where to test out characters on a toddler pre-dis trip?

[KTwiegs]

We are heading back to our happy place the last week of january! so so excited because this is our first trip with our son. He will be 2 years old at the time. We have many opportunities to test out firework(we live at the jersey shore) but I can't for the life of me figure out where he could meet some kind of furry characters. He is even going to love them or hate them, haha.
Where have your children met characters outside of disney?(other then santa, who he loved!)
thanks!

 

[ArielRae]

Chick fil a - Cow character on family nights
Chuck E Cheese - Chuck E Cheese character supposed to make appearance ever hour on the half hour.
Six Flags - Has the looney tunes characters

 

[Heidi K]

Chuck E Cheese

Red Robin on certain nights

Also, I would recommend not doing any character meals or greetings until the 2nd or 3rd day of your trip. When we took 2-year-olds, it took them a few days to "warm up" to them, but by the end of the trip, they loved characters!

 

[kj2mom]

Not sure where in NJ you are but Sesame Place??

 

[Crystal824]

I agree Chuck E. Cheese or Chick-fil-A are cheap and easy options. However, it can depend on the character. My daughter at 2 loved most characters but Beast and Sully freaked her out because they were so big.

 

[phillymummer]

Rainforest Cafe used to have a frog character.
I know Hershey Park is far from you, but they also have several characters.
Texas Roadhouse has Andy the Armadillo on Family night.

 

[JimmyBean42]

Pending on where you are at in Jersey, Sesame Place is perfect. We took our DS there before we took him to WDW for the first time at 2.5 and I think it helped. We took my DD there at 18 months before WDW and it was hit or miss w/ the characters. She loved Mickey & Minnie and most face characters but others she was shy or cried around. But definitely worth a shot.
If you are near Ocean City, the boardwalk has some characters (Kohr Bros. monkey, Mr. Peanut, a Verizon cell phone, a walking Yogurt, a princess). Yes I know not the same recognizable characters as Disney or Sesame Place but the OC boardwalk ones are free and worth a shot.

 

[KTwiegs]

Pending on where you are at in Jersey, Sesame Place is perfect. We took our DS there before we took him to WDW for the first time at 2.5 and I think it helped. We took my DD there at 18 months before WDW and it was hit or miss w/ the characters. She loved Mickey & Minnie and most face characters but others she was shy or cried around. But definitely worth a shot.
If you are near Ocean City, the boardwalk has some characters (Kohr Bros. monkey, Mr. Peanut, a Verizon cell phone, a walking Yogurt, a princess). Yes I know not the same recognizable characters as Disney or Sesame Place but the OC boardwalk ones are free and worth a shot.

We are actually only 20 mins from OC. I used to own a business there haha. Can't believe I didn't think of that. Great idea. I'm thinking a trip to sesame place is a great idea too. Get him exposed to a theme park as well as characters. Thank you!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

it would be a weekend trip but Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, Pa has a few characters. Princess, the Knight, Duke the dragon

 

[quakechicago]

YouTube videos of meet and greets are a great way to show them not only the characters but what to do. At character meals and meets there's quite a bit of waiting for your turn, plus it's good to see (and give them) an autograph book because it focuses them on a task besides the moment.

 

[Thing 1]

Great fore-thought and you have gotten lots of great ideas. My favorite is C-Cheese as it will cost little to nothing to test the waters. One thought however, is that most places the characters are not going to be as good at reading the kids as they are are at WDW. Most characters at most places just come at kids with big hugs a lot of times (our local ball team mascot is the worst!) but most at WDW are great at testing the waters to see how the child reacts and will know to keep the distance if that is what that child needs. Just a thought if you happen to have a bad experience somewhere else, WDW might really still be ok.

 

[RoosMama]

We live near a big university and see the mascot a lot. My DD loves him. If you have a college or university nearby, that might be worth a shot. Also, watching the Sing Along Songs live action movies at Disneyland and WDW (Disneyland, Beach Party, Campout - you can find them on Amazon) gives kids an idea of how big the characters are compared to real kids. Before my DD met the WDW characters, she told me Mickey was the same size as me from watching the videos.

 

[sharona]

Times Sq!

Great idea. I still remember my 3 year old nephew freaking out when WtP and Tigger showed up for his birthday party. He was petrified because he had no idea they would be gigantic.

 

[quakechicago]

Baloo is HUGE. Seriously he's like 7 feet tall

 

[Sparkly]

Great fore-thought and you have gotten lots of great ideas. My favorite is C-Cheese as it will cost little to nothing to test the waters. One thought however, is that most places the characters are not going to be as good at reading the kids as they are are at WDW. Most characters at most places just come at kids with big hugs a lot of times (our local ball team mascot is the worst!) but most at WDW are great at testing the waters to see how the child reacts and will know to keep the distance if that is what that child needs. Just a thought if you happen to have a bad experience somewhere else, WDW might really still be ok.

That's why I used to hide from mascot characters when I was young- it always freaked me out how they would see me and immediately want a hug. Disney was the only place I liked meeting characters.

 

[mekay1012]

Chick-fil-a. My 14 month old loved the chick-fil-a cow, but wouldn't really get close to the characters at Disney. She loved them from a distance, but didn't want to get close.

 

[klo1335]

Hershey Park also has candy characters that you can meet. I also 2nd Sesame Place. They have a character meal too.

 

[cagirl4life]

Barnes and Nobles often has them with kid events. It will be book characters you might recognize.

 

[Hannah M.]

This is a great question, I am also taking my toddler to Disney for the first time in September. Thanks for the tips!

 

[TravelingTotMom]

In addition to testing out characters in person, there is also an older Disney Sing-a-long video called "Disneyland Fun" that's available on Amazon, and I've also seen it at Toys R Us. It features the actual characters in Disneyland, and my 15-month-old loves it. It helps because the characters look different than in cartoons, but my son recognized them and wasn't afraid of them when we took him at 7 months and a year. Now he will watch it and get excited, naming a handful of the characters when they come on screen.