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amismo
10-26-2003, 01:53 AM
Why oh why does every child need an autograph of Disney characters? My 2 yr old had to get a book after watching other (older) kids get autographs. There were some teens who MUST know that these are dressed up characters - and the signatures are (can I say it>>>) fake!

I always try to resist, but my daughter (a very follow the procedure kind of gal) refused to meet the characters without the $10 book and pen clutched in her hands. And then the painful process of the furred and gloved hands wrapping around pens tryign to figure out where to sign - the CMs must hate the autograph books as well.

But can I say - we had a WONDERFUL time otherwise!

MonorailMan
10-26-2003, 03:05 AM
Why oh why does every child need an autograph of Disney characters?
Well, see it's all part of the fantasy meets reality of Disneyland. So, we all know that there are people "protraying the role of a character", and I think that many people/kids/teens like it, because it's something easy and fun to get! :)

There were some teens who MUST know that these are dressed up characters - and the signatures are (can I say it>>> ) fake!
Well, I would have to say that even if the sigs wouldn't hold up on a legal document, the character do one eck of a job signing them. Fake or not, they also get bonus points in this years MA. ;)

I always try to resist, but my daughter (a very follow the procedure kind of gal) refused to meet the characters without the $10 book and pen clutched in her hands.
The advantage is, is if she keeps that book, she can look on it into later years, and remember the great trip she had!

And then the painful process of the furred and gloved hands wrapping around pens tryign to figure out where to sign - the CMs must hate the autograph books as well.
Last time I checked, that was there job description. ;)
:fez:

Nephythys
10-26-2003, 05:18 AM
I thought they were silly too until I saw the delight on my daughters face as she got them signed. It was a fun game to see which characters we could find. We even went back to find ones we had met earlier in the week before we got the book.

We have the Princess one with the picture sleeves and it sits by her bed and is a great souvenir. The signatures are delightful. Timon signs with a bug dotting his "i". The Princesses all have swirly pretty signatures. And due to some great character effort Rose has a personalized signature from Esmerelda. It was great fun!

I plan on doing it again!!:D It's a wonderful part of the fantasy made reality by those CM's and characters!

miss_sonja
10-26-2003, 08:58 AM
After reading about them here at MP, we got one first thing for our then-3.5 yr old on our trip back in April. She liked flipping through the book. That night, she got one autograph, from Goofy at Goofy's Kitchen, and that was it. She resisted bringing out the book for the rest of the trip, even though she enjoyed meeting the characters, especially the princesses.

At home, I filled the book with pictures from our trip and now she loves that thing! She brings it to friends' houses, has 'written' subtitles for the pictures using her special Princess autograph pen.

We'll bring it on our next trip (December), though there's not really any room for more actual autographs.

IMHO, they're cute and fun for the kids, but kind of a time grabber when there's a big line for a character meet & greet.

disneyfreak168
10-26-2003, 09:16 AM
I absolutely LOVE autograph books! I also like the princess signatures. Ariel dots her 'i's with all these bubbles going up.

And Cinderella! she signs it really prettily (?) and draws the pumpkin coach/carriage. :)

I especially like it when they personalize it. :D :D :p :p :D :D :p :p

lisap
10-26-2003, 10:14 AM
I like them for all of the above reasons, plus the fact that those with an autograph book get a few extra seconds of personal time with the character while they chat and sign. After waiting in those very long lines, anything that will stretch out that moment is worth a few extra bucks.

sleepyjeff
10-26-2003, 10:17 AM
Originally posted by lisap
After waiting in those very long lines, anything that will stretch out that moment is worth a few extra bucks.

Here, Here:)

MammaSilva
10-26-2003, 10:32 AM
I couldn't agree more LisaP!!!!!!

This last trip I played tour guide for my friends first ever visit...we got blessed big time, every time we went thru the tunnel we managed to see Mickey or one of the other Fab Five near the Mad Hatter shop.....

The girls got to say hello and they have autographs from each 'visit'.... I plan to sneak one out of Brandys autograph book and include it on her scrapbook page....that extra minute or two times each character .. pretty soon that book has more than paid for itself!

EandCDad
10-26-2003, 11:03 AM
Originally posted by amismo

I always try to resist, but my daughter (a very follow the procedure kind of gal) refused to meet the characters without the $10 book and pen clutched in her hands.

One thing you can try is to bring your own homemade or store bought autograph book. Any notebook or even construction paper folded in half and stapled at the fold will work. Have your daughter decorate it with Disney stickers and viola, an autograph book at a tenth of the cost.

priyanka59
10-26-2003, 12:34 PM
the last time me and my friend went, we thought of something really awesome to do so it would be a trip we would never forget! we thought of asking like the churro man and the popcorn dude for their autographs and it turned out to be awesome! they were so happy when I asked them to autograph my autograph book. I have lots of people in there, like "Ice Cream Lady," "Soda Man," "Fastpass Chick," "Pretzel Lady," and a ton of other people.

Autograph books are awesome, and I am a teen but I still wait in those dreaful lines just to go give Aladdin a hug and tell Jasmine she is so lucky she got to marry such a cute guy, or to go get a hug from the one who started it all, Mickey Mouse...

They make us feel special!!!!

tjrj
10-26-2003, 12:41 PM
Must echo what LisaP and MammaSilva have already said. It makes a great personalized memento of our trip and adds to my kiddos personal time with the character which is a good thing after waiting in the line.

As for the hard time the non-face characters have wrapping their furried hands around a regular size pen-that's the truth. Which is why we always buy a larger size pen-found that a large Sharpie works well.

stinkerbell
10-26-2003, 03:30 PM
I used to hate them as well, especially when our oldest was too young to know about them......

