Autograph books? Lanyards? Help me out here

[aprilfoolwed]

Help me prep for our first trip!

I know the kids like to get autograph books and get the character's signatures. i saw some of the cutest books and bags on ebay, but don't know if the kids really carry these around? Is it better for me to have autograph books and pens in my backback/diaper bag and get them out when we see a character? Or do kids carry those little bags around and carry their own? I obviously have no idea how the whole autograph thing works (like do you run into characters as you are in the park, or do you only see them at certain places?).

And what to use to get the autographs? Sharpies? Pens?

And can someone explain the lanyard for Fast Passes? I've never used a fast Pass, so I don't quite understand it yet. Do my kids need a lanyard? Do I?

I thought I had this trip planning down, but I never gave any of this a thought!

Anything else I need to know about to keep the kids happy in the park?

 

[ChrisMouse]

Hi there!

You will have so much fun!

About autograph books--my DD is a "character hound". She adores "hunting" characters (her words). She got all kinds of autographs last year, so I was thinking she'd be over it this year, but she is all geared up to do it all over again. My son, on the other hand, isn't big on characters. For both of them, I keep the books and sharpies (the clickable kind) in my backpack and we take them out when we see the characters (most are in "predictable" locations). Are you doing any character meals? That helps cut down on the "spontaneous" need for autographs. You can also do the "character spot" at Epcot or the Judge's Tent at MK to get characters in one place. There are also a lot of the princesses, Aladdin, Genie, etc. in the World Showcase at Epcot.

I wouldn't want the kids carrying bags of their autograph stuff around because I'd be afraid they'd lose them, get them wet, drop ice cream on them, etc. My DD especially

We've never done lanyards because it's easier for my DH (who is our fast pass runner) to keep the passes with him. It would take a long time for all of us to get our passes out at each fastpass machine. He keeps them safe for all of us.

Good luck planning and have a great trip!

 

[aprilfoolwed]

Thanks for the info! We are doing 2 character meals (Crystal Palace lunch & Ohanas breakfast) so I am sure we'll be busy there! I'll just get books for the kids and plan on keeping them in my bag.

are fast passes just paper ticket-y things? Why would the kids need to wear them? I would assume either DH or I would keep them to be safe. But I keep seeing these things on ebay called "fast pass lanyards" so I am confused! LOL

 

[DISNEYNV]

I keep my kids Autograph books in my backpack and just whip them out when we come to a character they want to meet

 

[Sgt Mickey]

My kids have autograp books I bought at disneyworld. We also have a jumbo sized Mickey pen we bought there too. Everytime the kids would see a character we would wait in line take pics and then get an autograph dh carried them in his shorts pockets.
We never got a lanyard for anything dh just carried the fast passes they are just papertickets. BUT I have seen people wear them ecp if they have like a years pass to disneyworld is it something you need nahh just another something that they make seem needy but you could do without

 

[jenlynn0808]

Fastpasses: (DH is our runner too...) At certain popular rides there is a Fastpass Machine. You put your Park ticket (I say park becasue it works with the Disney Key cards and ones from undercover tourist...I've never gotten our tickets from anywhere else, so I can only speak from these types of tickets) and the machine kicks out a paper ticket that says the name of the ride and an hour time block to come back and ride. For example: Fast Pass Rock 'n Roller Coaster 2:07-3:07 (and yes they aren't on the hour times necessarily). You get one Fastpass for each ticket you insert into the machine. So if everyone is riding, everyone needs a Fastpass (except for the under 3 crowd).
You can only have one fastpass until the time on your current one is usable. So using the example above, you can't get another fastpass until 2:07.

When we do AK, DH takes his and DD's tickets and runs to Everest to get fastpasses and the kiddos and I head over to the Safari to wait in line and he meets us there.

As for the lanyards...these are more for Pintrading IMO. Some of them do have plastic sleeves at the bottom and I have seen people carry their KTTW and a couple of bucks in it. Personally, I'm not comfortable with that. So we do get the lanyards, just not ones with sleeves and we put the pins we've traded for on them.

