Character Meet and Greet Prep for Toddlers

[DisNerdsince08]

I am looking for suggestions on prepping my toddler for meeting characters to decrease the chances of a Mickey Meet and Greet Meltdown!

 

[brb1006]

If you head to Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom around 9:50am or 10:00am. You will get a chance to meet Marie from The Aristocats who arrives at her meet and greet line near the Roy and Minnie Statue. However she doesn't come out during rainy days.

 

[phillymummer]

Are you afraid of how your toddlers will react to characters? Find restaurants or attractions in your area with characters and get them used to seeing the characters.

 

[brb1006]

Are you afraid of how your toddlers will react to characters? Find restaurants or attractions in your area with characters and get them used to seeing the characters.

Don't forget to ask some cast members about a certain character you see.

 

[tmh43]

We took our son to a local (ish) amusement park this summer to get an idea of how he'd be. We've been watching Disney movies/ reading Disney books to get him acquainted with the characters. There's also a Disney sing a long from the 80s called Disneyland Fun that is great because it basically walks you through a day at Disney.

Worse comes to worse, you hold off on the character meet and greets until your child is comfortable with them. Don't force it, let them lead And if there is a melt down, hey, maybe you can record it and get on AFV!

 

[HeatherL1985]

YouTube videos worked great for us! We made sure to comment on how tall they were and how much they loved hugs.

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

I bought DS (1) a stuffed Mickey Mouse from Walmart, so he would recognize at least one Disney character. He met Minnie Mouse for the first time, the day before his 1st birthday (on a Disney cruise) and he started smiling ear to ear! He met Mickey Mouse the next day on his 1st birthday and had the same reaction. He either thinks Mickey and Minnie are the same characters or he thinks Minnie is Mickey Mouse with a bow. LOL Either way, I honestly believe getting him that stuffed Mickey prior to the cruise was very instrumental in DS loving Mickey and Minnie when he met them for the 1st time.

He was fine meeting the other characters too; however, he only lit up when seeing Mickey and Minnie.

When approaching the characters for the 1st time, I made certain to tell them it was his 1st time and they let DS lead the way (they didn't just start playing with him). DS smiled, leaned in, patted their cheeks and squeezed their noses. It was so stinking cute!

I hope your little one takes to the characters well. Enjoy your trip!

 

[3DisneyFanz]

I think it's a crap shoot. When our son was 1 he loved every character he saw. At 18 months it was a completely different ballgame. From 20 feet away Mickey was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen. From 2 feet away he apparently was the basis of nightmares. We have no clue how he'll act in a few weeks at 2. We're trying the YouTube idea and he seems to really be taking to Donald but we were at Chick-fil-a a week or so ago and the cow was there. Once again he loved it across the restaurant but when it walked over he flipped out. Who knows.

 

[AshleeH]

My youngest hates the characters (she loves face characters), so we never pushed it (I can't imagine how scary that would be, to have my mom or dad push me at something that terrified me). I don't think there's much of anything you can do - if they're scared of them, that's a very real fear for them. We just reassure her it's okay, snuggle her when they get close, and ask the handlers to keep moving around to our older kids and not stop at our daughter. If we did family pictures, we would position her away from them (all of our group shots, she's giving them the side-eye). And the characters are excellent - even if they waved at her, she would inch back or whimper and they would literally jump away and cover their eyes for making her sad. It was really cute.

She didn't like them at WDW in October and she didn't like them on our cruise in June, but I noticed she was warming up to them near the end of our cruise week. I think if we had a two week cruise, she would have wanted to interact with them near the end. She actually went running for Sofia on one of the last days, got halfway there and stopped when Sofia waved at her, then turned and ran back to me. Progress!

 

[MischaOz]

I think either your child will like characters or not. We first took DD to WDW at 2yrs 8mos and she looooved the characters (well, except I think Goofy freaked her out a little). Maybe try picking a character that your child knows and loves for the first one. For us that was Minnie.

 

[TravelingTotMom]

There's also a Disney sing a long from the 80s called Disneyland Fun that is great because it basically walks you through a day at Disney.

Can't agree enough with Disneyland Fun. My 15-month-old LOVES it (so much so we have to watch it multiple times in a row... every day...). When all the characters come out in the first song, he gets so excited and names every single one.

