Collecting Character Autographs

"We made it a mission to get as many autographs as possible."

As you turn each corner, you look to see if a character is out and about so your child (or you, come on now, admit it!) can get the autograph.

What do you do with the autographs??
Here are some ideas:

I have each character sign on one page [of my children's autograph books] and leave the other facing page blank. Of course, the autograph session is photographed. When I get home I trim the picture to size and put photo corner holders on the blank facing page. I then have the corresponding picture of my kids with the character's autograph on the facing page. My kids loved helping to put this together–and they were only 5 and 2! Also, the kids wanted to photograph characters that we didn't actually meet, such as at the parades. These pictures can also be put in this character photo/autograph book. My kids love to look through this book! Lisa Lipscomb

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When we do autographs, we take index cards and have the character sign those. We also take a picture of our kids with each character. When we get home, we put them in those clear photo protector sheets that hold 2 per page (top and bottom) front and back in those smaller albums. On the top half of the page we put the autographed index card and then put the photo at the bottom half. That way we could have the autograph and the picture on the same page. It works great because the index card is the same size as a picture and they are in the same place in their album! Sarah

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We incorporate the autographs my children collect on our trip into our vacation scrapbook. Instead of pulling pages out of the book, I scan the autographs and then print them out on the computer. Then I can put the character's autograph right next to the picture I took! Vicki Potter

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Last year we bought a Mickey and Minnie Millennium Poster. We took the
poster along with a fat Sharpee Marker instead of the usual Autograph book. We had as many characters as we could find sign it. When we got home, we had it framed and hung it in the hallway to the kids bedrooms. They just love it!! The characters really liked the poster idea. We even ended up having a few pictures drawn on the poster by the characters. It turned out really nice. (Wells)

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My kids, currently ages 12 and 9, have been collecting character autographs in the "official" WDW autograph books on every park visit for years and have filled a few. Now that they are older and still love to see the characters for pictures and autographs we decided to have T-shirts signed! Each child chose a WDW shirt with numerous characters pictured. I carried Sharpie markers with me. Characters whose picture was on the shirt signed next to their picture (without prompting). Characters that stamped, like Buzz and Woody, I simply went over the stamp with the Sharpie. The shirts look great and won't just sit on a shelf waiting for the next visit. Loulipsky

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We went in Nov 2001 and I found white hats that had an American Flag on them that said USA 2001 …They will always remember this special trip. The hats are on their bedposts and they still talk about how neat it was to wear these hats and all the people who complimented us on them. The characters LOVED signing them too!! Cheryl

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We have been on several trips to WDW and have always taken autograph books for our children, which the last couple of times we have tried to make a little different. On our last trip, we decided to turn the autograph book into a keepsake of the whole holiday by writing each letter of the alphabet at the top of a double page in a book. Then our children each found things to put in their books beginning with that letter to remind them of their holiday, e.g., on the "A" page one of my daughters glued a postcard of the aeroplane we traveled to America in, whilst another had "Alice" from Wonderland sign her autograph on this page. On the "P" page, one of my children stuck in some pressed pennies, whilst another put her Epcot Passport on this page. Each book is different and a great reminder. Sam Simmons of Tonbridge in the U.K

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After taking yearly trips to Disney World, all of the autograph books began to look the same. In order to make them more interesting once we got home, I turned them into photo albums. While we were in WDW, I would open the book for each character to sign so that only every other page was signed. Once we were home and got our pictures back from being developed, I would go through them and paste in the picture that corresponded to the time that my son got each autograph. We would write a little something special about the trip in the front of the book with the dates. It makes a great show and tell item for school and helps the kids remember the trip a little better. In addition, the books get pulled out to look through more often and not left in a drawer to be forgotten. Patti Gallagher

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I took my granddaughters to Disney World, took their pictures and put them across from the autograph, they are just delightful. Another tip is to take a permanent marker with a Disney sweat shirt and have your favorite characters sign the shirt. they are so cute and the signatures won't wash out. The characters got a big kick out of writing on the shirts. (The kids cannot have them on during the character signing. Cheryl Gray

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Instead of the normal autograph books, last year my then 6-year old son brought along a pre-washed cotton white T-shirt and several different colored laundry markers. He had the characters sign this T-shirt and wore it around the parks afterward. The characters ran up to him and wanted to sign it right on his back. He also enjoyed everyone commenting to him how awesome his shirt was! Tip: The signatures come out clearer if you stretch the shirt over a small hard object and buy the thick laundry markers so it's easier for the characters to hold. We used a travel size wipe holder and wrapped the t-shirt around that in a different location on the shirt for each character. Some of the characters even drew a small picture on the shirt. He took this shirt for show and tell last year and still wears it now (we bought a big shirt). Jennifer Wheeler

When we were at WDW, we made it a mission to get as many autographs as possible. We got lots of remarks on our Autograph books. Here is what we did. First stop: WALMART – go to the photo albums. They sell small photo albums, designed for one photo per page, that look like small binders with Mickey all over them. Next – from January to June, we saved all the pages from our Disney desk calendars. Cindy took the pix from the calendars, and put one on each page of the album. Then, when we found a character, the kids would turn to the picture of that character and have them sign next to their picture. Wouldn't you know, the first characters we ran into? All seven Dwarves. Makes for a great memento. (Jerry Smith Virginia)

I would like to add to what Jerry Smith had to say about the wonderful handmade autograph books. Cindy is my sister and she also made the books for my two kids, our parents, and some friends of theirs. So she made quite a few and they were wonderful! The best part was that the Characters loved them. They would stop and look at the pictures and then point to their picture and point to themselves and get excited. I believe it was Timon who gave us a big thumbs up. The calendars didn't have enough pictures of everyone so I downloaded some off of some great clipart websites. Then when we got home we included the photographs of the kids (and the adults) with the characters. (Deb Kopitskie, Maryland)

I took one of your readers advice about the autographs books and left a side for pictures of my children with the character signing the autograph. It's been a big hit with our family and friends. They think that I had a great idea and my children love remembering who signed their autograph books!! (Debbie Wagenmann)

We used hats instead of autograph books and it worked great. The kids had their pens in their fanny packs, and the hat was one thing we hauled all over the place that nobody minded hauling. Now they have these treasured hats hanging on their bedposts, instead of autographs tucked away in a book somewhere. I liked it. (Maura A.)