No Autographs or Characters

[ppony]

For us and even my oldest DS, the novelty has worn off so to speak. Worn off in that we no longer relish standing in lines sometimes for eons, to get an autograph we've gotten a dozen times before and pictures. We still do them if the opportunity presents itself w/o much fuss or muss, but it's just not a priority for us. If my youngest ever wants to we'll do it again but right now, he won't come close to approaching one. It's just him. The autographs aren't a big deal anymore and we enjoy seeing the characters around the park but don't feel the need to wait to see them usually.

 

[gr8mommy]

I plan no autographs and to stay as far away from the characters with 'heads' as possible. My little one freaks out. DH has tried telling her that they are just people in costumes. Which doesn't help much, since she hates seeing masks on Halloween!

 

[NancyCnstn]

2 years ago my daughter was 5 and we stood in line forever to meet them. Not this time. we are going to some character meals and meet them that way and get autographs. Never again will we wait in line. Chef Mickeys you get to meet the fabulous 5. Cape may you can meet chip and dale. etc. We did the princess breakfast and you can meet the princess. If we walk by a character and there is no line then we would get an autograph. But my daughter this year says it's a waste of time to stand inline when you can go on rides!!! Many moons ago didnt the characters walk around the parks?

 

[Teeks]

Many moons ago didnt the characters walk around the parks?

Every time I went as a kid, the characters just walked around at certain times of the day. My very first trip at age 3, Mickey was coming through the castle, and we were able to run right to him for hugs and pictures. That would never happen now...The poor CM dressed up would get mobbed!

We never get autographs, and we rarely will stand in a line to meet a character. The only instance we would stand in line is if the character has just come out and we could be in the front of the line. Last summer, Minnie was the only character my dd wanted to meet, and she came out at AK. We got in line, but she left after only 5 or 10 minutes because of the heat. My dd isn't patient enough to stand and wait in a long line for anything, even a character who she really wanted to meet. We'll only do the character dining to meet the characters now.

 

[ilovepete]

We meet the characters only if the child requests it after seeing them, and we've never done autographs, only meeting/pictures. We do usually do a character meal so that they get to see some that way if they want, but we have gone a whole trip before meeting none at all.

 

[Britgirlus]

Like a lots of PPs, we have never gone out of our way to meet characters and definitely haven't collected autographs. I know to some people it's a huge part of going, but we don't know half the characters anyway (our first trip, ds5 promised his "girlfriend" that he would get a picture of him with a princess - we stumbled across one, he got his photo, and we had no idea who she was ! Had to look at the princess dolls in the store to compare hair and dresses to figure out who she was ! If we saw a very short line, we might jump in to get pictures, and we did a couple of meals, but otherwise, it seems like a huge waste of valuable time

 

[ILoveMyGirls]

we have one autograph in my girl's books. lol. none of us ever wanted to wait in those lines so i totally understand.

 

[indimom3]

This last trip was the first time any of my kids collected autographs - and it was at my suggestion. They forgot about half the time.
They are also not that into meeting characters, but as the girls have gotten a bit older they are more interested. The only character they were willing to wait in line for was Tinkerbelle.

 

[verticalchaos]

We never did character pictures until the trip that celebrated my grad school graduation and my sister's undergrad graduation. Well - there may be ONE picture of my sister and Mickey from an earlier visit, but we didn't go seeking them out. Even now we don't usually go seeking them - it's more of an "if they're out where we are" kind of thing.

There are some people for whom a trip to Disney is about being there and being together as a family or group of friends. Not about how many characters they can see. For others it's all about the character hunt. Ok - that may be the ultra-extremes. But that's why there's chocolate and vanilla! :

 

[nytimez]

Sometimes my daughter wants to meet them and get autographs. Sometimes, she doesn't. I prefer when she doesn't, because I have zero interest in the characters myself, but I'll do whatever she wants. I don't really see the point, truth be told. I always looked at character greetings as a way of keeping people off the lines of the things I'd rather do!

 

[jkluttrell]

My kids are super excited to meet all the characters and we will create autograph books with pictures when we get back. But my BIL and SIL went in November and I asked them if they saw any characters and they said no. I looked at my niece (who is almost 2, was 1 at the time of the trip) and said "I can't believe you have such mean parents who took you all the way to Disneyworld and you didn't get to even see Mickey Mouse!" HA!