And the Small World song is his favorite - so much so that when I was singing him to sleep last night, he wanted me to sing "Small." "Again!" and "Again!" and "Again!" I sang "Small World" on repeat for about 10 minutes - it was like being on the ride!

That video may be too helpful... proceed with caution!

 

[SwimMom2]

The characters are so well trained to work with all kinds of people. Be happy, approach the character with joy yourself, and let the characters do their thing. They are amazing people readers and true actors.

 

[Idreamofdisney15]

I'm also attempting to do this by watching YouTube videos of other people and kids meeting the characters. She gets excited now whenever the characters come on the screen. I'm sure it will probably be totally different when she is face to face with them but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[ruthies12]

Is there anywhere near you that has characters so you can go see how your kid does? My oldest always loved the characters so it was never a problem. On our last trip youngest dd was only 10 months and was fine with characters, didn't really care one way or the other. Now at 2 though she is scared of them. We were at local amusement park a few weeks ago that has snoopy characters and she was okay with being near them as long as I was holding her, if I tried to set her down she freaked.

My plan is take her back to our local amusement park again to see those characters and then just before our trip we'll try chuck e cheese to see chuck and see how she does. If she is still scared then I'll plan on handing my dh our camera at our chef mickey meal so I can hold her when all the characters come by.

 

[Ava]

As others have said, it's a crapshoot. Your child might love the characters, love some & be terrified of others, or be scared of all of them equally. You won't know until you're there. Just let your child lead and don't push them if they don't want to get close. I would not wait in a long line for the first character greeting, as it could end up being a waste of time if they're afraid. Do a character meal, or try a less popular character that doesn't have a long wait.

We took our older DD for the first time a couple weeks after her 2nd birthday and she LOVED the characters. We stuck to Mickey & friends and Pooh & friends, as those are the ones she was familiar with at that age. Our younger DD was 16 months old on her first trip last year, and wanted nothing to do with characters either face or plushie. On our last day she did let Stitch say hi to her while DW was holding her and we got some cute photos, but for most of the week she wouldn't go near them. We'll see how she does this trip - she's 27 months old now and much more familiar with the characters (LOVES Mickey/Minnie & Pooh) but she very well may still be afraid.

 

[Momof3WDW]

We have been taking our kids since they were little babies. Our DS has always loved the characters. His sister, DD#1, doesn't like them at all. We have been doing autograph books for a few years now and she actually threw her book at Donald and ran the other way the first time we tried to get his autograph. Now either me or my husband need to go up with her. Usually by the end of a trip she has come around a little bit. She loves face characters though. So princesses are a must.
If you have a Disney Visa go to the private character meet and greet in EPCOT. The last two years one of the characters always sits on the floor, down to DD#1 level and plays with her. This has helped tremendously. The character, has been Minnie both time, has been very patient and not pushy so the meeting was at DD#1 pace and not rushed like most other M&G.
DD#1 loves the characters from far away but if they come close she freaks out. We have tried at the local baseball games but she refuses to go near them.
Definitely be patient with your child and plan on having mom or dad there beside them so make them feel comfortable.

 

[englishteacha]

My daughter loves characters at our local amusement park and baseball games. She's the one we have to coax away so the next kid can have a turn. I think us being excited about it, in addition to her seeing You Tube videos and pictures of people meeting characters helped her to warm up. Even when she was being shy with real people, she was happy to hug Cinderella or Slugger the Sea Dog.

 

[Gma2lillybean]

We are taking my almost 2 year old granddaughter next month, and in reading lots of trip reports with toddlers we came across Dugette's TR and a video with her daughter and talking Mickey. We showed this to Lilly to help prepare her for m some M&Gs, and now she can't wait to meet "Choo-choo Mickey"! You might try to search some you tube video of character meets also; just be sure you watch them first to make sure they are positive experiences - not the disasters that happen from time to time.

 

[myrtleturtle]

We've been practicing with the cow at Chick-fil-a and the mascot at a baseball game, plus watching YouTube videos. We have Chef Mickey scheduled on our arrival (non-park) day, so if the kids are terrified we will be able to avoid them for the rest of the trip.

 

[Grace W]

I took my daughter to Six Flags near by first, then we plan on doing meet and greets first thing in the mornings when she is in her best mood. We plan on starting off with Talking Mickey, since Mickey is one of her favorites.