We've done Autographs, What to do next?

[momof2cutegirls]

We will be visiting WDW over Halloween with four children in all...my two girls, ages 6 and 4, and two nephews, ages 6 and 3. We've done autograph books the past two years, and the kids have really gotten into it. Should we continue with that or maybe do pin trading or pressed pennies?

Are they not old enough for pins? How much do pins cost typically when bought at WDW? They've gotten pressed pennies before and would like the little book to put them in. Are pressed penny machies only in MK and resorts or also in Epcot, MGM, etc.?

Maybe one of those AND an autograph book? I feel that they'd get more time with the character when signing their book and taking a photo as opposed to a photo only.

What are your thoughts?

 

[PDJPrinceCharming]

One thing I will say, pin trading is addictive! I ended up dropping over $100 on pins the last trip & most likely doing the same this year. The pins cost in the parks from $6.95 up to $15 for special pins or pin sets. It's a costly habit but it's pretty fun to go up to the CM's & trade for the pins you want & kids get to trade with CM's wearing green lanyards(they can trade with the blue & different color ones but the green are just for kids 3-12). So if you do wanna go get started, go to The Disney Store & buy some pins & trade away when you get to WDW.

 

[KingdomHearts]

We will be visiting WDW over Halloween with four children in all...my two girls, ages 6 and 4, and two nephews, ages 6 and 3. We've done autograph books the past two years, and the kids have really gotten into it. Should we continue with that or maybe do pin trading or pressed pennies?

Are they not old enough for pins? How much do pins cost typically when bought at WDW? They've gotten pressed pennies before and would like the little book to put them in. Are pressed penny machies only in MK and resorts or also in Epcot, MGM, etc.?

Maybe one of those AND an autograph book? I feel that they'd get more time with the character when signing their book and taking a photo as opposed to a photo only.

What are your thoughts?

I think autograph books are really cute, and if your children really enjoy it I would stick to that. They put new books out each year. We started to collect the pins, but this can be an expensive adventure with each pin running from about $5- $15 and I am sure that they sell even more expensive ones. Like I said we started it, but we didnt want to lug them around with us anymore, they are heavy around your neck! So now we just buy the pins we like and hang them up at our house on our lanyards and think about the special memory that each one holds. The penny collecting this is a cute idea. It is light weight, and less expensieve. I think per penny it was like 51 cents. They have penny presses all through out the hotels and parks. Hope this helps!

 

[bettyann29]

DD9 stuck to autographs for the first 2 trips.. once she had a bunch of them she got tired of waiting in lines to get the ones she already had so this last trip she concentrated on pressed pennies and pins and loved it!! we did stop for autographs that she didnt have but skipped the ones she did.. she ended up only getting 4 autographs this time as she already had the others..

 

[OneLittleSpark]

Penny pressing is a good way to put an extra focus on the holiday. They have machines everywhere around the property, in stores, attraction waiting areas, hotels and loads more besides. Half the fun of penny pressing is hunting down the machines! You'll be able to get a lot more pressed pennies for your money than the pins.

Another idea to keep them busy is Hidden Mickey spotting. You can buy a book to guide you round if you want (a lot of them are really hard to spot), and that will give you clues and hints as to which pictures or areas to look in. It makes the walks between places a treasure hunt, rather than another delay before riding Dumbo / POTC / Figment etc. This is the book we used (there may be others I'm not sure):

http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Mickey...9084636?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179397182&sr=8-1

Have a great trip, whatever you decide to do!

 

[makinorlando]

DD10 and I live locally to WDW - we do both pin trading & autograph collecting.

Pin trading is fun, and if you plan ahead, and find some "lots" of pins on EBAY from reputable dealers, you can save some money. There are also some off site stores that sell Disney pins (and I believe Disney Stores - I don't go to the mall often, and have not been in a Disney store in 4 years!) and I think they are a bit less - I had to buy some for DD on Sunday when I realized we forgot her trading pins they were $5.95 instead of $6.95+ - so I saved $4.00. PM me if you would like me to share some of the dealers I have dealt with and had good experiences. I recently bought a lot of 10 "mystery" pins all guaranteed to be official Disney of course, just did not know what they would be -for $35 inc shipping - so that made it $3.50/pin.

If you are doing pin trading its fun to try and find sets of CM lanyard pins that are available - we spent one day looking for the Disney bus set - we finally got them all, another was for a set of Coffee mugs with characters on each, or have your child pick one theme, or as I am sure most kids do - they just trade for whatever they like.

