Character Ripoff Co. near me to spoil my daughter's experience?

[guppy1013]

Am I being weird about this?

There is a new company near me (NE Ohio) that has actors and actresses that dress up like "fairy tale" characters and come to parties. A bunch of moms I know are obsessed with getting a princess to "pop in" to a play date or come to birthday parties. Clearly they are all Disney princesses, and that's all well and good, but they have an adult Sofia the First.

Sofia is a child (for you non Disney Junior watchers). At HS, she is not a face character. My kids= obsessed with Sofia. If they were to go to a party with adult Sofia and then see costume Sofia in Disney.....illusion destroyed?

The funniest thing is- my kids are 4 and 2 and I can't wait for "Santa" to be over and my in-laws had to convince me to do Easter Bunny and I'm hoping that the tooth fairy arrangement only lasts a few teeth (relax I will still pay them! Ha). But ruining the Disney princesses? That's overboard. Am I being ridiculous? Is it even legal for them to have Sofia? The other princesses could be fairy tales but she was specifically created for Disney. Help me feel ok about my feelings LOL.

 

[ghtx]

Am I being weird about this?

There is a new company near me (NE Ohio) that has actors and actresses that dress up like "fairy tale" characters and come to parties. A bunch of moms I know are obsessed with getting a princess to "pop in" to a play date or come to birthday parties. Clearly they are all Disney princesses, and that's all well and good, but they have an adult Sofia the First.

Sofia is a child (for you non Disney Junior watchers). At HS, she is not a face character. My kids= obsessed with Sofia. If they were to go to a party with adult Sofia and then see costume Sofia in Disney.....illusion destroyed?

The funniest thing is- my kids are 4 and 2 and I can't wait for "Santa" to be over and my in-laws had to convince me to do Easter Bunny and I'm hoping that the tooth fairy arrangement only lasts a few teeth (relax I will still pay them! Ha). But ruining the Disney princesses? That's overboard. Am I being ridiculous? Is it even legal for them to have Sofia? The other princesses could be fairy tales but she was specifically created for Disney. Help me feel ok about my feelings LOL.

To be honest, kind of.

There are plenty of other things in life for you to worry about other than this.

BTW, Disney might have a copyright infringement case on their hands, but that also is not worth you worrying about.

 

[ArwenMarie]

If you don't want to see them, just don't go when you know these characters are going to show up. Are they really just inviting them as a surprise for playdates?

 

[AmyB2006]

The funniest thing is- my kids are 4 and 2 and I can't wait for "Santa" to be over and my in-laws had to convince me to do Easter Bunny and I'm hoping that the tooth fairy arrangement only lasts a few teeth (relax I will still pay them! Ha). But ruining the Disney princesses? That's overboard. Am I being ridiculous? Is it even legal for them to have Sofia? The other princesses could be fairy tales but she was specifically created for Disney. Help me feel ok about my feelings LOL.

That made me giggle. If it's any consolation, you probably only have a year or two left on the princesses anyway. My DD is only 6 1/2 and when school started this year she told me princesses are "babyish". Ugh!!!! It was like a dagger to the heart for me. LOL

I wouldn't say you're being ridiculous, but you are over thinking it a little. My DD has seen these "fake" characters at parties and didn't bat an eye when she saw the "real" ones at Disney.

Bottom line, you can't do anything to change it, so just come up with a clever answer if she ever does anything to question it.

 

[720L]

My kids went to a birthday party where they had a Princess come. The kids were laughing so hard saying that's not a Disney Princess--she's dirty!! (her dress was dirty at the bottom and she just looked a little off LOL). It didn't wreck anything for them. Just a little embarrassing for me .

 

[surferdave]

If you're worried about unauthorized characters spoiling the magic, don't ever take your child to Times Square. You'll wish it was just a grown up Sophia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_Yc7NY0ZCE

 

[kbelle8995]

UMM I stand in line and love Princesses and am way out of that age.

(I stood in line to get my picture taken with Cinderella at 30)

I wouldn't worry about faux Sofia the first's. Kids have a great imagination.

 

[Mommy2Corinne]

Hmmm. I'll be the lone dissenter. My almost 4 year old DD would be TOTALLY confused by an adult Sofia. That's just weird, IMO.

And then to see the giant bobble head "kid" Sofia at Disney? There would be many questions to say the least, and I would have a lot of 'splainin' to do.

I don't think I'd want DD to see the adult Sofia before heading to Disney. I think it would take away some of the magic.

