Preparing infant for Disney

[annie1995]

Is there anything I can start doing now to prepare my son for when we go to DW next September? I don't want him to totally freak out when Mickey or Pooh comes up to see him. Thanks!

 

[Desnik]

What I did was take my kids to places like Chuck E Cheese, where there were characters just to see how they would react and to reassure them not to be afraid. For DS we went to Hershey Park a few months before our trip. He loved all the rides and wanted nothing to do with the characters up close. He would stare at them from a distance! It wasn't until this past trip that he wanted to take pictures with them(3 years old). But that gave us a trial run of what it would be like in a park with him. I also got them use to sleeping in their pack n play about a week before our trip so that they would sleep in one at the resort without a problem. That worked for DD, but for DS we were lucky that the resort had a full crib waiting in the room for us.(I did request it, but that doesn't always work out) Also, I got my kids, when they were infants use to drinking a room temperature bottle a few weeks before the trip.

 

[bartleby1]

Get the disneyland sing-a-long video/dvd. My kids LOVE that one and it shows the characters and parts of disneyland.

 

[twinspluscade]

I agree with the previous poster: take him to other places with characters, so he'll get used to seeing him. We did a local amusement park a few months before our Disney trip, and went to Chuck E Cheese a few weeks before Disney. I think it did help our 2 year old get used to characters. Although it won't help with all kids--my 5 year old niece is absolutely terrified of characters, Santa, clowns,etc. no matter how many times she sees them.

Kelly

 

[flortlebap]

I don't think anything can prepare them for the size of the characters, though.

My DD loves Winnie the Pooh and everything related. She also has Mickey mouse toys, so I'm hoping she'll be prepared!!

Otherwise she has 14 days to get used to it

 

[alloyd1170]

We leave tomorrow for WDW-DDs (14 mos) first trip and DSs (4.5 yrs) 3rd trip. DS first went at 2 and was terrified of the characters. I knew this ahead of time thanks to a visit with Santa and bought the live Sing Along dvds and the free WDW planning dvd. That helped a lot as he could see them interact with kids and got to see how big they are. However, if we met up with a character that wasnt on the video he was still scared, but would allow me to walk him up to the character.

For the last 2 mos I have been showing DD the same dvds and photos from DSs trips. She has no interest in tv so about the only place she will watch them are in the car. She loves the music and can already say some of the characters (mermaid was one of her first words). When we see characters on items in stores I point them out and say their names. Today she saw a Tinkerbell clock and went nuts. I had on a Mickey sweatshirt and she pointed to it and said Mickey. I asked her if she wanted to go see Mickey and again she went nuts-throwing her hands up and screaming for joy.

It will be very interesting to see how she reacts when she sees the characters in person. Im pretty sure she will enjoy the rides as she is always taking in the sights around her. She loves to dance and she even "sings" along to the dvds in her carseat.

alison