I'm so thankful my kids don't care about autographs

[VacationDad]

Seeing the look of the parents in long character greeting lines while their kids hold their autograph books makes me glad we haven't even told our kids about this WDW tradition. We did wait in line at the Hall of Fame tent and the characters seemed surprised that my kids only wanted to hug them.

Are we alone in thinking this?

 

[TiggerStac]

It was such a relief on the trip we took in 12/05, that my DS didn't care about the autographs!! Granted, we did go and get pics, but I wouldn't wait in a forever line...we usually go down a couple times a year and are always getting autographs. I am coming to the conclusion, that I'm the one that wants them, DS could care less at this point

 

[pezpam]

A lot of it is attitude, too. I enjoyed standing in line with DD when she was 5 and wanted all of the autographs. She enjoyed it all so much that it was fun for me as well. If I had looked at it as a waste of time, then it would have felt like one, but for us, it was magical. She's not as interested in autographs now at age 8 and I admit that I kind of miss the little magic moments that happened when she met the characters, but now she enjoys riding the big rides I love so much, which is definitely cool. It's not like we'll have a bad time either way - it is WDW after all.

 

[susykt4]

You're lucky if your kids don't want autographs! The autograph seeking is equally important as going on rides for my kids. Our last trip we met more than 50 different characters. I like taking pictures of my kids with the characters, but this trip both kids wanted their OWN autograph books and it just took FOREVER.

 

[lorli]

I'm not looking forward to the time dd doesn't want the autographs. In fact I'm even thinking this year I'll get them too.

 

[daisyduck123]

I'm not looking forward to the time dd doesn't want the autographs. In fact I'm even thinking this year I'll get them too.

That's what I did. During our trip last month, I decided that hey, if I'm going to stand in these lines with DS7 & DD11, I may as well use an autograph book too!! And that's what I did! I also used it all of the character meals we went to.

(I decided it also made a great spare in case something should ever happen to one of my kid's books).

 

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

My mom has said many, many times that she's grateful she never got into the autograph craze. It can be tricky enough just finding the character you want to get your picture with. While autographs are a fun idea, I agree with my mom on this one. I'd much rather just get my picture with a few of my favorites and not have to deal with everything else.

 

[BlindTyldak]

My DD loves the autographs, but I was VERY lucky that she didn't argue when we said no because of the time of day or the lines. Booking characters meals where she could get the "big ones" out of the way for sure helped a lot too, as did encouraging picture collecting, where we took pictures of the character from a distance for her to collect.

 

[Princessbaby]

My oldest is the only one who got autographs last time. We stood in line so much. We recently had a discussion about this and he decided that he wanted to do more rides this time rather than standing in line. So we agreed that if a line was not too long that would be okay. We also will get some of the bigger characters at the character meals. If he changes his mind between now and then-that would be okay too!

 

[BrerRabbit_fan]

Hey, I need those autographs! The first time I took kids to Disney, they were 4 and 2. We even practiced at home so they knew about lines and character size.

You definitely accomplish more without them though.

 

[lindseesmom]

My dd is 11 and hubby and I sttod in line with her too for autographs. Cann ot miss that fun!

 

[la79al]

We went last year and the kids showed no interest in autographs. We did stand in line for 15 mins to get several pics with Mickey and 90 minutes to get a couple pics with Snow White, Belle and Cinderella. They somehow got pieces of paper for autographs at Chef Mickeys but showed no interest in continuing when we went back to the parks. (Very abnormal children, both of them) Now for our trip next year I am planning on getting them autograph books, not so we can stand in line specifically for autographs but so when the opportunity arises, we can take advantage of it.

 

[makinorlando]

My DD and I are having fun right now getting autographs, but again being local, we are no using park time standing in line... I have found lately though, the characters seem to be more availalble and the wait times are not so long - except the one in ToonTown for the Princesses...

We went through most of last year getting very few.

I love taking the pictures, and having them for the memories. We have no family here, and they all love seeing all the different pics...

Here is my gallery of character photos...http://photobucket.com/albums/e291/makasper/Character Pictures/

 

[mef78]

No kids here, but my friend and I stand in line for autographs ourselves! We're 27 and get some strange looks, but everyone's supposed to be a kid when they're at WDW, right? We have loads of fun interacting with the characters.

 

[StinkerbellsMom]

It is such a wonderful tradition for our family! A little way of capturing the magic!
We have three girls and have always taken the time to seek out autographs. We went from having
the Books and moved on to Tshirts and Caps.
It is one of those things that we always make time for and thoroughly enjoy!!
Two of our girls wear their Tshirts proudly to school and their friends get such a kick out of 'reading' their shirts!
More than the actual autographs are the conversations our girls have had with the 'face' characters.
Aladdin, Jasmine, Meg, Hercules, Pocahontas and even the evil Cruella and so many more
have helped create such memories for our gang!
Our oldest dd had her Tshirt framed and mounted above her bed - its one of her 'treasures'.
Autographs are just something we truly look forward to each and every time.
Our oldest is 13 and has been doing this for well over a decade
and she still gets excited when she sees her favorites.
Our youngest is 6 and still believes in all the magic that these characters spread ... we will continue
to encourage this magic and stand in line with smiles on our faces as long as the girls want to ... heck,
we may end up going through withdrawal when they finally decide to stop! LOL

 

[tjmouse]

My dd saw all the other kids getting them. She cried everytime we met a character because she didn't get an autograph. Even though I didn't want too, I gave in. She looks at those autographs all the time now, so I am glad we did it.

 

[dbarker]

We don't do autographs either. DS isn't interested in them. We will go and say "Hi" to the characters and get pictures if the lines are not too long. But, no autographs.