The Audacity of Aurora and Belle, don't they know that they MUST sign autographs?

[David R]

ITA! I think everyone has been programed to just get a picture/autograph, instead of just enjoying the moment.

THANK YOU! I was just about to say that. I hate autographs with a passion. I feel they ruin the moment. Sure, it's an excuse to get the kid to go up to a character, but I think it's so much more fun when people just want to meet the characters. Go up, interact with the character, have a picture taken if you'd like, enjoy the moment.

Whenever I see a character doing his or her set, I always think of an assembly line:
- Kid hands autograph ook
- Sign
- Pose for picture with kid
- Repeat

There is hardly ever any interaction. I'd like to think that children will remember interactions with the characters, and not mass produced process.

[mechurchlady]

I grew up in the days before cell phones, video camera, autograph books and lots of other stuff. What happened to interacting with characters instead of having a check list of characters to get? Why is getting autographs as bad as pin collecting, beanie babies, trading card collecting and doll collecting?

Did the original poster of the article sit there and listen to the characters read the story and watch the faces of the kids beaming? Maybe it was more like planning the attack on the characters to get the autograph and looking for that key moment to burst out of the proverbial gate to rush the characters to get that autograph.

I got an autograph book from 1998 but I had more without the autographs.

Going back to the SGT time out corner for being a dumb guest.