5 year old scared of characters question!

[3princesses+aprince]

I have 2 character meals planned. I have 4 kids and 3 of them will LOVE them. But my 5 year old will NOT! we've went to see Patrick from spongebob and Dora and clifford at local malls over the past year and dd5 was clung to my leg. My question is has anyone ever done a character meal with one child afraid of them. I don't won't to cancel them my other kids will have a blast, but I don't know what to do. Thanks!

 

[susykt4]

DS was also terrified of characters but for some reason LOVED them at Disney World. I've only been to two character meals- Princess lunch at Epcot and Donald's Breakfastsaurus at AK. As long as your DD is ok with being in the same room with characters (seeing but no direct contact) it should be fairly easy to help her avoid them while your other children have their interaction. Maybe she'll surprise you and like them.

 

[lovesdumbo]

Do you think she might be OK with any of the characters? Some kids only like "face" characters like the princesses but my youngest will only go near the full costume characters-especially the Pooh characters. The characters are really good at seeing which kids don't want anything to do with them and they don't get too close.

Could you schedule your meals at less busy times? On our last trip we had a very late breakfast at 1900 Park Fare at GF. That worked really well because we were one of the last tables left in the place and the characters kept coming back. It gave my shy child a chance to warm up instead of the one and only shot at greeting them you get at a busier time.

 

[NotUrsula]

I'd suggest making your character meals dinners and letting that child go to a kids' club instead. Character meals are torturous for children who are afraid of characters, and they usually spend the whole event either cowering under the table and/or being scolded by their parents for doing so.

Offer the chance at a kids club instead of characters, and I bet he jumps at it.

 

[Vannah]

My DSis (now five) was terrified of the costumed characters when we went to disney, but not so afraid of the princesses and other non-costumed characters. We did the princess breakfast so it really wasn't that hard but when we visited other costumed characters, she was terrified and wouldn't go near them. We scarcly have any pictures of her with me and my other sis with costumed characters. She finally warmed up to them on our last day in the World.

Not sure I helped, but good luck.

 

[java]

Well I'll tell you what happened to us this year. I knew he was afraid so I didn't plan any- I also have 4 children and this is the 3 year old. But he heard about the Jojo breakfast and wanted to go. I said are you sure? You know it is a big Jojo-"Yes me love jojo! Me love goliath!" Great I book the breakfast for the end of our trip thinking he'll even have some time to warm up to the characters. Well they bring us in and all is good. He hasn't seen them yet but is doing great. Well then they start singing and dancing and out come the Einsteins and Jojo my other 3 are dancing along- everybody having fun. Hey where's Logan? He had jumped under the table and stayed there the entire meal with only brief moments of reaching up to grab some bacon.

 

[2poohbears]

My 2 1/2 year olds were not thrilled with characters this year, either. I'll tell you, though, I think the noise level makes it worse. One of our meals was at Garden Grill in Epcot and they had a blast with the characters there. I finally figured out it was less noisy, less crowded, not as big a restaurant (since it rotates you don't really see the whole restaurant when you're seated) - I think because the environment was calming they were able to relax. We saw Mickey, Pluto, and Chip & Dale there.

BTW-At the other character meals, if the boys started crying the characters generally stayed away from the table. They were fine if the characters were across the room.

 

[hthrbells]

Thanks for the tip about EpcotI also am wary of my 2 1/2 year olds responce. I may skip Chef Mickys. We had a horrible wiggles concert exp. TOO loud once we were in the hall my ds was fine.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Well I'll tell you what happened to us this year. I knew he was afraid so I didn't plan any- I also have 4 children and this is the 3 year old. But he heard about the Jojo breakfast and wanted to go. I said are you sure? You know it is a big Jojo-"Yes me love jojo! Me love goliath!" Great I book the breakfast for the end of our trip thinking he'll even have some time to warm up to the characters. Well they bring us in and all is good. He hasn't seen them yet but is doing great. Well then they start singing and dancing and out come the Einsteins and Jojo my other 3 are dancing along- everybody having fun. Hey where's Logan? He had jumped under the table and stayed there the entire meal with only brief moments of reaching up to grab some bacon.

Oh, my gosh, that is so terrible and so cute all at the same time! I'm laughin in sympathy with the poor little guy...

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Thanks for the replys, I actually asked my dd5 this morning if she would like to have lunch with winnie the pooh and Lilo and stitch.( even though our trip is a surprise, I kind of asked in a one day we'll do that way) She got really excited, I told her they were big though, she said I won't be scared , I want to do that. so we'll see, after I surprise them for christmas I'll talk to her about it more. I do think she would be totally fine with them in the room while we eat though, I think she will only shrink under the table when they come over, and like someone else they , when they see her, they just won't bother her.

 

[thirtycats]

We've had to cancel 3 character meals...so far.

First one was when my son was 3. Big group of us in Crystal Palace. He refused to go in.

Flash forward almost 2 years. DS asks DH if they can go to Cape May for breakfast. He says he's ready...not scared anymore. They wake up early, get dressed, drive over there, and he loses his nerve.

Next trip...months later, he asks to go to Hollywood Play and Dine. Acts very excited, but weary of characters at park. This time I decided to not even try. I canceled a day ahead.

We're going back in December. I said we'll see how he acts with the characters and maybe try for last-minute reservations.

Easier with one child though.

When you have more than one...I don't know. Maybe family can split up. One parent takes other kids to character meal and other parent takes scared child to alternate meal?

 

[disney6family]

We've had this problem through all of our children at one time. DS7 has always been scared. We just take him on in with us, DH, me, DS11, DS9, DD6 all of them started character meals at young ages. We just nicely but firmly say this is where we voted to eat among the whole family and if you don't want to see the characters we will warn you when they are coming and you can hide. While they ask you to sit the children on the outside of the table to make it easier for them to see characters, we sit him the farthest away (easier to do if you have table by a wall). Once we were in Chef Mickey's and had the big table in the middle for a party of 12 and he spent most of the meal under the table. The best thing is to let them go at their own pace and assure them that they don't have to do anything they don't want. Don't force or cajole them into pictures or even saying hi if they don't want. You may need to block a well meaning character from reaching out to try to make friends, but this will make the child feel safe and allow everyone to enjoy the meal. We have been to many character meals, the first since DS7 was seven months and he is now able to talk to most characters at meals and in the parks, with only a few he still does not like. The face characters (like princesses) do seem to be easier on the younger ones.