Character Autographs

[DisneyKeepsUsYoung]

We have never done an autograph book before but as my kids are getting older I'm thinking once they see other kids with them they may like one. Do the characters write a little message or anything? Or do they just sign their name?
Also, Can you buy books set up to put the child/character picture in later next to each autograph or do people make those themselves? The ones I've seen at Disney Store looked like just a bunch of blank pages.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

We have never done an autograph book before but as my kids are getting older I'm thinking once they see other kids with them they may like one. Do the characters write a little message or anything? Or do they just sign their name?
Also, Can you buy books set up to put the child/character picture in later next to each autograph or do people make those themselves? The ones I've seen at Disney Store looked like just a bunch of blank pages.

They simply sign their names or write "love Minnie" or #1 (Donald Duck). WDW does sell books with picture pages but they have MANY fewer pages then the non picture autograph books

 

[AuntDJ]

We did the autograph books with the kids were little, and I am not sure where those even are now . I think the ones that people make with character pictures is cute too, but I wanted to share what we did this time. I bought a plain white picture matte and some colored sharpies. I think it turned out really well and was fairly cheap.

 

[Mikie]

I"ve bought inexpensive photo books at WalMart or Target - the kind with plastic sleeves for you to put your photos into. I cut colorful cardstock into 4x6 sizes and slipped them into the sleeves. When ready for the autograph, we pull out the paper, get the autograph and have our pictures taken. When we get the pictures printed, I match them up on a facing page with the autograph and the kids enjoy looking through them. It is a little bit of a pain to pull out the paper (but I had 3 kids collecting autographs! probably not a big deal with only one to get it ready while waiting your turn).

I've also used the Creative DISigns Board here to print out customized autograph books (I selected cool custom pages for characters I knew we'd meet, as well as generic themes to have available for characters I hadn't planned on), printed the pages on cardstock on my home printer, then took it to Office Max to have it bound together with spiral binding. Very cute and fun, but adds up quite a bit for a "homemade" autograph book.

No matter what you're getting signatures ON, I recommend the "clickable" sharpie markers, so that you don't have to worry about dropping a lid on the ground! Bring a few different colors for fun

 

[DisneyKeepsUsYoung]

We did the autograph books with the kids were little, and I am not sure where those even are now . I think the ones that people make with character pictures is cute too, but I wanted to share what we did this time. I bought a plain white picture matte and some colored sharpies. I think it turned out really well and was fairly cheap.
View attachment 176204

Love the picture frame! I've seen some of these but wondered how difficult they would be to carry around each day and not get torn up or bent. How large is that mat? Looks like a good size for quite a few autographs.

 

[DisneyKeepsUsYoung]

I"ve bought inexpensive photo books at WalMart or Target - the kind with plastic sleeves for you to put your photos into. I cut colorful cardstock into 4x6 sizes and slipped them into the sleeves. When ready for the autograph, we pull out the paper, get the autograph and have our pictures taken. When we get the pictures printed, I match them up on a facing page with the autograph and the kids enjoy looking through them. It is a little bit of a pain to pull out the paper (but I had 3 kids collecting autographs! probably not a big deal with only one to get it ready while waiting your turn).

I've also used the Creative DISigns Board here to print out customized autograph books (I selected cool custom pages for characters I knew we'd meet, as well as generic themes to have available for characters I hadn't planned on), printed the pages on cardstock on my home printer, then took it to Office Max to have it bound together with spiral binding. Very cute and fun, but adds up quite a bit for a "homemade" autograph book.

No matter what you're getting signatures ON, I recommend the "clickable" sharpie markers, so that you don't have to worry about dropping a lid on the ground! Bring a few different colors for fun

That sounds like a pretty easy way to make my own. I thought she might like "reading" through it once we get home to remember her trip/experiences, since this should be her first trip she REALLY remembers.

Good tip on the Sharpies! Thanks!

Do you find when you do autographs, it cuts down on the actual interaction time? The time with the characters flies by so fast already I'm worried that adding the autograph part will cut into the hugs, talking/interaction time. Watching others do autographs in front of us, it seems they quick hug, sign, quick pic, leave. Vs last trip when she met a princess they would dance or chat about their dresses. since we had no other "purpose" it seemed they had more time for the interaction which my daughter LOVED. Maybe it was just the particular people we happened to have in front of us. I just don't want to rush the interaction for a name on a piece of paper.

 

[TeamH5]

Well we went overboard on our WDW trip. We had previously done a cruise where one child was TERRIFIED of Characters, but she got over herself with that cruise, so when we did the World 2 yrs later, I reserved quite a few character meals. Between those, and the M&G's in the parks, my kids didn't feel cheated on time with the characters. Actually, during our character meal at Garden Grille, Chip N Dale actually sat down at the table and helped my kids color their pictures. It was pretty awesome! That was like their second or third trip by our table too, so it wasn't like they were cheating other kids out of time, they had seen everyone a couple times already.

We also did a Pirates n Pals fireworks cruise, where Peter Pan personally escorted my kids off the boat, and got to be his 'special' helpers to get him back to the resort. We had to kind of jog with Peter Pan he was moving so fast, but he made it into this game with the kids and they got at least 5 min of undivided attention before the crowd started..

They got PLENTY of Character interaction that trip, despite having to sign autographs.

 

[AuntDJ]

Love the picture frame! I've seen some of these but wondered how difficult they would be to carry around each day and not get torn up or bent. How large is that mat? Looks like a good size for quite a few autographs.

We used an 8x10 matte. One had a 5x7 picture opening and the other 4x6. The were super easy to carry around as they fit perfectly in my bag. The clickable sharpies are the way to go, no matter what form of autograph you go for.

I personally don't think it takes away from the experience. I think in some ways it helps shy kids get more interaction as the characters will comment on who all you have met or what you have done so far.

As a side note, we were on the dining plan and did two character meals....once with the main guys and one with princesses (Norway). We knocked out a lot of characters with those two meals so it didn't feel like we lost park time to meet everyone!

 

[TristiK]

I made our books. I printed pages for each character that I found online for free. I them took them to Offuce Max and had the pages bound with plastic covers for $5 (for 2). I'm going to print a picture of each meet to put on the back of the previous page (so you'll see the signature and picture together). Total cost of $10 for 2 books, and almost every character reacted to their page.

 

[jjpuhalla]

I am looking for autograph pages for Joy, Sadness, Max (Goofy's son), Prince Naveen, Jack Skellington and Sally to match what we use.

Since I am requesting autograph cards, it's only fair for me to share what I have compiled over the past few years. I have uploaded a handful but it will take me a few days to find time to upload all of them since I have about 150.

http://s1383.photobucket.com/user/jjpuhalla/library/Disney Autograph Pages?sort=9&page=1