Question about autographs & availability!

[obnurse2003]

I know that it is best to bring a "FAT" pencil so the characters can easily write with them, but how easy it is to get signatures?

I don't want to get my DD's hopes up taking an autograph book and then not getting any sigs.

Even during peak season, is it possible to at least get a dozen or so? Where do you get a good autograph book from??

 

[BounceyOne]

Autographs are as easy as taking pictures. You just have to stand in line for the character and wait your turn. It's hard to say how many you will get, depends on the day. We've had days where we saw a dozen characters and other days where characters were not our interest of the day.

The autograph book at disney is great. It is a nice treat to buy for children and it serves a purpose while there.

Good luck.

 

[sydnjakesmom]

You can buy the autograph books at the hotel gift shop and at shops throughout the parks.

 

[nataliesdaddy]

your DD will get tons of pictures and autographs - tons

the only thing that would prevent her from doing so is you and the hubby - first time I took my little one I didn't want to get her an autograph book because I was being a boor. didn't take but a few minutes before I realised how much it meant to her so I got one - and let me tell you - it was the best 3 dollar spent (something like that) the entire trip - daddy wanted to focus on doing rides and shows... but then I remembered this trip is for her and autographs are her priority no matter how lame I might think it is... well ... I am so glad my daughter wanted to get autographs... the park was so crowded that trip that autographs were a great time consuming activity and just to see her eyes light up and all the anticipation in her eyes as she watched them sign... it just doen't get much better then that!!! We got probably 25 to 30 autographs that trip - and I was a convert so this last trip...first thing I got her an autograph book and a huge wdw pen... (they are all over the place)... if you buy one of the large wdw pens though... get a backup... sometimes they don't work so well... if you return them even without a receipt they most normally will give you another one... but when the little one is having an autograph done...and it doesn't work... well lets say I probably panicked a tad bit more then my daughter... but I got another REAL QUICK !...

so this last trip we got over 60 autographs - I have no idea why but my little girl could care less if she had already gotten one... she got it again anyway... I think we have three minnie autographs... at least three goofy autographs... and when mickey realised there was already a mickey autograph he played tic tac toe with her in her book instead...she was way jazzed about that

there is a character great at the front hub at the entrance to MK where we got daisy ducks autograph as well as timba and others that was first thing at 9 - there is the crt which you will be doing - there is the judges tent (toon town) where you can get probably about 6 or more characters, there is mickeys house (toon town) you can get his, there is minnies house where in the back of the house after seeing her place there is a gazebo where Pluto hangs out... makes for a very cute picture also...

there is the crystal palace if you want to make sure you get most of the pooh characters but you need a ps...and then there is a meet and greet place under the awning in front of the big lagoon where 20,000 leagues under the sea used to be ( you can't miss it)... mainly I have seen robin hood and peter pan charatcers there (captain hook).
Then there is ariels grotto where you get ariels pic...

those are some of the places there are tons more...

 

[gshoemate]

Looks like you will be here in September so you will have no problems with waiting in line, well for the most part. If you going to Animal Kingdom, lines are usually not that bad for the Pooh characters. And if you go to Camp Minnie Mickey while the Lion King show is going, the characters are usually out looking for people. Go to Rafiki Planet watch to catch Pocohantis and Stanley, usually not many people waiting in line. You can catch Beauty and the Beast in France at Epcot and Snow White is usually out in Germany. In my opionon you will find most of the lines in MK, but still in September they shouldn't be to bad.

 

[DisneyBoundGals]

When I was planning our trip, I actually hadn't thought about getting a book to get autographs. We were two adults going and I didn't think my mom would be into that. But MAN, you should have seen her go! It was the funniest thing, the best thing I had ever seen! It really made MY trip to see her SO happy, to be like a kid again! On time, when we were at Epcot, we accidently walked into a character greeting at the International Gateway (Someone correct me. I KNOW that's wrong). We heard singing and cast members asking everyone to step to one side or the other. We turned around and there was a bus with Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck, Friar Tuck, Baloo as well as one or to more characters on a bus. I started taking pictures of the characters on the bus, before we knew that they would be getting OFF the bus for pictures and autographs. My mom grabbed my arm and we hustled over to the characters so we could get pictures and autographs! My mom was SOO into it and it made me so happy for her!