But now, the girls love having the books and they spend a LOT of time looking through them. I think we have about 8 of them lying around the house, including the Princess one described above. That's a wonderful souvenir!

Once, we left one on the plane, and a very nice person from Seattle found it and mailed it to Courtney, who in turn, sent them a nice thank you card. One of her favorite memories.

ralfrick
10-26-2003, 05:03 PM
I think my boy may have been happy just saying hi, but upon seeing the others with their books...

The upcoming trip I'm getting a photo album and putting in past pictures of him with characters, so he can get them signed. If there are any we don't have photos of already, he's going to get them to sign an empty sleeve, and I'll take a pic to add later.

wannabe-disneygeek
10-26-2003, 05:13 PM
I have to whole-heartedly agree that those autograph books are some of our most-treasured souveniers from our recent trip. The look of awe and amazement on Kelsey's face in particular made them worth their price 10 times over.

There was this one moment in particular right after we arrived and saw Mickey for the first time that's imprinted in my heart forever (which is a good thing since I was so caught up in the magic of the moment that it never occured to me to actually take a picture of it ROFL-- thank goodness MammaSilva was in her right mind and took one for me!)

Kelsey finally got up to Mickey and turned to look up at him and you could just see the moment painted on her face: "Hey, that guy looks like Mickey Mouse! No, wait, that really is Mickey Mouse. Holy Hannah, I'm sitting in my wheelchair next to MICKEY MOUSE!!!" She threw her little arms out, gave a squeal of delight, and enveloped him in the biggest bear hug she could possibly manage.

Truely it was a moment sprinkled liberally with pixie dust for her, and for me, too, and we get to re-live it every time we go carefully through her autograph book. Priceless.

...--Alli

Magical
10-26-2003, 07:00 PM
I love the autograph books!

I bought one at a 1/2 off bookstore, and it's such a great souvenier. Sometimes, if I flip through the book, I'll look at one of the signatures and recall that exact moment! They're memories! :)

You don't have to buy a 10 dollar autograph book - why not have her decorate a blank one with her drawings of favorite disney characters and stickers, like one mentioned before? :)

However, it CAN be a pain watching everyone push & shove to get their favorite character's autograph. But we find a character with a line that is short [heh :)].

Lashbear
10-26-2003, 07:55 PM
Originally posted by MammaSilva
...every time we went thru the tunnel we managed to see Mickey or one of the other Fab Five near the Mad Hatter shop.....
WOW !! Did you get Carson's autograph ? He's my favourite one of the Fab 5 !!








:~D :fez:

MonorailMan
10-26-2003, 08:57 PM
Originally posted by Magical
But we find a character with a line that is short [heh :)].

Finally a purpose for DCA! :D :p :~D

kawfeadikt
10-27-2003, 10:32 PM
Originally posted by Lashbear
WOW !! Did you get Carson's autograph ? He's my favourite one of the Fab 5 !!








:~D :fez:

Uh, don't you mean Rose or Webber? :D

Cinderella
10-28-2003, 07:28 AM
On our trip last week I refused to buy the princess theme or mickey themed books. Instead, my daughter had the characters sign a 4x6 pad of paper. I slipped each signature into a small photo album (The ones that are somewhate holographic with DL characters on front) and will include the photos with it once developed. This way the sigs are on white paper and I can scan and use them in my son's scrapbook as well (the princess book is pink paper with lines and wouldn't look so hot in my son's album).

We loved Ariel's bubbles and and the Evil Queens poison apple.

Cinderella

lasekeye
10-28-2003, 08:00 AM
We are planning on stopping at the Disney Outlet (Block at Orange) store before we arrive at DL.
Our girls will choose a Disney T-shirt and we will have the characters autograph them!!
At 8 &13, they feel a bit old for actual autograph books.

SacTown Chronic
10-28-2003, 08:04 AM
Disney autographs are ok in my book but what I despise are autographs in the real world. How can a name scribbled on a piece of paper by a person that is signing stuff as fast as possible have any meaning? I like Bill Russell's approach: He refuses to give his autograph but he will spend a minute talking to the person that requested it. A much more treasured memory in my opinion.

oohykitten
10-28-2003, 04:23 PM
I personally love them, however when is Disney going to get out "boy" books with the picture sleeves :|

AVP
10-28-2003, 04:24 PM
Originally posted by oohykitten
I personally love them, however when is Disney going to get out "boy" books with the picture sleeves :| Just released - Stitch and Buzz, a blue book with sleeves and a pen loop!

AVP

ChipmunkStar
10-28-2003, 08:16 PM
Actually, I haven't seen one with Buzz. The current offerings of Autographs books seem to be one of three:

1. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Donald, Daisy, Chip, and Dale all wearing Disney park merchandise (oh don't even get me started on the plain see-through of the marketing on those things!!!!) Blue Background.

2. The Princess books with Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Jasmine, and Belle with the photo pockets.

3. The "boys" books with Mickey, Chip and Dale, Goofy, Pluto, Prince Ali (What the?!) and Stitch. Kind of a "Pow!" looking background on the pages.

Then there are of course the plain notebooks sold at the parks that people use for autographs books (You know, they have like TInkerbell on the front and background, or Minnie polka dots, etc.)

I personally do not like autographs books, but that's a rant I've been through before (if you really want to look for it, I believe we had a discussion just like this a while ago in the "Parenting in the Parks Forum).

dasrock
10-29-2003, 12:15 AM
next time we go, I'm getting CM autographs:D