Advice needed, daughter scared of characters?!

[Alfiegeorgina]

we have loads of character meals planned and just happens upon a man dressed up as a teddy bear (so in the vein of Mickey, Donald etc)and she was absolutely past herself, hysterical scared. I have no idea what to do now about our holiday plans?!

 

[worm761]

How old is she? I would suggest you talk to her about meeting Mickey, princesses, Pooh, etc. Maybe watch some YouTube videos of other kids meeting the characters (watch beforehand so you don't accidentally show her a kid freaking out!). When you get to the parks attempt to meet a character. If she's having issues then I'd suggest you start canceling those character meals.

 

[Kae]

we have loads of character meals planned and just happens upon a man dressed up as a teddy bear (so in the vein of Mickey, Donald etc)and she was absolutely past herself, hysterical scared. I have no idea what to do now about our holiday plans?!

My niece did not like Santa or the Easter bunny, I mean freaked out. But had no problem with disney characters. The characters are really good about not coming around if a child is scared. Maybe do your first one after a day in the parks and see how she does with them from a distance at first then a meet and greet if they didn't upset her.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Honestly, our 8 yr old is still scared of the characters...

We still do character meals, and just try to put her in the corner where they won't be able to get near her.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Don't force her to interact with the characters. If after the first meal she is still frightened, cancel or just let them know not to get close when they approach your table.

 

[CanadianMerida]

How old is she? I would suggest you talk to her about meeting Mickey, princesses, Pooh, etc. Maybe watch some YouTube videos of other kids meeting the characters (watch beforehand so you don't accidentally show her a kid freaking out!). When you get to the parks attempt to meet a character. If she's having issues then I'd suggest you start canceling those character meals.

I would agree with this. Maybe watch a few characters interacting with other children from afar so she sees that there isn't anything to be frightened of.

 

[LinderInWonderland]

Don't force her to interact with the characters.

This. I was terrified of strangers/characters as a child. Even in church I would strategically position myself to be at least 3 people in from the center aisle so the priest wouldn't shake hands with me.

My parents didn't stop bringing me around characters/strangers, but they didn't make a fuss if I wanted to hang back. I'd get the inside seat at the table and be flanked by my folks. When I was ready, I would make myself known.

I found the characters at WDW to recognize frightened children quickly and not force the situation. I thought they were very good.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

I'd be scared if I encountered a bear that was 3 or 4 times my height, too!

My DD was scared of Santa (and other men with beards) and Dora the Explorer when she was little. In the case of Dora, she was very quick to tell me that it wasn't Dora because Dora was a little kid her size (she was probably 3 when this happened). For that reason, she never thought the Disney characters were real either. It was easier for her to interact with them when she understood that they were people.

I'm sure your DD will have a great time, even if she doesn't hug Mickey. She might be happiest sitting back and watching for a while.

 

[leahgoogle]

Depends on your daughter. DD was 4 when we went last year. She was terrified of the characters. She tried to crawl under the table at our first character dinner....lol. I just held her and reassured her and we sat with the table between us and the characters. I also held her for all the pre-character dinner pictures. I also have a daughter 7 and son 11 so she was able to see them interact with the characters. By the end of the trip, she was OK with the princesses, but never did get comfortable or take pictures with any of the other characters. It was challenging at times, but we made it work.

 

[elaine amj]

Your daughter is not the only little one. My son was terrified until he was at least 6. One time for an event, I was wearing a giant Dora costume - it was rather funny when he refused to come up for a picture (until DH whispered to him that I was in the suit). He was fine as long as I kept him at a decent distance.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I would keep your reservations, try a character meet and greet before any character meals and see how it goes. If she is scared, be prepared to cancel your character meals. My DS is terrified of Crush, so we completely avoid Turtle Talk. He has always been ok with costumed characters, but had a fear of face characters when he was younger so we just avoided those meals and meet and greets. I have a friend who brought her DD to Chef Mickey's and her daughter was shaking, sobbing, terrified. That's not enjoyable for anyone. If your DD is scared, I wouldn't push it. These experiences are supposed to be enjoyable. Hard to enjoy when you are terrified.

 

[Accident]

we have loads of character meals planned ....... I have no idea what to do now about our holiday plans?!

I think you answered your own question. Reduce it down to 1 or 2 that have characters your daughter knows. I don't know many families where everyone is loving so many character meals. Kids just don't know most of the characters these days, at least my daughter didn't at that age.

