Has anyone NOT done an autograph book for their kids?

[*Seanaci*]

We didn't when our son was 14 months old. However when we go back in Dec 2012 he will be 5. We'll take a book (homemade of course) and let him decide if he wants to stand in line to meet the characters. And we'll get autographs at the character meal (or meals, we haven't decided how many we're doing) for sure.

 

[imthatgirl]

We tried it once and my kids just honestly didn't care. So after 2 days the books were tossed.

And to be honest most of the time we see people with autograph books....it's the parents making the big deal about them. Most kids I see seem very unimpressed.

I also found that without the books the characters were forced to interact with us, instead of using all their time autographing.

 

[mb_uh]

We bought books for just in case and my kids were 5 and 7 were totally into it. I think they would have rather waited in line for an autograph then a ride. We mostly did character breakfasts to avoid waiting in line but they love it. You just never know

 

[Leajess99]

Our third trip we didn't do autograph books and none of the kids really missed it. It left for more ride time.

 

[CheshireKittyKat]

I kept "forgetting" our autograph books, and I can't tell you how much more enjoyable it made the character meetings. The kids had time to hug and fuss over the character, and there was no wrestling with the sharpie and books, then packing up the books again in my backpack. We did take pictures, and that was perfect. If your kids aren't that into it, I wouldn't push it- in the end it leads to more stress!

I also agree with a previous poster, it's usually the parents who tend to obsess about these things for their "perfect" trip.

 

[Colleen27]

My girls love their books but they are all about the characters. The 2yo sees them as giant plushes and just has to see them, and the 9yo gets so much joy out of explaining to her little sister who each one is and putting together the autograph/scrapbook when we're home. For our most recent trip I did a photobook with character-specific pages and now they want that for every trip because they got so much great character interaction out of it!

We usually go at slow times of year when lines aren't a big issue, though. I wouldn't be so inclined to go all out on the character hunting if it meant skipping attractions or waiting in really long lines.

 

[serenita05]

My two girls 8 and 12 still love to use the books and get autographs.

 

[Minniemouse07]

Dd visited twice (18mo & 2.5yo) before having an autograph book (6.5yo). Since then she wants/needs one every trip.

Ds has been twice (2yo and 4yo) and hasn't had one, but I have one for him for our land/sea trip in August. He will be 5.5yo.

A coworker took her kids (7 & 9) on their first trip in the fall and told me that she had no need for the books and wasn't going to buy them.

After she returned, she told me how that lasted about 1/2 a day. Even though they didn't stand in line for any autographs, they did run into characters in addition to their character meals (1900 PF and Garden Grill) and the kids really enjoyed getting the signatures.

Interestingly, she also said they loved the penny pressing. I may do that this trip w/ the kids, we'll see!

 

[mom2val]

We have been 4 times and NEVER done an autograph book. I know this sounds horrible but I hate them! Why?? Because of how much time I spend waiting inline while the characters sign peoples books and then pose for 5 or 6 pictures then another kid in the group comes up and we go through it all over again. Thank goodness dd has never wanted one. We just want to get pics for our scrapbook of her with the characters. We take 1 photo and we are done. I wish there was a speed line for characters for people like us.

 

[Minniemouse07]

We have been 4 times and NEVER done an autograph book. I know this sounds horrible but I hate them! Why?? Because of how much time I spend waiting inline while the characters sign peoples books and then pose for 5 or 6 pictures then another kid in the group comes up and we go through it all over again. Thank goodness dd has never wanted one. We just want to get pics for our scrapbook of her with the characters. We take 1 photo and we are done. I wish there was a speed line for characters for people like us.

FWIW... we rarely wait in a line for characters. The kids get their "face" time w/ the characters at character meals. If we happen to be somewhere with a super short character line... we may jump in.

The only line we will routinely wait on though is Lightning McQueen and Mater. No character meals for them quite yet and ds wouldn't be happy if we went all the way to WDW and didn't see them! ... But they can't sign the book anyway so it is only a photo op!

 

[mom2val]

We usually do 4-5 characters meals so we do get fast pics that way but there are always characters in the park that we want to get that don't have meals ---- Toy Story characters for example. Really wish they would change Hollywood and Vine to a Toy Story character meal!

