Tips for Planning the Perfect Disney Scrapbook

All scrapbooks are special, as they document our most precious memories. Scrapbooking a Disney vacation however, can be a daunting task, as the typical Disney vacation has so much happening, it can be hard to decide what to use, what not to use, and for many, how to even start!! Here then, is the beginning of what we hope will be an ongoing list of ideas and tips to help make your Disney scrapbook a true reflection of a memorable family vacation. Have some great tips that have worked for you? Please share them: we are always looking for new ideas to pass along!! E-mail us at info@smallworldmemories.com and we will happily include them on our site!!

Before You Leave:
• Think ahead to how you may want to plan your book. Will it have a “theme”? For example, do you have young girls in your group? A Princess theme is a given. Think about how best to show her awe and excitement when she meets Cinderella. Take some pictures in the gift shops as she explores the many princess items. Plan photos that “tell the story” of her fairy tale come true: a visit to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for example will provide many photos of her transformation from mere girl to lovely princess. Be ready with the camera when waiting in line to meet Cinderella: capture the look of expectation, show her running to meet her Princess, drop down low and get the perspective from her point of view! In short, capture the ordinary as well as the posed. A little thought ahead of time will help you as you tour the parks to get those photos that you know you will want in your book.

• Think color. It sounds odd, but planning with color in mind can be effective on many levels. First, many families, especially with multiple children find that dressing everyone in the family in the same color can be tremendously helpful when trying to locate someone in a crowd. Second, think how good your family photos will look when everyone is color coordinated! Granted, it may be a hassle to get everyone to cooperate (especially if you have teens in your group), but how many times have you looked at your family picture and thought, “Geez, why is he wearing that plaid shirt right next to my striped top?” Your family pictures will be much more aesthetically pleasing when there is at least some coordination. Lastly, thinking color can help you with choosing scrapbook supplies before you even leave! Many people find that they like their books to have continuity and flow that a recurring color scheme can provide. Mickey colors of red, black, and yellow are obvious ones, and many Disney scrapbooking supplies will feature these colors. But you certainly don’t have to stick to that color scheme, as it is not difficult to incorporate other colors as well. Be creative!

• Get your kids involved!! It is obviously not difficult to get your children excited about a trip to Disney World. Undoubtedly they have looked at websites and travel books and they know what they want to see and do. But why not get them involved with your scrapbook? They may have some fresh thoughts about what would be neat to include and it can be like a treasure hunt at the parks for them to look for things. You can even provide them with their own scrapbook to fill. It does not have to be expensive: CD tins and jewel cases make great little books, as does cardstock folded accordion-style and bound together with ribbon. It is amazing (and exciting) to see the wonderfully creative things that children like to include in scrapbooks: they have a creativity that is not generally hampered by adult perception of what is “right” or “wrong”, they just know what they want to include that will make a great memory!

• Create an autograph book before you go! Needless to say, this is one of the highlights for many families. Why not make your own book? Any kind of mini album will do (see suggestions above for kids mini-album). Plan to put a photo of your child with each character on the page opposite…add a few notes about the experience, and voila, mini-album complete!

• Going on a Disney cruise? Many families create “door signs” using magnetic tape, that can be mounted to their stateroom door to celebrate their voyage…and to create an easy way for their children (and tired adults!) to find their stateroom amid the many doors that all look alike! We did this for our cruise last year, and I will be using it as the opening page in my scrapbook for that trip!

While you are There:
OK, your long-awaited trip has arrived! You won’t be thinking about your scrapbook at the moment, right? Wrong! There are a number of ways to “help your scrapbook along” while on your vacation.

