No matter where I travel, I am always looking for that unique, one-of- a-kind memento to bring home with me. I’ve been to Disneyland and Walt Disney World countless times and have done my fair share of shopping! I am always looking for something unique to remember that specific trip. When we decided to take our 5-month old daughter to Walt Disney World for her first visit, I already knew what my special souvenir would be: her silhouette made on Main Street at Magic Kingdom.
Read on for all the details about the most unique souvenir at Walt Disney World (also available at Disneyland!)
What? A one-of-a-kind, affordable, family keepsake created by a trained and skilled artist!
One-of-a-kind: Nothing is more unique than you, or your child! The silhouette artists create a unique silhouette by studying your profile while using scissors to cut thick cardstock- like paper. The result is special and unique and one-of-a-kind.
Affordable: The artists could easily charge a lot more for their talented work. In fact, a local boutique where I live had a visiting silhouette artist in town for the holidays and he charged a sitting fee of $40! And that didn’t even include the actual silhouette and frame. The total would have been close to $100. At the Magic Kingdom you pay just $8 per person and $7.95 for each frame. Disneyland prices are only slightly higher at $9 per person and $10 for the frame. You get 2 copies of the profile because the artist cuts 2 at the same time, so they are identical. You do not have to purchase the frame but if you do they will frame it for you while you wait for no additional charge. Our artist told me they keep the prices low on purpose because they want the keepsakes to be available to anyone without cost being a hindrance.
Family Keepsake: I wanted a special way to commemorate our daughters first trip to Walt Disney World. I took a TON of photos and bought some fun Disney merchandise but her silhouette profile is something that will hang in our home and be passed down to her and her children someday. My mother in law has silhouettes of her children from Disneyland framed so we have one of my husband as a young child to compare with our daughter’s profile!
Trained and Skilled Artists: Each artist is specially trained and educated. Some of the artists have been doing silhouette profiles for decades. At Disneyland there are artists that have been in the same silhouette shop on Main Street for over 30 years! Our artist for the day has an art degree and learned the unique skill of silhouette cutouts from other Disney artists. She practiced for hours every day until she was ready. I was amazed and in awe of her ability. She held a conversation with us and worked quickly (she had to because a 5-month old doesn’t stay still for very long) and she captured our sweet girl’s profile just the way I see it when I rock her to sleep, hold her in my lap, or wake her in the mornings.
Where? At both Disneyland and Magic Kingdom (at Walt Disney World) you will find the artists on or just off Main Street USA.
Disneyland: Disneyland has an actual studio on Main Street that has been in operation since the park was just 6 months old. The artists there have been doing profiles for decades and have some neat stories from all those years on Main Street.
Magic Kingdom: At Walt Disney World, the silhouette artists are not as prominent – so keep a lookout for their kiosk cart just off Main Street on Center Street. When you are heading toward the castle down Main Street, Center Street is about halfway down on the right hand side. It is also one of my favorite quiet areas to stop, take a break, and people watch.
How? See tips below!
- No reservations needed. Just show up. You may want to try earlier in the day to avoid a wait. It takes less than 5 minutes to cut the profile and about the same amount of time to frame it. We waited for one person in front of us to finish up and between the wait, the creation of the silhouette, the framing, paying, and chatting with the artist we spent about 25 minutes total at the Magic Kingdom location.
- If you have a small child or infant, plan to do this right after a nap and/or snack. They don’t need to sit still for long but it will be helpful if they can sit for a few minutes. As mentioned earlier, our 5 -month old, like any infant, did not sit still. But, she was content to sit on her daddy’s lap and people watch (it helped that the balloon man was right there), and that was enough for the artist to get a good look and create the profile.
- You can do more than one person in a sitting and all can be framed together or separate.
- Create a new tradition! We plan to get more silhouettes of our daughter at different ages and we may eventually get them framed together.
- You will get 2 profiles for the sitting fee so if you frame one you could scan one and send it to grandparents or use it for other crafty ideas.
Aleshia Sokoloski, Travel Planner affiliated with Travel with the Magic
Specializing in Universal and Disney Vacations including Universal Orlando, Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Adventures by Disney, and Disney Cruise Line.
Email me, Call me at 1-800-670-4312 ext. 139 or
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We had this done 2 years ago and it was, by far, my most favorite souvenir. It was our children’s first visit and it came out beautiful. I had read, prior to going to Magic Kingdom, to ask if they could slip in a third piece of paper (any more than that is apparently difficult to cut). They happily obliged and we left with 3 framed silhouettes of our kids for about $40-45. We have our hanging in our dining room and we gave the other two to the grandparents.
We’re going back this fall and I definitely plan on doing this again.
This is so cool! I think my parents had one of these pictures of me, I wonder if that’s where it came from (I grew up in Orlando). I can’t believe how cheap it is, I’m definitely wanting to do this for our daughter when we take her for the first time! Pinning & sharing.
I LOVE this idea. We’re going for Halloween this year and I love unique souvenirs. This is perfect for my 2 year old! Last time I bought teeny tiny glass slippers with my nieces names engraved because I felt like that was a better $20 spent versus something silly that would break. Someone also told me about the pearls at Epcot and the personalized parasols. I look forward to finding these things when we go in October/November!
That is amazing, especially for the price! And I love that she captured her unruly baby hair!
I KNOW! Her hair was actually tame that day from her hat so I tried to fluff it up so it looked like it always does. The artist asked if we wanted to cowlick and we said YES!!!