Help with kids fear of characters

[StormyCA]

She may surprise you. My DS2 (now 26) was extremely shy and hesitant and I was worried about his reaction to the characters. But when he was actually faced with them, he was fine. Big hugs and interaction all round. When I praised him for being brave and talking to them, he looked at me as if I were nuts and said "Well yes Mom, these aren't strangers, these are my Disney Friends!"

 

[finedice]

Thanks for everyone's help here, I think I'll just let DD take the lead here, and not push it. For now, I've cancelled our Tusker ADR, and we'll just see how it goes when we're there. Thanks

Well... Tusker House IS one of the best buffets at Disney... Worth it for the food alone IMNSHO.

 

[houseful of boys]

Take advantage of the parades. I have an 8 year old niece who has been afraid (bordering on phobic) of characters since she was a baby. She meets them now but when she was littler, there was no way. So, she would stand back and watch while her sisters and cousins would meet them. But during the parades, you get to see all the characters from a safe distance AND often they will wave at you which she loved.

 

[AThrillingChase]

I will just add that the characters have training with this stuff too, so most are experienced enough to know how to approach. A young kid next to us at O'hana cried and screamed bloody murder if Lilo was literally anywhere within eyesight, but both stitch and the handler coordinated to block his view so the other tables could still see Lilo (impressive since stitch doesnt talk!). It was very impressive to see how they did that.

 

[Bluegrrl]

Also try smaller characters. My boy was a bit nervous around Tigger, but loved little characters like Piglet and Mushu.

 

[busymommy2pink]

We discovered on our first trip that DD was terrified of costumed characters. Not the princesses, just Mickey etc. I felt a twinge of disappointment, but for her we just skipped them. Hey, it saved time! We taught her to just wave and say no thank you. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with them. On our very last day at Chef Mickey, Minnie adorably got her to look away and sat beside her for a picture. Well DD turned and the death glare she is giving Minnie in that pic is hilarious, and still one of my faves. At 9, she's still not a fan Some kids just aren't. My youngest has never flinched.

Side note..I asked why she doesn't like them. Her response "Their eyes don't blink and it just freaks me right out"...out of the mouthes of babes lol

 

[Ambear]

Side note..I asked why she doesn't like them. Her response "Their eyes don't blink and it just freaks me right out"...out of the mouthes of babes lol

Truer words were never spoken lol! She's so right!

 

[AThrillingChase]

I actually think the mickey that DOES blink is way creepier lol

 

[mastermind307]

My DD was 4 on our first trip. I knew with her personality, she's very shy, that in order for her to understand and not be scared, I told her the characters were just people inside costumes. I know many will say I ruined the magic for her, but it worked out well for us. She's very smart and probably would have figured it our sooner or later anyway. I remember our first day in MK and she saw Woody and Jessie and wanted to meet them. We were very surprised. I had to go with her to meet them and get pictures. Even though she knew the non-face characters were not real, the princess were. In fact the princesses have been real on all our trips, but now she is 9 and has figured out they aren't real either. She began questioning how they could be at Disneyland and Disney World at the same time (never mind them being in EPCOT and MK at the same time!). This year she doesn't care about meeting characters.

 

[disnut8]

My only experience with this was when a friend and her family dined at Chef Mickey's with myself, my husband and our very old teenage boy. The child in "question" was less than two and she did not like any of the characters. But then Chip came over and started to play with the child's mother. Not on the child's side but away from the child. The child looked a bit freaked at first but when she realized Chip was not doing anything to hurt her mother, she started to laugh. Chip kept looking over at the child and then moved over closer. And a few minutes later, tickled the child. How then laughed and then Chip spent at least five minutes with only the child while her mother looked on. Then Chip saw Dale and "asked" the child if Dale could come over. She said yes.

 

[fitnessmouse]

There is actually a word for it: masklophobia. And my dd has it. does not want to go near them. Cries, runs the other way to the point of hyperventilation. Started when she was about 1y old. At 3 she hid under the table at charactermeals. At 7 hid behind the counter at chef mickey. A cm felt bad for her and gave her a special pancake as she was too afraid to go to the buffet. On DCL one time, we were waiting for the elevator, the doors open ad Goofy comes out. She screamed so loud, her heart was racing, everybody looked at her. We gave up trying. As much as I would want for her to like them, it's just not going to happen. I am happy that she does still want to see them, but from very far away. No need to sit in the first few rows of a show