Disney in a Minute: What is an Autograph Book?

We’re here with a series of quick posts, “Disney in a Minute,” bite-sized nuggets of information that can better help you understand a Disney term or planning topic. Enjoy!

Virtually every shop on Walt Disney World property sells a small selection of autograph books. At smaller shops and resort stores, they are often located near the register. At larger stores, they may be located near a section of pens, markers, and other stationery supplies.

The autograph books are a Disney-sanctioned means of collecting autographs from Disney characters during Meet & Greet experiences or at character meals. At any given time, you’ll likely find 3-5 different autograph book designs sold in the parks. The designs change every few months. Most retail for between $15-25, depending on the features of the book such as the number of pages, whether a pen is included with the book and whether the book also includes plastic sleeves for photos.

Guests of all ages are welcome to interact with characters, but there is absolutely no requirement that you get autographs while you meet them. If you do choose to get autographs, there is no requirement that you use an official Disney book to collect them in. You can use a non-branded autograph book, a random notebook, a piece of paper, a photo matte, or any number of other items.

If you do choose to collect character autographs in a book, I strongly suggest that you write your name and a means of contact (email or phone number) on an inside page. (There’s a place for this in the official books.) This can be a great help if you accidentally lose the book while on vacation. This can also help differentiate one sibling’s book from another’s. You may also want to write your vacation dates inside your autograph book as this can help orient the timeline of your trip when you stumble across the book in the back of the attic decades later.

Do you still have an autograph book from your own childhood trip? Let us know in the comments.