Going to Disney: A Disney Character Autograph Tip is a post by Angie of Real Life at Home.
During our kids’ first trip to Disney World (in 2011), we were excited to whip out our autograph books to have a special keepsake from our trip. Because we had a free dining plan, our trip included many character meals and we easily filled half of the pages in their autograph books.
It was while we were waiting for Mulan on that trip that I saw the autograph books of the kids in front of us in line. Whereas ours were just written in with pen, theirs featured lots of brightly colored Sharpie marker signatures. All I could think was, “Oh man – that looks so good!”
So, when we returned to Disney World again the following year (2012), we came ready with our autograph books from the previous year and a handful of different colored Sharpie markers. Although it meant a few extra things for me to carry, rather than just one large, character-sized pen, it was beyond worth it.
A Disney Character Autograph Tip for Your Next Trip to Disney World or Disneyland
First, there’s this reason:
I picked Piglet because the signatures were extremely similar from one year to the next. I know that they strive for that, but that’s not always the case, we found. The pen version (bottom) was from our first year, and the marker version (upper) was from our second year.
While I know that the top one looks a bit better because it’s bigger, just look at the difference it makes to have that fun, brightly colored autograph, rather than the plain pen one. Now, imagine if your whole autograph book was either filled with just plain pen or if you could turn each page and see more colorful marker.
There’s a second reason that I’m a big fan of colorful Sharpie markers now, and it has nothing to do with how the autographs look.
As I mentioned, we brought along a handful of colors. I’ll probably do more next time we go. If we had a color that we thought would be particularly special to that character, we made sure to give them that color to use. Not only did that make a nice touch for our autograph books, but many of the characters noticed and commented on it/gestured about it. If they didn’t notice, sometimes we told them something like, “We picked a pink marker for you, since your dress is pink.” That always got a a positive reaction.
Our very favorite reaction was from Tigger at the Crystal Palace restaurant. We didn’t even need to point out to him that we had given him an orange marker. He immediately started jumping around and wildly pantomiming to us. When we couldn’t figure out what he was trying to tell us, he started to act like he was crying.
After some guessing, more gestures, and him making a smiley face in one of the kids’ books, we finally figured it out and blurted out, “You’re so happy that we gave you an orange marker to use that it made you cry?” He excitedly pointed that that was right, and we all laughed and hugged. Such a fun memory, and all just because we had an orange marker with us.
If you’ve been to Disney World or Disneyland, do you have any great autograph tips?
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This post was originally published on Many Little Blessings (which is now Real Life at Home) on December 15, 2013. It was last updated in October 2016.
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Great tip and I’ll remember that when we take our Grans to Disney. Christmas blessings!
We went this summer and got a few princess autographs — all in pen. I wish I had thought about Sharpies! Definitely will have to bring a few next time!
I worked as Mickey’s ‘Friend’ at WDW in 2012. Let me tell you, characters LOVE Sharpies! They are easier to hold, write with, and SEE. You will get much, much, much better signatures with a thick pen. Those silly little palm-sized pens are too small for character’s gloves!
Thanks for the agreement, Courtney. We’re planning our next trip, and that makes me feel good about planning to take various colored Sharpies again. 🙂
This is also really helpful for fur characters as the sharpies are bigger and easier for them to hold/control which can make the autograph look that much better
On my daughter’s first trip to Disney when she was 5, we had the Disney Florist deliver the autograph book, character pen, mouse ears, etc in a Minnie Mouse bag with her name on it. I added other treats that I knew my daughter would like and it helped keep the cost down. When we returned, I scanned the autographs and made an 8 x 8 autograph scrapbook with the signature on one page and a picture of the character and my daughter on the other page. I added stickers or embellishment that were special to that character. Now my daughter has the original autograph book plus a bonus book with pictures of her with the characters.
That’s a great way to be able to decorate and embellish without doing anything to the originals. Great idea! 🙂
Could you tell me how to set up having the disney florist deliver something?
We are our planning my daughters first trip and was looking for great tips for the autograph book. Thank you sharing your idea… I have one question does it smudge the autograph if they write left handed.
A helpful idea may be to take the retractable (clicky) Sharpies so you don’t have to hassle with caps all the time.
I love that idea! I haven’t owned any of those, so I forgot all about them. Not having to worry about caps would make it much easier. So smart! 🙂
My husband and I love meeting the characters!
I do something a little unconventional in that I head to the craft store and get some 8 1/2 x 11 card stock in various colors and have as many characters sign it as can possibly fit (we use about 3 pieces a trip) and then when we get home I frame it in a document frame and they hang in my hallway.
I also use various colored sharpies as long as they show up on the color of paper I bought. Some years I just do a dark paper and gave silver and gold sharpies. ( I have found that the characters love being able to pick their own color)
The paper is about $0.15 a sheet and I reuse the same 3 frames so it is a cheap way to decorate the house!
We have used Mr. Sketch smelly markers for our autograph signatures! This has been by far the best choice!!!! We’ve had characters choose markers, some take their time smelling the markers, and even using multiple colors.
I *LOVE* Mr. Sketch smelly markers! What a fun idea!
I actually still have a set of them that I got for Christmas when I was eight years old and they still work!
The clickable sharpies are also really nice for travel because you don’t have to keep track of those pesky caps.