Character Meals and 2 yo

[slduck]

We will be at Disney just after my DS turns 2. His 6 yo sister is LOVES of character meals, but DS hates the characters We are planning a trip to Chef Mickey's and Akershus. Here are my questions......

At CM, I am planning to sit Ds on the side away from the characters. That way, he will be able to see them from afar, but hopefully, they won't get near him. Any advise on how to get him to warm up to the characters?

I am also wondering if anyone has had experiences with face characters and young children. I am thinking that he will be better with the face characters. He is usually not afraid of stangers so that shouldn't be an issue.

 

[mommytodarlings]

Last year when we went to CM my kids were 2, 3 and 4.5 y.o. When we were shown our table Mickey was sitting at it. My 2 y.o went hysterical, dh had to walk away with him. However that was our first day and after a very long trip.

We booked a lot of character meals and we just sat him on the side of table away from the characters, as you suggested. He didn't mind that and I just let the characters know that he was kind of shy and they didn't go up to him.

He was much better at 1900 Park Fare with Cinderella, but by the end of our trip he was okay with them all, I mean he wasn't hugging them, but he was okay with them coming around him.

I think letting him sit and see what is going on and the interaction with the other people might help him get used to them.

 

[MrsJ Henry]

This is what we are going to do...... We are not going to book our Character meals ( The ones with Mickey/ Pooh etc)until a few days in so hopefully she will have seen them in the park and be a little more used to them.
BUT... we are booking meals such as 1900 park fare right from the start so she will start getting used to people coming over to the table etc....

We have never done this before so i hope it works

 

[Mom2JoeyandBen]

My oldest son was never afraid of the characters. He has been going to Disney since he was 7 months old. Last year we took him to 1900 Park Fare and he was scared to death of Alice and the Mad Hatter. I thought it was maybe just them, but we took him in Aug and he would cry and run away from the face characters. He screamed when Mary Poppins talked to him and he wanted nothing to do with Peter Pan. But he is great with Goofy, Mickey, Minnie, and all the rest.
Sitting your son on the side is a great idea, also maybe talk to the people who handle the characters before they come to your table and explain the problem so that they can let the character know ahead of time.

 

[lighttech]

Try to do a trial run before if you can, it will let you know what to expect, and then you can prepare, or, worst case scenario, cancel the meals. (Or at least save yourself time waiting in line for characters in the parks!)

We accidentally had a trial run, and, luckily it went great. We went to a local minor league baseball game, and they had a big blue moose walking around. DS (2.5) ran right up to him and wanted hugs and just kept petting his nose when he bent down. Then, the other night, we went to DH's firehouse for Fire Prevention night, and they had "Sparky" the dalmation there and DS kept asking where he was. He wanted to do nothing but find him and hold his hand. (He even opted out of getting onto a firetruck to go find him... which, w/ how much DS LOVES firetrucks is unbelievable.)

Hopefully, WDW will pan out the same.

But, if there are any local venues w/ characters, see if you can give it a try. We've also been doing a LOT of talking about how big the characters are, and we showed DS some pics from when DH and I went years ago to let him know that "Mickey Mouse is as big as Daddy," and "Goofy is SOOOO Tall."

Good luck! And, safe travels.

 

[las3888]

Every child is different, and they change constantly too, so beware! My DS likes most characters, but does NOT like face characters (Cinderella, Prince Charming). He also just started a phase at 2.5 y/o where he is refusing to go on most rides, although he went on a great many of them when he was just a little younger.

We did a lot of at home familiarization with the characters...he knows most of the Disney characters through books, some videos, etc. He is happy to see most of them.

 

[stacy6552]

Be prepaired for DS to still freak out. However, I will say having been in the same boat as you for several trips and many meals, the Liberty Tree Tavern handled the situation the very best. The first time they saw our baby freak out, so the manager took our older son to meet the charactures between tables. They sat the baby with his back to the room and the charactures made a big show for our older so of tiptoeing behind the baby and hiding behind their hands. And a few years later, when we ate there after a "failed" attempt at 1900 PF, it was dinner at LTT when our son turned the corner and loved the whole thing.