Terrified by non-face characters...........

[wcw57]

without spilling any beans, let me say that my DGS is, and has been, terrified, of the characters. Not the face characters a la Cptn. Jack. Hershey, Great Wolf, Disney, ANYWHERE! He knows it is irrational (as best any 7 year old can) but he actually freezes up if he even sees a character on the horizon. He has a while before we cruise, so I am hoping for some positive changes, BUT...........

Anyhow, has anyone else had to cope with this problem on this scale? You can see the fear enter his eyes if we simply talk about the characters.

Kinda funny story: I mentioned to him (he is a new member of our grandkid team from a new marriage) that on a previous cruise our DGD and we rode in the elevator with Daisy Duck. He was clearly horrified with the thought. After a moment, he said, "Welll, I don't think I'd like being in an elevator with one..." "Yeah, well," I said, "lets assume you were on the elevator on the first floor and Goofy got on and then he got off on the third floor. You would realize that nothing bad happened..." He just looked at me. "I mean, it's not like Goofy is going to hurt you or anything!" He looked at me and said, "Wellllll..............."
I never thought of Goofy as a potential threat before but now I am forced to reconsider.

 

[missyp]

My two DS's were always terrified of characters when they were little. We just stayed away from them and didn't force them to be uncomfortable. Now as teenagers they are fine with them. I think pushing them would have made it worse.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I never thought of Goofy as a potential threat before but now I am forced to reconsider.

I'd be more concerned about Donald Duck, with the no pants thing.

The character meets are pretty easy to avoid since they are listed in the Navigator. But definitely warn the CMs in the kids clubs if he is planning on spending any time in the Club/Lab. According to your signature, you have over two years until your next cruise so that's plenty of time for him to get over his fear.

 

[Justacruiser]

I recommend the deck parties and other areas where they (characters) dance and act crazy. Like to be up on the upper deck for the sail away deck party and watch the other kids and their interaction. He doesn't have to participate, he will just be able to observe the interaction and learn from the other kids behavior. It may take another cruise for him to warm up to them. You won't have to have a conversation with him. You can just ask after a while if he wants to go down stairs. I wouldn't force anything. I also wouldn't promote the pier pressure with cousins and family either. The others can just go, but watch those kids with him. I don't recommend doing another activity altogether with him while the other kids interact. Just stand or sit with him and watch the family engage. I think eventually he would come around, IMHO! The other siblings will talk about how great the experience was and he may decide to go with them. You never know. Don't stress over it!

 

[wcw57]

not stressed...we have had people afraid of 5' mice in the family before, but never to this extreme.
Anyhow, I agree, we have time to incubate change. However, the observational thing, as of right now, would be torturous for him. Distance is NOT the great equalizer here, non-visual is the solution.
We plan on avoiding meet n greets BUT the characters are just about EVERYWHERE without warning. I know it will all work out, but am always interested in the discussion or other humorous tales....

THANX!!

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

It is hard to battle fears. My DD was terrified of dogs at that age. She didn't want to go visit friends just in case they had a dog. She eventually got brave when she was 10 and agreed to meet a puppy, fell in love, brought it home, and got over her fear. She now has an 85 pound lap dog who sleeps in her bed at night.

I kind of think you just have to let kids work through these things. If he wants to get over his fear, maybe he could go to a costume store and try on a character costume. It might not be so scary if he relates the character to someone like him. Once on the ship, he could watch them from the deck above during meet and greets or when they are on the pool deck. That said, I don't see a compelling reason to overcome this fear unless he wants to overcome it. The characters will be easy enough to avoid. While I did run into some just walking around the ship, they weren't doing any more than waving as they passed. If Donald or Goofy gets on the elevator, he can politely slip off and take the stairs. You can work with him on "strategies" to avoid characters between now and then.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Best thing to do play loads of Disney videos and DVDs so whilst em get to know, then love the characters.

 

[lucas]

I'm a middle aged woman and don't care for them either - never have!

 

[AngelDisney]

I took DD when she was almost 3 to Orlando. We went to Universal Studios first. She was happy to see Barney and the gang since they looked like their normal selves. She was ok to see Scooby Doo since she had met Scooby at Cananda's Wonderland before. Then it came to character lunch at MK. The first picture I took was DD with Minnie. DD looked down and was not so happy in the picture. She hesitated but did not resist greeting with the characters. Then we proceeded to meeting Pooh, Tigger, and as we met more characters DD got more relieved and happy. At the end of the day, she could not wait but had to run to hug the characters.

