Happy Friday: Homemade Disney Autograph Books

By Collin | Owner

Jan 24, 2014 @ 5:27 PM MST

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Sent from reader, Melanie:

My family and I are taking our first trip to Disney this February and I decided to make my own autograph books instead of purchasing books from Disney ranging from $12-$25 for 12 picture inserts or less. I printed out images of autograph pages found on a yahoo search onto cardstock and placed them into a larger photo book from Walmart for $5 each. One side is for autographs and the other side will be a place for a pic of my kids with that character that I took at Disney. I was able to save money and have more space for autographs and photos.

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onlinements 71

valerie January 24, 2014 at 5:36 pm MST

Wow very smart idea. Theme parks sell expensive stuff like autograph books or even a pen like that in the pic can cost up to 10 bucks. Thank you for sharing 🙂

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Melanie January 24, 2014 at 6:16 pm MST

I got the pens at the dollar store. Characters with big hands will be able to sign them easier 🙂

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Kami July 23, 2015 at 5:17 pm MST

Melanie do
U have the autograph images in a email able file .. I’d love to do this for my daughter

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Melissa November 8, 2019 at 8:27 am MST

Do you happen to have the files for the pages?

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steph January 24, 2014 at 5:38 pm MST

Adoreable! Keep up the good work 🙂 Safe travels

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Melanie January 24, 2014 at 6:19 pm MST

Thankyou

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David February 1, 2016 at 2:19 am MST

Do you by chance still have this file?

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Priscilla January 24, 2014 at 5:41 pm MST

Hello Hip2savers!
Off topic, but my daughter is doing a 100 days of school project, where she needs to collect and display 100 small items. My husband and I thought it would be a good way to teach her to give back so we are collecting 100 BOX TOPS. So far we have 70, but we need 30 more . If anyone is willing to donate any number of box tops to our project, please email me at [email protected]

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Christine January 24, 2014 at 5:49 pm MST

Sent you and email:)

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Christine January 24, 2014 at 5:49 pm MST

*an

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brandice January 24, 2014 at 5:56 pm MST

Good idea.
..now if only I had that many box tops. Still trying to figure out what to do for my son’s 100 days of school project

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Priscilla January 24, 2014 at 6:03 pm MST

Brandice, I asked friends and family and was able to get 70 in a few days. After going onto the BOX TOPS website and getting a product list I looked in our home and found 20 that were in my closet or pantry. Its possible to accumulate quite a few in just a matter of days! It was fun to go “hunting” for BOX TOPS with my daughter 🙂

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Mj January 24, 2014 at 6:06 pm MST

My kids had done push pins which they later used in school. Also, 100 index cards and other supplies that could be later used in class or school. Hope that gives you ideas.

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Priscilla January 24, 2014 at 9:05 pm MST

Great idea with the push puns, gonna have to remember that for next year… We were not allowed to use food or coins.

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JA January 24, 2014 at 6:13 pm MST

My son drew a big cookie on a poster board and glued on 100 chocolate chips. He probably ate 100 more!

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CW January 24, 2014 at 7:08 pm MST

I do 100 days in my classroom- 100 pennies (teach money skills). Also Cheerios, raisins, toothpicks, candy valentines conversation hearts, and Fruit Loops are also ideas.

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sue January 24, 2014 at 7:17 pm MST

We drew a giant fish bowl on a poster board and glue 100 goldfish crackers to it.

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Kristin January 25, 2014 at 2:13 am MST

We did a poster board 100 topping pizza
10 toppings and cut on ten of each
Then glued the whole thing on a cheap circle pizza pan from Walmart
Came out really cute

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Stephenie January 25, 2014 at 11:25 am MST

We are gonna do 100 fingerprints nothing to fall off the board or have to glue!

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T January 24, 2014 at 5:48 pm MST

Great idea!!! Have a great trip!

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Melanie January 24, 2014 at 6:13 pm MST

Thankyou

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Mary January 24, 2014 at 5:53 pm MST

There is a show on tonight at seven on the food network about one of their chefs who takes his family to Disney world. Might be worth watching if you are going.

