Character Meal Question

[1hero2princesses]

All right my DD 4, who is afraid of characters has agreed to give another character meal a try. My DS who will be 6, really wants to go to one. So, any ideas on how he could have character interaction but they don't get too near her? I am thinking I will hold her, she didn't handle it well last year but being a whole year old she may be ok, as long as they don't come near her. She really freaked last year and we had to actually leave the restaurant. Any ideas on what might be the best meal to try? Does anyone anywhere allow him to greet the character as opposed to coming to the table? I know this sounds silly but just trying to make things fair and happy for all. He was very upset last year all the character meals were cancelled/ruined cause his sister freaked out. She gets princess meals so it is tough. And who know what the 2 year old will do!

 

[ROEDISNEY]

I would go to chef mickeys but tell the cm about how she's afraid and not to aproach her.

 

[Mom2Evie]

My DD was afraid of characters at that age. She wanted nothing to do with anyone except face characters (i.e. princesses). We wanted a character meal so we went with the Supercalifragilistic Breakfast (Mary Poppins, Alice, Mad Hatter, Pooh, etc.) at the Grand Floridian. With three "real" characters plus Winnie the Pooh, it gave us a good mixture of an experience. She got to see the characters around the dining room before they got to us, see how the other kids interacted with characters, how the characters behaved, etc. When Pooh approached her, we were a bit apprehensive and I'm sure it showed on our faces. Pooh hung back just a bit & barely touched her on the arm. Her reaction was wonderful & immediate, "He's the softest thing EVER!" Then she threw herself at him for a hug!! The Mad Hatter was a total riot, making us all giggle. When my DD said that he's a little crazy, my reply was "Oh, he's quite MAD!" making ME laugh!!

If she isn't interested in interacting with the characters, just sort of wave them toward your son & away from her. They'll pick up on it. They always do.

 

[MickeyNicki]

At a booth/chair table have the one child sit on the booth part, harder for the character to get to them....you can tell the server too, she will let the character handler know to just wave to them

 

[mitsybella]

you could also try to have her meet some characters at character spots outside the resturants so she gets used to them. We found the characters to be very good at observing if a child was afraid and would interact as much or as little as the children liked, hope you have better luck this time.