DD started that way, we would wind up with no pins to trade because she liked them all! Now she trades 90% of the time only for Chip and Dale pins. That does mean that we talk to lots of CMs and don't trade with them, but it's like a treasure hunt each visit! Sunday we went with 4 pins to trade, and came home with one new Chip & Dale, one Simba (another favorite) and I can't for the life of me remember what the other two are!!

As for autographs, we have books and books, and yes we have some characters multiple times, but in many cases it was a different location, and a different outfit - I am as much (or more) about the photos as the autograph. Now we try and find the rare characters we don't have, and yes sometimes she tells me CHARACTERS ARE BORING. We almost always have to visit Chip and Dale if they are out! I went a step further with the Chip & Dale theme, and made a small photo album of all the photos I had with Tara and "the boys", I made 4x6 photo cards for each character with a clip art, and had them sign that when we were at lunch at Garden Grill on Sunday. Each location that we had photos also had a "title" page with a clip art to separate them. "Dale" in particular took great interest in the album and spent about 10 minutes at our table (we were there at 11am - one of the first tables to be seated) looking through the books and gesturing about the photos. DD is 10 and these are really that only characters that she will interact with this way......

 

[Perditamarie]

I think autographs are always fun. Since you have done it a few times, why don't you pick out certain characters that you want to meet and just look for them -- there are some new characters out like Clarabelle, Horace, the Stepsisters and Stepmother from Cinderella, Marie, etc. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if you end up looking for much more! As pp mentioned, it is fun to make your own autograph books (I did the same thing w/clipart and had the books bound at Kinkos) and the characters give you a ton of attention. Minnie Mouse sat down at the meet and greet at Epcot and read my daughters cover to cover (my daughter has been in love with her ever since). Check out wdwautographs.com for some character info.

The pressed pennies are also a ton of fun and the machines are everywhere, and fun to look out for, since you know there is one bound to be near. My daughter liked to carry her pennies in her pocketbook and she still looks at them all the time (and puts them in her piggy bank!).

I wouldn't get into pin collecting unless you are willing to be a pin manager for everyone -- remembering whose pin is whose, negotiating trades, keeping track of traders and keepers, etc. The investment in pins can quickly add up and it is a good idea to invest in pin locks to replace the backs -- they come off really easy, making it really easy to lose pins.

 

[Sherlee]

My daughter still likes the autographs and tries to come up with something new each trip. She has done a hat, t-shirt, tennis shoes (a new pair of white canvas ones work great), autograph dog (guess who ended up carrying that thing around the parks), and post cards.

 

[nanlou]

We've done autograph books for our last three trips and DS7 is starting to tire of it a bit. So for our next trip I purchased white Disney logo shirts. We will use fabric markers for the autographs (they come in lots of different colors), and I'll take a firm piece of cardboard along to put under the shirt, so the characters can more easily sign it. It shouldn't be any more trouble to rearrange the cardboard and find a spot on the shirt for the autograph than it is to get out the autograph book and turn it to the right page. Both of my kids are really looking forward to having this souvenir! Too bad they have to wait several more months until we return to WDW.

 

[MrsJackSparrow]

Autographs are fun but kind of time-consuming. Almost makes character interaction a little mechanical. My DKs would rather talk to the characters and "play" with them a bit. We get great candid photos that way.

Also, I save shiny pennies all year long before our trip because they make the nicest pressed pennies. I buy a roll of quarters for each child from the bank. Pressed penny machines are everywhere.

http://www.parkpennies.com/wdwwaltdisneyworld/wdwpennies.htm

This site has a pretty good list of pressed penny and quarter machine locations throughout WDW property.

The pressed penny books are available at nearly every souvie store and are only about $6, I think, and have room for 36 pennies and 6 quarters.

Hope this helps!

Also, last year was the first year DS6 and DD8 did pins and I wound up with 3 lanyards (because I do pins too) most of the time. Kids were just sick of them most of the time. And pins are costly!

 

[mlill]

You could have them do Passports at Epcot World Showcase. My kids loved doing this each trip. Here is a link to the page in my Christmas 2006 TR that tells about our Passport day in Epcot...

Epcot World Showcase Passports

This might be a great way to keep the kids occupied while you sample the food booths at Food & Wine Fest!