Does your almost 3 yo freak out with characters?

[molly2004]

Not the face characters, but the others.

DS is currently 2 1/4. We went to an event this weekend where there was a man dressed as an alligator. Poor kid freaked! Won't even wave to him from a distance. Okay, he's 2, so that's okay. I just wondered if he'll outgrow this by the time we go in 7 months.

He and his brother (also 2 1/4 and didn't seem to have a problem with Alligator Man) have been watching the Disneyland Fun video, so hopefully that'll help. I've also got them looking at the Birnbaum book and other Disney books to familiarize them with the characters. So hopefully they won't freak and pee on Pooh or something.

Can you think of anything else I can do to help him address his fear? I obviously don't want to push him when he's not ready. I wonder if we should reconsider our Character dining options. We're planning to go to CP and they both love Pooh and Friends, so hopefuly that'll be okay.

Thanks!

 

[taximomfor4]

My dd was 2 1/2 one trip, and then turning 3 on another trip. She was fine with the characters that she knew. She was definitely much more into Pooh and friends than, say, Buzz Lightyear. SHE LOVED MEEKO!! (Giant cuddly stuffed animal!)

Every pic we have of her with a character is of her bottom. She was always bear-hugging their legs.

 

[amy4bruce]

I think it's pretty normal for a child to be upset by giant, inhuman looking characters. Even if they're used to the character, it's different seeing them in person, as opposed to on TV.

When my nephew was two, he was the world's biggest Barney fan. Yet he went to a party that had Barney entertaining, and screamed, "Get that Barney away from me!"

Three or four years ago, my DD6 couldn't take characters. We went to a mall opening. In the food court, there was the Chick-fill-A cow walking around. She wouldn't go near him. Later, we took her to meet Bert and Ernie. She was fine until she got up close, and then started to freak out.

Will your child outgrow this in 7 months? I don't know. DD6 is certainly over it by now, but she's 6. The Disney characters and handlers are good with fearful children. Let your one child watch your other child, especially with favorite characters. If it doesn't work, just keep saying to yourself, it will eventually.

 

[spoiltrotten12]

My dd was 2 1/2 one trip, and then turning 3 on another trip. She was fine with the characters that she knew. She was definitely much more into Pooh and friends than, say, Buzz Lightyear. SHE LOVED MEEKO!! (Giant cuddly stuffed animal!)

Every pic we have of her with a character is of her bottom. She was always bear-hugging their legs.

How sweet!! Our DD (now 2) was around 1 when we took her to WDW for the first time and was the same. She loves the characters and enjoys looking back at the photos and can't wait until we go back in July. She wants to see 'bloooo' again (by that she means Baloo lol)

 

[java]

Child #3 boy was 2.5 when we went last year and he was HATING anything to do with characters. Wouldn't even look at them. Not a single photo. The strange thing is my older 2 no problem with them. Loved the characters at that age. I think it is just a personality thing. Some love them some just don't. We are trying again this year and I am thinking of an autograph book to maybe help. We are trying the Jojo and Goliath breakfast early in the trip(thought I would start with a very simple familiar one) We'll see. I'll let you know when we get back.

 

[akamom]

My 4yo (3 at the time) didn't freak out, I thought he would, but he didn't.

 

[ribbot]

My son was close to being 5 when we went to Disney for the first time---and as you can see in this picture he wasn't letting anything THAT big touch him!!! He adored (and still does) Buzz and Woody, but still was a little freaked out by them.

I also think that since the characters don't talk that scares them too. We had gone for 9 days, so about the 3rd or 4th day he was totally comfortable with them and couldn't wait to line up to get their autograph. I think it's just the initial size of them that scares kids.

I have a friend, that her daughter was totally freaked by them--wouldn't come within a 1/2 mile of characters. Screamed, cried and actually shook---she was 4 at the time. She also was deathly afraid of Santa Claus. She hasn't been back to Disney since, but is OK with Santa--she's now 6. I'm sure she'd be ok with them today though.

