How to win friends & influence children?

[JeanfromBNA]

Okay, parents are going to think that I'm hopelessly ignorant, but here goes: I need a strategy to turn my funny, 2 1/2 year old Goddaughter into a WDW fanatic . I know that Disney has huge marketing departments for that, but here's the dilemma: Her family is well-off, and although she's not Veruca Salt spoiled (Daddy! I want a squirrel!), she gets almost everything her heart could desire, as does her 6 year old brother, so it's all very attainable - not like when I was growing up and would have had to walk to WDW from MI uphill in the snow if I wanted to go. Her family is not into WDW for valid reasons like lines and crowds, and not-so-valid reasons like they haven't been there yet. So do I keep pushing Minnie dolls, princess dresses , and "Memo" DVDs at her, or do I maintain an air of mystery about our trips? The goal is to create a future travelling companion, and maybe a few wonderful memories in the process .

 

[Minnesota]

The first person to take me to WDW was my aunt . My parents had the same ideas, long lines, hot, crowded, expensive... fill in the blank. They were however willing to let me and my sister go with our aunt when we were 12 and 15.

My suggestion would be to wait a little longer until she will really remember the trip (maybe 5 or 6?? Sorry there, I don't have children) and offer her parents to take her on a trip. This way she will see how great it is and would want to go with you again but if her parents aren't into it, they don't have to go. You get a traveling partner, she gets great trips and memories, and her parents never have to set foot in the place or lothe you for wanting to have a good time with their daughter (of course they could come if they wanted to as well).

By the way, I finally convinced both my parents to come with me on my 6th trip last year and while neither are rearing to come with me ever year like I do, they really enjoyed it and Mom even said she would concider going again in a few years. I'm slowly winning them over to the Disney side too , all thanks to my aunt.

Minnesota

 

[coolspot]

All kids inherently love Disney ... she might not show it, but I'm sure she's excited

 

[cleo]

She's still pretty little, so maybe reading Disney stories to her, coloring Disney pictures, etc, would be a good way of connecting her with Disney AND with you. As she gets older, baking Disney cupcakes or cookies could be fun. If she has good memories of her Godmother and they've got a Disney overtone, a trip to Disney when she's older might be the obvious way to keep the good vibes going.

I'd make sure I'm respectful of the parent's reasons for not going, though. It sounds like they might not be Disney fans (or at least, are neutral). I'd be a little bit leary about pushing to hard (in an obvious way) if it might cause tension with the parents.

 

[ainmama2001]

The movies did it for my dd. We took her though when she was less than a year old, so it's always been part of her life.

My 13 year old dn is the same way. She's never been either. She has NO idea what Disney is about. My sister in law (her mom) says this about the parades...
"Who wants to go and stand there in that heat and crowd to watch a bunch of scouts and baton twirlers." I'm dealing with ignorance here, and just like with any body, you cure ignorance with education.

The crime is that they're only FIVE HOURS from WDW!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Atlanta).

 

[haley's mom]

I would not be worried about her age. I took my dd last year she was 2-1/2. Eventhough our trip was almost 12 months ago, she talks about it all the time. We are going again in a few weeks and she cannot wait until Sept. 30th. She even talks about things she was afraid of or too short for last time and that she wants to do them this time. My advice once you go is to let HER set your pace. We went to the parks early, then to the room for afternoon nap, then back to parks in the evening.

 

[DisneySue05]

That is such a valid question. I have two children 8 1/2 and 5 1/2 and my son loved the whole experience the first time we went. My daughter on the other hand was more upset that she missed the Valentines party at school. So personality has a lot to do with it. My DH and my parents have plenty of money so our children tend to get quite a bit of stuff also. I being a Disney lover like you have continued to love Disney and get them Disney stuff I know they will like. They were not Pooh fans so I nixed that early on, but my daughter loved the princess stuff until this year, now she feels she is too old. My son goes with different characters at different times and I just go with the flow. We have continued to vacation at Disney and my daughter enjoyed getting the characters autographs over the rides and my son wanted nothing to do with the characters. So we split for a while so they both could do the things they loved.....My dh and I went on a short weekend for our Anniversary to Disney and left them with relatives and they could not believe we went to Disney without them. (I was doing a bit of reverse psychology on my daughter and it worked) So my advise to you would be continue to "brag" about your wonderful trips to Disney to entice her to want to go. Then I would pick a time of year with little crowds. We went in Feb...although it can be chilly at night....the lines weren't too long to frustrate any of us. We don't like to stand in line and we all agree if we had to stand in line for an hour for a 2 minute ride we wouldn't go.
So to sum it all up when you do take her my advise would be a time with short lines and less crowds, find the stuff she is into at the time and do that, keep talking it up and she will love it. I would wait until she can do some of the bigger rides though. My son can't wait to go back and do Thunder Mountain Railroad and Dinosaur.

 

[JeanfromBNA]

I plan to wait until she's old enough to be away from home without being homesick before I would ask her along, unless we could persuade her whole family .

I guess I'll just have to relax and let my enthusiasm shine through. Thanks!