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Connie January 24, 2014 at 5:53 pm MST

These are great! I hope you have a fabulous trip! With all the wonders that Disney has to offer, getting the autographs (and hugs) from the characters was my daughter’s very favorite part.

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Amy January 24, 2014 at 5:55 pm MST

We love Disney. The press a penny machines are what my kids go for. Instead of always digging for change each kid gets an m&m minis tube empty of course and you fill it with 2 quarters and 1 penny. It’s in order so no searching for change and when it’s gone it’s gone.

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Laura C January 24, 2014 at 8:01 pm MST

Great idea, Amy! 🙂

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Melissa January 25, 2014 at 12:59 pm MST

My kids also like the press a penny machines. Great idea on the m&m tube for perfect change. When we get home, my kids earn those coins by doing chores. When they earn 5, they get to have “screen time”. That way the Disney coins are useful and not just more STUFF cluttering the house.

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teresa haun January 24, 2014 at 6:11 pm MST

This is awesome, do you pull the card out?

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Melanie January 24, 2014 at 6:21 pm MST

Yes and put it on the outside pf book for them to have a solid surface then just put it back in the sleeve

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Hollie November 1, 2014 at 10:29 am MST

Just curious…was this easy to pull them out and put them away? Seems stressful but worth the finished product.

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Tina March 3, 2015 at 8:44 am MST

I love this idea too but worry about the extra step of having to have my child pull out the sheet and not have it fall on the ground, etc. A small clip board might be helpful. Would love to hear how it works out with your beautiful autograph book

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Romo Ruz November 7, 2015 at 11:24 am MST

Did the autograph cards last month. Carried them in a small waterproof pouch. Once we got home, they went into the photo/autograph book, and we will never to take them out again. We look at them but no one is allowed to take them out. Worked great for me.

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M January 24, 2014 at 6:20 pm MST

FYI, you can buy some at Walmart or Target there for only a few bucks, but I still like the idea a lot, since you can put the pictures there later!!! (plus not everyone has a car/time to go to the stores while at Disney).

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star22 January 24, 2014 at 6:26 pm MST

Very clever!
Off topic but I was wondering if any of you ladies are american eagle/aerie members and had a 25% off code they emailed a while ago that you don’t plan on using? Please email it to me at
[email protected]

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Z January 24, 2014 at 6:43 pm MST

Whoever needs top boxes- pls let me know. I am collecting them for a while so have planty to share and my kids dont go to school yet.
Pls email me and let me know how many you need.
[email protected]

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Z January 24, 2014 at 6:44 pm MST

Melanie, thank you for the idea. Going to Disney in March so will still it :)))

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Melanie January 24, 2014 at 7:04 pm MST

Your very welonlinee, im going to universal too and you can do these for despicable me,spongebob,dora,and other characters

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Mia January 24, 2014 at 6:55 pm MST

We just went at Christmas time 🙂 I couldn’t believe that my daughter’s were both wearing tennis shoes without socks! Ugh! Couldn’t find them in the AM…$17.50 for 3 pairs of socks @ Disney! Ugh!
My best advice is to download the Disney app. It was very accurate on waiting times. Also, we stayed at the hilton and got into the park early. This is so worth it! My kids went on space mountain 3 times before 7:30! In the afternoon there was a 110min wait for SM!

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Sam January 24, 2014 at 6:55 pm MST

Now that is awesome!!! I’m curious what other ways this person was able to save money at Disney. Do tell! 🙂

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julie January 24, 2014 at 7:09 pm MST

I am not the person who originally posted, but our family of 7 went to Disney 2 years ago. We did not stay on Disney property. We flew Southwest (bags were free to check in) and I filled two duffel bags with snacks, poptarts, pb, anything that I could. It saved us a lot of money. Food was very expensive at the grocery stores in Orlando. My kids also liked the fact that we could eat our lunch while waiting in line. I also signed up for a Disney Visa and got $200 to spend at Disney.