You didn't mention Pin trading or how old your kids are so I may be overstepping here, but have you considered this? We learned about pin trading the hard way on our first trip (I hadn't found the dis boards yet). DD was 8 then and saw other kids doing it, we figured this was a once in a lifetime trip and we wouldn't be back for a long time (I know...what were we thinking) so we let her do it. I cost us a small fortune in pins on that trip because they start from about $7 and up. Now we buy them ahead of time off ebay (I bought 50 on Sat. for $80 with free shipping, works out to $1.60 a pin...they got here yesterday...talk about fast!) They were great looking pins, some we may even keep...but that is another post. Anyway, I give the kids a set amount of pins they can trade everyday and I'm not spending a ton of $ at the parks buying ones they can trade away.

Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.

HTH

Oh...and have a WONDERFUL trip!

 

[MouserMom09]

We, too, are first-timers. Can someone help me out on where to get the autograph books. Also, would someone please explain the pin trade thing.

Thanks!

 

[walkerag]

I wouldn't worry too much about the bags for the autograph books. I always carry DD's around in my bag because if she had a bag to carry it in I'd end up having to carry it anyway

Last year I bought her autograph book off of Ebay. It was the type that is an autograph/photo album. We love this book. You can put the photo you take of your kids with the character right beside their autograph in the book. DD loves to show this book off

I would also recommend the pin trading. DD really enjoyed it our last trip. Most CM's wear a lanyard and the ones who wear the green ones will only trade with kids under 12 I believe. Have a great time

I wanted to add: There aren't that many pages in the autograph/photo album but we bought 2. She filled one up and half of the other.

 

[jenlynn0808]

The CMs either wear lanyards or these other ones at their waist that have pinson them. We usually go up to a CM and ask to trade pins. DD picks out the pin she likes and then trades one of hers for theirs. She usually offers them to pick off hers, but some have told her to pick it for them.

Tips-
1. We have found/been told they, CM, won't trade/take a pin if they already have that one on their lanyard (keeps tehm from having 10 of the same thing).

2. I've heard, but never seen that some CM/places (like guest services) has a big book behind the desk that you can ask to see and trade from.

3. I always have a backpack, so when DD trades she puts her 'keepers' in the bag so she doesn't trade them on accident.

4. When trading you might see a CM with a pin backwards, so you are seeing the Mickeyhead back versus the pin. These pins are rare or retired pins (or so a CM told us when we asked why he had backward pins). DD has picked and not liked it then just put it on her lanyard backwards to trade again, other times she is thrilled with the 'discovery' and puts it in the bag. (last year she picked a backwards Ariel pin that she loved and it turned out that was the CM's 'special' pick pin. She won Fastpasses for Everest!

I think that is about it. It is fun and DS will be 4 next time we go, so we are going to let him trade as he loves looking at his sister's and is always asking her to show them to him. I'm actually thinking of joining the fun too.

Oh one more thing, they are metal. DD forgot to take her lanyard off last time on the way home and set off the metal detector going through airport security.

 

[pollyanna30]

You didn't mention Pin trading or how old your kids are so I may be overstepping here, but have you considered this? We learned about pin trading the hard way on our first trip (I hadn't found the dis boards yet). DD was 8 then and saw other kids doing it, we figured this was a once in a lifetime trip and we wouldn't be back for a long time (I know...what were we thinking) so we let her do it. I cost us a small fortune in pins on that trip because they start from about $7 and up. Now we buy them ahead of time off ebay (I bought 50 on Sat. for $80 with free shipping, works out to $1.60 a pin...they got here yesterday...talk about fast!) They were great looking pins, some we may even keep...but that is another post. Anyway, I give the kids a set amount of pins they can trade everyday and I'm not spending a ton of $ at the parks buying ones they can trade away.