I guess I would have done it differently if DD cried or was really scared of the characters. She was excited to meet them but was surprised to find that the characters looked so differently from the cartoons. DD had issues with face characters though because she thought it was weird to talk to the characters face to face. On the Med cruise in 2013, she met Peter Pan. She found him funny and loved talking to him. Now she is ok with the face characters and enjoy the encounters more. When she met Ariel at MK last summer, she felt like being interrogated. But I showed her the picture I took and told her it looked like close conversation between two friends. I would help her see things from a different perspective.

Pixie dust and have fun planning! Hope one day he can overcome the fear and enjoy another aspect of a Disney cruise!!

 

[AngelDisney]

I never thought of Goofy as a potential threat before but now I am forced to reconsider.

Goofy is a tall, huge "dog" in the eyes of little kids. Definitely a potential threat!!

 

[bumbershoot]

I love your kid.

Characters will be at the parties.

Characters will be in the cruise terminal.

And those are the only places we have seen characters without knowing exactly where they will be in advance. And since I knew they would be at the parties that doesn't really count.

I've never run across a random character; their times are listed in the navigator. And if for some reason a character got into an elevator (that's just odd) if he reacted negatively and immediately I bet the character would get off the elevator.

I never liked characters either and still don't. The love of characters is not needed to have a good life, I promise.

 

[wcw57]

surprised you never bumped into characters.........we had 'em in the halls, Stitch by the pool, Goofy in the arcade, etc. I LOVED that part, the surprise part, of the cruise. You never knew when something magical was going to happen.............

 

[eskimoinparadise]

Character terror is not at all uncommon. When we took our then 7YO GS on his first Disney cruise, we had to reroute often while onboard to avoid the characters. Now that he's 15, he thinks we are making it all up. His brother (now 7) is also quite reluctant to be near any of the non face characters, to the point that when we took him on his first cruise, we avoided DCL entirely and went on RCL.

 

[Bree]

My nephew (soon to be 16yo) was terrified of them. I remember them going to WDW and my nephew would freak out and start running and screaming in the other direction. He still does not care to be around them. It's a phobia I guess. I wouldn't push the issue with him and probably stop asking "what if" questions.

 

[AshleeH]

My two year old didn't like the characters at Disney World last year (18 months at that time). If she still hates them on our cruise this summer, we're just going to stay away from them. Definitely no need to push the issue, since it's not something that will affect her everyday life to have a fear of them. I'm hoping she grows out of it and loves them like her brothers do, but if not, there's plenty of other things to do.

 

[Cleo123]

This is funny, because just a month ago on the Dream, my grandchildren and I were getting off the elevator one morning. When the door opened, there was Goofy in his pajamas sleep walking onto the elevator!

 

[wcw57]

This is funny, because just a month ago on the Dream, my grandchildren and I were getting off the elevator one morning. When the door opened, there was Goofy in his pajamas sleep walking onto the elevator!

AAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH! The horror! The Horror!!

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Okay, this may sound like a stupid question, but has he been told they're not really the characters? Has he been told they're just people in costumes, like during Halloween? I mean, when I was a kid (much younger than 7 mind you), I was terrified of going on the Haunted Mansion. My parents forced me on it and afterwards I remember thinking, "Why didn't they just tell me there weren't real ghosts!"

 

[wcw57]

yeah...he can't explain why Iron Man (full mask) is okay but Mickey Mouse horrible....except one is a human, apparently. Of course,that doesn't explain Hulk.....ahhhhhhhh, what a wonder is a child's mind!

btw, I remember when my DGD (then 6) announced that she knew they were just people inside a costume because when she hugged them, she could feel the ribs and frame.....I wasn't even aware that she had any doubt before that so the child's ability to suspend belief is wonderful and what makes them worth paying attention to.

 

[disjest8]

Poor little guy. It might make you feel better to know that we have been dealing with this for years with our DGD, who is now 8. She works so hard to muster up the courage, but she just can't quite get there. We have sat through character meals with her under the table. We would have left, but she wanted to stay with her cousins. I have no idea what all of the other families at Tusker House thought.

These are the things we have learned on multiple cruises and trips to WDW over the years.
1. Be forthcoming. Tell him what he may see and work with him to devise a plan. For instance let him know that you or another adult will hold his hand and stand between him and the character. That seems to comfort our DGD.
2. Keep in mind that his parents and other loved ones feel his stress, which makes for a stressful situation for almost everyone.
3. If he opts to skip events with non-face characters, take turns skipping with him. We use that as an opportunity for one-on-one time with our DGD. Everyone else goes to the event and one of us takes her to get ice cream or whatever. We have had to learn to balance this a bit in order to prevent her from capitalizing on her fear.

I hope you all have a wonderful cruise!!! Please keep us posted!!!