Please tell me about the passports at Epcot

[M&E]

I think my boys (6&8) would enjoy doing these. I believe they are about $10 each. What do you do with them? Do you get a stamp at each country? Stickers for each country? I think I read that someone from each of the countries will sign them. What kind of pen is best to bring? Will a sharpie bleed through to the next page? Is a ball point better? Anything you can tell me about them will be great.

Thanks!

 

[mcbj]

I would also like to know, sounds like a good way to keep them interested in the countries.

 

[estherhead]

We did this last time. Our kids, similar ages to yours, loved it. The cm's have pens. Just go to your first country (we started in Mexico) and ask. They'll direct you to where you can buy them there and you are off. Go for it!

 

[DebbieB]

I did this with my niece when we took her to WDW when she was 9. She had to do a project for school (since she missed a week) and we used this. Each country had a representative at the kid-spot and they signed a personal message and stamped it. They had their own pens.

 

[disneyquestions]

If you go over to the DISign board, you will find people who design their own books. You just print them out and take them to Staples or somewhere and have them put into a ring binder. I don't know what the ones from the World look like, but the ones that the people over on the DISign board do are amazing!

 

[TheRustyScupper]

World Showcase Passports:

1) Buy a Passport package at any cash register in Epcot (approx $12).
2) It includes a "passport" with pages for each country.
. . . the child takes the passport to the Kidcot station in each country
. . . the country stamps the passport
. . . they also print the child's name in the native language
. . . there is also a spot for coloring in the passport
. . . the country rep will say "hello", "goodbye", etc in the language
. . . the child also makes a mask
. . . the same mask gets a ribbon from each country and a stamp
. . . the ribbon s actually a token of the country
3) Makes a great keepsake for the child

 

[maiapapaya]

The passport also includes a large pin (not like a trading pin, but a big round badge-type pin) with a picture of Mickey and the world showcase flags. There are also several photo stickers of highlights from each country that the kids can put in the passport in the section for each country.

Our kids loved doing this at Epcot! We purchased our passport kits at a little kiosk on the walk way from Future World over to the World Showcase.

 

[Spacepest]

World Showcase Passports:

1) Buy a Passport package at any cash register in Epcot (approx $12).
2) It includes a "passport" with pages for each country.
. . . the child takes the passport to the Kidcot station in each country
. . . the country stamps the passport
. . . they also print the child's name in the native language
. . . there is also a spot for coloring in the passport
. . . the country rep will say "hello", "goodbye", etc in the language
. . . the child also makes a mask
. . . the same mask gets a ribbon from each country and a stamp
. . . the ribbon s actually a token of the country
3) Makes a great keepsake for the child

Uh, I'm an adult and I want to do this! It sounds like fun.

 

[julie4423]

My daughter just collected the masks from all of the countries. It was free, and they just wrote on the mask instead of a book. I didn't even know there was another option. lol

 

[Bradsdadg]

You get alot of stickers per country. So what we did was to order the Passport ahead of our trip, and our 6 year old put them in his book on the plane ride down. Kept him busy for a little while Then, it also got him into visiting each country, at least a little more then in the past, to get the book stamped and signed. It's fun!

 

[mary0305]

We did the passport on our first trip and it was fun for the kids. Our last trip I had purchased a small blank journal to write down what we did daily. On our day to Epcot, our kids took out the journal and had the CM's write in that. The CM's took way more time with the journal than they did with the purchased passport. Some wrote two pages in their native language and then spent time with the kids translating it to them. They also stamped the journal.

 

[M&E]

This sounds like lots of fun. We are definitely going to do this. I have a whole afternoon planed for this 12:00 till we leave. We will of course need to eat lunch and dinner, but other than that we should have lots of time to get all of the pages stamped. I can't wait.

 

[jecskc]

My kids are 11 and 8 and they LOVE this !! I love seeing them experience it and it really does make for an excellent school project as well. They have Duffy bears now instead of the masks which my kids love to do as well. And this is free. What it is is a cardboard bear on a stick and the kids color a little at each stop. And they get is stamped and signed as well. TO tell the truth, I liked the masks better because the CM's attached charms to it and I loved those. Whether you choose the free bear or pay $12 for the passport, I highly recommend this activity as it keeps the kids interested in going to the next country. We always start in Canada. Enjoy your trip !! Epcot is my FAVORITE park !!

 

[samoht]

My kids were 5 and 7 the last time we went to DW (last year) and the passport books were well worth the $20 it cost for two of them. EPCOT can be a little boring for young kids, especially World Showcase, but they loved going to the kidcot tables and talking to the cast members there and getting their books stamped and adding a paper mask with the country's name stamped on themto a little piece of wood that was given to them at the first one we went to. The cast members even wrote the kids' names in their passport books in whatever language is spoken in their respective country's. Be ready to wait in a lot of of slow moving lines though, depending on when you go...

 

[cesariofamily]

My daughter 5 and niece 9 and friend age 17 all bought the passport. All three loved them. I thought the book was worth the price. It looked alot like a real passport and had great stickers. We also did the masks which was fun. I hear that they will sign anything so you could make one or use the autograph book. I think it depends on how you feel about another $25 bucks lol!

 

[Baloo]

Here's something fun my DS use to like to do...say hello to the CMs in their language! http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=358010


The passports are a lot of fun...here's what they look like inside.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

My nephews 9 and 12 really enjoyed it.

Between the World Passports and Kim Possible...World Showcase was the favorite part of their trip!

Plus, it kept them from spending a lot of money!!

 

[NaLisa]

Just returned from our trip, and my DDs (7 & 6) loved getting their passports stamped. They enjoyed talking to the CMs from different countries, and there was rarely a line at any of the Kidcot stations. When we returned to the condo at night, DDs would put the appropriate stickers from each country in their stamped passport. They have a really nice souvenir from WS that didn't cost a fortune (plus the great Epcot WS button).

The Kidcot stations are sponsored by Sharpie, so there are lots of colored Sharpie markers at each one. The CM will sign the passport in regular ink, and the kids use the Sharpies to color Duffy. You can pick up a Duffy at any of the stations (i.e. each country does NOT have a different Duffy). My kids spent about 30 minutes or so coloring Duffy at our first station, then they got the handle stamped at each country. To spread it our a bit more, you might want to have them color just some of Duffy at each station. I think my kids would have grown bored coloring 11 Duffys, one at each country.

Our first and favorite Kidcot station was in France. It sits inside the main gift shop right and there's a cafe seating area right behind it. DH and I enjoyed a croissant and adult beverage from Boulangerie Pattiserie while the kids colored away.

I also noticed that there was some sort of free Cars passport (paper) at a few of the stations and it was a Cars Challenge. Maybe someone else knows more about the Cars Challenge? But the $10 passport is much nicer and worth the money, IMHO.

 

[~Mandy~]

All of the responses reference kids who are a bit older than mine. My son will be 1 week shy of 4 years old. Will he be old enough to enjoy this type of thing? It sounds like something he will enjoy, just wondering if there are any experiences to report of younger kids?

Thx!

 

[mollybug2]

I used the beautiful pages in the DISigns board and had them printed in a big hardbound Shutterfly-type book (I had a free credit, even better!). It was large and the CMs in the countries loved it! There is a spot for the stamp but also for writing and so many of them wrote long, beautiful things to my daughter and enjoyed looking through the whole book with her. It was one of our favorite parts of the trip!