2 1/2 year old and characters?

[SamanthaL]

My DD will be 2 years 8 months when we go to WDW. I have been trying to prepare her for the character encounters. She doesn't like the Easter Bunny or Santa. I -told her that Mickey is a big boy like Daddy, but he is nice. I told her I can't wait to take pictures while we hug him. I have even showed her pictures of us hugging Mickey. Is there anything else I can do to prepare her and help her not be scared.

 

[loribell]

I dont know if this will help you or not but my DD who was 2.5 while we were at WDW this past July absoluetly loved the characters. She has never wanted anything to do with Santa or the Easter Bunny. We do not have a picture of her with either of them. She is also a very shy child when it comes to people she does not know and will hide behind my leg when a stranger tries to talk to her.

I think maybe the difference is that she has lots of movies and stuff that include the Disney Characters, especially Pooh. Santa and the Easter Bunny are only around once a year.

One thing that may help is to do a character breakfast on your first day that way she can see them in a somewhat more subdued environment. The characters are very good with all children. They will not push themselves on a child that is frightened and will do things to try to get the child to warm up to them. At the character meals each character makes it around the room several times during the meal. If you want to do a meal pick the character that she has the most stuff of and let her get used them first and call for a PS.

 

[sha_lyn]

I agree a character meal is great to get them use to the characters.

 

[Barb D]

Keep an eye out for characters of any kind coming to your town. We took our toddler to see Bearemy the Build-A-Bear mascot twice before we went to WDW. She wouldn't go near him at all at first, but gradually warmed up to the point where we were able to get a picture with both of them in the frame. Maybe take your child to Chuck-E-Cheese if there's one near you.

When we were at WDW DD would get all excited when she saw the characters from a distance. She'd wave frantically and yell, "Tigger! Tigger!" But then when we got close to Tigger she'd wail, "Noooo Tigger! Noooooo Tigger!" Again eventually we got to the point where we could get a picture that had both of them in it. I had to hold her, and it was good if there was a sibling or two in between her and the character.

And eventually she was willing to reach out and - quickly - touch a characters hand or head. But it took a couple of days to warm up to that point. The characters are well-trained to keep their distance from fearful little ones, and have a knack for getting the kids to warm up. They may turn their backs and peek over their shoulders, etc. Or extend a paw and pull it back if the toddler freaks out, or go farther if the toddler is interested. That kind of thing. Lots of teasing, all with body language.


Oddly enough, my now-8yo was only slightly fearful of the head characters (Mickey etc.) when she was 2, but was terrified of the face characters (Snow White, Cinderella.) Now she loves them all!

 

[KimR]

My DD was 2 and a half when we went last year. We have no pictures of her with Santa because she has always refused to sit in his lap but she LOVED the characters. Her favorites were Pooh and Tigger, but she loved them all. I think the difference is that she was familiar with the characters and could relate to them. I'd just keep showing her pictures, let her watch her Disney Videos and tell her that she will get to meet Mickey, Pooh, Cinderella, etc in person when she goes to Disney World!

Kim

 

[welovemickey]

My youngest was absolutely terrified of all the characters during our last trip (he was 2 years old). Instead of forcing him to interact while his older brothers got autographs and pictures, we let him stay with us. Eventually (of course it was our last day), he got up enough nerve to hand Tigger the autograph book instead of sliding it towards him on the ground.

Just let your daughter take her time and she'll eventually warm up to them.

 

[MouseLover]

Hi! My daughter was 2 years, 6 months on her first trip to WDW. She was not afraid of Santa or the Easter Bunny, but she was terrified of clowns. To prepare her for our trip, I purchased the Disneyland Fun singalong video. You can buy one at the Disney Store and also I think Walmart/Kmart have them, for about $10. This helped her see some characters and rides she wasn't familiar with, and how characters look compared to how they look animated. We also took her to a character breakfast (O'hana). She was not scared of the characters, except she was a little timid of Goofy. But Goofy is very tall, and has big teeth & whiskers, and he was holding her juice box and trying to get her to drink from it. By his 4th visit to our table, she had warmed up enough to smile just a little. Mickey, Minnie, Pooh, Alice she loved.

