Character comtradictions

[heartse]

My DD's explaination is that the REAL MICKEY (and other chacters by extension) are all too busy being on tv that the ones in the park are just people dressed up like them. She first realized the problem with Tink when she was 3, and our most recent trip over the summer (age 5) she was able to feel the person inside. I love how her explanation keeps Mickey alive and real... she just knows that THAT'S not him in there.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

I absolutely LOVE this! Well said and so very true!

...Come with me and you'll be
In a world of pure imagination...

 

[WDSearcher]

No really I get that- but since Disney is so insistent on it being believable I dot get why they'd place characters in a way that would give the kids legitimate questions. I understand a kid may not recognize Beast in his Prince Adam form or even rapunzel with brown hair ( and who wouldn't want to see that awesome coif of blonde ?) but it surprises me. I fully expect one of my girls to ask her about her hair this year because they keep askig me. I keep going with my extensions and dye job so that kids would know who she is explanation.

But see ... in a case like this, it's not Disney that's being inconsistent or difficult. It's you.

If you do really "get it", then that's how you answer your kids. "Rapunzel doesn't have brown hair here because that's not the part of her story she's in right now." Poof. Done. IMO, it's kind of ridiculous that Rapunzel would have hair extensions and a dye job -- and I would think that a child would hear that explanation and know it's something you made up because you don't know the answer.

Ariel has legs in such-and-such location because she's an imaginary character come to life, and that's the part of the story she wanted to be in today. The next time we meet her, she may still be a mermaid because that's what she wanted to be on that day. That kind of explanation is pretty easy for kids to work with. It's grown-ups who want a logical and realistic answer. These are animated characters. They are not bound by logic.

It's like the joke about the little kid who asked his parents "Where do I come from?" The parents went into this long involved explanation of the birds and the bees and where babies come from, etc. When they were done, the kid said, "Oh ... weird. Because Jimmy comes from Kansas."

Don't try to over-think or over-answer the question, y'know?

Disney characters are magical creatures made of imagination. They can do whatever they want.

 

[WDSearcher]

Dh and I were just discussing this the other day. We had seen some photos of the new story time with Belle that's going to be in the new Fantasyland. It apparently includes an animatronic, interactive Lumiere and Wardrobe (does the wardrobe have a name?). Anyways, DH was like, "Why did they go back to being pieces of furniture? Why would we want them to go back to being pieces of furniture?"

From that perspective, it does seem sort of wrong.

Tell him to stop being a grown-up.

 

[gwmort]

Seriously, I don't get why you people think they are not real?

A character is a character. Do they think its not a real Mickey cartoon if its not an original drawn by Walt? Whoever happens to be bringing life to the character at that particular moment is moot, as long as it is officially sanctioned it is the real character. Mickey is a corporate icon, when you get your picture taken with him in the parks you are standing next to the real corporate icon.

 

[sydneysmom]

There's no proof....maybe he broke his leg and made a full recovery

Exactly !! The body was technically not recovered in the movie!

 

[Hoosier37]

My daughter was 8 our first trip to WDW. The kid doesn't even believe in Santa, never did. She just doesn't care for fantasy all that much...or she didn't.

Everyone kept calling her a princess. She refused to meet any characters and our second night there said "Mom, why do they keep calling me a princess. Don't they know I am not a princess?"

So I told her that what made Disney magic is that it is a great big game of pretend, and even the adults play. We're all pretending everything is real, so at Disney she is a princess because we make it that way by pretending.

By the end of the trip she was hugging characters and so excited because Cinderella waved at her from a parade float .

