Autograph book strategies?

[risingsunmom]

I'm not looking forward to packing around 2 autograph books and sharpies all week for DD8 and DS5. Any ideas to avoid this? Personally I think the whole idea of autographs is silly.

We do have 3 character meal ADR's. I was thinking autograph books at meals only. What do you think?

 

[jcarter29]

I am wondering why you want to do it at all if you think it is "silly"? I do the autograph books and signatures/photos as a keepsake for my kids. I can tell you that they are 3 and 5 and completely believe that the "person" signing their book is indeed THE Cinderella, Mickey, etc. and I hope that is the case for some time to come. I can tell you that I still have my autograph from Pluto from 1984 and my stuffed Pluto dog. It was my one and only trip to WDW as a child and I cherish both the souvenirs and the memories. I hope that my kids will do the same. But I also foster the fun of the process. If you and your kids would have better time making memories on the rides or at the shows or whatever then I would skip the autograph books altogether. I think it will be what you make it. I saw lots of kids having a ball cap or tshirt or other single item signed instead of a traditional book. I also saw lots of kids get pictures only and no autographs and they were having great fun too. Do what feels right for your family. Have a great trip!
Kim

 

[marybrat]

We always have some sort of bag with us. I carry a shoulder bag and DH brings a backpack, so it has always been a non-issue for us. You will see many characters in the park just while you are wandering around. Often these are not the characters at the meals.

 

[dawncf24]

I had my children wear their own "fanny" pack and carry autograph books, sunglasses, chapstick, hand sanitizer and cameras so I wouldn't have to do it. Worked great they wore them right on the rides only took them off to go to the BR.

Dawn

 

[meghanlea]

i still have my first auto book from my first trip and that was over 20 years ago. it's always going to be something you remember and hang on to.

 

[~Kik-Kik~]

I love autographs, it's a free souvineer (if you do it correctly). However, it can be stressful for the other people who don't care about them becaus they take time.

Bring TWO(2) BLACK SHARPIE!!! NO MORE, NO OTHER COLORS!!! One for a back up, have them share the one and have the person who has the bag (usually these is one person with a bag, purse, etc...) ccarry the books and the pens.

Get a list of 10 characters from each child, if the character is not on the list don't go to him/her. Only do do people on the list and at the dinners, this will stop the constant stop and go effect that character seeking has.

If you are going to make it a hassel or fuss over thewhole situation everytime you have to get out the books, don't even bother. Bring them to the dinners and that it. I overly fussed over the characters (I wanted to see them) and made the trip a little boring for my family.

 

[praline3001]

I'm not looking forward to packing around 2 autograph books and sharpies all week for DD8 and DS5. Any ideas to avoid this? Personally I think the whole idea of autographs is silly.

We do have 3 character meal ADR's. I was thinking autograph books at meals only. What do you think?

How old are your kids? My DD8 is starting to drift away from the autograph books ... but still likes to have them at the character meals. Do you have boys or girls?

I find girls like to use them a lot longer (age wise) than boys.

 

[ms*mountaineer]

We have a good time with the autograph books. It gives the kids something to hand the character and starts the interaction if they are shy. And we love having them when we get home.

but if you think they are silly - don't do them.

 

[caroline1851]

Getting autographs was the highlight of ds6's trip. Even though i found it to be inconvenient, he loved it, so it was worth it. We just didn't generally wait in a line that was super long.

 

[2Monkeys]

I read a thread somewhere on here about a autographable picture frame. I guess it was basically a picture mat that was used for autographs, then used to frame a picture from their trip after they got home. It turned out really cute and makes a nice way to display a favorite photo. This might be a good option for you.

Found the original thread: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2050828&highlight=autograph+frame.

 

[MelanieC]

My son is 11 and already in 2007 he didn't want to do the Autograph books and neither did DD who is now 17.

I can tell you that this year I"m getting my own book so I can keep it at work as a "remember this souvie. I missed them getting autographs, although they still took pictures.

It's cool to have the people at the Kidcot places in EPCOT sign them, we even have some done by Disney artists when the kids were little where they drew a charcter. I'm not sure they do that anymore, I seem to remember them saying they couldn't.

Some of your most magical memories will be of your kids getting autographs. Try not to think of it as silly and remember to stop and smell the flowers. They are only young once.

 

[MelanieC]

I read a thread somewhere on here about a autographable picture frame. I guess it was basically a picture mat that was used for autographs, then used to frame a picture from their trip after they got home. It turned out really cute and makes a nice way to display a favorite photo. This might be a good option for you.

Found the original thread: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2050828&highlight=autograph+frame.

Wow - thanks that is an awesome idea. I wonder if I can pull that off. Not sure I really want to carry it around with me, but maybe I can take it to the Character meals or something.

