Autographs are Back – Now Let’s Get Creative with Them

Character meet and greets started returning to normal this week in Disney World, Disneyland, and on Disney Cruise Line. With the return to normal meet and greets also means the return of autographs from characters.

Autographs have always been a fun part of the experience when meeting characters. Each character has their own signature style (or stamp if we’re talking about Buzz Lightyear). Plus, it’s another way to interact during the meet and greet. One of the things we realized early on is that although the kids had fun getting signatures in the moment, they didn’t look at the autograph books much when we got home. So I started looking for other ideas to collect autographs.

There are so many creative ideas out there, so a quick Google search will give you plenty to choose from. The last time we collected autographs with the kids we used picture mats and brought multiple different color sharpies to use. The picture mats now hang in each of the kids’ rooms with a picture from the trip in the middle. It was fun watching the characters pick their spot on the mat, Mickey even spotted Minnie’s signature and put his hands over his heart. It was very cute! Tinker Bell asked the kids if the frame was a hat, because it has the picture cutout in the middle and she thought it was for her bun.

Our biggest concern was walking around with two picture mats and not ruining them. We ended up using a Disney bag from one of the stores and it was big enough to fit both frames and bunch the top closed for the water rides. There was close call when we rode Splash Mountain and sat in the front seats (we got soaked!), but I was able to keep the top closed tight enough and the mats stayed dry.

When we got home, I went to a craft store to get picture frames for the mats. The frames also came with a picture mat, so I taped the signed mat on top of the unsigned mat. Doing this helps the signed mat pop out a bit.

The kids loved meeting all the characters and having them sign the picture mats. Maybe we’ll try something else the next time we visit, but we really love the picture mats. Shoes, pillow cases, and shirts are other popular ideas, but there are plenty of ways to get creative if you are looking for something other than a book to collect autographs. So happy the meet and greets are back to normal and autographs are back!

Have you used anything other than an autograph book in the parks? If so, what did you use?

Thanks for reading!

Liz

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Liz

I love all things Disney, but my main love is for Disney World and I'm always planning for the next trip. Before becoming a Disney blogger, I was a radio DJ, so I guess I'm just continuing in the communication industry, just in a different form. I love talking Disney and I could talk about Disney all day. That's why I started blogging and created the Facebook group. The Disney community is full of friendly, helpful, and happy people...and I love being a part of it! If there is any Disney subject you would like to see covered just let me know! Need help planning your Disney vacation. Feel free to contact myself or Melissa at Never Stop Dreaming Travel Co. We love helping people plan their trips! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy! Don't forget to check out our Countdown to Disney app! Feel free to email me with suggestions of things you would like to see in the app :-)