 

[gtpoohbear]

The only time I ever noticed a zipper on a character was at CP, Pooh was visiting our table and he turned around to position himself better for a picture, and there it was, inches from us. I just about panicked!!! I thought, oh NO! DD will know for sure now that they aren't "real"!! (She was 6 at the time, and showed no signs of not believing, but I knew it had to be close). I have no idea if she noticed the zipper, but her enthusiasm for characters certainly didn't wane any after that

When we first started thinking about our upcoming April 2013 trip, I initially thought that maybe we wouldn't do many character meals, thinking that DD (9 now) would be too old to be interested, and DS (2) would be too young and probably just scared. But as we started talking, it was obvious that DD still expected to do lots of them, and even started asking if we could meet certain characters that we've never seen before, which new ones might be there, etc. So it looks like we will still be spending plenty of time with Mickey and friends Even as an adult, character meeting is still one of my favorite parts of the trip.

Just like with Santa, and the Easter bunny, and the tooth fairy... most kids reach a point where they just kind of "know", but for many it is much more fun to keep up the game and pretend. So far DD seems to be taking that approach, and I hope it continues. I was just the opposite. I held out telling my parents that I "knew" about Santa for several years, just b/c I didn't want to hurt their feelings, but by about 9 I couldn't take it anymore, it just felt stupid so i rather ungraciously told them how I felt one day while we were Christmas shopping in the mall. Looking back, I wish I would have just let myself enjoy the magic of it all instead of feeling so self-conscious about believing.

In some way, I can still convince myself that the characters at Disney are "real" even now. I've never been "friends" with a character, or known anyone that has, but I can imagine that if I were chosen to do that, once I put that costume on I would cease to be myself. In my mind, I would truly become Minnie, or Cinderella, or whoever. Their spirit and personality can be shared by anyone who knows them well enough and feels a connection to them. So if I think about it like that, they are all as real as anything else.

 

[Gumbymom]

This is all very interesting. My 10 yr old STILL believes in Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, but it never occurred to us or to her even, to think the Disney Characters were real.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Did they just pull the name Adam out of thin air? He doesn't have any name in the movie besides the prince or beast. Or was that his name in other iterations of the story (non-Disney)? I'm just wondering, not trying to sound like a jerk.

For some reason, the fact that the Beast was never named in the movie has always bothered my husband. When he's been forced to play with those little princess sets with the rubber clothes, he's always given the role of the Beast by our daughter. So, he wented ahead and named him...in our house, he's John Beast. I didn't know about this Prince Adam thing until I read about it on the Disboards last year, and I broke the news to my husband that his name is Adam, not John Beast. He just looked at me like: and said, "Sorry, but his name is John Beast, not Adam." So John Beast he is forevermore. At least in our house.

 

[disneydiva16]

I think keeping the magic alive for your children is fun - whether they believe you or not. I am 40 and EVERY year my Mom still says in an excited voice 'oooh I wonder what Santa has brought you this year" and her gifts to me have 'from Santa' on the label. I know, she knows, we all know. But its still fun

Exactly

 

[Tigger1221]

When my little sister now 15 was younger I was the Bee for a local radio station. She saw me in the Bee suit and knew it was me but when I would put the head on would freak out! When we took her to Disney we figured she would know the characters were like that too. She told us she knew that wasn't the real Mickey but that there was a real one. She said the REAL Mickey and Friends lived in Toontown (not at WDW) and were too busy so these were the helpers. We just said ok and she eventually learned the truth I guess.

In our house both my sister and I never told my parents we didn't believe in Santa or Disney Characters or anything else.

 

[JohnNYC]

Just told my wife that I was having this discussion with you fine people, and she wanted to me to ask this...

For those of you worried about the inconsistencies, etc. and how to explain them to your kids.....do your kids think the movies are real???

For example, people mentioned the Beast in the park should be a human because his story ended that way. That would mean for your child to be bothered by this he or she must believe the whole animated movie is reality, right?

 

[mickeyspal07]

When we met Tigger at Crystal Palace I felt a zipper on his back when I gave him a hug, didn't matter to me anyway I know they're people in costumes but they feel real! I love Disney <3

Exactly the same here!

