how do you explain to young kids...

[Taylor'sMom]

why certian characters in the park are at the wrong "scale"?
Like, why Jiminey Cricket is the same size as Pinocchio or why Marie (the cat from Aristocats) is bigger than they are?

"Disney Magic" is all I come up with... anyone have a genius response for my inquisitive almost 5 year old?

 

[bas71873]

Or why Flounder has feet???? My 4 1/2 year old asked me this during the Pirate & Princesses Party in February, while standing in line to ride Dumbo, "Mommy, why does flounder have feet?" She was watching Flounder & Sebastian dance at the little dance party in Ariel's Grotto.....i was stuck...i just said I don't know and she bought it (lots of other distractions I guess....thankfully

Sorry, I dont' have any answers for you....be prepared for the question as to why the characters won't talk to you...Mickey, Minnie, the princesses talk, but the Disney 5 (and many others) don't.

 

[Taylor'sMom]

Or why Flounder has feet???? My 4 1/2 year old asked me this during the Pirate & Princesses Party in February, while standing in line to ride Dumbo, "Mommy, why does flounder have feet?" She was watching Flounder & Sebastian dance at the little dance party in Ariel's Grotto.....i was stuck...i just said I don't know and she bought it (lots of other distractions I guess....thankfully

Sorry, I dont' have any answers for you....be prepared for the question as to why the characters won't talk to you...Mickey, Minnie, the princesses talk, but the Disney 5 (and many others) don't.

She's 4 and this will be her 4th trip, but each year she gets smarter...
That's a good point about the Fab 5 not talking, she alreday knows they don't though and just accepts it. Its easier to explain that they "get tired of talking all day long" rather than, well... why Flounder has feet!

Given all this, I'm even more puzzled that Disney STILL hasn't released Tinkerbell out for meet-and-greets (with the presumed problem of the scale factor and rumors of an oversized meeting room to make you appear pixie-sized) when other FAR-less popular characters are out there begging for questions!

 

[juliana_sd]

Oh I wish my DS would ask me that. He keeps telling me, "Mom, they are just people in costumes." (I did tell him not to say that out loud at the parks. Wouldn't want to spoil it for the other kids!)

 

[MiniGirl]

When you get a question like this that you can't answer, have your child ask the character's handler. They are used to these questions and have all sorts of wonderful answers. Character integrity is very important at Disney and all CMs work hard to maintain it.

 

[_queenie_]

I've never really known what to say about the scale issue. I've only had my DD13 ask why some characters are bigger in "real life" than they look on TV, and what worked for her was "Well, you've heard before that the camera makes you gain 10 pounds, haven't you?". Another question I've gotten is how they can be in DL, WDW, and on the DC at the same time, but I just said "magic".

My DD3.5 asked two weeks ago (we just got back) why Jasmine could talk and Koda couldn't (we had food poisoning, the only two characters she saw ), and I just told her it was because they were animals and we can't talk with animals, we only can in cartoons. It worked fine, luckily they still have great imaginations at 3/4/5.

 

[Rosered]

I can't think of a response for the size of the characters. Maybe you can say that in the movies they use magic (disney special effects) to make them appear whatever size they need be for the role but that when they see them in the park they are their actual size.

I did think of a response for Flounder having feet. When Ariel invited him to her dance party he wished he had feet for just that one night so that he can go and dance with everyone. Since he is Ariel's best friend and it was so important to him, Ariel's dad King Triton granted him his wish and right after the party he returns to sea and goes back to normal.

 

[DawnM]

My kids are the same way. We lived in SoCal until a couple of years ago and went to DL at least twice a month. They have NEVER thought they were "real" and the idea of Disney Magic is a bit lost on them.....sigh.

Dawn

Oh I wish my DS would ask me that. He keeps telling me, "Mom, they are just people in costumes." (I did tell him not to say that out loud at the parks. Wouldn't want to spoil it for the other kids!)

 

[SueM in MN]

My kids are grown up now, but my answer was always "That's a good question. What do you think?"
They almost always came up with something that fit their understanding. Like my older DD's answer to why Mickey and Minnie didn't speak was that they couldn't speak every language and they didn't want any kids from other countries to feel bad because they couldn't speak their language.

 

[mantaz]

I did think of a response for Flounder having feet. When Ariel invited him to her dance party he wished he had feet for just that one night so that he can go and dance with everyone. Since he is Ariel's best friend and it was so important to him, Ariel's dad King Triton granted him his wish and right after the party he returns to sea and goes back to normal.

That is the same thing I was thinking. I always try to reference the movie the character is in when DD3 asks these questions. My favorite one I heard from a CM was Jasmine and Aladdin going to give Rajah his bath.

I can't wait to see what they are going to do for Tinkerbell. She is supposed to be doing meet n greets this year. Look at Jimminy. He's a cricket that is normally taller than me!

 

[Hayloburger]

My canned answer is...."well, you know, EVERYTHING is magical at Disney"....and my daughter just smiles and nods her head....How can you argue with that???

 

[Not so Dumbo]

Or why Flounder has feet???? My 4 1/2 year old asked me this during the Pirate & Princesses Party in February, while standing in line to ride Dumbo, "Mommy, why does flounder have feet?" She was watching Flounder & Sebastian dance at the little dance party in Ariel's Grotto.....i was stuck...i just said I don't know and she bought it (lots of other distractions I guess....thankfully

How about, when Flounder isn't in the water he has to grow feet to be able to get around


About the size issue, I'd say well, how big did you think whomever was going to be? wait for answer and then say Well, I guess you learn something new everyday huh?

 

[fireman17]

It is because when they leave the cartoon world they magicaly appear larger to us in the real worl so they can be seen better. As far as talking it also has to do from coming into the world from their cartoon world.
Once a character comes to the real world they need extras like feet for fish to get around but will sometimes lose other senses like talking.
Maybe that'll help?

 

[holly7347]

I never thought about that. My oldest is turning 5 this month and she knows there are people in there. I'm not really sure how she figured that out but this local indoor play area we frequent has a person walk around in an Otter suit and every time Totter comes out she asks me "there is a person in there right"? I say yes. She still loves to see him and shake his hand.

My 3 year old has never questioned it. But my policy is as much honesty as possible. If she asks I will tell her it is just a person in a costume. DD#1 does think she is going to meet the "real" Cinderella at Disney though

 

[SmallWorld71]

My kids are grown up now, but my answer was always "That's a good question. What do you think?"
They almost always came up with something that fit their understanding. Like my older DD's answer to why Mickey and Minnie didn't speak was that they couldn't speak every language and they didn't want any kids from other countries to feel bad because they couldn't speak their language.

That's always my answer too. Children's answers are always better than anything we grown-ups could come up with anyway.

 

[_queenie_]

That's always my answer too. Children's answers are always better than anything we grown-ups could come up with anyway.

So true, that's why at those times when you can't ask them to guess I have my DD13 answer!

 

[_queenie_]

That's always my answer too. Children's answers are always better than anything we grown-ups could come up with anyway.

So true, that's why at those times when you can't ask them to guess I have my DD13 answer!

 

[Beehn]

DD3 was so excited to see Woody, Jessie and Buzz-Until they walked out of the door. She FREAKED out. She kept saying "they are too big, they are supposed to be small". It never occurred to me that it would bother her. We just scooped her up and got out of there ASAP. We did talk with her about it and told her that it was just so lots of kids could see them and be able to play with them. For a long time after that visit she talked about how they were too big. As for Tinkerbelle I've never gotten that argument-they have Flick walking around and he's an ant!