2 questions...lanyards and autograph book

[Eli's 1st trip]

So we will be taking our 2 1/2 year old son to Disney for the 1st time in Dec. My two questions are:

1. Should I get him a lanyard also? I know we will have them to carry our "stuff" around and since he doesnt have a ticket does he really need one? I know it might be fun for him to get a few pins or to get him one so he is like everyone else.

2. I have seen many homemade autograph books with the characters names printed out and a space for the character to sign. My question is how do you know what characters you will see? Do you just guess? Do you put the ones you want to see or know you will see? Should I just buy a premade one with blank sheets?

thanks in advance

 

[PrincessKell]

We have done both. Bought and made. For the one we made, My dd told me which characters she wanted to see we made special pages for them and added a bunch of general "disney" styled pages for extra characters we came across that didn't have pages made just for them.

lanyards are fun. If your ds will keep it on I say get it for him. If you plan on going many times its fun to keep and collect pins to put on it for each trip. That is what we do. I have them put away in a special Disneyland box so we bring it down when we are getting ready to go. I also put any info need for my dd in it.

 

[California Jenn]

We used the premade autograph books, but then personalized them after the characters signed. We would leave space (either the facing page or the same page as the signature) to add a picture of our little one with the character and allow him to decorate around the signature and picture with drawings and stickers.

One thing we did was encourage our little one to ask other cast members for their autographs beside the characters -- the bus driver, the trolley car attendant (if they weren't busy!). He found them a little less intimidating to approach at first and the cast members enjoyed the interaction too. It also made it fun to have a variety of autographs in his collection.

 

[MJAJmom]

IMO, a 2.5yo is too young for pin trading. Our trip last Oct was when my DS was 3yo, he was not into wearing a lanyard and he liked to pick out a pin on the CM's lanyard for about 3 seconds, and then his mind wandered off. My DS6 was really into pin trading and DS3 just kinda tagged along. I would not have done it if I only had DS3.

For autographs, about the same response. When DS was 3, he wasn't into autographs, when he turned 4, he was a little more into it (again mostly because of big brother). My older son understood it more and was really into it. My recommendation would be to get a nice blank paper autograph book and see if your child gets into meeting the characters and getting their autographs. That way, you haven't invested too much time or money. Then next trip, you can make a fabulous custom autograph book. I've done them and I love them, but they do take lots of time to make them.

Have a wonderful trip!

 

[tigger51276]

My DD5 has been collecting autographs since she was 18 months old using the premade books and collecting pins since she was 2 1/2. She loves having a lanyard because she feels like one of the big kids and she loves the pins. We put them away after our trips and take them out every year when we go. She is very upset because we moved last year and her lanyard is the one thing I can't find (along with all her pins). I have 6 more days to find it or else I will have to come up with an option B.