Do you think a 5 1/2 year old is too young for pin trading? Also, do you buy your lanyards at the park or before you go? Do you mind telling us who your seller was on Ebay that you had the good experience with? Thanks!

 

[jenlynn0808]

Do you think a 5 1/2 year old is too young for pin trading? Also, do you buy your lanyards at the park or before you go? Do you mind telling us who your seller was on Ebay that you had the good experience with? Thanks!

Age: Honestly, I couldn't tell you if a 5 1/2 year old is too young to trade, just because I don't know them. Some probably are ready and some aren't going to be into it...yet. I'm going to let DS (who will be 4 when we go next) give it a try. But I am expecting to end up with his lanyard at some point. Even when DD11 has traded, she sometimes gets caught up in the atmosphere and I have to remind her..."Look at the all the pins that CM has!" Then she looks sees them and runs over. You could just trade at the resort instead of the parks if you are worried about having something else to lug around. The store workers and CS cashiers will have pins. I think the desk clerks have them to, but I can't remember for sure.

Lanyards- On the first trip we did buy DD's lanyard at the AKL resort shop (that was were we stayed). We bought a Princess 'starter' set. It had the lanyard and four pins (2 sets of 2 pins). She kept 2 of the pins (so she had the set) and traded the other 2 away. I think we also got a certificate for a free ME bus pin from the gift shop (but this was 3years ago, so I'm not sure they still do that).

Since we had figured out pin trading...when we had our Grand Gathering last Feb. I knew DD would want to trade, so I took into account DNiece would want to do it to (she is 10 months younger then DD and I knew that the only way she would trade is if we sprung for it, so we did). This time I headed over to Claire's. I bought a HSM lanyard for DD and a Cheetah Girls one for DNiece. Those lanyards were not available at WDW, and were less expensive (not by much though). It really depends on what you are looking for. I've seen tehm on ebay too, but I've never found one I REALLY liked for a price I was willing to pay (once you add in the S&H).

Buying Pins- I'm not sure if I am allowed to put who I bought pins from on the boards, but I can pm you that info if you like. I just want to add, that this person is not me, nor do I know this person in any way. I had good luck buying from them, and I'm not guarenteeing (sp?) you will have the same. I just followed my personal guidleines to buying (see below). I've bought all our pins for trading off of ebay since that first trip, from various sellers). I have given myself guidlines that I follow and it seems to work out well, at least for me. I am a bargain hunter...I admit it.

1) I will not pay more then $2 a pin including s&h. Although, I have been finding them for less recently, so this time I'm trying for less then that. The lot I just bought worked out to $1.60 a pin.)
*I also buy pin lots versus individual pins (better deal that way). I figure these are to trade so the lot is better. I have bought an individual pin or two as stocking stuffers though, if I want something specific.

2) I only buy from 99%-100% sellers with a high feedback number, like in the thousands. (I figure if you have a 99.4% feedback rating and 4,582 feedbacks given, that is a pretty good %. I also check to see what the feedback says, especially any recent negatives.)

3) I'd go check out the pin trading boards here on the dis. There are 'fake' pins out there (I learned this the hard way). I know Sedsma is one (sorry, I can't think of the other ones to watch for off the top of my head). A tradeable pin has the Disney stamp on the back.

If you want to ask anything else, feel free. I'm glad to share my 'limited' knowledge, after all if it wasn't for someone on here sharing with me, I'd still be clueless! LOL!!

 

[mom2aiden]

Do you think a 5 1/2 year old is too young for pin trading? Also, do you buy your lanyards at the park or before you go? Do you mind telling us who your seller was on Ebay that you had the good experience with? Thanks!

My DS loved pin trading last year (he was 3.5)! I'm not sure if he fully understood the concept, b/c he would choose to give the CM's his "favorite" pin that he had at the time. I guess he wanted to make sure it was a fair trade . But, we let him do what he wanted with them (we bought a starter set off ebay for $10, which included the lanyard and 8 pins).

He loved it and still looks at his pins frequently. Santa put some in his stocking for our next trip.

