1313]

we found that sharpies bled thru the pages, esp if you get a lot of autographs and need to use front and back of the pages...

 

[diamondview]

we found that sharpies bled thru the pages, esp if you get a lot of autographs and need to use front and back of the pages...

I was thinking that may happen. For those of you who don't use sharpies, do you use a regular ballpoint pen or something else?

 

[gigi1313]

oh, we use the regular "big" ball point pen that they sell right next to the autograph books...

 

[disneyfreakjackie]

We used sharpies for autographs on thick paper, t-shirts and pillowcases!! They work GREAT!! Just have the top off for the characters!! They appreciate it!!

 

[mytwotinks]

A lot of times the characters will have their own pen. Always have something just in case though. The princesses all used crayons at CRT one of the times we were there. The next time we went that wasn't the case though. We were sitting (Me, dd7,dd3, my sister and her daughter) waiting for our food and all of the sudden my niece decides she is about to throw up. My sister gets up to take her out with the backpack that we were both sharing and takes our only pen. When Sleeping Beauty comes by and we didn't have a pen, she just about tore my head off. Not very "princess" like behavior!

 

[themudd4]

I would stay clear of the sharpies. They bleed through as previously said...last year we actucally seen a CM ask for the parent to hold the Sharpie so it would not come into contact with the caracter. I can only imagine how many marks that they end up with on them. We always just bought what ever pen the kids found at the gift shop they wanted to keep after the trip.

 

[diamondview]

We always just bought what ever pen the kids found at the gift shop they wanted to keep after the trip.

That's a good idea!!!

Can the characters hold a normal sized ball point pen or should the pen be a bit larger?

 

[Merriwind]

If you can get a Click sharpie (like a clicking ballpoint pen), they work awesome! No worries about standing around with an open sharpie, even little ones can click it open. They come in a variety of colors, too. I just think that the signatures look so much nicer in fine point marker than ball point pen--more substantial. As long as you're not doing front and back autographs on the same pages, you shouldn't have bleeding through problems. We are working on our third Sharpie autograph book without bleeding.

Have a wonderful first trip!!!

 

[daisyduck123]

I would steer clear of the Sharpies - they can bleed through pages.

Also, characters sign in cursive writing - ball point pens flow a lot more smoothly than a Sharpie does (they tend to dry up).

**For our autograph books, we always just use the fat pens they sell in the parks/resort gift shops. And when one pen breaks, dries out, or starts to not write well... you can take it into any Disney gift shop & they will replace it with another. We've done this. One time one of our pens in AK wasn't writing well & a CM working where Lilo & Stitch were signing autographs told us to just go into the closest gift shop & tell a CM & they would replace it.

 

[PolyHereWeCome]

DD had Stitch sign her Stitch hat. The hat's felt so the Sharpie was perfect -- truth be told, we didn't have anything to write with when we bumped into Stitch, but luckily the prepared guide with Stitcj pulled out her Sharpie. Stitch signed it beautifully, a ballpoint wouldn't have worked as well, so it really depends what you want signed, I suppose.

 

[Terk-1]

If it's going to just be in an autograph book, than a big ballpoint pen will be fine.

If you can get a Click sharpie (like a clicking ballpoint pen), they work awesome! No worries about standing around with an open sharpie, even little ones can click it open. They come in a variety of colors, too.

I was planning on getting the assorted colored Sharpie's for my next trip to have the characters sign a t-shirt.

 

[princessgirl2238]

anything that is the size of a normal pen works great! characters are trained on how to hold and sign with normal pens- extra think pens, extra long pens and really short ones are really hard to grip- most characters only have 4 fingers or no fingers and any type of slick ness to it is hard cause they usually have velvet gloves or fur covering their hands.

 

[scrapmoose]

We used a sharpie and had no problems. I just made sure that I opened it for each character. If you worry about bleeding through make a buffer out of cardstock to go behind the page as they are signing. We used homemade autograph books that were made of cardstock so we had no problems.

 

[DisneyDadof3]

It all depends on what you want them to write on. We use a journal/photo album so the pages are thick. The characters are able to sign on both sides of the page. We then insert the pictures on the appropriate characters page - no problems. It you use the standard autograph book with thin pages - a sharpie would be a problem as it would bleed through. We never run of ink with sharpies as I have them in both pockets as does the wife and we have extras in our camera bags - we won't be caught unprepared!!!

 

[boop oop a doop]

if your using a sharpie does the ink not leak through ans stain the other page?