Preparing a toddler for characters?

[Tawnya]

We are planning a December trip and DS will be 2 yo. We have an 18 yo DD and a 15 yo DD...and we can remember getting such a kick out of the poor parents who were sitting at a character meal and their toddler would scream as the character approached!! We did not visit WDW until our first two were at least 5...but of course, now we have to bring the new DS!!!! He is not a real fraidy cat but is a little leary of new situations. We thought of maybe showing him the planning videos where the characters are shown next to kids.
Thanks for any ideas.

 

[megan4777]

We have been showing DD (she turns 2 in a week) the PhotoPass pics people post on here with their kids and the characters. I think it's helped her realize that the characters are bigger than the kids. We are also taking her to a local amusement park this summer to see the characters they have there. The park has Warner Bros. characters but this will give us and idea how she'll react to Mickey.

I hope this helps!!

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

We took DS when he was 2 1/2 for the first time. Wasn't afraid at all, but then never was of any characters. We took DD for the first time this past Jan. she was 16 months. She hated Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, so we went expecting the worst. She didn't like the people characters, like the princesses. But LOVED the furry characters. Cuddled to Stitch, Donald, Minnie, All the Pooh characters, but especially loved that blue baboon from the Jungle Book. (forget his name)She screamed when I pried her away from him. The CM, with the characters, laughed and said its usually the other way around. We just went, expecting she'd hate them all and wouldn't get any pics, but we were pleasantly surprised.

 

[kilee]

Now we went w/ my neice when she was 16 months. See the photo in my signature--- it was one of the only one's she didn't cry for. If characters even looked as though they were going to approach her-- she'd set of screaming. So, I think it depends on the child.

 

[Harmony]

My son is 23mos and loved the characters! (we just got back on Monday) I showed him DVD's of the characters that I knew would be visiting during mealtime. And I showed him pictures. And yes, even took him to a Warner Bros. park so he could meet the characters...bugs bunny, etc.

I guess it all worked 'cause he loved them so much that he would cry when they *left* our table. At one point, he grabbed Minnie Mouse by the nose and kissed her! (so out of character for him but it was hilarious!)

Hope this helps!

 

[lbgraves]

When DH surprised me one Christmas with a Disney cruise I was worried because my then 4 yo DS started freaking out saying that he didn't want to go anywhere near that mouse. LOL! I figured that we had a year to work on him & 2 yo DD and if we didn't get any pictures of the kids with the characters...we would be ok. We added a day at MK beforehand & DH was always saying that we would see the characters on the ship...he wasn't standing in line our first time at MK. That was working fine until Cinderella's Celebration and after the show we went to our strollers which were parked along the right railing. We saw Donald & Daisy in the middle in front of the stage...yes they will be on the ship. Mr Smee was on the left side...on the ship. I looked up as we put our cameras away & there in front of the one family in front of us was Mickey!!! I told DH that we were staying there in line & this would let us know what to expect. The kids walked slowly up to him and both gave him a big hug!!! YEAH!!! These are kids who wouldn't go near Santa the year before. We just let them go at their own pace.

 

[julia & nicks mom]

My DD loved them from a distance at 19 months and at 3 and 3.5 couldn't get enough of them - she would be happy if we just went and met characters all day long!!!

My DS was fine with them at 14 months but his little body shook in terror at 19 months - I am hoping for our fall trip he will be fine again

my two tips are a character meal early in the trip to get used to them and an autpgraph book - when my DD was afraid of some characters she was still determined to get their autograph!