Preparing your "cautious" child for the World

[henry72]

We took DS to DW when he was 19 months old and he had really no problems with the characters or the rides. Now we are returning and he is 4 1/2 years old. But he is not the "go with the flow" type child. He isn't great with the "unknown". I am kind of afraid that he will not want to try the rides and I am expecting him to be afraid of the characters based on his reaction to photos of our last trip. I could be wrong of course because we took him to an NBA game last March and he did great. (We had told him there would be TONS of people and LOTS of noise.) Anyway, does anyone have any tips they can share on how to prepare him for our trip? Thanks.

 

[amyj1024]

Hey, I got 2 of those kids. We spend A LOT of time looking at pictures from past trips, watching You Tube videos of the characters.

This is a GREAT book, has lots of pictures of the park and rides...http://www.guidetothemagic.com/shopping.htm
It also has little symbols for the kids saying if it is dark, loud, scary, fast, etc. In my opinion it was a GREAT tool and helped my kids know what to expect.

 

[polynor]

Our son loves routine and the familiar. We took him last year and didn't prepare him for it -- meeting mickey was very scary. He went on the rides - but mainly because he didn't know to object...

This year, we showed him videos of the rides and of him meeting mickey. We prepped him about meeting the characters and the rides -- including the plane ride -- and he was much much better. As long as he knew what to expect he was ok.

 

[Colleen27]

YouTube videos of the rides were a lifesaver with my more cautious middle child. Also, try earplugs if he seems fearful of things that shouldn't be scary - the volume of some of the rides and especially the shows was a big part of DD's hesitation/fear when she was 4.

 

[Chelley00]

I second Youtube. Last year we "rode" every ride with DS3 over and over so he was prepared for what would happen.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Videos are they way to go.. it will show him what he will be seeing.. when watching them, maybe he can have a special toy with him and when you go, take that toy along.. sort of like a security blanket for him to hold when in the "strange" place..

 

[mom2att]

My middle child was like this. He had been many times as a baby, but when we were set to go again when he was 4/5, we really worked to prepare him for it. We looked at pictures, watched videos, etc. We also told stories: "Once upon a time there was a boy named T who went to Disney with his family . . . ." We would have the story begin from our home and cover the drive there, parking, walking into the park, and all of the things he would see and do. We did this often before we ever went and he liked it, so that by the time the "story" came true it wasn't new to him, he had been there before!

He never did warm up to the characters, though. In fact we often had to find a different route away from the characters, since he would run the other way when he saw them. Saved us a lot of time waiting for autographs!

 

[mumto3girls]

All of my kids have gone through the stage when they have been frightened of the characters and one thing to keep in mind is that the characters are very well trained and quickly pick up on a frightened child and leave him/her alone. We even would continue to do character dining and just mention as the character approached that we had one who was uncomfortable and they would just ignore her. Once she realized they weren't going to try to interact with her she was fine. My girls were all also better with unmasked characters--princesses etc vs. ones like the Beast or Chip N Dale. I think usually their fears subsided around 3 or so--my youngest hasn't been back since right after she turned 2 and she was quite frightened then, but I suspect she'd be better now.

I don't have much advice on the rides although I like the Youtube suggestions and might have to try that one myself!

 

[NHdisneylover]

You have many good suggestions here Having a very catious/anxious child myself (not a stage this is her always) I will add this:

There is a LOT to enjoy at Disney World. Some kids (even some adults) just don't enjoy certain things (characters, "dark" rides, fast rides, whatever). most of the kids will grow into those other things eventually, and if they don't, so what? I advise that it is good to prepare a child, however if your child still does not want to do "whatever" let it be and find one of the many otehr millions of great things about WDW for your child to enjoy. A child could not go on anything fast, anything dark or near any charaters and still have a lovely week at the world (riding trains and TTA, seeing Beauty and the Beast and the animation tour, enjoying the flowers and topiaries, eating interesting food, looking at animals at MK, playing in fountians, running in the hedge maze, etc. etc. etc. (I have one always anxious one who can't stand anythign with scary music and one who does not like anything fastWhen they were little we didn't do lots of "typical" stuff but there was no place they wanted to be more than WDW)

 

[indimom]

I definitely agree with You Tube videos. I think this would help a lot preparing an anxious child for the different rides and attractions. Also, I would suggest that instead of doing the headliner attractions at the start of the day (I know this breaks every rule), you start with the easy/fluff stuff and build up to the scarier stuff. Finally, I would avoid long lines for attractions your little one isn't sure about, less time to get worked up about it. Hope you have a great trip!

 

[beanbubbles]

I guess I'll just reiterate what everyone else is saying about You Tube videos! Last year we brought my sons to Disney for their first visit and they were 4 years old. I wanted to try to get a feel for what they might be scared of and give them an idea of what it's all about so I showed them a bunch of videos. While we were there I gave them the opportunity to go an anything there were able to go on and let them decide if they wanted to try it or not. Most of the ones they decided to go on they loved and wanted to do again. Others they haven't tried yet, so we will see what happens on this trip and if they are any braver!

As far as characters, my one son was completely into them and wanted to stop at everyone one we saw to get an autograph and picture. My other one wasn't scared, but more indifferent. He just didn't want anything to do with them.

Oh and one more thing...even the rides that they did like, it seemed that the loud noises were what bothered them the most. They would just hold their ears and they were fine.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

If you make it sound so exciting and fun they will pick up the cues from you. If you are like "OMG, it will be okay, don't worry, I know you are nervous" etc. then I personally think it makes it worse. Watch the rides on youtube. Build them up to something exciting and fun. Have a great trip!

 

[firsttimemom]

We took DS to DW when he was 19 months old and he had really no problems with the characters or the rides. Now we are returning and he is 4 1/2 years old. But he is not the "go with the flow" type child. He isn't great with the "unknown". I am kind of afraid that he will not want to try the rides and I am expecting him to be afraid of the characters based on his reaction to photos of our last trip. I could be wrong of course because we took him to an NBA game last March and he did great. (We had told him there would be TONS of people and LOTS of noise.) Anyway, does anyone have any tips they can share on how to prepare him for our trip? Thanks.

Could you make him a 'checklist' with pictures of the characters and a box to check when he sees them- even if it's from afar? Its less intimidating than an autograph book where you have to get close. That might help create some excitement about seeing a character.

My DD used to be very wary of loud noises. In movie theaters she would take her parka and put her hood on if the movie got too loud. She had some issues with the Festival of the Lion King and she used a hoodie (no need for a parka in Florida). I'm not sure how much of it was its ability to dampen loud noises as much as it was a way for her to turn her head and 'escape' but it worked like a charm- she felt much more in control of the situation knowing she could 'check out' if she needed to.

I hope this helps and wish you all a magical vacation!

 

[RMulieri]

My daughter was the same way....Youtube was definitely a life saver