Angi

 

[nataliesdaddy]

Disneybound....how old is your mother? what you described is precious - I would like to do that for my mother sometime

 

[DisneyBoundGals]

Originally posted by nataliesdaddy
Disneybound....how old is your mother? what you described is precious - I would like to do that for my mother sometime

My mom is 56 years old. I'm 34 years old.
Angi

 

[nataliesdaddy]

thx for the answer to age question - will have to do that for my mother

 

[sln88]

How big do they need to be? I saw some cute Disney notebooks for $1 at Walgreens, but wanted to make sure they would be big enough for the characters to write in. I don't have measurements- maybe 4x6??

 

[nataliesdaddy]

well I don't know what the size of the disney world ones are - the ones at disneyworld are very inexpensive though - like 3 or 4 bucks at the most

 

[sln88]

3 x 4 is 12 vs 3 bucks at Walgreens(cheapo I know)
and I wanted to have the kids do what I read on another thread before we leave- put pics of characters on one page and let them autograph the opposite. I have pics of my 15 year old daughter with characters from when she was 2- it might be fun to put those in.

 

[tjkraz]

Hopefully I'll cover SOME ground that others haven't...

Each park has a number of permanent character greeting areas...some indoors, some outdoors...where you can find characters 80-90% of the day.

For example, at the Magic Kingdom:

- Mickey Mouse is at the Judge's Tent (backyard of his house) all day in Toontown.
- There will always be a group of characters available in the Toontown Hall of Fame. Usually they have 2 or 3 characters grouped together like Pooh, Tigger and Eyeore. Lines can be a drag, but you know what to expect at the end.
- Ariel appears most of the day at Ariel's Grotto in Fantasyland.

Now, aside from these permanently established areas, characters are often found greeting guests around "their" attractions. Look for:

- Buzz Lightyear outside the Space Ranger Spin.
- Goofy at Goofy's Barnstormer.
- Minnie Mouse at her house.
- Pluto in the backyard of Mickey's house (near his doghouse).
- Aladdin and Jasmine near the flying carpets.
- Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum near the Teacups.
- Jessie and Bullseye in Frontierland.

Lastly, at select times during the day, you will often find a group of characters appearing out in front of the castle or in the courtyard as you walk onto Main Street past the Railroad station.

MGM and Animal Kingdom have their own versions of the above. Epcot does have characters, but they are a little harder to find. There is a "Character Caravan" that runs at fixed times each day. Basically it's a double-decker bus carrying as many as a dozen characters who stop to sign for a period of time. You will find random characters in the World Showcase (Belle and Beast in France, Aladdin and Jasmine in Morocco), but only at certain times of the day.

Fear not. The characters will be out there waiting for you. Actually, you may be the one doing the waiting...

 

[cali2gagirl]

When we were there last week we got about 15 signatures in 2 days. The most were near the entrance to Dinoland in Animal Kingdom. We got Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Pooh, Tigger all in 1 shot of about 20 minutes. If you go into MGM at gate time...find a Cast Member to find out where characters will be. We found out Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc was across from ABC around 11:30... and Lilo & Stitch were near Voyage of the Little Mermaid at 11am. There was no one there then!!The only signatures we got at MK were the Country Bears...everyone else had such long wait lines... and my daughter was happy seeing them when she saw the line...said she didn't need an autograph...LOL
We got her the great Birnbaum Book at The Disney Store.. WDW 4 Kids by Kids with a signature section in the back...

 

[sln88]

autograph books?
I am worried about the size because of their costumes- I am sure it is hard to write in something that is too small.