22mo- Character Meal good intro?

[pharmama]

You'd think by kid 3 I'd know how to do this, but I'm finding myself a little torn here. We're taking everyone to the parks a few days after Easter and it will be my youngest first trip. She will be 22mo. She knows the characters (how could she not-we'd kick her out of the family ) but I'm not sure how she's going to react to the actual characters in the park. I am considering starting our day at Surf's Up! as an intro to characters. She will recognize everyone there (my oldest DD LOVES stitch so the baby does too ) and I think it will help her warm up. But it could backfire too- what if she's terrified and can't get out of the restaurant fast enough and is traumatized for the rest of the day?
Obviously no one knows my kids like me but have others had good or bad experiences with using a character meal as an intro to the characters at or around this age?

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[bumbershoot]

I wouldn't do it to start the trip. Make the reservation for a bit later in the trip, see how she is in the parks (my son wanted nothing to do with characters until he was three) and either keep or cancel it.

 

[jenpace]

I wouldn't do it to start the trip. Make the reservation for a bit later in the trip, see how she is in the parks (my son wanted nothing to do with characters until he was three) and either keep or cancel it.

I agree with Bumbershoot. Some kids are fine hanging out with Characters, mine...not so much. In fact, my now 14 y/o was absolutely terrified of them. We took her to Goofy's Kitchen for her 5th birthday and we had to move to the "character free" room for the meal because she was so scared. Play it by ear and see how your little one does before you try a full on character dining experience.

 

[jennynwdw]

I would not do a character meal until you know how she will react. You may spoil your meal. A meet and greet would be easier to run away from if she has a melt down. And she will see your other kiddos interacting with them from a distance, if she doesn't want to get up close. My son was okay with characters as long as he was in my arms when he was 2. You never know! Have a great trip!

 

[mamaCta]

I wouldn't do it to start the trip. Make the reservation for a bit later in the trip, see how she is in the parks (my son wanted nothing to do with characters until he was three) and either keep or cancel it.

I agree as well. DD3 is hesitant around costumes. I plan on warming her up with one on one interactions before bombarding her with up to ten at a time.

 

[danlkrim]

Between the ages of about 3 to 7 my DS7 did not like any sort of costumed character. He only saw Santa because his desire for a certain gift he wanted was stronger than his fear of Santa when he was four. Otherwise, he avoided characters at any event until he was almost 7. How has you child done with visiting Santa or the Easter Bunny at the mall or mascots at a sporting event? That could give you an indication of how a character meal would go for your youngest.

 

[pharmama]

Thanks all. I think you're right to skip it this time. She's only going to the parks with us one day this trip but there will undoubtedly be more in the future (the rest of us except DH are AP holders).

The dry run with the easter bunny is a good idea, but I think she's more likely to be freaked by that since she won't have any idea who he is (we don't really do easter in our house). Thanks again!

 

[michellekcm]

Our DD's first trip to Disney (WDW) she was 28 months. We started with a character meal. She had been anti-character with Dora, Santa Claus etc. before then, but we hoped she'd be ok.

She hid from Tigger and Piglet and Eeyore, even though from the window she'd been excited about Piglet.

Then...we got the most amazing cast member in the world. He had seen she was scared so he left Pooh at the previous table and came to ours. He talked to her about teddy bears and did she have one, and how Pooh was like a big teddy bear.

When Pooh came to the table she got scared again and he got Pooh to stop and come slowly. He held out Pooh's arm and got her to stroke it, talking the whole time about how it was soft like a teddy bear etc.

We then got a photo of her giving Pooh a kiss, and from then on she was fine. Danced with Mickey and Minnie, kissed all the characters, hugged all of them. DH and I LOVED that CM (and although I didn't get his name, I had him in one of the photos so emailed Disney raving about him).

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that at the character meals you're probably more likely to have time to do something like this than at a park meet and greet.

 

[pharmama]

Our DD's first trip to Disney (WDW) she was 28 months. We started with a character meal. She had been anti-character with Dora, Santa Claus etc. before then, but we hoped she'd be ok.

She hid from Tigger and Piglet and Eeyore, even though from the window she'd been excited about Piglet.

Then...we got the most amazing cast member in the world. He had seen she was scared so he left Pooh at the previous table and came to ours. He talked to her about teddy bears and did she have one, and how Pooh was like a big teddy bear.

When Pooh came to the table she got scared again and he got Pooh to stop and come slowly. He held out Pooh's arm and got her to stroke it, talking the whole time about how it was soft like a teddy bear etc.

We then got a photo of her giving Pooh a kiss, and from then on she was fine. Danced with Mickey and Minnie, kissed all the characters, hugged all of them. DH and I LOVED that CM (and although I didn't get his name, I had him in one of the photos so emailed Disney raving about him).

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that at the character meals you're probably more likely to have time to do something like this than at a park meet and greet.

This type of take it slow interaction is why I was considering a character meal as possibly being a good introduction to the characters. But of course there's no guarantee we would have this type of experience. What a wonderful story!

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[lucysmom]

I guess everyone's different. Our daughter was the same age when we went to WDW. We were staying at the POLY, and our first event of the trip was the character breakfast at Ohanas. The place was packed. We were all being put into position for the prebreakfast photo when we noticed that our little one had scooted into the restaurant where she was firmly planted on Mickey Mouse's leg. She loved Mickey from the start! He was a big stuffed animal who could hug back! Does your little one love stuffed animals? That might be an indicator. You could do a test run at Chuckie Cheese's and see if she likes the mouse there. It is not as cute as Mickey, but it might give you an indication of her tolerance for the characters. Have fun with whatever decision you make.

 

[arichau]

I also agree if you're just there for one day you should skip it. If I was going to
try one out with a child who had never been to Disney before and I had concerns I would go for the Princess meal because kids can make eye contact with them (although I've heard sometimes Princess Minnie is there). If you were going to be there more than one day I would suggest making a reservation for later in the trip - if they love characters great, if not you would give yourself some time to cancel with plenty of notice if that seemed like the right thing to do.

My daughter when she was that age was terrified of Santa, the Easter Bunny, Red Robin, etc. I was very, very concerned she would be afraid of characters on our first trip. (We didn't do any character meals that first trip) I chatted with her a bit about in the park getting autographs and photos but told her it was totally up to her what she wanted to do. Two minutes in the park she ran up to Minnie Mouse and gave her a big hug - total shocker for us!! But when we waited in line to see Pluto and he jumped around a bit (in a playful way) in front of her she totally freaked out. Like she started screaming. But as soon as he backed off she was totally fine again. So I would take that into consideration as well - that it might be easier to approach some characters more than others.

It's just impossible to know what will happen I think - sounds like you are making the best choices for your family. I hope it all goes great!