How do you prepare your little ones for Disney?

[froggy33]

We'll hopefully be heading down to DW in Dec 09 for our DD first trip!! She will be 17 months. How do you get your little ones ready for the big trip? I know to take it pretty easy when you are there, but what about before. Specifically, how do you get them ready for the characters? I would like to plan a bunch of character dining, but I don't want to find out on day one that she hates characters and then try to rush to get other ADRs.

Thanks!

 

[Disneychix]

DS(20months) has tons of Pooh bears and Tiggers in his room so I knew he would be ok with those characters. I started putting on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse about 1 month before we went to get him excited about Mickey and Minnie. He also has a few figurines of other characters.
He did fine with Chef Mickeys and Crystal Palace. He loved seeing the characters but didn't like it if they touched him. But he did get excited when they were a bit away!

 

[wlwilliams9]

We watched a lot of Playhouse Disney and Disney movies to prepare DD. She loves Goofy and was happy to see him and the other characters from a distance, but didn't want to get up close. She enjoyed watching them walk around during the character meals, but wouldn't get her picture taken with them.

 

[froggy33]

Thanks. My little one is only 11 weeks and I have already put on MM Clubhouse for her! She obviously doesn't get it, but likes to watch! I also plan on having her watch all the Disney movies! Has anyone taken there kids to another theme park where they have characters?

 

[Knittingqueen]

Have your kids look at pictures of the characters and listen to the music. That way they will be prepared for the "real life" characters. HAVE FUN!!!!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

LOTS and LOTS Of Disney movies! LOL We watch them adn the kids love them and know!

I buy almost every Disney movie that comes out. Even the princess ones before I ever had a DD. We play them a lot!

On our last trip DD had just turned two and she loved all of the characters. I did not see one kid screaming or crying over the characters. Also when they are under 2 I think they just look at them as big stuffed animals. DD did figet a little with Eeyore though.

Next time DD will be 3 and she LOVES the princesses!!! If I can only get her to watch Beauty and the Beast. That's the only one she refuses to watch and it's my fav!

 

[JaxJags08]

Watch Disney movies and shows! I also found it beneficial that DD had seen life-sized characters beforehand. We went to our minor league baseball team games a lot and she saw the mascots a lot. She became more and more comfortable with them and by the time we went to Disney it wasn't too weird to see such big characters.

 

[Canadian Girl 77]

We planned DD's first visit in a week. She was a little over 2. She's already seen some of the movies and we showed her the planning video and our honeymoon scrapbook. I was shocked at how well she took to Disney World. She ran and jumped into Pooh's arms!

 

[frtchr]

I guess I'm the exception. My DD went at 11 months and again at 16 months. We didn't prepare her at all. She doesn't watch TV, and I didn't want to plop her in front of a movie just to see the characters. She had no problem with the characters once we got there either time. We're going in March when she's a little over 2, so it will be interesting to see how she does this time around!

 

[CrzyforPiglet]

Unfortunately you just never know. We took our son when he was 6mo and he loved the characters so we didn't think anything of it when we took him at 13mo. At that point he was a little apprehensive but still okay - at 2yo he REFUSED to go near any character unless it was one of the face ones. We did get him to give one of them a high five but that's about it, if we got within 5 feet of a character he'd start crying. Believe me he has been well exposed to Disney but something just didn't sit right with him. We're going again in 2 months and I have high hopes he'll be okay. He has seen a couple of other mascot type characters over the summer and was fine so we'll see. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Good luck with your DD - I second trying to expose her now to a mascot to see how she takes it - it may give you an idea of how she'll handle the characters at disney.

 

[LORI522]

My son will be 21 months when we go in December. In preparation, I have been playing the Disneyland Sing-Along-Songs DVD for him because it shows the "real" characters in the park setting. He loves the DVD, and I hope this will help him understand that the characters move around and are a lot bigger than his Pooh, Mickey, and other stuffed animals. We love meeting the characters, so I hope this works!!

 

[goofypooh]

My son will be 21 months when we go in December. In preparation, I have been playing the Disneyland Sing-Along-Songs DVD for him because it shows the "real" characters in the park setting. He loves the DVD, and I hope this will help him understand that the characters move around and are a lot bigger than his Pooh, Mickey, and other stuffed animals. We love meeting the characters, so I hope this works!!

I agree....my DD4 loves the Sing-along-songs DVDs. Seeing the characters in the park on the DVD prepares them for how big they are in comparison to kids. Good luck....just remember that every kid is different. Some love the characters & some are absolutely terrified!

 

[PaDisney02]

my kids r a little older then yours, 2 & 5, but we watched all the disney movies. I also made them a count down calender. Each day they flipped the page back and it read 11 more days until we leave, 10 more days and so on. Each page had a different character on it. They really loved that! Good Luck and have fun!

 

[Mickey's biggest fan]

We took DS last November when he was 15 months. We didn't really do much to prepare him at that young age. His 1st character experience was Ohana breakfast and he was a little timid at first of Pluto. By the time Mickeymouse came around though, he was fine! I am sure your DD will do just fine. It is so much fun seeing your child interact with the characters, especially when they are little. This trip he will be 27 months and knows all the characters just by watching movies, our DVD from our last trip, Mickeymouse clubhouse and reading Disney books.

 

[miksilver]

My son will be 21 months when we go in December. In preparation, I have been playing the Disneyland Sing-Along-Songs DVD for him because it shows the "real" characters in the park setting. He loves the DVD, and I hope this will help him understand that the characters move around and are a lot bigger than his Pooh, Mickey, and other stuffed animals. We love meeting the characters, so I hope this works!!

I did this with my DD as well for her first trip. It worked really well since it is done in the park setting.

 

[Lstar311]

We just got back with my ds who is 16 mnths old. He watches Playhouse Disney so he knows the characters but I think at that age there is nothing you can do to prepare them. The first day we ate at Crystal Palace and Eeyore scared him. He grabbed his highchair and pulled him next to daddy for a picture. That didn't go over so well with my ds. He was hysterical. By the time the others got around he was ok with them but more interested in eating his food than interacting with them. It was kind of funny he was trying to escape away from them. It all depends on the character too. Chip in Garden Grill was great with him. Tickling, playing peek a boo, etc. Good luck!

 

[lvpirates]

All depends on the child. My DS (now 4 )was 9 months on the first trip, has been back 3 time since and loves the characters to death. My DD will be 2 years old this trip, she was 1 on her first trip and was absolutely terrified at the first character meet which was stitch at the Ohana breakfast, by the end of the trip she was better and was crying when they left instead of when they came to her. We didn't prep with either child, but we were Disney fans before the kids so there are tons of Disney stuff all over the house

 

[dreamydis]

When we visited the characters with our kids DH and I stayed as relaxed and excited about the situation. I noticed with our children, they could peculiarly sense anxiety in us.

 

[davidsprincess]

My DD was almost 2 when we went, but, about a couple of months before we went last year we started watching Disney movies every day. We also talked a lot about the trip and took DD to the Disney store every chance we got.

Even though I was ready to throw out the Cinderella DVD, it was all worth it when we were walking up to the gates and DD held up her little Cinderella dress and started to run and yell, "I m here Cinderella, where are you? I'm here!"

 

[ALittleDisneyFan]

My DD just turned 2... and I have been talking about Disney, Mickey, Minnie, Daisy (she has Daisy underwear, so thats how she knows her...), and Goofy (we have a Goofy shirt that she likes).. I show her pictures that I find online of the characters with other children, videos on youtube, etc. I don't think she will REALLY get it until we're there.... I just talk to her everyday (usually around mealtimes) about our trip.