 

[disneybell]

We have done autograph books every time we’ve gone. My kids love looking for new characters each time for their books! They love to get their books out when we’re home and look at them!

For this year’s trip, I thought it would be a great idea to just get one book for them all to share and my older kids revolted! My older kids will only want autographs from any characters they haven’t seen before but we will let the little ones get autographs with each character. We also do a lot of character buffets so we don’t spend a lot of time standing in lines at the parks.

For my kids, it gave them something to talk about with the characters. It didn’t take away from the character interaction at all.

 

[hauntedcity]

We just want to get pics for our scrapbook of her with the characters. We take 1 photo and we are done. I wish there was a speed line for characters for people like us.

Yes! Like the single rider line for Test Track!

 

[Kelrykengab]

Our next trip will be trip #4 with kids and we have yet to do a autograph book. We did receive one with our in room celebration, but we kept forgetting it in the hotel room the last 2 trips. Even so, we are big on meeting characters; we just choose an extra hug, smile, dance, convo etc over having a book signed. We have never regretted it. We have a scrapbook for each trip with tons of pics, momentos and special memories journaled so we are good and we don't have to carry these around on the trip.

 

[MissLiz]

I think we did autograph books for 4 of our trips. DD went nutso for the characters! She didn't care if she had gotten an autograph from that character, she wanted another one!




Well, after having 4 different autograph books and a DD who is too young to appreciate it, we did not do a book last September for the first time. DD8 was a little sad about not having "something" to do, so we got her the Hidden Mickey book. We love trying to find them all!

She also started doing pressed pennies and she loves that as well.

 

[mfulk]

We have not done autograph books on our two trips with our kids (4, 2 and 5months the first time and 5, 3 and 1 the 2nd time) and have no plans to do them this year either. They had no idea what an autograph was so they didn't even know it was an option.

 

[uicbear]

I've gone with my nephew, 6, each year for the past 5 years. Last year was the first year he even noticed the autograph books. We've always just taken some quick pics, hugs, said thanks and moved along. It'll be interesting to see if he wants the autographs this trip.

 

[deenbrad]

We leave next month, and while I have plenty of time to prepare/buy an autograph book, I'm just not sure if I'm going to. My kids (DD5 and DD6) aren't into specific characters, so we won't be seeking any out. I think they will be happy with whoever we come in contact with in the parks. We are doing Akershus and Chef Mickey's; however, I just don't see us actually standing in line to meet anyone else to get an autograph.

So, back to my question: Has anyone NOT done an autograph book for their kids? If you didn't, did you regret it? If you did do an autograph book, did your kids love it or not care at all? I need to make a final decision. Thanks, everyone!

My DS (8) is totally uninterested in the autographs. I know he'd like to meet some of the characters but I won't be buying an autograph book or I'll be the one waiting for autographs!

 

[jkc0325]

When we went in 2005, our dds were 5,3, and 18 months. We did autograph books then and the older two loved it. I wasn't sure if/when we'd come back to Disney so I did a book for my youngest so that when she got older, she wouldn't feel left out. Fast forward 6 years...they still have those books but very rarely look at them. My 9yo told me that they were a huge waste because "you can't even read most of the autographs!!" She's a very practical girl

I told them that as they were older and we already had the autographs we should try pin trading on this trip and they were all for it. They don't know it yet, but I already bought them each a lanyard and a few pins to get them started. I think they'll love it! I'm also going to give each of them a tube of quarters and pennies and let them get all the pressed pennies they want. They always ask to get them whenever they see them.

I just don't want to spend all the time waiting in line for characters on this trip. They are most excited about all the different rides so I want to spend our time on those instead. We'll see how it all works out!

 

[EKW]

I did one our first trip...we got Woody and Buzz, and that's all my son wanted. My kids have always understood that the Disney characters are fictional. They'll occasionally want to stop for a photo...but lots of time they say they'd rather go to another ride or show rather than stand in line for a character! I have never regretted not doing an autograph book.

But, I highly recommend it for the rest of you. After all, the more time you spend standing in line for characters, the less you'll be standing in the ride lines with us! Shorter lines for me: .