Character Autographs, I just don't get it.

[Shanan]

"My name is Shanan and I stand in line for autographs...." as part of the WDW 12 step program.

I enjoy getting the pictures and the autographs because I scrapbook. I still love my Pluto autograph from Chef Mickey's. Pluto & I were cutting up and something was mentioned about being desperate and he signed my book Pluto loves a desperate woman

 

[mmeb144]

OK, I'm an adult and I love to get the character's autographs. It's a great way to meet them and interact with them. I just don't know what to do when I wait in line for them. This way, I have a souvenier to look at later, in addition to the great picture.

Please don't give me that line about only kids should be getting the autographs. Sure, WDW is very magical for kids, but it's magical for adults, too. For those few minutes that I'm waiting in line for my time with the characters, Mickey or Minnie or whoever, is real to me. I'm sorry that you don't "get it", but it's not just for kids.

Marie

 

[keypooh90]

I am 15,and I still love to get autographs.Yeah, I do understand that it's not really Mickey or whoever,but when you are there,they become real. It is just all part of the magic. Plus, I love to see the characters interacting with the little ones,and my family has "special friend"....

 

[susykt4]

DD5 LOVES getting autographs. DS2 is happy just hugging the characters. We made a really cool 4x6 photo album with the photo of char and kids on one page and the autograph on the facing page that my kids absolutely love to look at 7 months after the trip.

HOWEVER, we were in the princess line right behind this INSANE woman who was carrying around FIVE full-size (12x12) scrapbooks that she had each princess sign each book. She had no children with her! It was infuriating to have to make DD5 wait soooooo long when she was so desperately excited to meet the princesses!!!

 

[goofie4goofy]

Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and the rest are celebrities for kids. We don't have kids, but it is so cute to see kids talk about the autographs they have....

I get my picture taken with Goofy once every trip...I usually go when there is a short line....I don't want to take away the opportunity for a kid. I know they only appear for a limited time.

I have seen adults getting autographs with no kids in sight too....at first it looks strange, but they may be collecting them for a child.

 

[Licorice]

Even when they were younger, they preferred to go on more rides than searching for autographs or for the characters. We will take a picture or two with the characters as long as the line is not long. Many times we stepped aside to let other kids enjoy them.

Our family enjoys Disney, that is why we go. Sorry, but for me it is an amusement park, operated by a huge conglomerate. Fun, but no magic here.

 

[honeymo78]

I am an adult and love character pics and autographs. I also don't think I'm taking anything away from a child by waiting in line. I enjoy meeting the characters as much as the kids do. I generally don't hunt down the characters or stand in every line I see (unless it's for Pooh of course). The characters are some of my favorite "celebrities" and of course I want their autograph, sometimes more than once on the same trip. I don't make scrapbooks with the autographs, although I probably should. But I do enjoy looking through the autograph books later and being reminded of my trip. I went to WDW as a kid and got autographs too - it's just part of the vacation for me. I hope that when I'm 80 I still can go to WDW and get photos and autographs with my favorite characters.

 

[KrisTX]

Where do you buy the Disney autograph books?

 

[iluvcountry]

I don't think disney would be as magical if there were no characters. No little kids smiling when they see Mickey, no laughing when Chip and Dale mess around with you, no booing when you see the disney villians! (I booed so much that one of them put a spell on me! ) It would take away the disney magic.

 

[Rella Bella]

Where do you buy the Disney autograph books?

At any gift shop on Disney property... usually right by the check out register.

My DS gets a new one for every trip so he can remember who he saw when. He loves it. My only comment is I wish they would make those big-fat-Disney-pens better quality so they wouldn't break constantly! I know they are easier for the characters to write with... but last trip we had to exchange our pen 3 times.

 

[KrisTX]

Will the offsite Disney Store have them too? I would like to give it as part of the surprise reveal.

 

[iluvcountry]

Will the offsite Disney Store have them too? I would like to give it as part of the surprise reveal.

Yes, they should, but I am not for sure.

 

[TDC Nala]

Some people like it, and not all of them are kids. It's not my thing, but if it's someone else's more power to 'em. Go get Joe or Josephine Schwartz in the Mickey costume to sign your book if it turns you on.

If I were with someone else who was spending lots of time getting character autographs, it might bug me, but I could say "I'm going to go ride Space Mountain, meet me at Buzz Lightyear when you're done."

 

[DenverVal]

I'm not sure when the autograph craze started; I never had any autographs from characters while growing up near DL in the '70s, pictures yes. The characters used to just roam the parks, waving, hugging and taking pictures. No lines to see them, no lines for autographs, no autograph books for sale. The first autograph I ever got was at a special pre-screening of The Black Cauldron at Disney Studios in Burbank. I won tickets to this from the radio, and it was special to me because a friend of mine worked in ink & paint on this movie. I felt out of place, a college-age young adult and my DBF in a crowd of parents and toddlers, but I still stood in (short) lines to have my program autographed by the mouse, Gurgi, and the rest of the characters from the movie, and I kept it. Hey, Mickey's John Hancock looks exactly the same as the autographs my kids have collected many years later. Now with the pin trading craze, I have managed to find a Black Cauldron pin and a Burbank Studios pin (DD thought it was an MGM pin and was so disappointed...I immediately traded her for whatever she wanted and pocketed the pin!) and plan to frame the program and the pins. Love my souvenir, even after all these years! My kids have collected pretty much all the autographs, and for them that craze has passed, but they like to look through the books and remember the magic.

 

[mitros]

Joe and Josephine Schwartz are trained the same way as Al and Alberta Smith on the other side of the park to sign their particular characters autograph the same way every time all the way back to the 70's.