Any tips for introducing a toddler to the characters?

[Honeybee83]

My husband and I will be taking our DD, who will be 2 1/2 at the time of our trip, to DW in Sept of 2014. She can be shy at times, and adventurous at others so I really don't know how she will respond to the characters. We are not doing a character meal (she's too little for the price and we have no other children). I would just really like to get some nice pics of her with the characters, however, not at the expense of traumatizing her. If any of you have some tried and true methods that helped your children to enjoy character meets then I'm all ears! Thanks in advance!

 

[ginnygi]

The cast members in general, and some more so than others, seem very very good at tailoring the interaction to each child's temperament. My daughter is the same exact way. At times that she was in shy mode, I noticed that the characters hung back a little farther so as not to intimidate her and spoke in a softer tone. They honestly do most of the talking/interacting 90% of the time. Other times when she was more exuberant, they would give it right back to her, dance with her, banter with her. They really are fantastic at what they do. So dont worry too much!

 

[RedHeadedFairy]

We also spent a lot of time before our trip watching a bunch of the old Disney movies to help our daughter get acclimated to the different characters that she might see in the parks... that way she knew them by name & already had a certain comfort level with them.

That was especially helpful with characters that don't speak, like Rafiki.

 

[12and17]

I have a 2.5 year old. I call it "Disney brainwashing". I've slowly added new characters into his knowledge basis in order to receive a better reaction at the parks. Go ahead and judge, but it will be priceless.

We use his 10 min a day of tv before bed, Disney songs in the car, and books.

 

[Caseheidi]

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse made it work for us. We introduced DD to this show a few months before our trip and would talk with her about meeting them. For us I think it also helped that she LOVES stuffed animals. So she was familiar with the characters and thought the were all huge, moving stuffed animals! The only characters we had problems with for our shy one was Turk (from Tarzan- which she had not seen) and the face characters (princesses).

 

[ktdid23]

My daughter will be turning 3 a few days into our October trip. We have been watching Disney movies non-stop and talking about how we're going to "Mickey's House", but I didn't know if she understood we were really going to meet Cinderella, etc. I pulled up YouTube clips of character meet & greets and she LOVED it! We watched a few different parade and fireworks clips, as well. It is fun for her to see the characters interacting with real people and she always asks to watch a few clips and then will tell me she is excited to meet Cinderella "just like those people".

That might help your daughter get an idea of what is to come!

 

[Honeybee83]

My daughter will be turning 3 a few days into our October trip. We have been watching Disney movies non-stop and talking about how we're going to "Mickey's House", but I didn't know if she understood we were really going to meet Cinderella, etc. I pulled up YouTube clips of character meet & greets and she LOVED it! We watched a few different parade and fireworks clips, as well. It is fun for her to see the characters interacting with real people and she always asks to watch a few clips and then will tell me she is excited to meet Cinderella "just like those people".

That might help your daughter get an idea of what is to come!

That is a fantastic idea!! I love it

 

[Shelby109]

We did the you tube character meeting clips as well and it worked great. Also, we didn't push her. The first few characters we let her approach at her own speed and just wave if she wanted. By the third character or so she was giving hugs.

 

[timandjanl]

My husband and I will be taking our DD, who will be 2 1/2 at the time of our trip, to DW in Sept of 2014. She can be shy at times, and adventurous at others so I really don't know how she will respond to the characters. We are not doing a character meal (she's too little for the price and we have no other children). I would just really like to get some nice pics of her with the characters, however, not at the expense of traumatizing her. If any of you have some tried and true methods that helped your children to enjoy character meets then I'm all ears! Thanks in advance!

Check out mousesavers.com. I haven't tried it but I read on there that disney will send a free greeting to your child from a character. Maybe the character could say how excited they are to see her when she comes to visit, etc

 

[DSNY4ever]

I think you just never know. My son is VERY shy with new people and he LOVES the characters. But he doesn't like the face characters like princesses and stuff. I think he thinks they are just people trying to talk to him and that makes him nervous, but he loves the regular characters like Mickey, Pooh, etc. He even loved Jake from that pirate show and he has never even seen it. Just try making sure she is familiar with the characters, get some books or let her watch a few of the shows/movies to get her excited.

 

[Apsychmommy]

We just got back from Disney World for the first time with my two boys. I had the same concerns with my youngest who is 2.5 so we watched Disney movies to introduce him to the characters and I read him Disney stories for bedtime. In the end, both my 5 year old and 2.5 year old shied away from all of the characters so the only ways that we got pics was to actually be in the photos with them (me holding my youngest and my husband acting as a buffer between the character and my oldest). They didn't really smile but the pics are still a fun memory.

I love the idea of watching videos online--we'll try that next time.

 

[rachael95]

Whenever we see someone dressed up, like our local zoo will have people dressed as lions or raccoons and such, we introduce our DS to them. So he's getting to be used to giant characters ahead of time.

 

[Leger13]

I think you just never know. My son is VERY shy with new people and he LOVES the characters. But he doesn't like the face characters like princesses and stuff. I think he thinks they are just people trying to talk to him and that makes him nervous, but he loves the regular characters like Mickey, Pooh, etc. He even loved Jake from that pirate show and he has never even seen it. Just try making sure she is familiar with the characters, get some books or let her watch a few of the shows/movies to get her excited.

