Character Dining- 1 afraid/1 not ?????

[MoeFam]

Hi-

My husband and I are taking our kids to Disney at the end of April. We had considered doing a character meal- but the last time we were there, our son was not too fond of the characters. Having seen his reaction to sporting mascots- I am pretty sure he still dosnt dig the whole giant character thing - but our daughter who will be almost two- LOVES them and I know she would get a real kick out of the whole thing. So what would you do? I really dont think it is an option for only one of us to go and take DD- neither DH or I really want to be the one left behind! Thanks for any help!

 

[rt2dz]

When we went on our 2005 trip, DS#1 loved characters and DS#2 wanted them at a great distance. CM were actually really good about placing DS#2 at a position at the table where characters couldn't get very close. The characers also stayed away from him as soon as we said "he's afraid". But at the end of the trip, DS#2 was getting braver.

 

[TheDizMom]

We had the exact same problem when we went in 2005. We solved it by explaining the situation to the hostess and requesting a table with booth seat on one side, which we were able to get all but 1 time. This way the character couldn't approach DD from behind and had to stay on the opposite side of the table from her. We then explained the problem to the character as soon as they approached the table so they knew not to try to approach or touch her. For pictures she was fine if mom or dad was between her and the character so we at least had something of her with them. In the beginning pictures she was as far away from the character as the seat would allow and by the end she was right next to me or my DH. You should also be prepared for very your DS to eat very little. My DD was so worried about the characters that she didn't eat very well, except at the Cinderalla and Princess meals because she wasn't afraid of them. Bring some ziploc bags you can stash some food in just incase you have this problem too, that way they can eat a little something later. You can easily take chicken fingers, carrot sticks, apples and even a slice of pizza with you in a ziploc!

Good luck and you never know, he may be just fine .