Though it is not something I relish, riding upon the Tomorrrowland Speedway with your children will give them something they will enjoy showing to everyone they meet---a driver's license. Thankfully it does only allow the young driver to legally drive at the Magic Kingdom's speedway. Our eldest, who is eight years old, tried to convince us since he passed this driving test he could most likely drive when we came back home.
Our favorite of all the free souvenirs though are the two diplomas one can receive while enjoying the parks. The first is easier to achieve. At the Magic Kingdom, your young ones can be a part of Captain Jack Sparrow's Pirate Tutorial. The times sheet you pick up along with your park map will let you know the different times you can join Jack's crew. This show is across from the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. We have seen and been a part of this three times. The show originally was to the side with only a rope and Jack walking around. Happily, Jack and a fellow crew member now have a stage. The rope is still a divider, but now it also allows a Disney photographer to snap pictures of all that is happening. Even if your child is not initially picked to go on stage, they all will be able to join Jack Sparrow on the stage and swear the pirate oath. They are handed their diplomas and you are handed a special Photopass pirate card with all the pictures of the tutorial upon it. This past trip was our six year old son's first time to join Jack Sparrow's crew. He is still quite proud of this and even let his stuffed Captain Jack Sparrow Mickey look at the diploma.
The next place to receive a special diploma is through the Jedi Training Academy at Disney's Hollywood Studios. If your child is like mine and loves Star Wars, then this is a very fun event that is free! For your best chance for your children to be a part of this, one needs to go first thing to sign up their children. Time slots go quickly. In December, we arrived at the park opening. While my husband rushed to get some Toy Story Midway Mania Fastpasses, the boys and I rushed to the side of the American Idol Experience. Next to it and a drink/souvenir area is an opening with a small sign for the Jedi Training Academy. The line was already quite full. While waiting, there is a large screen that plays Disney cartoons, mostly Disney Junior ones. When we finally got up to the front to sign up, our time slot was for 3:45pm. I had arrived in line at 9:05am, moved through the line within 35 minutes and received this time. It is highly popular. You must return 30 minutes before your allotted time. If you do not, your time slot will be given to a hopeful standby. Your children will be given (just for the show) a Jedi robe and lightsaber.
It is something to watch them line up with their lightsabers and walk proudly toward the stage by Star Tours. Here again, during the show, there is a Disney Photopass photographer taking pictures of the entire show. Your children will each get to face off with Darth Vader (on the weekends and during peak season, Darth Maul is also there to battle with a group at the foot of the stage). After they have sent the Lord of the Sith away in defeat, they line up to receive their diplomas. Once you are given your special Jedi Photopass card, you can take it to one of the Photopass stops at DHS to edit out those you do not want. I recommend doing this unless you want a headache of going through over two hundred pictures to find those of your children. I decided to skip Disney editing and got the lovely job of going through those pictures once we were home.
These diplomas are perfect for framing and hanging in your child's room. Ours love showing them off to their friends when they come over. Disney can be expensive when one has little ones who see nothing but the toys at the end of the attractions, but if you look hard enough, you can find free ones that will make many lovely memories.
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My parents had a similar idea when it came to souvineers.
For the budding photographer, buying them a cheap digital camera (or heck, a single use camera) can go a long way.
Keep the suggestions coming! Thanks.
I got PhotoPass+ during our last trip, and entered the code from the Pirate event into my account, which added about 300 pictures that I didn't want. And unless they updated recently, it is a royal pain to delete images from the PP site. It requires going through them one by one to delete, and after a few deletes the site would get confused to which picture it was on. So, it took me a few days just to delete most of those 300 images.
After I finished, I learned what I could have done is go to the PhotoPass counter in Magic Kingdom and give them the PhotoPass card from the event. They would have pulled off the photos I wanted and put them onto a new PhotoPass card, which would have saved me a lot of time & grief afterwards.
tl;dr: If you do one of the events that gives you a generic PhotoPass card, go to the PhotoPass counter to have them transfer just the pictures you want onto a new PhotoPass card.
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