 

[supernova]

Am I being weird about this?

Yes.

 

[lizabu]

You can't completely avoid knock off characters. Our city Christmas parade always has this really cheap looking Mickey mouse. My thought is he only makes the real mickey look more real. Maybe just tell your kids beforehand that there will be someone dressed up in a Sofia to first costume so they know they won't be seeing the real Sofia so they won't be thinking about why she looks different.

 

[kproud876]

I can't imagine that it would ruin anything for her when compared to Disney princesses. It's kind of like seeing Santa in the mall. He's the helper. We all know the REAL Santa is at the North Pole. The only REAL princesses are at Disney World. If she gets remotely confused I would just say these are just the helper Princesses pretending. The REAL ones are in Disney. Good Luck. There are so many things to worry about with little ones. I'd put this at the bottom of the worry list.

 

[CandleontheWater]

Just explain to your kids that the characters you run into at parties or playdates are just pretend, that the REAL characters live only at Disney. Anyone can dress up and pretend to be Sofia, but the REAL Sofia only lives at Hollywood studios.

 

[nugov2]

Hmmm. I'll be the lone dissenter. My almost 4 year old DD would be TOTALLY confused by an adult Sofia. That's just weird, IMO.

And then to see the giant bobble head "kid" Sofia at Disney? There would be many questions to say the least, and I would have a lot of 'splainin' to do.

I don't think I'd want DD to see the adult Sofia before heading to Disney. I think it would take away some of the magic.

I think I'd have more 'spainin' to do about a plastic headed little girl who doesn't blink or mouth doesn't move than the adult version I would say it is no big deal and enjoy seeing the characters. I am pretty sure if your child still believes the bobble head is the real deal they wouldn't be thrown by an adult version. My dd didn't believe the characters were real, but she still wanted to meet them and was in awe every time she was with a princess at the park and if there was a princess in costume walking around the mall she would feel the same way.

 

[ParkaPooh]

If you're worried about unauthorized characters spoiling the magic, don't ever take your child to Times Square. You'll wish it was just a grown up Sophia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_Yc7NY0ZCE

This nearly made me spit out my coffee! Oh the horror of "spiderman" in time square. My eyes, MY EYES!!!

 

[chartle]

BTW, Disney might have a copyright infringement case on their hands, but that also is not worth you worrying about.

Yes probably not, because first almost all of Disney's characters come from public domain sources and second it's my understanding, from doing a little research on cosplay, that you can't copyright, trademark or whatever a costume design. So Disney has to prove its a Disney Cinderella vs just regular Cinderella.

Now Sophia and Merida is a different story because I guess they are both Disney creations.

 

[chartle]

Am I being weird about this?

A little

 

[kmb584]

I wouldn't be overly worried about the Great Character Ripoff ruining the Disney experience for your girls! My daughter has been to several birthday parties that were visited by ripoff Disney characters, both furry and Princess alike, and at 4 her response to them is a shake of the head and a "That's not the REAL (insert character name)! (Insert character name) lives in Disney World!"

I've had to hush her a few times so she didn't ruin the creepy Mickey Mouse meet and greet for other little kids, but chuckle inside every single time she blatantly points out that the ripoff's aren't real. Oh, to have the beliefs and imagination of a 4-year-old again!

 

[AmberHeartsDisney]

Its the Sofia from the future. Tell her she has a time machine.

 

[LadyBeBop]

Tell them they are adults in costumes. My DGD is dressing up as Ariel for MNSSHP and Cinderella for BBB and her birthday. She knows she won't be the real Ariel or Cinderella. And I hope she'll meat the real Ariel while wearing the Ariel costume and the real Cinderella while wearing that costume.

 

[mrssam]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just tell her it's just like how she dresses up and pretends, but the real character lives in Disney World. No big deal.

Funny, related side story.

At DL in April Merida and Rapunzel were the same girl just different days. As soon as I saw Merida I panicked that DD3 would notice. She's the kid that doesn't forget anything including faces. It was obvious, it was like she was still rocking half her Rapunzel makeup. Very sloppy and disappointing, but that's a whole other story.

DD3 posed, talked about the bears and then asked "Where's your Pascal?" Merida/Rapunzel played it up asking what a Pascal was and DD3 dropped it. As we left Merida DD3 turned to me and said "Mom, Merida looked just like Punzle! They must be cousins!" I just smiled and said "You're probably right!"

Crisis avoided and all is well that ends well.