3 y.o. scared of characters??!!

[moinab]

Nine trips in 6 years, and DS still will not get within 20 ft. of any of the characters, face characters included. He likes watching them, but only from a safe distance. You know what? We were a little disappointed at first, but we have come to realize how lucky we are.

ITA! Our 3 yo DS is afraid of the characters. At first we were bummed out, but then we realized it's not a big deal. It's not like the characters are everywhere and are going to come charging up to your child.

IMO, though, I would definitely stay away from character meals, if your child is truly fearful of characters. We tried to force the issue by taking DS to a show (thinking he would be ok watching from a distance.) Well, now he refuses to go into any type of theater.

 

[snowball]

Don't even try it with a small child! I thought maybe a harmless ride, right, how scary could it be. My mistake! Gangsters shooting and abducing (taking) the tour guide absoutley runioned our vacation. He was afraid of every ride there on out.
Disney is so great it is hard to distinguish reality from fantasy for small children. My son was 6 and he really wasn't ready for disney yet. Every child is different but mine just wasn't ready for disney even the 3-d movies scared him. And the Bugs Life 3-D wow it was horrifying for him. Maybe we could go back in a couple of years. I really had a good time though it was hard for him!

 

[fredms]

Thanks for all of this great info. My almost 4 yr old niece was at a birthday party yesterday and someone was dressed up as Big Bird. Needless to say, she spent half the party under the dinig room table crying because she was scared of Big Bird - poor thing.

I am taking her plus her three brothers and sister to WDW in January 2005. I told my sister we'll need to do many trips to Chuck E Cheese before hand to warm the kids up.

I like the idea to start with the princesses (face characters). I am planning on doing one breakfast at Chef Mickey or LTT (can't decide) and one at Cinderella's or Princess Storybook. I'll do the princess one firts to warm the kids up.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[alloyd1170]

My 2 yr old wouldnt go near Santa this past Christmas, so I was worried about the characters. I sent for the free planning guide and let him watch the dvd (he started asking to watch it). I also got him the Sing Along video Beach Party (he watches that one several times a day). When we got to MGM the first day, he met a few characters hed never seen before and was not happy unless I went up with him. However, when he was in line for Mickey he got all excited and ran up to him. The characters in the video (Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, Pluto, Goofy) he had no problems with in the parks. We did wait until the last day to do Chef Mickeys and Im glad we did. By then he was used to the characters and we all had a blast. He hugged Goofy, pulled Minnies dress up, bopped Dale on the head, played hand tag with Pluto and kissed Mickey (that got everyone talking). I bought an autograph book and took lots of pictures. I printed out small versions with the characters and my son and put them in the book with the signatures. He looks at his pictures all the time now. Its good prep for when we go back again in Jan!

alison

 

[thumperjr9]

Last year my DS 4 was afraid of the characters (along with many other things) He wouldn't go up close to them even Pooh, Tigger etc. in fact he became nervous about the rides. It got to the point that he was really not enjoying himself at all, and worrying what was lurking around every corner. I finally took drastic measures and told him the characters where not real, they were just people dressed up in costumes. ( what a terrible mom I am to ruin the magic) But you know, after that he was much happier and relaxed. When we got to Al's Toy Barn he waited in line and was thrilled to go up to Buzz and Woody to get their autograph and I have a picture of him with the biggest grin on his face. When my older DS was younger he would run right up to the characters without any fear. But years later he told us that he knew that they were not "real" but never said anything because he didn't want to ruin our fun. Everything at DW is bigger than life and for some kids it can be intimidating. I'm sure though, everything will work out and all your kids will have a great time.

 

[DemoBri1]

Originally posted by slo
Try to find some characters that are not attracting alot of attention and have your older children approach them and really show the younger child how awesome the character is.

The child may trust the character after seeing the older siblings having fun, and the older siblings may feel important because they can help.

If this doesn't work, just keep a distance - he may warm up in a couple days if he is able to move at his own speed.

Have fun

Slo...you hit the nail right on the head. This is my suggestion exactly. My 18 mo boy really had no problems with the characters. I think it had a great deal to do with seeing my 3 yo daughter going up to them. Also, mommy held him in the pics quite a bit, so that helped as well. Both kids did great at the three character meals we went to.

I definitely would take the suggestion of having your little one watch the planning video. Especially point out those scenes where little ones are going up to the characters.

Brian