Getting dd use to characters

[OnourwaytoWDW]

My dd won't yet sit still for a movie like Nemo or Lion King, but she LOVES watching the youtube clips of kids meeting the characters and hugging them.
One had Minnie Mouse crouched down eye to eye with a 3yo and the little girl was so excited, she hugged Minnie to the point Minnie lost her balance and fell backwards. It was really cute and Minnie just laughed with the little girl.

 

[vleeth]

I don't think seeing the characters on the pc is enough. It doesn't give little ones an idea of just how big the characters are.

If you have a rainforest cafe around you, try to go there. They have a frog character that goes around to the tables. That would give you an idea of how your child will react.

My dd2 got really excited seeing the characters, but when we got close she wanted nothing to do with them. She wouldn't even pose for pictures with the face characters. Every kids different, so maybe you won't have any problems.

 

[Mommy2JulietJocelyn]

I bought a Disney SIng Along Songs DVD - It's a Small World - It is set in Disneyland but it has the fab 5 and other characters as well they sing and take kids on rides at the park. My DD LOVES it - so much that we have since bought 2 other sing alongs with the characters (not cartoons) A BEach Party one set at Blizzard Beach and an outdoors one set at Fort Wilderness. She loves the Smal world one & the beach party one the best - beach party also has a couple of the princesses, small world has Mary Poppins too.
My DD was `15 months when we went the first time and she loves the videos even more now at 3y.o. - We are going back in Sept - but the girls don't know it yet.

 

[daisy2jae]

my 3 year old loves watching Utube videos of clips from WDW. We're going in August 08. We've been watching parades and lots of mis clips to get her excited.

 

[pjzkent]

My DD (3) was terrified of the big characters like Mickey and Minnie, but we found that the more "real" characters like Jasmine, Ariel and Pocohontas were not nearly as scary to start with, and she would hug them. Then she was a little more willing to try the bigger characters. Jasmine and Ariel can be found in MK. We found Pocohontas in AK. Also in MK at the back of the store in Toontown is a character meet and greet that usually has some princess type characters and is in a smaller group setting.

 

[Wendybird55]

My son loves watching Playhouse Disney in the morning and knows all the characters from Mickey Mouse Club & Little Einsteins. He doesn't have the patience to sit thru Disney movies yet, but her does have books with different Disney characters (he loves to point out Pinochio) plus toys from Cars and I do have my share of Disney collectables around the house. So he is familiar with lots of characters.

I bought him one of the Sing Along from WDW DVDs with the costumed characters and he wasn't interested in it at all!

As far as getting used to seeing people dressed in costumesI would suggest as a PP has - take your child to places where there are dressed up characters. We went to an amusement park earlier this summer and there was a person dressed as a big gingerbread man and DS went right up to him - I was happy to see that. And one time we went to a local restaurant and they had this guy dressed in a pitiful Easter Bunny outfit and DS wasn't scared at all.

I think we all worry about the first time our youngsters see a character at the park. Will they run up to hug them? Will they scream and run away? Will they pull on the tails and ears? Unfortunately we won't know until we get there. I can't wait until DS sees his first Disney character at the park...I'm hoping it will be a great moment for both of us.