The only thing I can tell you is to talk to your son a lot about the characters. Tell him they're oversized and they only want to show love towards him, and there's nothing to be afraid of. Then I'd just let him sit back and watch the other children at first--let him warm up to the characters in his own way. I also bought my son a Mickey doll before we went and gave it to him on the airplane---that helped him to be a little excited about meeting them.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[mickeylr]

And some never outgrow it completely.

DD#1 is now 17. She has never liked people in costumes. Santa Clause visits were not happening. The clown selling balloons at the mall was to be avoided completely. Halloween she would prefer to stay at home and hand out the candy at the door ( until the year she didn't go and her brother brought home a bucket of candy and she didn't have any - the next year she went too )

She was 12 and 13 the last time we went to WDW. I think she did do one set of family with Mickey and Minnie pictures for me, but there are no pictures of her by herself. She would stand in the lines with us, but wait to the side while her brother and sister spent time and took pictures with the characters.

Definitely not her thing and definitely not worth pushing.

Mary

 

[antree]

My DS has been going to Disney World since he was 10 mos and Loved the characters, until this last trip when he was 3.5 he was scared to death of them. All of a sudden he wouldn't look at them go up to them, nothing. But I knew he liked them only 9 months earlier, so I picked him up he was fighting me, I told him all we will do is stand there. I thought if he runs then I won't fight him, but if he stays he can see it will be fine. So I put him in front of the character, he stood there he wouldn't look, but he stayed there for the picture. I had to do this most of the trip, towards the end he would walk up to them as long as I held his hand, by the last day, he ran up to Buzz and Stitch for a picture.....Now if he was screaming and crying I would have never forced him up there. I knew he knew all the characters and he just had to get know them again. I don't agree pulling screaming children up to them.

Walk your child up, or carry them up and stand in the picture, Play with the character, even hug the character. Let your child see they don't hurt you, that they are nice. We had to do that with our niece at 6 flags and she lighted up quickly. But there were still 2 characters she wanted nothing to do with so we didn't force her.

I wouldn't cancel your ressies, this way he can see other children having fun with the characters, plus some characters will take their time with scared children to try and get them interested.

Good Luck

Maria

 

[TravelGams]

When my now 7 year old granddaughter was 3 she was totally freaked out by the bears at Chuckee Cheese's and it was several years before she would even attempt a visit with Clifford the big red dog. This year she was fine at Disney. However, her just 3 year old sister was ok at first with us holding her with the characters, but after a while she wanted no part of it and wouldn't get close. Although she gladly waved goodbye as we were leaving. Not a freakout situation, but enough of one not to make a big deal out of it. She also covered her eyes during the parades.

 

[tiff211]

Last year at 2.5 DD would have nothing to do with any of the characters. This year at 3.5, I had to stop her from running to them. That was her favorite part, taking pictures with all the characters. If you have a chuck e cheese nearby take him there. See how he does there. Did he see the Easter bunny, Santa? I knew based on her response to them that last year was a done deal, nothing doing but this year I knew she was ready. Alligator man might just have been frightening looking! Not as happy looking as mickey mouse!!

 

[loveysbydesign]

My 3 1/2 y.o. dd was petrified of characters! We took her to see Sesame street live 2 weeks before our 1st trip to WDW....she was fine until they came off the stage into the audience....she freaked out and buried her head in my lap and cried hysterically!
We went to WDW on May 9th and she was still petrified of characters...within 4 days it all changed. I don't know if it was because she watched me, dh and 7 y.o. ds hug the characters or what but by the 5th day we could NOT keep her away from the characters and I even ended up booking us a character dinner at LTT. She loved it and even played ring-around-the-rosie with Chip and Dale! She was however a bit apprehensive about Goofy, especially because he was towering over my 6'2" dh!!!
I'd say that if you're going to book a character meal don't do it the 1st couple days of the trip! Have fun!

 

[Gillian]

When 22 was 11 months she adored the characters. At age 2 years 10 months she hated them and wanted very little to do with them. She had watched the Disneyland Fun & Campout at WDW videos a zillion times, and I was unprepared for her to be frightened.