 

[monkistan]

After reading all of this I kind of wonder what i thought when i first went to Disney. It was 1981 and I was 5. I know that we went to the Empress Lily and got character breakfast, and I know that we saw characters roaming the parks. I remember, and it may have been when i was 7, me and Captain Hook facing off because I'd bought one of those old timey guns from the Pirates shop.

I can't imagine that, even at 5, I thought the characters were "real" in the sense that Captain Hook was the same as in the movie. I'd like to believe that I knew that movies were not real. But I honestly have no idea.

Just makes me think, I guess.

I do have to say, that I love getting hugs from characters now, always did, even when I knew there was someone inside or if I didn't. I don't think it takes anything away from the experience, because it's all about imagination.

I tend to ramble when I'm tired.

 

[bytheblood]

Before we found these boards, my wife and I had no idea some of you let your children believe these things are real! So weird to us!
Not judging or anything, believe me, just very surprised. We never even thought of the characters like that.

Our kids have been going since birth, basically, and have always known they are people dressed up just for entertainment and have always found it fun to get pictures taken, etc. regardless.

Now they are 9 and 7, and while they don't ever want to wait on a long line to see a character, they still enjoy a hug or high five at a character meal or a random meeting in a park.

We can't be the only ones who find this whole "real" characters strange, right?

My daughter is 14 now, but I did let her believe they are real. I never let her believe in santa or an easter bunny though.

 

[Magpie]

Just told my wife that I was having this discussion with you fine people, and she wanted to me to ask this...

For those of you worried about the inconsistencies, etc. and how to explain them to your kids.....do your kids think the movies are real???

For example, people mentioned the Beast in the park should be a human because his story ended that way. That would mean for your child to be bothered by this he or she must believe the whole animated movie is reality, right?

Oh... good question!

Maybe that's why the issue of "belief" never came up with my kids. From the time they were 3 or 4, I was watching all the "making of" documentaries with them. I mean, there's nothing more fun (in my opinion) than watching a cartoon, and following it up with interviews with the creators, plus behind-the-scenes glimpses. And kids love to know how things work!

So from the time my kids were little, they knew about storyboards and animators and all sorts of neat things. They were (and still are!) perfectly capable of understanding that Disney characters are pretend - and then jumping right into the game without a second thought.

The only fictional character who gave my kids any trouble at all was Harry Potter, and that was only because my daughter was really, really hoping that the story was secretly real and she'd get a letter on her 11th birthday.

 

[Magpie]

My daughter is 14 now, but I did let her believe they are real. I never let her believe in santa or an easter bunny though.

Can you explain why you'd let your child believe Mickey Mouse is real but not Santa? That seems... inconsistent.

(And for the record, the Spirit of Christmas totally IS real. So, there. )

 

[Glennie5]

My nephew who is 8 was visiting with us this summer and I over heard him tell my ds that there really is a santa, he then tells him "my mom hates video games, do you really think she would have bought me my X-Box for Christmas"
I know my two oldest stopped believing in Santa or that the face characters at Disney were real a long time ago but they still go along with it with for their little sister.

 

[WDSearcher]

Can you explain why you'd let your child believe Mickey Mouse is real but not Santa? That seems... inconsistent.

(And for the record, the Spirit of Christmas totally IS real. So, there. )

I don't find that particularly inconsistent.

Santa and the Easter Bunny exist pretty much to give you stuff. Santa brings presents; the Bunny brings chocolate. Without that element, those two beings really wouldn't exist. (I know that St. Nicholas and the legend and all that are real, but Santa as we know him today was created as a marketing campaign.)

Mickey Mouse, on the other hand, is a fairytale character come to life. He doesn't give you stuff; he's not associated with a particular holiday or event. He's like any other character in a book or in a movie. "Believing" in him doesn't mean you get stuff. It just means you think he's real. It's like how grown-ups meet their favorite soap or TV stars and assume they have the same personality as their characters. Deep down, we know that the actor and the character are different. But we kinda wanna hope that they're the same.