HELP! What to say when Mickey doesnt "talk"! :)

[JUJU814]

Well, Mickey DOES talk at the Magic Kingdom rope drop and I believe the "Dream Along With Mickey" show at the castle. I would tell her Mickey has to talk to a LOT of people during those times so he needs to save his voice so that everyone can hear him.

 

[Dowellfam]

Let the kids be kids....they have plenty of time to know the truth- and I think it's part of what makes disney so magical. I told my kids- when they were young, it was because the characters were so shy- and also if they talked to each kid then there wouldnt' be enough time for the characters to spend with each child. My kids completely believed it-when they are older and figured it out, they had fun making it magical for their younger siblings. Nothing wrong with letting a child have an imagination and believe! Have fun!

 

[scrappingizlife]

I like the special mic that translate to English idea. That's clever.

 

[scrappingizlife]

or since she believes in Tink and fairies. You can tell her that they can talk on stage because Tink and her friends sprinkly fairy dust on them right before they out.

 

[brergnat]

If you want to tell her something, tell her that a lot of kids don't speak English, and Mickey has no way of knowing, so he doesn't talk because they communicate in the universal language of gestures instead.

But, I have to agree with Hannathy. I have a "gifted" Autistic son. He's 5.5. He's known since he was about 2 that the characters are costumed people. He also does not imagine, pretend play, or believe in things that literally do not exist. He has difficulty with emotional concepts. His brain doesn't work that way. Those are concepts he cannot make sense of. He is extremely literal, and his brain works like a computer. It processes numbers, patterns, letters/phonics, and he has always known how to read. At age five he is already asking me "what number comes before zero?", and doing algebra problems with unknown variables. He does not "get" Santa, the Easter bunny, etc. But, he's still a kid who likes to have fun. There is, literally, no "magic" at Disney for him. He takes things as he sees them, at face value. His special ed. K class is "learning" what it means to "wish" for something.

Does this make it less fun when we go to Disneyland? Absolutely not! The magic of Disneyland for ME, is that it's a place where we can ALL have fun, and a place that my DS can cope with and have a good time. That's magic enough for me.

We've waited in line to meet characters exactly three times in 4 years, and only because my younger son wanted to see Mickey, Pluto, and Donald Duck. Once. That was all he needed, and now he just waves to them when we see them. Thank GOODNESS! I would SO not want to have kids that wanted to constantly stand around waiting to greet characters and get autographs. Totally not my thing at all.

 

[Butterflies31]

We just came back from our 1st Disney Vacation and Our kids actually told me that mickey was making kiss kiss sounds so I thought that was quite cute.. I wouldn't worry Disney World is just so magical that your baby will be all caught up in such a big place, at least my kids where and they are 10,9 and 6

Have a Blessed vacation

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

I wouldn't tell my child that it's a person in a costume. I mean, they'll figure it out eventually. But I wouldn't want to ever be the one to end the magic. Let her use her imagination - "I don't know... what do you think? What are your ideas?" If she happens to say that it's a person in a costume, then so be it. But let her come to that conclusion when she's ready.

Yup -- I think LMM has a wise solution. When the kids were little, this is exactly how we handled a lot of questions (not just about giant mice either, LOL). Gives them a chance to really think about things and use their little brains.

And have a good time!

 

[Stitch76]

Before our trip in 08 we told our DDs that the character's couldn't talk because that's the way God made them, and they had to have someone do the voices for them when they were on TV.
They never questioned it, because we have always addressed the issue about how everyone is different. They have a cousin who is blind, so from a very young age they were taught about people's differences, and sometimes the differences mean that the person may look different, or they may not be able to walk, hear, see, talk, ect. Same goes for Mickey and his friends.

Both of our DD's are very bright, and on our first trip they were 6 and 8, and they still believed with all their heart that the characters were REAL!
We are going back this year and they will be 8 and 10, and we will also be taking my DS who is 3. My oldest DD knows about Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy, because she questioned it, so I told her the truth. Now her job is to help out, and keep the secret for her younger siblings. But with that said, she still believes she will see the REAL MICKEY when we go in July, and my youngest DD and DS, also believe.
They have no reason not to. They deal with the ups and downs of our life on a daily basis. They know the world can be a terrible place, and that there are bad people out there, and that we can't always have what we want, and that sometimes people get sick, and have to leave our family (just lost a wonderful aunt to cancer). But, they also know that a man named Walt Disney was magic, and he made a magic place where his cartoons could come to life and live, and we could go to this magical place, and escape the bad world once in a while.
Kids have to grow up fast as it is, why rush it. I would never tell them that the characters aren't real. There is no need to crush their dreams. I want to make my kids dreams come true. They believe, Disney World is REALLY MAGIC, and I wouldn't want them to see it any other way.
Yes, someday they will come to realize it's just people in costumes, but I hope that even after that they can still get caught up in the MAGIC when they get older. I was 31 before I ever got to go to WDW, and I was still like a little kid. I was in tears when I finally got to meet Stitch, and I have a photo of me hugging him (sure it was some poor little collage girl, in a hot outfit, with some weird woman crying and holding on to her for dear life), but to me it was STITCH!!
Sometimes you have to overlook the obvious, and just BELIEVE with your heart and not your eyes.

 

[vester]

@Stitch76 - Agreed. I teared up the first time I saw the castle. I had never seen it before, and I was 36 years old.

I am so glad to see that so many of you "understand" what I meant about how magical Disneyworld is.