We decided at that time that cute pics with the characters were not going to be the focus of the trip and didn't worry about it. It was actually quite nice to not worry about doing a bunch of character meals or waiting on long lines. We got a nice family one with Mickey and that was enough. We'll go back again!

One morning at AK we went to see the pooh characters (no line) because DD was sad about something (turned out she was getting sick but showing no signs except teary/grumpy). She wouldn't get out of her stroller but it did cheer her up! I just wheeled her around while DS (5) met everyone. It turned out to be our last park day so I'm glad we did it. Then we rode Triceratops spin over and over and over again.

 

[NotUrsula]

It's possible that he may never grow out of it; my 9 yo never did outgrow his dislike for characters. We consider it a VERY good thing. We have never had to wait in long, hot lines to get autographs, and never had to pay $20 for mediocre warmed-over breakfast food, either. Count your blessings and enjoy your trip, but consider the possibility that character dining may NOT be a good thing for your family, unless you enjoy spending an expensive hour trying to coax your child out from under a table.

Ribbot, if you think that picture is funny, you ought to see the one I have of DS trying to fork Mickey Mouse at the old Epcot Ice Cream Social. DS gathered his courage to go because he really wanted that fancy ice cream, but he kept trying to stab any character that got close to the table! The characters thought it was a game and kept attempting to "fence" with utensils, but the photo makes it clear that DS was deadly serious about defending that ice cream.

 

[molly2004]

Wow! Not that I planned on pushing the kids kicking and screaming to hug characters or anything...now I think I'll be even more careful about their freaking out. Never even thought they'd end up with a lifelong fear of characters!

Thanks for all your replies!

 

[JoyG]

And some never outgrow it completely.

DD#1 is now 17. She has never liked people in costumes. Santa Clause visits were not happening. The clown selling balloons at the mall was to be avoided completely. Halloween she would prefer to stay at home and hand out the candy at the door ( until the year she didn't go and her brother brought home a bucket of candy and she didn't have any - the next year she went too )

She was 12 and 13 the last time we went to WDW. I think she did do one set of family with Mickey and Minnie pictures for me, but there are no pictures of her by herself. She would stand in the lines with us, but wait to the side while her brother and sister spent time and took pictures with the characters.

Definitely not her thing and definitely not worth pushing.

Mary

Yes! Some don't outgrow it!

When one of the twins was 3 we LOST him at Sesame Place! We were just heading into their character breakfast and we looked down and he was gone. We were panic stricken for about a minute (the longest minute of my life) until we found him hiding under a breakfast table. He had taken one look at cookie monster and fled.

Fast forward two years and at Disney he was fine with most characters but there were still some he wanted nothing to do with...like Sulley from Monsters Inc and Captain Hook. (He's also the one leaning away from Flik in my signature photo).

My youngest was fine at Disney when he was 2, we're hoping he hasn't developed any fears since then b/c we go back next week.

 

[juligrl]

Fortunately, no my then 2 (almost 3) year old DD did not freak out over the characters -- we thought she might. Nope, walked right up to them, hugged them, turned and smiled cheesily to the camera. Dark rides and loud noises on the other hand were a different story!

 

[katytrott]

I've been anxious about my son with the characters. He'll be 24 months on our trip, and have been doing all the recommended tips to prepare him - reading books with the characters, watching the DVDs, watching the WDW DVDs, songs, playing with the toys etc. At Easter we went to a local park that had a huge Easter bunny character (Goofy size). He new all about rabbits from books, toys, local pet shops etc and have always encouraged petting/cuddling. We told him prior to this trip we would see the Easter bunny and he imediately threw his arms around him and said "aaaaaar". It was almost as if he did that as that is what you do when you see a bunny, of any size! Hopefuly we can instil this in him with mice, dogs, bears, ducks etc at WDW

 

[shellbelle1971]

DS3 has always loved (worshipped? adored?) BYU's mascot, Cosmo the Cougar. Until last Saturday. When he saw him at a parade, he FREAKED! It took DD10's entire squad of 16 cheerleaders a full ten minutes to convince him that neither he nor his baby sister was about to be eaten. It's just weird how they can suddenly develop a phobia...and then it can disappear just as suddenly!