Animation Academy at DHS - with kids?

[DisneyMomChristine]

Who here has attended the class with children? I'm just thinking of some "new" attractions for our family, and this seems cute. My kids will be 4 & 6. My 6yo loves to draw...

Thoughts?

 

[Itinkso]

They will love it!!

The directions are very easy to follow and the CM's images are projected onto a large screen for everyone to see and follow.

Your kids will be so proud of their drawings! Enjoy!!

 

[EMom]

The animators go very fast. And they don't repeat instructions for those who cannot keep up. My best piece of advice would be, can your kids keep SILENT for the duration? When anyone in that class says anything, it means others miss key steps of the instructions. One year, we had a dunce take a cell phone call and it made hearing the instructions virtually impossible.

If your kids can be silent, go ahead and enjoy. If they are the sort to ask you, "What did he say?" or "I can't hear him," etc., then please stay away until they can stay quiet. You know the sort I am talking about.....the questioners......the ones who make movies unbearable because they pepper their parents with questions throughout the movie and the parents don't have the sense to tell them to be quiet or remove them. If your kids can be quiet during a movie, church, a wedding, etc., then they are good candidates.

 

[northeast_minnie]

we did this on our last trip our DS was 6 he loved it - he has his framed tinkerbell drawn by himself on his bedroom wall - this is definitely a must do for our trip again in April.

 

[shadeauxe]

My 8 yr old enjoyed it, my 18mo old was really annoying and I had to take her out of the room because she would not sit still.

 

[Elinor Dashwood]

They're 4 and 6? I'd say forego it or at least, don't bother letting them draw. That's sounds mean of me but I'll tell you why. The animator artist guy moves very quickly! There isn't time to really go over a step you may have missed and there aren't any erasers. When I took my 6 year old DD, she was very frustrated trying to follow his directions and wanted to erase repeatedly. Is there someone with you who can kind of keep them occupied while you draw? It's an awesome little class and I love going! My kiddos are older now so they participate.

I will add that if your 6 year old is really good at drawing and doesn't get easily frustrated, I'd go ahead and let him try.

 

[ariane37]

We did it 8 times on our last trip in May of 2013 and plan to do it more than 8 times when we go 18 days from now ! My DS's were 11 and 7. DS11 absolutely loved it; he's very artistic, found the directions easy to follow and didn't get the least bit upset if his drawing was a little "off" from the animators. DS7 also loves to draw, but is a little tempermental; the first few times he got a slight attitude when he didn't quite understand what to do. Finally he got over it and decided his drawings were fine even though they were a little different than the animators end product.
It really is ALOT of fun and a good experience if you're looking for something "new". However I do agree with the PP that if children are not happy in there and are a bit loud, it can be difficult for others to hear the directions. They do go a bit fast so your 6 yr old may have trouble keeping up; but if she'll be happy drawing her own version of whatever character is being worked on, she'll most likely enjoy it As for the little one, maybe he/she will be happy just drawing??

 

[DisneyMomChristine]

Thanks for the great info, everyone! My girls are petty well-behaved in public, so this might be a good fit for us. If they decide that they don't want to draw their own, they could sit on our laps and "help" us, right? This just seems like the coolest souvenir ever!!!

 

[kaybird]

Another suggestion that has worked for little ones we have taken, have them practice drawing/sketching circles, the size of an orange, grapefruit, and ovals. If they are already comfortable with that when they get there, the frustration level is diminished right away!!!

 

[jennilouwho]

My boys did it at Disneyland at 4 and 6. It was fine. They loved it! My 6 year old's looked like the character, the 4 year old just liked drawing...something. I'm sure your kids will do great!