 

[pickles]

We've never asked for autographs before. I just figured them a waste since they aren't real and aren't worth anything. I do have sports autographs that have value though. So I am looking at it from a different prospective. This year we are going to meet more characters then just from a character meal. I'm hoping to see Buzz and Woody myself, then whoever my Wife and 5 yr old son wants to meet as well.

Our first trip we did this..autograhs and pics, and then after that i felt like you 'what is the point of the autographs" we do some pics, but rarely if we need to wait long in line. We do photogrpahs if its a character I havent seen out before. One trip we did 'drive by pics" it was a halloween party tim, so I would stand with the character in the back ground and hubby would get a quick pic. Our goal was to see how many we could get in one trip..it was a rather fun game and required no waiting in line. Tho it was challending to be able to get me and the character in the pic, not have someone walk in front of the camera and try not to have a family getting their pic done

some of my kids enjoy meeting certain characters, but really beyond the first trip it was no big deal

 

[hellokittiemama]

Our first trip with kids, my son was 6 and my daughter was 2 - we skipped the autographs but took a lot of pictures. So many CM's made comments like "What, no autograph book?" when we reached the front of the line for characters. My son, who has autism, didn't understand autographs and my daughter was too little.

The next trip - my DD was 4 and she wanted autographs. After she came home with a book full of autographs - my son became interested and last years trip was all about autographs for both kids. Now with our trip about a month away both kids are flipping through their books looking at all the autographs. I am sure we'll be getting them again even though they already have 3 books full!!!

Whatever makes them happy. If they didn't want them, I'd skip it.

 

[LBIJim]

Nope, have never stood in line to meet a character. Years ago, when meeting the characters was more random, we'd stop if we came across one and few people were around. I don't remember if my kids ever got an autograph.

But since the actual lines to meet characters started, no way. Much more important things on our agenda. If anything, my wife an I were more likely to want to meet a character but the kids wouldn't let us waste time that way!

Jim

 

[Melodious]

I was 22 yo before I stood in line to see a character . As a kid, we weren't at all interested and we didn't do character meals. This time I'm 26, going with my mom, and we booked two character meals. But I also think it's because we're going for a longer trip. If I had a short period of time only, characters wouldn't be what I wanted to see most. It's all about your priorities and what you and your kids think is the best part of WDW

 

[RMulieri]

We have done this on our trips before our daughter came along.Nothing wrong with it

 

[d1gitman]

A friend of mine just got back from Florida where she spent a day at MK with her two daughters 4 & 6. They did not collect any autographs or visit any Characters... none at all. I have never heard of this before... we went last year for just one day too and DD5 collected several autographs and had so much fun with the Characters. Has anyone else gone to the park and not done autographs or character visits?

You don't get out much, do you?

Our DS's have yet to get into character visits or autographs. DS's are currently 9&4 and we have been going to WDW annually since 2004 with detours to DL in 2009 and 2010.

DW, myself and our DS's don't have a desire to wait in line for characters.

 

[Amysita]

Some parents can't be bothered standing in line for something so frivolous as to have their child meet a single character. Or to bother with crowds to watch parades, shows, and fireworks. That was my parents when I was growing up anyways. That's probably why as an adult I am still drawn to what others would consider 'childish parks' (Disney, Sea World, etc) instead of more adult destinations for my vacations. I'm doing all the things I didn't get to do when I went as a child...and I love every minute of it! Had the time of my life the 1st time I sat darn near front row at the shows in Sea World & got wet. Was in complete awe of my 1st Disney fireworks show. And the very 1st character I ever met in person was Goofy...and these all happened when I was in my 30's. LOL...now I'm in my 40's and getting ready for another 1st this time around...my first character meal.

 

[nnyl_irret]

You don't get out much, do you?

Our DS's have yet to get into character visits or autographs. DS's are currently 9&4 and we have been going to WDW annually since 2004 with detours to DL in 2009 and 2010.

DW, myself and our DS's don't have a desire to wait in line for characters.

Thanks for that... so kind.

 

[TandLMommy28]

The only characters we will wait in line for are Buzz and Woody. All the others that the kids care about we will see at Character breakfasts... I don't recall doing characters in the parks on any other trips, either...