 

[crisi]

Disney will be HAPPY to sell you pens and autograph books and lanyards and a starter set for pin trading. You can also bring your own autograph book, pen (use a fat pen and not a Sharpie), lanyard, and you can get pins off eBay if you want.

Note that not all kids enjoy this stuff - and autograph hunting can take a lot of time - my kids realized darn quick that standing in line for an autograph was less productive than standing in line for a RIDE!

What we did when our kids were little....They had autograph books we bought down there that we used each trip - now we leave them at home and if the kids see a character they really want an autograph for, it ends up in their Epcot passport (another thing Disney will be happy to sell you) or the Passporter I haul around. We never used lanyards - we keep all fastpasses and park tickets with one person and they distribute right before we walk into the ride (my husband usually carries them in his wallet). We've never done pin trading because I'm too cheap to buy a starter set and instead I let my kids pick one pin they really want as a souviener (pins can get quite expensive).

 

[pollyanna30]

Thanks jenlynn0808 for taking the time to give all that good information. Also, thanks to mom2aiden and crisi for your insight too. It is nice to get the perspective from other families . I think we are going to give pin trading a chance with my nephew. I am going to go the Ebay route so if he doesn't get into it we are not out nearly as much money! We are going to Downtown Disney the first night we arrive so we will probably buy the lanyard and autograph books then or in the hotel gift shop.

 

[jenlynn0808]

Thanks jenlynn0808 for taking the time to give all that good information. Also, thanks to mom2aiden and crisi for your insight too. It is nice to get the perspective from other families . I think we are going to give pin trading a chance with my nephew. I am going to go the Ebay route so if he doesn't get into it we are not out nearly as much money! We are going to Downtown Disney the first night we arrive so we will probably buy the lanyard and autograph books then or in the hotel gift shop.

You're welcome. I'm glad you found the information useful.

I'd also like to second what Crisi said about standing in line for autographs. it is tedious, especially for little kids and you are missing out on valuable ride time. We do get autographs, but we do it at character dining restraurants. That way we are killing to birds with one stone. We eat and the characters come to us and when we are done, we move on tot he next activity. Trust me (and I'm sure Crisi would second this ) tehre is nothing worse then standing in line for two plus hours waiting to see Ariel with a crank/crabby kid!

 

[Disney Bound Mommy]

I carry a small backpack with me and keep the autographs books in them. The characters like big thick pens. I just get a Disney book at the Dollar store to use as an autograph book. Kids are fine with that. We don't use lanyards, I'm the keeper of all fastpasses, park passes, etc.

 

[txloopnlil]

I'm glad I decided just to use 4 x6 blank index cards/clipboard for autographs (I was going to put them in scrapbook later) as my boys (5 yr old twins) ended up not caring a hoot about the autographs or characters much to my surprise. They used them mostly for entertaining themselves while waiting. We ended up with one autograph each! My kids much preferred the rides to the characters.

They did get into pin trading some. I bought about 40 pins off ebay (avg about $1.80 ea) and used them as a reward/penalty system, before and during the trip. They could earn pins each day for good behavior and extra pins for special acts of kindness, etc. They also could have pins taken away for poor behavior. At the end of each day, if they had earned (and kept) a certain number of pins, they could get a special treat or toy.

One of my cousin's flashes of genius was giving the boys pins for foot massages - too bad she thought of it on our last park day instead of the first! Once they figured out they could get a pin for a massage, we could barely sit down before they had our shoes off and started rubbing.

I bought lanyards with clip on wallets, off ebay (Cars and Transformers), but they didn't like the wallets and took them off shortly after getting to the parks. I had thought they might like to do pressed pennies but they didn't get that excited after the first couple.

I had to urge them to trade pins with the CM's at first, but they got really excited when some kids came up to us and wanted to trade. After that they were much more excited about pin trading - they didn't want to trade with the CM's after that - just kids.

Buy some extra pin backs - they had some trouble getting the backs on well and lost lots of them.