Hopefully if we give that spirit to them when they are young, they wont end up hating it as a teenager and not wanting to go, because who cares, its just people in costumes - instead it will be a magical place for them, and they will remember that magic - thats how I think of it.

Vester

 

[LittleMissMagic]

That isn't what I am saying. I am saying gifted kids have a totally different way of processing information (this is documented) they are different beings. they can still believe in magic in fact often have very advanced creative minds BUT they do process things differently. This is all I am saying.

They can believe in the magic but also analyze why the character is really just a costume and have it make sense in their very busy brains.

I don't completely agree with that. I'm sure some "gifted" kids look at the characters and think that they must be fake because they are giant and plastic. But I think that there are also intelligent kids that allow room for magic. I believe that some of the smartest kids are the ones with the crazy, out-there ideas.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein

 

[Ericandjenng]

We use the rationale for Santas everywhere are actually Santa's helpers. So maybe this approach would work....It's Mickey's helpers because Mickey can't be everywhere at once.

 

[SueM in MN]

My answer is not to TELL the child anything?

If they ask why the characters don't talk, are real or only people in costumes, turn the question back to them.
"What do you think?"
The answers most of the posters gave were things that my children came up with on their own when I asked the question back to them. My reply to the suggestions was not to confirm or deny the idea, but to reflect back that it was an interesting idea or sounded reasonable.
Children will come up with an explanation that makes sense to them. We as parents don't always have to have or provide the answer - and not giving one meant I never ended up in one poster's situation, having to come up with another explanation when the child outgrew the first explanation. Or figured out loopholes like that Mickey and Minnie can sing, but can't talk, but the princesses can do both.

You also have to keep in mind that your child will interact with other children whose parents told them different things. While waiting for a parade on time, we heard 2 kids talking about the characters. One casually said that Mickey and Minnie don't talk, but would in yhe parade. The other child said, "I know. My mom told me they don't talk because ...."
The other child replied, "My mom said they don't talk because of ........"
What could have been a cute conversation between kids about their own thoughts ended up being a "Nu-agh, MY mom said ..…" duel instead.

 

[megan10310]

When I went for the first time at age 6, I knew that the characters were actors. I still had so much fun and wanted to meet every character. It was still very very magical for me.

Think of how much fun she has playing dress-up or pretending to be a mommy/doctor/teacher or whatever she likes to pretend. As long as she can imagine, she will have fun. That goes for grown-ups too. I would probably lead with the "what do you think?" and then let her lead the conversation. I would probably explain that it is so fun to pretend, that even grown-ups feel like they are real at Disneyworld and that no one talks about it because they don't want to ruin the magic for anybody else.

 

[purplejam]

I definately think that you should keep the magic going as long as possible.


My DD is 6 and this summer will be her 4th trip to WDW. She totally totally believes all the characters are real and is so happy to meet them - usually several times over. She has never questioned whether they might not be, strange becuase other places we have been where there are characters of differnent kinds - she knows immediately they aren't real.

I put it down to disney magic.


Also, it's not because she isn't very bright - she's in the top set in her class

PS she also still believes in Father Christmas and the tooth fairy.

 

[vester]

Thank you everyone Its been awesome listening to everyone's suggestions.

 

[HunnyJar]

Well, Mickey DOES talk at the Magic Kingdom rope drop and I believe the "Dream Along With Mickey" show at the castle. I would tell her Mickey has to talk to a LOT of people during those times so he needs to save his voice so that everyone can hear him.

I agree with this one! If Mickey (or any other character) had to talk to every single person they said, "Hello!" to they would lose their voice. Best to rest it for when they have something super important to say.

 

[momtolots]

Let the kids be kids....they have plenty of time to know the truth- and I think it's part of what makes disney so magical. I told my kids- when they were young, it was because the characters were so shy- and also if they talked to each kid then there wouldnt' be enough time for the characters to spend with each child. My kids completely believed it-when they are older and figured it out, they had fun making it magical for their younger siblings. Nothing wrong with letting a child have an imagination and believe! Have fun!

As far as I know, my 17 still believes in the characters and Santa as she has never told me otherwise! Seriously though, the longer the magic is there, makes it all that more special for everyone. When we were there in January, it was my DD5 who said she wasn't sure if Jimminy Cricket was real because he didn't move his HAT! I asked her what she thought, and her sister told her it was glued on so some kid won't try to take it! That seemed to settle that for her....for now anyway.

 

[Samar]

I haven't read the other replies but I'd just say Mickey has a sore throat/lost his voice. lol

 

[miprender]

I definately think that you should keep the magic going as long as possible.


My DD is 6 and this summer will be her 4th trip to WDW. She totally totally believes all the characters are real and is so happy to meet them - usually several times over. She has never questioned whether they might not be, strange becuase other places we have been where there are characters of differnent kinds - she knows immediately they aren't real.

I put it down to disney magic.


Also, it's not because she isn't very bright - she's in the top set in her class

PS she also still believes in Father Christmas and the tooth fairy.

I was getting nervous as my DD6 and DS4 have never asked me any questions about the characters not talking. They just assume Mickey is too busy signing there books and taking pictures.

Though DD is all worried about Ariel's fins and why they are there if she is out of water!

 

[aftertoday]

or since she believes in Tink and fairies. You can tell her that they can talk on stage because Tink and her friends sprinkly fairy dust on them right before they out.

This is what I say! Mickey's a mouse, and so for you to understand what he's saying, Tinkerbell has to help him out with some pixie dust. Of course, with all the children at WDW/DL, the pixie dust tree would run out quickly if used for everyone! So Tink only uses the dust for special occasions, like Dream Along and the parades.