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julie January 24, 2014 at 7:11 pm MST

We got our tickets from undercovertourists.online and I signed up for tourguidemike.online. That website was right on! It told us what park to visit which day and also what rides to ride and when! It was great!

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Vivian January 24, 2014 at 10:48 pm MST

If you bank at Chase, they have disney debit cards that are free… I don’t know the exact perks, but I know you get a % off discount at the disney store, some food locations, and there is some kind of character photo perk. hth

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Diane January 25, 2014 at 9:38 am MST

I agree undercover tourist is the cheapest way to purchase tickets for this year or next. My husband and I have both received the Chase Disney $200.00 disney gift card afer spending $500.00 offer. We will both get the cards and use the gift cards to purchase tickets now to use in 4 or 5 years when our grandbaby is old enough to go. Tickets are good for 14 days after first use. I also plan to pick up a few more Disney gift cards when my local grocery store offers extra gas perks for gift card purchases.

You can visit any Disney hotel for free for 3 hours to check out the resort. There are many free activities you can enjoy without puchasing a park ticket. You can attend the campfire at Fort Wilderness for free. Bring you own s’mores to cook. Chip and Dale appear at this one and there are pony rides for small children. You can view some of the animals from Animal Kingdom Lodge. Dusk is a great time to see them. Enjoy the Sassagoula river Cruise at Port Orleans. If you have the time I would plan at least 1 down day where you can enjoy all the free stuff.

Also, if you don’t want to use your park time for a character meal then schedule your character meal at one of the resorts. This way your aren’t in a rush. This could be the start to your cheap day.

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Tilla Ham January 24, 2014 at 6:58 pm MST

I just book Disneyland today for june. yuck at the price! however, how do you see/get character autographs???? when we went 7 years ago I was so surprised that the characters aren’t everywhere or seemingly anywhere. We were there for 9 days and only saw pooh except for characters in the parade. I did book one character breakfast this time…so we will at least see ariel

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Melanie January 24, 2014 at 7:09 pm MST

You can do a search to find where the characters are to meet them at special locations at certain times.

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Felicia January 24, 2014 at 7:10 pm MST

You should check out the blog couponingtodisney.online, she has tons of tips and advice on how to see the different characters and lots of tips on saving money while you’re there.

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CW January 24, 2014 at 7:10 pm MST

At Disney World in FL (including EPCOT) a lot of times they are inside buildings with meet and greet times due to heat. Those costumes are not air conditioned.

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Morgan January 24, 2014 at 7:24 pm MST

Each park each day has a “times guide” that will tell you where to find different characters. You can also ask a cast member. We got to adventure land and I wasn’t sure where to find Jasmine and asked somebody and it turned out it was her cameraman. He told us she was onlineing in about 10 minutes, so we beat the long line! 🙂

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Megan January 24, 2014 at 7:07 pm MST

When we went 2 years ago, we took plain colored pillow cases for character autographs. They were fairly inexpensive and it is a nice thing for the kids to be able to use on their beds when they get back! I liked that better than the autograph books because it was something that wouldn’t just get tossed in a box, but this is definitely a way to save on the autograph books!

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Karen January 24, 2014 at 10:11 pm MST

I like that idea!!

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GirlyMomma January 24, 2014 at 7:14 pm MST

At Disney now! as a matter of fact…… We did buy the autograph books at the Disney Store just prior to onlineing for $9 each (and they came with pens). Not a bad deal. We are using different colored Sharpies, though. The characters are all out and about in the parks plus we booked a couple of princess/character meals. After 4 days so far – our books are FULL. Whatever kind of book you choose, go with Sharpies, not a ball point. 🙂

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Jessica January 24, 2014 at 7:25 pm MST

Keep in mind too that if you are a USAA member you can get huge discounts at local resorts with buses that will pick you up and drop you off at Disney. We stayed at caylospo cay resort (sorry about spelling) last May for 335.00 four days three nights it had kid actives and three pools it was awesome plus if something happens and you need to cancel you up to 24 hours before you check in then you only get charged one night fee.