This is exactly how my DS is. He LOVES the costumed characters and begs to go see them. He will walk right up to them on his own, give hugs and kisses and all sorts of stuff but when it comes to princesses, forget about it. He was 2 on our last trip. Our first trip he was 14 months and wasn't sure about any characters at all. But the trip he was 2 yo for was the one he LOVED all costumed characters. Especially the ones he recognized. I know he is so excited to go back because he freaks out with excitement when he sees the Disney World commercials on TV. Definitely make sure to introduce your DD to as many Disney movies as you can to get her familiar with some of the characters in advance. The characters are great if she winds up being shy. None of them pushed it on the trip we took DS where he was shy of all characters which made the experience that much better and easier on everyone.

 

[corneredbycorn]

Whenever we see someone dressed up, like our local zoo will have people dressed as lions or raccoons and such, we introduce our DS to them. So he's getting to be used to giant characters ahead of time.

We have a local pro hockey team and we have season tickets so DD got a lot of exposure to their mascot early. I was a little afraid with the summer break she might be frightened, but we ran into a person dressed as a giant peacock at the park a few weeks ago and she was smitten so we're still good.

 

[dlove28]

As others have said - watch you tube interactions and try and introduce her to costumed characters/mascots locally.

What I can add is -

1. Stress that the characters are big like mommy and daddy. Youtube wil lhelp with that but reinforce it. She probably thinks Mickey is her size from TV or dolls she has and then she gets there and there's a 6 foot mouse coming at her. Very intimidating.
2. The first time she has interactions with characters, do so in an area where she can view them as you wait in line. Last December we went to see Santa at the local mall. Santa was in a secluded area, we waited 45 minutes and then BOOM my 2yr old was placed on a giant man with his face hidden behind a beard while he was yelling HO HO HO at her. Traumatic. If we had worked it so she saw other kids going first and how they reacted, she would have followed suit.
3. We brought little toys and books with us for characters we knew we were meeting. It was a great ice breaker for our oldest DD when she was 2 & 3 to show the character her toy. They usually made a big deal about it. Otherwise, I knew just about every character or their story so I was able to feed her some lines. Example, she wanted to meet Alice though she wasn't familiar with the story. So I told her while in line "Alice has a friend call the White Rabbit, ask her where he is." She did so, Alice told some wonderful story that made her laugh and the interaction was great. So do your homework!
4. Character meals. You said you weren't going to go but I wasn't sure what your statement meant. There is no charge for under three and they can eat off your plate at a TS (including buffet) for free. Most character meals are buffet or family style, so for us it is a good deal since TS for 2 adults is not much more expensive than CS for 2 adults and a child.

 

[Texashokies]

I always advise parents to have their kids watch lots of Disney Jr., movies, etc. so they are familiar with the characters.

Also show them the planning video that shows pictures of the characters with real kids. Point out to them the size of the characters so they won't be surprised.

Go with the flow when you get to Disney World. If they don't want to meet a character, don't push it. My daughter met lots of characters as a little, but for some reason she decided to hide under the table when one visited our table at Hollywood & Vine. We just let her hide there.

The face characters and handlers are very good at judging kids. When my daughter met Mulan, she was with the dragon (can't think of the name). My daughter hesitated, so Mulan had the dragon step away and she met with my daughter personally.

The face characters will also get down at your small child's level which is less intimidating. The full costume characters can't do that as easily.

 

[mulberrybush]

My dd was 18mths and 2.5 when we took her. Character meals were rough. She made me promise there would be not Santa or Easter Bunny. Even with that, the was only ok with piglet and June (einsteins) in full costume. The rest we let stand behind her while daddy held her for a pic. Try not to push or the fear will get worse (obviously the bunny was our downfall). We just held a hand up to the CM with the character to indicate she was timid and they were careful.

She did great with "face characters". The princesses were all so sweet to her - she begs to see them again.

If you have a rainforest cafe near you, that might help. We go a couple times per month so The big moving animals aren't so foreign. She enjoys them from a distance. And you know what? That's OKAY. It's magical for her to see the Disney characters from a distance and magic is the whole point, right?

 

[Honeybee83]

Check out mousesavers.com. I haven't tried it but I read on there that disney will send a free greeting to your child from a character. Maybe the character could say how excited they are to see her when she comes to visit, etc

I even subscribe to their monthly newsletter and had no idea that they did that. How awesome!!

 

[disneynutt1225]

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was a HUGE help in getting my son acclimated to the characters. He was mainly interested in the Fab 5, so we weren't rushing around throughout the parks looking for all the characters. He did so well with them this trip (I've taken him 3 times since he was born, and this was the best for character interaction). He loves looking at pictures and showing everyone when he met Mickey. This past trip was in June and he was around 2 1/2.

 

[cobright]

Work it slow, like going up to those things is as alien to you as it seems to her.

Pay more attention to all those other kids getting in line. I wonder why they are doing that? I wonder how much fun they are having? Spend a good long time letting her observe how normal it is for these kids to go up and see the character. Then drop it.

Then play the fraidy cat. I could never go up to mickey mouse, he scares me, does that big mouse scare you? I don't care if he does give out candy to kids (have candy to give the kiddo) we don't want to go see him do we? Well maybe if you hold my hand.

All else fails, dramamine.