Tips about Characters and Food & Beverage

We visited Walt Disney World this past July with five children ranging from 2 to 14 years old. We found the best place to line up for character photos was at Epcot's Character Connection. It is air-conditioned and the staff were very friendly and interacted with the children and adults. The characters went out of their way to please and play with my 2-year-old. An experience as an adult I will never forget: Pluto kneeling on the floor, nose-to-nose with my 2-year-old, and Minnie and his first kiss. - Valerie Fisher

We traveled in December and noticed how the food available at the counter service restaurants has gotten healthier - giving more choices to those with Celiac Disease. Sit-down restaurants were wonderfully accommodating, of course! I did find out that one counter service location in each park has gluten-free pizza available. It is not on the menu, you have to ask for it. In Magic Kingdom it was Pinocchio's and at Epcot it is in the American Pavilion. Just ask Guest Services as the location may change. I also found gluten-free brownies and cookies in Wilderness Lodge and some of the counter service restaurants. I still brought an easy breakfast to eat in our hotel room to save time, but once I went out I didn't have to worry! What a pleasant vacation it was for this Celiac mom! - Kaercher Family

This past year we went to Disney two times in three months. My daughter is 3 and loved the characters and getting autographs and pictures with them! The first time we went I purchased an autograph book that had a space for the picture, for I believe $12.99 The second time we went she said she wanted to get ALL the autographs AGAIN! So I picked up 4x6 index cards on a spiral ring. The characters signed the unlined side and when we got home I put them in a small 4x6 photo album. All it cost was $3. We put a postcard with the year in the front and now we have a wonderful photo album and autograph book! - Tiffany

Last year I bought my husband the "Cooking with Mickey and the Disney Chefs" cookbook. This year when we went, my husband brought the book and requested (at each dining establishment) that the chef sign the page in our book that had the recipe from their kitchen. It was a treat for both the chefs as well as my family when, on occasion, the chef came out to our table. Now we have started a family tradition that we can continue as adults while our kids work on the autographs of the characters. - dollydawne

Last year I bought my husband the "Cooking with Mickey and the Disney Chefs" cookbook. This year when we went, my husband brought the book and requested (at each dining establishment) that the chef sign the page in our book that had the recipe from their kitchen. It was a treat for both the chefs as well as my family when, on occasion, the chef came out to our table. Now we have started a family tradition that we can continue as adults while our kids work on the autographs of the characters. - dollydawne

For our recent trip to Disney World, I purchased an inexpensive 11 x 14 picture frame. The photo opening was for a 5 x 7, so the white mat around the edges was quite large. We had a great time collecting character autographs on the white mat! They had no trouble at all writing with our black Sharpie. Several cast members thought that the idea was really cool. Carrying it around was a breeze, too -- I just wrapped the top and bottom in two plastic grocery bags (so the entire mat would be covered in case of rain) and tied one of the bags to the edge of our stroller. Now we have a family photo with Mickey displayed in it, and a great keepsake of all the characters we love! - Whitney Pruitt

Even if you are not a fan of food on the bone, don't let that stop you from going to the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue. I let our hotel concierge know my aversion to food on the bone and he called over to Hoop-Dee-Doo. When we arrived I was served one of the most tender, juicy and well-seasoned boneless, skinless chicken breasts I have ever had. Great also for those watching their weight. The restaurant requests that you let them know at least 12 hours in advance. Enjoy the show! - Michelle Buchecker

With the necessity of ADRs (Advanced Dining Reservations) and keeping track of all those reservation numbers, I decided this year to type a list of our reservations. I included the date, time, and name/location. Then I shrunk the text, printed it and laminated it. It was smaller than a credit card! I put a hole in it, placed it on a carabiner and hung it on my backpack. It was always handy and ready for use and easier to make any needed changes! - Marie from Long Island

We have received many compliments on our idea for character autographs and thought we would share our idea with your readers. My daughters are 9 and 14 years old, a little too old for autograph books (their idea), so we purchased canvas backpacks at our local arts and crafts store for a few dollars. We brought along several permanent markers and a stiff piece of cardboard to insert into the backpack so the characters have a nice surface to write on. Paperclips to hold the fabric and cardboard are helpful. We have been told they appreciate this, as it makes signing easier. The girls can carry their packs with them to the parks and add signatures whenever they see a new character. It makes a nice fashion statement to be seen walking around with designer signatures on their backs. - Rubykorner10

We've said this before, but it should be mentioned again: put your name and address on your items when you're touring the parks! On the first day in the parks I bought autograph books for my daughters. When we purchased them, the cast member told me to make sure I put our name and address inside each book, because if it ever got lost, they would mail it back to us. Lo and behold, one of my daughters "misplaced" her book within that first hour. We retraced our steps, but the book was nowhere to be found. Imagine my surprise when we received a package from WDW addressed to my daughter when we got home -- it was the missing book! - Pam Etheridge

I read about having characters sign the Disney Encyclopedia of Characters in your newsletter. It sounded like a fun idea! We added a twist to it. We printed pictures of our kids with the characters they saw in Disney World onto sticker/label paper and then we stuck each picture to the appropriate character page. If the character didn't have a page (such as Mary Poppins) we stuck her sticker to the back blank pages. Now the girls are staring in their own Disney book and I imagine it will be even more fun for cast members who may (if they're lucky) see themselves in our photos the next time we visit Disney World and use this book as an autograph book. The sticker idea could work with any Disney story book, of course, and I think it would be great combined with the personalized story books from Disney too! Thanks for the great tips! - Laura in Iowa

We visit Walt Disney World a few times a year, so we have quite a collection of autograph books filled with character signatures. In an effort to find a creative way for my daughters to get autographs, we took DVDs to character meals. At Disney's Hollywood Studio's Play and Dine at Hollywood and Vine, the Little Einsteins and JoJo were thrilled to sign copies of their DVDs -- just make sure that you take the paper insert out of the sleeve and have them sign that. Now we have autographed copies of my daughters' favorite DVDs! - Stacey Hannan Quinn

On our last trip to WDW we took along Disney's Jr. Encyclopedia of Animated Characters book to get autographs. The characters loved having their own special page to sign and it was easy for the kids to find the pictures since they are in alphabetical order. Now my kids will have a hardback book to keep forever with their wonderful memories -- like when Stitch drew devil horns on Lilo. It was fun to see the reactions of the characters when they saw their pictures in the book or when they saw a "villain." We had lots of laughs. - Patty W.

Purchase Disney's Jr. Encyclopedia of Animated Characters from Amazon.com (and support AllEars®): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/078683434X/debsunoffiwaltdi

Before we went to Disney World in May 2007, I got my daughter a princess character plate from Sam's Club with her picture on it as well. The princesses loved it and said they had never seen this before. It even had Jasmine and Mulan on it, so we had the challenge to find them in Epcot to sign. They loved not being left out because you don't see them as often on commercial items. You can also get this picture plate at CVS in the photo area. - Susan Looney

Another idea for character autographs... We found a calendar at a popular store for less than $5 that had pictures of the Disney princesses. Each month featured a different princess. So, while doing the character lunch in Epcot, we had each princess autograph the month with her picture. When you get home, your child can enjoy the autographs each month! We also found a Winnie the Pooh calendar and did the same thing at the Crystal Palace breakfast. After the calendar is used up, you still have a beautiful picture with the autograph that can be used in a photo album or scrapbook! Hope this tip helps! - Carla Starr