characters

[morg9216]

I'm new to disboard and love everthing Disney!! I've been several times but Jan 2018 ill be bringing my son for the 1st time. He will be just shy of 3. He knows all the characters but im nervous about his reaction to seeing them in person. Can anyone tell me about personal experiences? How can I make him less afraid of them? I don't want him to be traumatized!

 

[PxyShan]

As someone who was once "very good friends" with characters; it's hard to anticipate how kids will react. I've seen kids who will run up to characters and not let go because they are so in love and a baffled parent will be there saying they were terrified of x-other-character at their breakfast a few hours ago. I've also gotten a goose-egg from a kid who was terrified of Winnie the Pooh but mom and dad wouldn't leave without a picture because "Pooh is his favorite!"

I don't have many thoughts on how to prepare before you get there unless you have places near you with mascots or other costumed characters that you can do a "test run" with.
You could also set expectations with things around you that they see all the time. "Hey son, guess what? Did you know that in real life Goofy is as tall (or taller) as our refrigerator?! How cool is that?" "Did you know that Mickey is almost as tall as Mommy?" Stuff like that to start giving them the idea of scale.

My advice - don't force it. Maybe try for a character dining experience first. That way, if he doesn't like them, you can tell your server to have the others skip your table or give a wave from afar and you at least get a meal out of it. And if he does ok, then hit up a M&G line or two. When we took our 22 month old son for the first time we had a FastPass+ for Mickey on our second or third day. We were prepared to cancel it if our 'Ohana breakfast didn't go well, but he ended up doing well, so all was good.

Most importantly - please, please don't force your child to touch/stand next to/interact with a character if they're terrified. It's not fun for anyone involved. Believe me.

Hopefully that helps. Sorry if I missed the mark on your question entirely.

 

[lanejudy]

PxyShan has great advice! Don't force it. Most kids are fine "from afar" so I recommend that you not plan your very first to-do item as a meet-n-greet or even a character meal. Give him to to get acclimated. See characters in the parade. Plan a character breakfast for your second day (or later). And basically just go with the flow -- if he's scare or shy, don't force it. Some kids are fine with any/all characters, some do well with "face" characters but not "fur" characters, some only like one or two specific characters, and some won't go near any. But again, to watch from a distance most are fine if not approached.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[kboo]

We started with face characters first, then fur. And totally agree with PxyShan, do not force anything! They'll come around, eventually. Our ODD was more shy about this, and she was actively scrambling away from Mickey when we had breakfast at Chef mickey's that first time... Later in the trip, Chip was the one who broke the ice, at Garden Grill. She was about 3. I think what worked was - we were sitting on the lower level in one of the semicircular booths, so DD was between us. Chip just came to the walkway by the table, and played peek a boo and waved, and eventually DD wanted to sit in the outside and wave to him. Eventually she gave him a high five. But Chip totally knew how to do it, and she actually hugged him at the end of the interaction! After that, it was ALL about visiting characters and hugging them ...

17 mo old YDD is fascinated by them but doesn't want to get too close to them. She just wants to see them from the safety of a parent's arms. At least, this was how she was with the Easter Bunny at a big, open air egg hunt recently. Our upcoming trip to WDW will be the first time she will be aware enough to notice the characters and ... we won't force anything, but I think any time she sees her big sister doing anything, then she is no longer afraid either. So hopefully it will go better than with ODD at that age.

 

[TravelingTotMom]

Also, see if you can rent or buy the old Disney Sing-a-long called Disneyland Fun. Yes, it's the wrong park - and dated - but it shows how the characters in the park look versus the cartoons. That helped my son become more familiar with them ahead of time.

 

[Sundowner2]

I feel like when we took our little guy (almost 3) all of the characters were awesome. He instantly adored Minnie and Mickey and Baymax, threw himself at them but there were several like Darth Vader, who he loves, that he was shy of, but in each instance of that, it was like they instinctively knew. They interacted with big brother, or in photos he was on the end. Stuff like that. I remember one, and I can't remember who it was, just stood very still, and moved very slowly for a moment, made sure my youngest realized he was saying hello to the oldest, and all was well. Might have been Chewy. I just can't remember. But my point is, I think they see enough kids in all different phases of reactions, they will know how best to interact.

We are getting ready to go back again, and now the youngest is almost 5. He's super excited, because we've been watching youtube videos of other kids meeting the different guys, so he can see all kinds of reactions and know what ot expect.