As a parent with a daughter that as struggled her entire life with anxiety, this might be an early sign of something larger that's easier to get until control if noticed early. It might be worth considering bringing up the behavior with your doctor to see what they think especially if you would consider it different behavior than normal.

 

[TwinMomEsq]

One of my daughters is petrified of Santa, the Easter Bunny, Clifford at the local library - you name it. Her twin loves all of them and adores giving hugs, high fives, and chatting with them all. We have a number of character meals booked too and I was pretty nervous about it. As a practice, we went to a local amusement park where there are lots of characters. As expected, she was initially very scared, but I made it clear that I was not going to let any of the characters touch her if she didn't want them to and she did not have to talk to them or get near them. After watching her sister interact with a few characters she started to warm up and was even giving smiles and high fives by the time we left. I'm much less nervous about it now. I would definitely try to see if you can do some practice with local characters. I also echo the advice to try out a meal, but then be ready to cancel later ones if it is still a no-go.

 

[monorailsilver]

When my oldest was 15 months old she hated the face characters. Here she is all cuddles with Suzie and scared $hitle$$ when Pearla brings her to Cindy. I think she was used to seeing those faces on the characters from books/TV/Movies that the face characters did not look anything like their book/TV counterparts

 

[scurvyfreedman]

It may help if she knows the character versus some bear she doesn't know.

FWIW, my 6yo daughter froze up in the presence of the princess, but insisted we meet them all. She thought they were really Merida, Ariel, and Cinderella, etc. so despite needing to meet them an get their autographs she couldn't talk and looked really upset in all of the pictures. She was upset we didn't get a chance to meet Mulan because of her limited hours even though I know had we met Mulan it would have been the silent treatment. With the head characters she was fine, because she realized they weren't real. My 3yo thought they were all real and loved them all.

 

[jmccoy18]

We did Chef Mickey's the day before we went to the parks for this reason. We didn't know how my 2yr old DD would react. We did CM because those were the characters she knew from watching Micky Mouse Clubhouse. She was pretty hesitant, but the characters were great with her and only approached after we said it was ok. She watched them from the other tables and we were able to talk about them before they got to us. It also worked out nice that we didn't have to do any other character meetups in the park and waste ride time in a line for that.

 

[ErinInCT]

My youngest didn't like characters dressed like animals. She was fine with the "real people" characters. You may want to just try to find those characters. Or if she is ok with you holding her, get the pic with you holding her NEXT to the character.

 

[gules]

Apparently kids being scared of non-face characters is pretty common. I like all the ideas of letting her watch videos and things, to get used to the idea of meeting characters. Maybe keep 1 or 2 ressies, and make one a mostly-face character one, like Mary Poppins and Alice, CRT, or Akerhaus (can never spell that right). Another thing that might help is that, if she has a favorite character, help me make a little gift to give them. You're allowed to as long as it's not food, and she'll have a reason to go up to a character and interact. If you're still concerned since she looks nervous, find the character handler and voice your concerns just in case. As everyone said, characters are usually fantastic about approaching shy kids. A lot will get on their knees to make themselves less imposing, or depending on the character even pretend to be afraid of HER to boost her confidence. But if it will make you feel better you can issue a warning to the handler beforehand. If they're not too busy they can also act as an intermediary between your daughter and the character. A handler can help by talking for said character, helping to keep your DD relaxed and bridging that gap between people and huge teddy bears. Most handlers are fantastic, cheery people who try their best to help out kids like your daughter.

Best of luck!
- G

 

[hiddenl1fe]

On my last trip, the little one (4 yrs) freaked out during CP breakfast and hid under the table. The characters and handlers were great about it. Slowly he warmed up, first by wanting to take their pictures, then eventually he agreed to be in the pictures as long as his mother was between him and the character. A few days later at Hollywood & Vine, he saw Doc McStuffin and ran up and gave her the biggest hug. Same thing with Jake, Manny & Sofia. It just took him a couple days to get used to them.

 

[jle323]

My boys are 6 and 9 and neither of them like characters. When my oldest was younger, he would hide under the table when the characters came around. I still do character breakfasts, because they enjoy the fun atmosphere. When the characters come around, I get up to get my pic taken by DH. Sometimes a child will join me, sometimes not. But we still have fun.