What should I bring for my kids to get character autographs??

[rcpae]

My girls are 8,9, and 11. Would you suggest an autograph book, or something else since they are a little older?

 

[kimmbagley]

Last time we went in 2002, my two girls were 11 & 7. They absolutely loved the idea of the character signing a hat that we purchased at one one of the shops. They still have them hanging in their rooms.

 

[fun2bmomof3]

On our first trip we bought some little photo albums at wal-mart. The little soft plastic ones just the size of the picture that alot of people carry around for showing off their kids/grandkids etc. They each got one with a different picture of Mickey on it; $1 each. We then got blank index cards and put 2 or3 in each slot. While waiting in line they would pull out a blank card and put it on top of the album . If there was a group of characters they'd pull out as many as there were characters, making sure to give each character a blank card. Each morning we would make sure to refill with more blank cards.
Then at home I made a big photo album and put the autographs next to each child's picture with that character.
We reuse the albums every year.
We've bought the kids the disney pens with the ears; but personally I like a thin tip sharpie marker better. Shows up better than ink for viewing autographs later.

crissy

 

[Thekidsmom]

They have autograph books at WDW that the character autographs one side of the page and there is a little pocket on the other side to put the photo of the child with the character. These were the best for us. Now the kids can look back and remember getting the autograph and actually see the character. Especially when you can't make out the autograph you can just look at the picture and you know who it was.

 

[jenstang25]

They have autograph books at WDW that the character autographs one side of the page and there is a little pocket on the other side to put the photo of the child with the character. These were the best for us. Now the kids can look back and remember getting the autograph and actually see the character. Especially when you can't make out the autograph you can just look at the picture and you know who it was.

are those hard to find? that is what i was wanting to do with my daughter's book...have the pic of her with character with autograph on corresponding page...was going to make one but didn't realize that wdw has them?

 

[rt2dz]

We have generally just used the plain old autograph books, having the characters sign one side and leaving the other side blank for pictures. Just cut the pictures down to size and put in with a glue stick. I just think the official Disney autograph books tend to hold up a little better than the ones we have found elsewhere.

My son always tends to get a hat with a character on it (Mickey Visor, Goofy hat) and he always gets that character to sign his hat. He loves wearing the hat with the characters signature at home too.

Next time, I am thinking of getting the plain white t-shirt for characters to sign (using laundry proof pen) or a canvas tote bag. I think that might be something a little neat and different.

 

[AlaskaMOM]

Don't forget the BIG pen. A lot of the characters have gloves of some sort and can't handle a regular pen. If you can get the pen before leaving it will be MUCH cheaper.
Last year my then almost 16 y/o DD bought her own book and pen and had the most fun getting the autographs of...... every...... single....... character.........

 

[tinkernelllec]

I like the Sharpie markers too, and I love the idea of the individual index cards for the sigs, no worries about a double sig, like one on the front and one on the back.

 

[Thekidsmom]

are those hard to find? that is what i was wanting to do with my daughter's book...have the pic of her with character with autograph on corresponding page...was going to make one but didn't realize that wdw has them?

You can find them at the most gift shops. They are gold, I think because of the Happiest Celebration on Earth. They also come with a gold pen.

 

[DizzyFORDisney]

Here is what we did. Each child had a photo mat (fits in an 8x10 frame but holds a 5x7 photo). Have the characters sign all around the mat in different colors and when you get home insert a favorite photo of the child (maybe with a character?) from the trip. The kids loved doing it and we have a great wall display! I just don't know what everyone does with a book of autographs - at least the photos mats serve a USEFUL purpose. Plus - once the mats were full of autographs we left them in the room and did not have to worry about carrying them around or waiting in 'character lines'!

 

[Arkiegirl]

I love that idea of the photo mat, BUT.........how did you transport it around. Was it not hard to not bend it, get it wet, etc.? Also, did they have plenty of room to write their names--I know last time some of the characters wrote huge.