• Use Disney’s PhotoPass as much as you possibly can. Each park provides many, many opportunities for special Disney photographers to take your picture…for free. Yes, there is a cost if you want to buy any prints later, but with some thought and planning, the cost is not prohibitive. First, know what the photographers look like, as you will want to hunt them down: They will all be wearing blue shorts or pants, a white shirt, and khaki photographer’s vest. Sometimes they will have a white or tan hat on. Once you know what they look like, every time you see one, ask for a picture: you will be glad you did once you get home! The photographer will take your picture (or several if you ask, and often even if you don’t), and then provide you with a small credit card-type card. Important: DO NOT LOSE THIS CARD! Many people bring return address labels to put on it, write their e-mail/phone number on it, anything to identify it if lost. You will use this card for all your pictures: hand it to each photographer every time you get a picture, and they will be added. You can (and should!) get hundreds of pictures on your card, as that will make it most cost-effective in the long run. Once the photos are uploaded, you can view them at any of the Photo Centers in the parks, or best of all, you can see them online when you get home! At this point, you can simply choose a few to purchase (5x7, 8x10, Christmas cards, add borders etc.) OR get all of them on a CD, which allows you the rights to print as many as you like, as often as you like, for as long as you like (this is important as your photos will remain on Disney’s PhotoPass website for 3 weeks…and then they are gone). The cost of the CD is currently $124.95, but you have hundreds of professionally done photos (with you in them!!) so for many, it can be well worth it. For a more detailed discussion of Disney’s PhotoPass, visit http://www.allearsnet.com/tp/ppass.htm.

• As to your own pictures, needless to say, you will take lots! Watch for the “Kodak” spots designated in each park for picture-perfect opportunities, but consider many others as well. Digital is great, you can discard what does not turn out, so experiment! Here are a few great photography ideas:

1. Take a picture of the family, or your kids, in the same place each trip. It does not have to be the obvious one in front of the castle: be creative! Try one, for example, with the Mickey and Walt statue in Magic Kingdom, or at one of your favorite ride entrances. Just be consistent….because you will love seeing how your family has “grown” over the years!
2. Want park pictures without all those “other people” in them? Consider an early morning character breakfast, like at Cinderella’s Royal Table. You will be allowed in the park before opening for your reservation, and you can take a few moments to get great pictures before the park is crowded with tourists. (Be warned though: Disney takes Advanced Dining Reservations for these events starting at 180 days prior….yes that is 6 months. You MUST plan ahead if you want to do this!!)
3. Digital cameras are awesome on a vacation such as this, but be sure you upload your photos as often as you can….just in case. Sadly, people do lose their cameras all the time, and while Disney is great about trying to reunite families with lost items, it often does not happen. Don’t be devastated because you just lost all your precious photos: upload them to your laptop, or a website like Photobucket, so you will still have them when you get home!!

• Collect “stuff”!! There are soooo many wonderful things that can be included in your scrapbooks! Parking passes, brochures, pressed pennies, wrist bands from special events, unused fast passes (sometimes the Cast Members will let you keep yours if you ask!), “pixie dust” from parades, napkins, post cards, the list goes on and on. This is where you will want to get your children involved too. Make a game of it. And if you are concerned about preserving the archival quality of your scrapbook, try using something like Archival Mist that can be sprayed on things that are not necessarily intended to be in a scrapbook. But remember: it is a scrapbook!! There are even some fabulous guidebooks that include pockets in them, making it a snap to collect, and keep everything in one place until you get home. Visit passporter.com to learn about a great product that will provide tons of information and help you organize as well!!

• Don’t forget to journal. Yes, you’re busy, and it’s hard to find the time to write. But jotting down briefly a few notes about a funny story, a great adventure, or even just your itinerary (it will be hard to remember the exact dates etc. months later when you sit down to scrapbook) will help so much in creating your book later. Postcards can be a great way to do this, providing information about the locations visited. A few minutes each day will add so much months later!

Once you are Home:
The trip is over. You have hundreds of photos, bags of “stuff”, and memories to last a lifetime. Where do you begin to scrapbook everything?

• Go back to the first tip: Do you have a theme? Even if you haven’t thought of this before now, it’s not too late! Do you want to do your book chronologically (day by day?) Or do you want to organize it by park? Or event? All character meetings together for example? There is no right or wrong way here. Just think how you want to do this before you start.

• Again, reiterating what was mentioned before: Is there a color scheme? There does not have to be, but many people find it much easier to find their products (and like the finished look of their book) if they stick to a color theme.

• Once you have an idea of how you want to organize your album, then comes the fun part of sorting through all those pictures. Group them initially into the pages you think you want to do, and then go through them again to discard, crop etc. to pare down to what you will use.

Now, you’re on you way! Have fun creating your book, and reliving all those magical memories!

New to scrapbooking? Learn about basic scrapbooking tools, terms, and how to create your first pages, step by step!!