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Happymama January 24, 2014 at 7:51 pm MST

Soo cute, Melanie! Bravo 🙂

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Melanie January 24, 2014 at 8:01 pm MST

Thankyou

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SM January 24, 2014 at 7:55 pm MST

Military discounts rocks, it was free for my husband and half off the rest of us!

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KellyAnnSA January 25, 2014 at 9:03 am MST

My husband is military too, but I think think they were free…just got the discounted pass??

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Raquel January 24, 2014 at 8:05 pm MST

I love your books! We went last July. I used the same images but put them in a photobook from Snapfish. I needed two for my girls. I put 4 images on each 8×10 page. And made some generic pages for characters i hadnt thought of. I loaded the images into snapfish and waited for the best deal. I think i paid $15 for each book but i really liked that they were hard bound and i customized the first page with their names. Have fun!!

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cpefley January 24, 2014 at 8:37 pm MST

Those are adorable! I definitely want to make some for my kids! I want to take them to Disneyland this year, and these would be perfect!

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Jessie January 24, 2014 at 8:54 pm MST

Cute! Here’s another tip…We go to Disney often (we’re Passholders) and my kids love Pin Trading. The pins range from about $6 – $12 each, but you can buy lots of them on eBay super cheap! I buy lots of 30 pins for $16 shipped! You won’t know what pins you’re getting until they arrive and you likely will only like a few. But, you can trade them at the Parks with any cast member wearing Pins. My kids love doing this and end up with some pretty cool pins. Just search “Disney pin lot” on eBay and buy from a seller with good ratings. You can read all about Pin Trading on the Disney site.

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Crazy About Coupons January 24, 2014 at 9:38 pm MST

How cute! I’m sure that creating these are helping to build excitement and anticipation!

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Linda C. Taylor-Newton January 24, 2014 at 9:49 pm MST

Hi, I am a Disney fan, So have fun. If you want Disney souvenirs or autograph books head over to Publix food market. they have Disney pins and other stuff for 1/4 to 1/2 the Disney price. Also try their outlet store for clothes instead onsite.

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Cincymom January 25, 2014 at 1:10 pm MST

So cute!!! We went in August and each kid got a notebook from the dollar store and put pictures on the front (cut outs from online disney pictures, disney stickers, decorated it with their name, whatever they wanted). I then modge podged it and they had a great autograph book for $1. I had the modge podge on hand. I would reonlinemend you keep all of your autograph books with a pen in a ziplock bag and so when you see the characters, all of your autograph stuff is in one place. We were often running to see a character I needed it close by to grab from the stroller 🙂

Have fun!!!

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Susie January 25, 2014 at 2:16 pm MST

I used the same pictures as posted above, but took all the photos to Office Max and they spiral bound it for me for $3. The kids love their books and it was a great way for them to flip through the pages as we waited in line :). Have a great time!

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Hammy January 25, 2014 at 5:50 pm MST

Um I don’t know I’ll see any of these characters at disney world…they are hardly walking around when I was there!

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Rosie K. May 14, 2014 at 7:07 am MST

Love this idea. Going in Feb. 2015 and would love to do this. Where did you get the insert cards with the characters?

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melinda September 14, 2014 at 4:23 pm MST

Great idea. How hard was it to pull out the page for the character to sign it? Or did they sign over the plastic?

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patty July 10, 2015 at 11:27 am MST

Where were you able to print the pages from. I leave in 6 day snap wanted to make a book for my son

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patty August 18, 2015 at 2:15 am MST

I love the book tried to print the cards but dint know what I am doing wrong

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Tammy Moore November 4, 2015 at 7:52 am MST

Do you have the images you printed for you autograph/photo album. If so could you send them to me or tell me where to find them. Thanks

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OSSHA BENNETT March 12, 2016 at 4:31 pm MST

Do you still have the images? We head to Disney World soon and I would love to do this for my kids.

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Andrea July 1, 2018 at 12:16 pm MST

It is years later. I was wondering if you still had the images and if you updated them since.

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Na Yeon Kim July 6, 2019 at 1:37 pm MST

I was also wondering if you had those images and if you have updated them?

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