 

[ShannonMB]

My DD (8) loves meeting any and every character, and autographs are mandatory for her. Luckily, I also love the characters and photo ops. We haven't yet sought them out, but we usually stop if we see someone. DD enjoyed it more on our 2nd trip than the first, and I was much more willing to give up "touring" time the 2nd time around.

If this is your first trip, you'll have to feel out the kids to see if they are interested. You of course have a say in how much time you're willing to spend collecting the autographs and meeting the characters. But with 3 character meals, you'll definitely have enough for a nice collection.

On our last trip, DD was so funny, kept telling me, "oooh, that character is really rare!" *(Kenai from Brother Bear, for example) As if she has a clue who is rare or not. I had such a blast watching her excitement getting these "rare" characters' autographs!!!!

Oh, yeah, and for our last trip, she had her own draw-string backpack for her autograph book, pens, hand sanitizer, etc. She felt SO responsible having to keep track of her own stuff. And less for me to carry!

 

[tlh0726]

I made up one autograph book for my kids (DD4, DS3) to share.

Once we were home and I had the photos of the kids with the characters (76 in all) prinited, I put them in a 2 per page photo album. Character signature on top, the kid & character photo on the bottom. The kids look at this book every day.

Meeting the characters was a big part of our trip. For our next trip (april 2010) we will still do one autograph book for them to share.

 

[susykt4]

My kids were 8 (daughter) and 6 (son) our last trip. The main goal of DD's trip was to meet Tinker Bell and the other fairies and she wanted their autographs. DS didn't care much about the characters and not at all about the autographs this trip. We ended up with one autograph book (a Tink one with photo pages) that turned out to be almost hard to fill up. The kids were WAY more into rides this trip and other than the fairies, neither cared a hoot about the autographs. It was kind of weird because every previous trip we got 60+ autographs.

If you can get away with it, take only one autograph book. Before this trip, I always used a spiral bound book of perforated index cards I bought at Wal-Mart for under $2 and had the characters sign the unlined side. The kids are old enough that they "may" not care about autographs anymore and you can just take it to the meals. I'm with you that autographs are a huge time thief! Especially with multiple kids.

 

[TotalSnowWhite]

If you think it's silly, don't bother. If it's something your children want to do, let them carry the autograph book (maybe buy a small notepad they can hook to a lanyard). A Sharpie won't take up that much space in a pocket or purse.

 

[picktails]

It should be about what the kids want, not what you (an adult) thinks is silly. Discuss it, get them fanny or back packs, and go with the flow.
Standing on line for an autograph can be a chore, but we always got the best ones in Epcot in the evenings - total surprise!

 

[Caitymackie]

If you're just worried about not wanting to carry the books around, why not try autograph hats? We did this on our last trip and they turned out great! We each bought a hat with a design we liked that was simple and a light color so there was room to sign and it would show up. The characters LOVED signing them, and there was space for 30+ characters to sign. Also, the kids just wear the hats on their heads, you don't have to carry them and it works well for the sun. Hope this helps, we really had a lot of fun with it!

Caity

 

[aimeeg]

My girls favorite part of WDW is meeting characters. Since my DH get so much enjoyment out of our children's happiness at WDW we stand in the lines. Yeppers . . . we did the fairy line three times!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL I made custom books for the girls. I did a different page with clipart and the name etc . . . They loved this. This summer we are going on a shorter trip and I am bringing pillowcases. The pillowcases have the girls names embroidered on the center and the characters are going to sign all around the pillowcase. I thought it would be a nice souvenir and something they would enjoy.

The autograph books are not super expensive. I would plan on buying one and bring a retractable sharpie. If it gets used fantastic! If not, you only wasted $10.

 

[2Monkeys]

Wow - thanks that is an awesome idea. I wonder if I can pull that off. Not sure I really want to carry it around with me, but maybe I can take it to the Character meals or something.

I actually took my own advice and bought 2 mats for 5x7 picture frames from Walmart (about $1.50 each), then bought a pack of Sharpie retractable highlighters. We tested these out and the only one we probably won't use is the yellow. The other colors were nice and bright. This pack was about $5 - the standard color retractable Sharpies were $11!!! I also bought a tiny clipboard for about $2 to make it easier for the characters to sign. I put the markers and mats in a quart ziploc and clipped the bag to the clipboard. It is very compact, not much bigger than an autograph book. I am very excited to create this unique souvenier!!! We will take ours to our character meal, and probably only to MK one day and HS another day, depending on how many signatures can fit. We definitely don't want to lug it around every day either.

My kids are 7 and 10 and are more interested in rides and pictures, but are excited about the frame. I will frame a picture for them to have in their rooms.

Have a wonderful time!!!