Tips about Characters and Epcot

I read about having characters sign the Disney Encyclopedia of Characters in your newsletter. It sounded like a fun idea! We added a twist to it. We printed pictures of our kids with the characters they saw in Disney World onto sticker/label paper and then we stuck each picture to the appropriate character page. If the character didn't have a page (such as Mary Poppins) we stuck her sticker to the back blank pages. Now the girls are staring in their own Disney book and I imagine it will be even more fun for cast members who may (if they're lucky) see themselves in our photos the next time we visit Disney World and use this book as an autograph book. The sticker idea could work with any Disney story book, of course, and I think it would be great combined with the personalized story books from Disney too! Thanks for the great tips! - Laura in Iowa

We visit Walt Disney World a few times a year, so we have quite a collection of autograph books filled with character signatures. In an effort to find a creative way for my daughters to get autographs, we took DVDs to character meals. At Disney's Hollywood Studio's Play and Dine at Hollywood and Vine, the Little Einsteins and JoJo were thrilled to sign copies of their DVDs -- just make sure that you take the paper insert out of the sleeve and have them sign that. Now we have autographed copies of my daughters' favorite DVDs! - Stacey Hannan Quinn

On our last trip to WDW we took along Disney's Jr. Encyclopedia of Animated Characters book to get autographs. The characters loved having their own special page to sign and it was easy for the kids to find the pictures since they are in alphabetical order. Now my kids will have a hardback book to keep forever with their wonderful memories -- like when Stitch drew devil horns on Lilo. It was fun to see the reactions of the characters when they saw their pictures in the book or when they saw a "villain." We had lots of laughs. - Patty W.

Purchase Disney's Jr. Encyclopedia of Animated Characters from Amazon.com (and support AllEars®): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/078683434X/debsunoffiwaltdi

Before we went to Disney World in May 2007, I got my daughter a princess character plate from Sam's Club with her picture on it as well. The princesses loved it and said they had never seen this before. It even had Jasmine and Mulan on it, so we had the challenge to find them in Epcot to sign. They loved not being left out because you don't see them as often on commercial items. You can also get this picture plate at CVS in the photo area. - Susan Looney

Another idea for character autographs... We found a calendar at a popular store for less than $5 that had pictures of the Disney princesses. Each month featured a different princess. So, while doing the character lunch in Epcot, we had each princess autograph the month with her picture. When you get home, your child can enjoy the autographs each month! We also found a Winnie the Pooh calendar and did the same thing at the Crystal Palace breakfast. After the calendar is used up, you still have a beautiful picture with the autograph that can be used in a photo album or scrapbook! Hope this tip helps! - Carla Starr

Don't take a normal-sized ink pen for the characters to use while signing the kiddos' autograph book. Remember, most of them have thick padded gloves on which makes it hard to hold a small/thin pen. We just purchased (June '07) a HUGE pen from our local office supply store. It is the size of a very large cigar -- I think you could hold it if you were wearing a catcher's mitt! It's a novelty pen of course but it is exactly what Mickey and Minnie need to be able to hold and write. Cost? Less than $3. - John Brock

EDITOR'S NOTE: For more character meet and greet tips, visit: http://allears.net/tp/fur.htm

When my family and I went to Disney World last November we knew we wanted to do something with the character autographs that we could use. Before we left for our trip, my mom cut fabric squares and ironed on fabric paper to make the fabric stiffer. I bought a small clipboard and fabric markers. I also bought grippers to put on the markers because the characters need a fat marker to hold on to. We had each character sign a fabric square. When we got home, my mom made two twin size quilts for my two boys. This is something they will enjoy for many years. - Pollyanna

Magic Kingdom and Epcot - My family and I just got back from Disney on June 8. We had a great time, but something I found very useful was that when we got to the park (around 11 a.m. -- we let the kids sleep in since we were at the park late the night before) the line for the monorail and ferryboat to Magic Kingdom was backed up to the ticket booths! So instead of wasting 30-45 minutes waiting to get on the monorail, we hopped over to Epcot since there was no line at all. We had 1:00 p.m. reservations at Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom, but we had enough time to see Turtle Talk with Crush (kids loved it!) and take a family shot in front of Spaceship Earth. This is definitely worth doing instead of standing on line. - Pamela Matzner

Magic Kingdom and Epcot - My family and I just got back from Disney on June 8. We had a great time, but something I found very useful was that when we got to the park (around 11 a.m. -- we let the kids sleep in since we were at the park late the night before) the line for the monorail and ferryboat to Magic Kingdom was backed up to the ticket booths! So instead of wasting 30-45 minutes waiting to get on the monorail, we hopped over to Epcot since there was no line at all. We had 1:00 p.m. reservations at Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom, but we had enough time to see Turtle Talk with Crush (kids loved it!) and take a family shot in front of Spaceship Earth. This is definitely worth doing instead of standing on line. - Pamela Matzner

For character breakfasts, I would recommend letting girls wear their princess dresses to the princess meals because it helps with the magical aspect of it. However, on extremely hot Florida days, try putting it on over their clothes a few minutes before your reservation or once you are seated. It will only take a moment and it will save the headache of your child whining about being hot. I put my daughter's dress on her after we sat down because I watched a slew of little girls crying outside while waiting in their hot and heavy dresses. - Mendy776

ALL PARKS - I have been to Disney many times and always carry a bag of some sort with me for sunscreen, wallets, camera, ponchos, and other things of that nature. I found that a clear backpack will get you through the line at the security checkpoint quicker than it normally takes. Since security can see through the backpack they normally do not have to open it up. If you are worried about everyone seeing what you have in the clear backpack, than all you have to do is take a hand towel and pull it out before the security check point and, once through, place it in the backpack so that everything that you have cannot be easily seen. It also helps if you get a little wet and need to dry off. - Kelly Henrichsen

ALL PARKS - We put small inexpensive inflatable bath pillows (about $.79 to $1.50 at most drugstores) in our parkpacks. When we go to see a show on a hard wooden or steel bench, or are stuck with only a concrete curbside seat to view the parade, we take out our pillows, blow them up, and voila -- a nice soft cushie for our tushie! - Michele Abbamondi

Epcot - I just wanted to let people with younger children know that Epcot is a great place to go with the younger set. My friends avoid this park with smaller kids thinking that it's over their heads! We went in January and found that to be completely untrue. In fact, that was our 5-year-old's favorite park! We found tons of characters that had hardly any lines, and both our kids (the other one is age 2) loved the countries' Kidcot stations. They loved having a mission to get to every station, and enjoyed all the sights and experiences along the way! - Janelle Kreiling

Epcot - I just wanted to let people with younger children know that Epcot is a great place to go with the younger set. My friends avoid this park with smaller kids thinking that it's over their heads! We went in January and found that to be completely untrue. In fact, that was our 5-year-old's favorite park! We found tons of characters that had hardly any lines, and both our kids (the other one is age 2) loved the countries' Kidcot stations. They loved having a mission to get to every station, and enjoyed all the sights and experiences along the way! - Janelle Kreiling

Tip for first timers at a Character Meal -- understand that the characters have a predetermined rotating path around the restaurant. It would be helpful if you assure your kids that their turn is coming soon. There was one family [at our character meal] who felt they were being skipped over and continually sent their kids to interrupt the characters at our table! If your meal is complete and you have not visited with a certain character, just let your server know. They typically do all they can to remedy the situation ASAP. - Jennifer Shepard