Great idea--thanks for sharing. I just might have to give it a try. You can usually find cheap photo mats at places like Hobby Lobby cant you?

 

[striker3636]

On our trip we used a 7 X 7" scrapbook book for autographs. We had the characters sign one side, and when I got home I placed the photos on the other. I scrapbook, so I decorated a bit, but don't feel like you have to. What is nice about this is that it is big enough for your photos, no matter whether vertical or horizontal. My kids look at it all the time and show to friends. The album I carried around in my backpack in a ziploc bag and still looks new. I have read on the DIS that the autograph books do fall apart once they are pretty full (adding all the pictures might put too much stress on the spine?) Just try not to put too much into them if using the park ones.

This next trip my niece is coming and we have discussed this idea: I am going to bring cardstock 4 x 6" size for the characters to sign. We'll carry these around in a small cheapie photo album with pockets, and use a small clipbard for signings. Afterwards she is going to put them in a larger scrapbook along with all of her photos. Again, something you can make as simple or fancy as you want. My niece is very creative and is looking forward to decorating her own book (she's 7). Have fun!

 

[littlelaura]

When i went as a child( many years ago) with my parents, we just used the autograph books sold at MK.the only downside was that some of the characters signed autographs back to back, so that we couldn't tear them out and put them in an albulm. i would recommend taking each autograph out of the book once it has been signed to avoid this happpeneing.

 

[mermaidlagoon]

My kids like to bring a small book about their favorite character or two .I may bring a small golden book or two. maybe a princess collection or Toy Story for that group to sign. I find the kids look back on a special story very often and remember meeting their favorite character, you could even put a pix of child with them inside the front.

 

[Fastcars]

We used the Sharpie Click pens last year and they worked great. We had characters to sign things other than the autograph book and the Sharpie worked great. The characters could make the pen click with those cumbersom gloves. Tigger gave a thumbs up on using the Click by Sharpie
So get you Sharpie before you go to WDW

 

[PixieDust32]

We used the Sharpie Click on different colors, and the blue books from the world.
Also i made a t-shirt for DD and the characters wrote on the back of the shirt.

 

[thelionqueen]

Hello all, I made my kids their own autograph books to take. I let them pick out their favorite character, favorite color and size and helped them make it nice. I think they turned out very nice and only cost about $3.00-4.00 each.
Then when I get home, I am going to put the photos of the character next to the autograph, which will be fun and a great keepsake. Got the ideas from other disers about making it myself BTW.. The pictures are the ones I was selling on ebay (got a little crazy with the Hobby Lobby Sale) and my son's books are personalized with their names and a little different, but you can get the idea. Anyway, I had fun doing it this way!

 

[marthachick]

Hello all, I made my kids their own autograph books to take. I let them pick out their favorite character, favorite color and size and helped them make it nice. I think they turned out very nice and only cost about $3.00-4.00 each.
Then when I get home, I am going to put the photos of the character next to the autograph, which will be fun and a great keepsake. Got the ideas from other disers about making it myself BTW.. The pictures are the ones I was selling on ebay (got a little crazy with the Hobby Lobby Sale) and my son's books are personalized with their names and a little different, but you can get the idea. Anyway, I had fun doing it this way!

Great job! These are sooo cool!!!! Did Mickey & Minnie come from Hobby Lobby? Are they appliques?

 

[stitchluva22]

Last time i went i had a plain white t-shirt and put a piece of cardboard underneath and had all the characters sign it with a sharpie.

 

[thelionqueen]

Great job! These are sooo cool!!!! Did Mickey & Minnie come from Hobby Lobby? Are they appliques?

Yes everything came from Hobby Lobby and the "appliques" are actually "embroidered stickers." They have AMAZING super stick on the back of them and are smoothe so they can go through the "wringer" of Disney.
Thanks for the compliments. P.S. the books and stickers were both 50% off last week....not this week though. However, t-shirts are 50% off this week, yeah!!!