Tips about Characters and Magic Kingdom

On our recent trip to WDW, instead of taking an autograph book for my 6-year-old daughter, I marked pages of one of her Disney storybooks (one with 50 or so stories) with peel off tabs. When we saw the character in the story, she had it sign on that page. She had such a good time finding the characters in the book, and when they saw themselves they would point and laugh. My daughter had such a good time. Best of all, along with the memories of our trip, she has a keepsake for life to pass on to her children. - Sue Quitmeyer
P.S. I also dated each page the characters signed.

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 airplane 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.

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

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

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

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

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

My 6-year-old daughter Kelsey came up with a great idea for her autograph book. She saved the page next to the autograph to place a picture of herself and the character. She and her friends love going through the book looking at the autographs and photos. It has made a very special keepsake for her.

The other thing that I do to the autograph books is to write the kids' names along the page ends. Just hold the book tightly closed and write their names along the top edge of the book pages. It really helps when you are in a hurry pulling the books out of your fanny pack to give to three kids. No more opening the inside flap to tell whose book is whose. - The Fuchs Family of Winfield, Illinois

Consider putting names and addresses (contact information) on used film and autograph books. It's heartbreaking to find these items and have no reliable way to get them back to the owner. - A thoughtful Disney Theme Park Cast Member -