GTA - Autograph books

[Gladguy]

My wife has done a great job of getting just about everything we need for our upcoming trip. The biggest glaring missing item from our list is autograph books. She's been to a bunch of stores and hasn't been able to find anything!

Any tips on where to look?

 

[myasmum]

just subscribing as I would LOVE to get ones for my kids for our trip this month as well.
We are in the Toronto area we well

 

[cabmom]

Dollarama has them.

 

[myasmum]

Where abouts as I was looking at a few and maybe passed right by them do you roughly what section? I know silly question
THanks

 

[squirrel]

I found them in the stationary section of the dollar store. It wasn't a disney one though.

My niece is only 3 but I asked her if she wanted to get autographs and she said she did. I also picked up some Disney stickers and thought after she gets the characters to sign the pages we could match up the stickers with the autograph. I managed to get the princess stickers and some pooh and friends so far. Still looking at the dollar store for more. I know Michael's has a good selection but they cost a lot more!

I now also have Mickey and Friends and Tinkerbell stickers.

 

[switzersmom]

I bought on eBay & got exactly the characters I wanted, including pens, books, carrying case & lanyard for about 12CDN each.

First trip to WDW: DD 20 mo, DD 6, DD (turning 9 at MK), us two parents & one grandma for good measure.

Will report upon return ...

 

[BitsnBearsMom]

A different twist on the autographs for you that will create a great lasting souvenieer - my kids love to get autographs so what we did was pick up a white or very light coloured t-shirt with Mickey or one of their fav characters on it - last trip in October we ordered from the Disney store online and got personalized ones with their first name, year and fav character - older ds' got Mushu and the 7yo got Maleficent as the dragon and had them delivered to our resort so they were there waiting for us when we arrived. We used a fabric hoop to keep the fabric tight and had the characters sign the T-shirt with fabric markers. We set it with a hot iron and they wore them home on the last day. They still wear them and the ones we did in 2004 all the time and they can't wait to make another next time we do a long trip! Of everything bought or recieved on the trip that has to be their fav souvie!

 

[tink1969]

On our first trip to Disney World I purchased Disney princess autograph books from WalMart for about $10.00
Then, when we got to DisneyWorld, they sold these blue autograph books with all the characters on it for $6.95US The large pens were $3.95US
The large pens are a must since all the characters signing autographs have on their costumes (obviously) and they can't move/bend their hands properly.
It's a souvenir for them to keep. I personally prefer the DisneyWorld books.
Once my children saw all the other little kids in the lineups with the nice blue books we decided to purchase them and now they are kept in their memory boxes. My kids still like to go through them.

 

[amw]

I like to keep a photograph of the character meet with the autograph. My kids use any kind of small "scrapbook" with thick, unlined paper - usually from the dollar store. At the parks, I buy one of the little souvenir photo albums (the pocket ones -- around $5 or less). You could always buy them elsewhere too. When we get home, I cut out the autograph and slip it on one side of the album, with the photo on the other.

This way, I could lug smaller notepads around the park, and the little album made a great souvenir for little hands. In previous years, I had glued the picture to the opposite side of a real autograph book. But, I found it was not as durable for little hands to flip through later on.

 

[tophee99]

A different twist on the autographs for you that will create a great lasting souvenieer - my kids love to get autographs so what we did was pick up a white or very light coloured t-shirt with Mickey or one of their fav characters on it - last trip in October we ordered from the Disney store online and got personalized ones with their first name, year and fav character - older ds' got Mushu and the 7yo got Maleficent as the dragon and had them delivered to our resort so they were there waiting for us when we arrived. We used a fabric hoop to keep the fabric tight and had the characters sign the T-shirt with fabric markers. We set it with a hot iron and they wore them home on the last day. They still wear them and the ones we did in 2004 all the time and they can't wait to make another next time we do a long trip! Of everything bought or recieved on the trip that has to be their fav souvie!

What a great idea!!! Were the fabric markers difficult for the characters to use? How big a hoop did you take? This is a great idea, IMO, and I think when we go again, I'll get both boys to do this!!! Thanks!!!

 

[Gladguy]

Great tips, folks! Thanks!

And keep 'em coming!

 

[BitsnBearsMom]

We used the crayola fabric markers and they weren't too hard for the characters to use - we used all the colours and I prefer to do it on a white T - colours show up better on the white.

I used a medium sized fabric hoop - you have to make sure to hand it to the character so it's up the right way otherwise you end up with lots of upside down signatures. I also make sure the marker is open when handing it to them - makes life easier!

Got and still get lots of great comments about the T-shirts - I'm sure they will take them in August when we go again!

 

[dsneygirl]

I've been a big character autograph collector for years and I recently found a system that works so well for me I wish I had been doing it all along! After filling up a traditional Disney autograph book with autographs on every page front and back (over a period of 8 years) I really wished I had a way of putting a photo of me or family members posing with the character next to each autograph. So I looked into purchasing the Disney autograph books that feature a photo sleeve next to each autograph page -- but they were expensive and only would hold a handful of autographs -- I'd go through one of those in a day!

Here's what I came up with. I purchased a Disney World photo album with two photos vertically on each page. Then I bought a package of blue 4x6 index cards. I used a single hole punch to punch a hole in the top left of each card and held them together with one of those rings that opens and snaps shut. I purchased a few retractable Sharpies (which the characters *LOVE*). So now when I go to get an autograph I flip the stack of index cards to a blank card and give it to the character along with the Sharpie. I ask whoever is taking the photo to take the picture landscape (horizontal). When I get home from my trip I put each autographed index card into the bottom photo slot on each page in the photo album. I then get my pictures from the trip developed and insert the corresponding character photo into the slot above the autograph. I've been on three trips since I started this method and have just about filled one book (100 autographs!). No worries though -- Disney will always sell that format of photo album so I'll just get another one and continue my journey.

One thing I like about pairing photos with autographs and the "unlimited" length of this method is that I don't feel like I need to skip a character because I already have their autograph. When I was using a traditional autograph book I never wanted to get Mickey's autograph in it again since -- after all -- Mickey signature is Mickey's signature. But when pairing a photo with the autograph it's different. Every trip my son gets a bit older so even if he has Mickey's autograph 20 times we'll be able to watch him grow over the years (and also see Mickey in different costumes, in different places, etc.)

I highly recommend using index cards, a retractable sharpie and Disney photo albums for collecting your autographs!

 

[shaycamp21]

Last year at WDW they had autograph books that also held photos. So the characters would sign on the paper on one side and on the other there is a sleeve to hold the photo. It was a quick and easy keepsake (though we ened up buying two since we did so many character meals--they hold about 15 photo with autographs) and there were available all stores in the resorts, parks and DTD stores. They were about $12 and now I think they have new ones for the YOMD.