Fear of Characters?

[TheSchragFamily]

How old were your kids when they were afraid/stopped being afraid of the characters? We used a gift card from Christmas at Chuck E. Cheese the other day and DD 18 months was terrified of the guy in the mouse suit! I'm wondering if this is going to be an issue over the summer, too.

 

[aprilchem]

My kids are 5, 7, and 9 and they still don't like characters. Never have. I actually find them creepy myself!

 

[Mousemommy1]

Our oldest has never been afraid of characters.

Our 8 year old however, still has issues with SOME characters. Like, scream and cry and climb up your back issues, lol!!

It all depends on the child.

 

[JediBonas]

My son never was. My daughter was this year at first (just turned three, turned two our first year) but was fine with the princesses and eventually warmed up to Minnie. Last year she wouldn't go anywhere near them.

 

[MOpGrad2013]

DS3 had no issues with the characters at WDW or our local RainForest Cafe. No problems with the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus last year.

This year, he wasn't scared of Santa, but he wasn't open to the idea of getting too close to him either. One weary eye constantly on the man in red. Of course, later, he said to his big brother "That's not Santa. Daddy is Santa Claus."

 

[msmama]

My son loved them as a baby and toddler.

He's still likes the big characters in costume, but is terrified of the face characters. He's still terrified of face character and he's almost 7.

 

[natalieguy]

We just got back from a week in disney and we did 4 character meals and my son loved every character he saw! Hugged them and everything. We actually took him to chuck e cheese today for lunch and he cried when he saw chuck e and refused to go near him lol! Chuck e is a creepy mouse! My son will be 3 in February

 

[Feberin]

We went last May when my son was four and my daughter almost two years old. She was scared but slowly warmed up to most characters and did fine with the face characters. She LOVED getting autographs so that helped her break the ice with many she would at least approach them with her autograph book so they could sign it. It allowed us to still get some nice photos of her with them even if she was skittish. My son loved the character except for Chewbacca (we went during Star Wars Weekends) who scared him.

My daughter does better with Disney characters then others. This September we saw a football team mascot and she wouldn't go anywhere near him.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

My daughter was 3 for her first WDW trip. She did fine with the characters, enjoyed meeting them, getting pictures taken, etc. Didn't last long. Fast forward two years in Disneyland, she wanted nothing to do with them. We booked a lunch where all the princesses would be, she spent the entire time under the table. Coming up for food. She's 9 now, we were at WDW in April and while she likes to see the characters, she doesn't want to meet them or have her picture taken. It's all fine, at a distance. I hope she grows out of it.

 

[puffkin]

Neither of my kids have ever been afraid of the characters (DS2 and DS8). DS2 did throw a fit at Hollywood and Vine though when the characters came by the last trip....turned out he just wanted to eat

DS8 was never afraid of the Easter Bunny or Santa or other local characters/mascots. DS2 is fine with everyone except Santa. He refuses to sit on his lap for a picture but is fine just talking to him.

Each kid is different, so you never know.

 

[kmb584]

My daughter has never been afraid of them. But me? I was terrified and ran in the opposite direction when I so much as saw one in the distance as a kid. I was 6 when I got over that fear.

 

[amyren]

DD has always LOVED characters. Her first trip she was just barely 1 and she was so excited to see Pooh, Mickey etc... She's nearly 7 and still likes to interact with as many characters as possible. DS(2) is a little more shy. He LOVES face characters (especially princesses) and likes most other characters unless they're really big. Sounds weird but he was not at all into Baymax, Woody & Buzz (2 of his favorites) or Jack Skellington. The only thing I could think of is that they're really huge. LOL. He didn't cry around them he just refused to look at them.

 

[RoosMama]

My DD has always been much more into Disney characters than the Easter bunny or anything. On our first trip I wasn't sure how she would do because she never liked other characters, but she loved them. She also loves our college mascot, though, too - probably even more than Disney characters.

 

[disneyjes]

My son was 4 when he met the characters at Six Flags. He was nervous for his first character meet but then he shook it pretty fast. We haven't been to Six Flags since he was 5 and he's now 8...so we'll see how that goes

 

[DisneyBliss7]

How old were your kids when they were afraid/stopped being afraid of the characters? We used a gift card from Christmas at Chuck E. Cheese the other day and DD 18 months was terrified of the guy in the mouse suit! I'm wondering if this is going to be an issue over the summer, too.

Around age 6 or 7 they were no longer afraid. But the last time we were there my twins were 7 and they were still quiet/nervous getting pics with them but they did go and take the pic and get their autograph

 

[mm1971]

How old were your kids when they were afraid/stopped being afraid of the characters? We used a gift card from Christmas at Chuck E. Cheese the other day and DD 18 months was terrified of the guy in the mouse suit! I'm wondering if this is going to be an issue over the summer, too.

DS was never afraid of the character. DD was always afraid until age 9. Now she will take pics at meals, but we do not wait in line for M&G.

 

[bushdianee]

My niece who is almost 5 has always been terrified by the characters. She went to WDW at 3 and was ok with the face characters since they were mostly princesses which she is obsessed with. By the end of the trip she went up to Winnie the Pooh on her own and gave him a hug. Back home she is still terrified of the big characters such as mascots. One thing that helped her at WDW was that at one of the character meals I gave her my baseball style cap and told her it was magic in that it let her see the characters when and if she wanted to see them by lowering/raising it over her face. The characters also helped. I remember that either Chip or Dale played peek a boo with her from a distance when he/she saw her nervousness. When he finally came to our table my niece was ok with him standing by her and signing her book. We had her sit in the back at character meals and didn't force interaction. when she saw her cousin & brother interacting she gradually warmed up to the idea.

 

[crisi]

How old were your kids when they were afraid/stopped being afraid of the characters? We used a gift card from Christmas at Chuck E. Cheese the other day and DD 18 months was terrified of the guy in the mouse suit! I'm wondering if this is going to be an issue over the summer, too.

As you can see from everyone's responses - maybe.

My daughter was never afraid of them. My son was for all characters at 3 and for SOME characters at 5 and by seven was fine..

Sometimes they love some characters and not others. Sometimes context makes a difference - Disney instead of Chuck E Cheese. Sometimes they are hesitant (my son was fine with characters NEAR him visiting his sister, he just didn't want to get up close) - other times they start screaming when characters are within a few feet.

But there is plenty for a toddler to do at Disney that doesn't involve characters if yours freaks out. You might not want to schedule a lot of character meals though.

 

[TheSchragFamily]

Thanks for all the replies. I remember my son was only a tiny bit nervous around the characters at her age, and he got over it that same trip. She was SCREAMING like Chuck E. Cheese was going to kill her and staring at us like AREN'T YOU GOING TO CALL 911??? I guess it all depends on the child and here's hoping ours doesn't develop a semi-permanent aversion to Mickey!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

We started going to Disney yearly or more often when my son was 14 months. He HATED the characters until he was just under 4 years old, 3 years 9 months was when we were able to do our first character meal and he really loved it. Prior to that trip he would often want to wait in line for the characters, but then always freaked out when it was his turn. The near 4 year old trip was the turning point when he decided he loved them. I LOVED that trip!