Polite "no thank you" to characters?

[The Rovang Gang]

I'm just curious. There are times when we might want to go to a restaurant that has a character meal just for the food. Is there a way to signal the characters to NOT stop at your table? My little one tends to freak out. Course it's been a while since our last trip. She may be okay. Like I said, just wondering...

[afnaechiquita]

I would imagine the best way to handle that would be to tell the host when you check in that you do not want the characters to visit your table.

[davedmaine]

Sorry.. Just for the food?

[dminnie]

Sorry.. Just for the food?

That actually makes a lot of sense to me if the kids might be scared of the characters interacting with them. It sounds like a nice way to expose them to something new, without pressuring them to participate. They can eat there and the child can see the characters from a distance...and see other kids interacting with the characters. Then maybe next time...or maybe even towards the end of the meal, they may be open to a quick visit. The child might even just enjoy seeing the characters, but not want them so close.

I would think you could just let the host know.

[minnie mum]

Yes, the host at the podium, and your server. You might also seat the children away from the aisle at the back of the table, since the characters will be visiting the tables on either side of you. If you see a character approaching your table (he might not have gotten the message) just a smile and a subtle shake of the head should be enough to warn him away. They're all used to shy kids and little ones who might be a bit afraid.

But I've got to say that I can't think of too many character meals where I would go just for the food...

[tinkerbell313]

On our first trip DS wanted nothing to do with the characters. The characters are very good at sensing that and often left him alone.

If its been awhile since you last went. But I would let the character approach. If you start seeing signs of uncomfortableness in your child then immediately let the character know.

Then, going forward in future restaurants, let the hostess know.

[WorldWacky]

I would go to 'Ohana at breakfast just for the food.

[Luv2CtheMouse]

Originally Posted by WorldWacky

I would go to 'Ohana at breakfast just for the food.

[jwfla422]

Originally Posted by Luv2CtheMouse

Not to be off topic but has O'Hana breakfast really improved in the last few years??...that much?? It was terrible when we went a few years ago, everything was cold and so "not fresh" we swore we'd never go back (and this was with my 8 yr old dd!)...if it has really improved that much we may consider giving it another try...

Anyway to comment on the OP, we took dd to lots of character meals when she was little. She only liked Mickey, Minnie, Chip n Dale and the princesses.

Everyone else, yikes, forget it...any character with a snout (aka, Goofy, Pluto, etc, there were others at the time)...she'd have a panic attack as they got close to the table and we'd just tell them, "our dd is afraid of you please don't take offense, but I think we'll have to pass on your visit this time around" and they'd move onto the next table. They were really good about it...until one time at H&V when the characters were still the Disney classic characters...

Pluto wouldn't go away and dd clung to me, but he laid on the floor rubbing his eyes until dd tried to figure out what was wrong...meanwhile other children would try to interact with him and he would be nice to them but go back to trying to get my dd to some type of comfort level with him, being funny or then he'd go to be passive, he'd start walking away and look back at her and put his head down and start to cry, etc. this went on for a good 5-10 min (which is a long time at a character meal) and she came around and started laughing, they high fived each other and I was even able to take a photo of her with Pluto which was a first! What progress!

After that experience she was so much better with most of the snout characters I couldn't believe it. I was just really impressed with the patience of Pluto at this particular lunch...he made such an impression that she went from being totally scared of him to loving him, LOL!! But I wanted to share because we were once in that same situation.

[Disney_Princess83]

As others have said, you can tell the host and your server. Put the kids on the seats furthest away from where the characters would stand. Also, if an adult is on the "aisle", keep your eye on the characters. If they look like they're headed your way, try and make eye contact and shake your head. As long as they have seen you, they should give your table a wave and move on.

[auntfrannie]

The only character meal I go to is Crystal Palace. If I'm by myself I just let the server know the characters don't have to stop. They'll just wave to me as they walk by. Except for Eeyore. I have to have my picture taken with my buddy Eeyore!

[ttintagel]

Will she freak out when the characters come to the table next door?

[zaz]

Last summer, my increadibly shy daughter didn't want the characters to approach her. However, after a few, she would go with me. Then, she would go besides the characters IF they didn't touch her. So I would just approach the 'handler' that came before the characters and told them that the characters couldn't touch my daughter as she was scared. That worked wonderfully. After a while of posing besides character, she started touching them on her own. By the end of the week, she would hug them!!

[ready2vacation]

At Crystal Palace, the character's 'handler' came to our table before the character and asked us if it was ok to stop since we were there with my then 10 month old daughter.

Note my avatar

[Dano1182]

You were able to go to cape may and order a regular breakfast and not pay for buffet. When you do that the charaters will not come to your table.

Not sure if the still let you do that.