This year she was 4years, 2 months when we went. She was afraid of Captain Hook and Rafiki, but it's because she knows their characters -- she thought Rafiki might hit her on the head with his stick.

You might try to seek out face characters and Pooh first, since they seem to be the sweetest to young children.

 

[Mish]

My DS who just turned 3 right before we left for our trip was afraid of santa, and the cow at the store by our house. He has hugged every character that we saw at Disney. I think he liked them because he knew them from watching them on TV all the time. Michelle

 

[SamanthaL]

Thanks everyone!! I feel much better. We have 10 days so this should be plenty of time to get a t least one picture with the characters!!

 

[ngh]

My 2 1/2 yo also is afraid of Santa and Easter Bunny. We were just at WDW last week, and she was fine with most of the characters....BUT, only after she saw one she really liked and knew. The first ones we saw were Baloo and King Louis, and she wanted nothing to do with them. Way too big, and I don't think she really knows them. But seeing Timon was another story. After she made it through Timon and Mickey and Minnie, she was ready for anything. So, my suggestion is look for someone she likes who is relatively short! (Tigger is a bit on the large and boisterous side, so maybe that's why BarbD's daughter had a problem with Tigger.)

 

[Hunnybee]

Definitely get the "Disneyland Fun" video! I had asked the same question re. my will-be-3 yr. old son and characters a while back. Someone had mentioned the Disneyland Fun video -- I ordered it in from our library, and he loves it!!!! Now all he wants to watch is the "Mickey movie". He now keeps saying, "Hug Mickey" -- so I think he will be just fine next year. The question is will he be able to wait a year?

 

[catwho]

I was shocked when we took our kids to WDW! None of my kids have liked costumed characters before. The scream at the sight of Santa, the Easter Bunny, Barney, Cat and the Hat, giant puppets (the life size ones), Clifford, Sgt. McGruff, Rugrats, etc. We took our girls to see the characters from Eureka's Castle at the mall once and you could hear them scream from one end to the other when they realized how big they were (expected them to be small puppets like on television!) Then we took them to WDW. Lo and behold my (then 4 yo) ran up and hugged Goofy! Goofy of all characters. And then Pooh and Belle and Mickey and oh gee I have no idea who else! Now they love them and my 2 y 6 mo son last year couldn't get enough of Mickey and still talks about "I'm going to see Mickey Mouse is my best friend at Disneyworld when we go next time!" (He calls him "Mickey Mouse is my best friend")

The Disneyland fun Singalong might also help her see that the characters are *big* but friendly. Pluto and Chip and Dale are usually in a fairly short line outside at the old 20,000 Leagues ride, so you could always start there or with a character breakfast. The characters are good at looking for things like parents waving their arms and mouthing, "Dont' come here" I have yet to see a character try to force himself or herself on any kid. They can tell when a kid doesn't like them. \

And please, if you child doesn't like the characters and shows fear of them, don't force them to have their pictures made with them. I can only imagine how frightening that is for a kid who is already terrified. I've seen so many parents hold a screaming child with some "beloved" character just so they can have a picture of their scared child with Mickey! What kind of vacation memory is that to cherish! If your child is ok seeing them, but not being close to them, the characters will pose by themselves for pictures, so you could take them and make a scrapbook for her and maybe the next year she won't be as frightened!

 

[Zephyr]

I just got back from Disney with my 26 month old son. He loved the characters! I prepared him months in advance though by buying a Disneyland video which shows all the characters at DisneyLand while they sing songs. As the trip approached I had him watch it more often. By the time we got to Disney he already really liked all the characters.

Zephyr

 

[LGTripletdad]

Hi, we just returned from a week at Disney with our three 2 year olds. Two of our boys loved the characters, but one wanted nothing to do with them. He just kept saying, Mickey Big! or Mickey scared me. So, I guess what I am saying is GOOD LUCK!