Scared of Disney Characters

[Disneyvirg]

How old were your kids when they were no longer scared of the Disney Characters. Our now five year old was scared of our local amusement park's animals, Easter Bunnies, and Santa Claus' until she was at least three. Our one year old seems a bit braver. I just want an idea of when most kids are getting over their fear of the characters.

Thanks!

 

[CTmommyx3]

Well the first time when the kids were 3 and 4.5 they really would not go near most characters. Well dd who was 4.5 did the princesses, and Minnies and a few others. But my son really could care less, he was more afraid.
This past trip with dd being 6.5 and ds being 5 was so cool. we were at Universal and ds was running up to all the Suess characters, then found spiderman. At our hotel, the Nick hotel they both LOVED all those ones like spongebob and Dora.
BUT my youngest was 16 months this past trip and FREAKED of you even had him nea a character. When the kids were seeing Mickey and Minnie I though I would lose my hearing and my neck from how he climb up me screaming

 

[TheDizMom]

At 4 1/2 DD was scared, but by 5 1/2 it wasn't a problem anymore. DS never had a problem.

 

[nytimez]

Every child is different... some never fear them. Some start out fine and then go through a phase where they fear them... etc.

 

[Disneyvirg]

hmm...I'll just have to hope my girls aren't afraid when we're ready to go. Did your kids seem as scared of the princesses without masks as they were around the Mickey Mouse type costumes?

 

[yjjohnston]

I am a little concerned about this also. We are going to WDW next month (June 2008). During Spring break we tried to have breakfast with BOB & LARRY (from VeggieTales). DD was okay from across the room. But.. when they tried to come over and get a picture with her, she screamed!

I haven't scheduled any character breakfasts, but would like to do one. Perhaps a Princess breakfast so she could see the characters faces. Hmmm...

Yvette in Snellville, GA

 

[kokomos]

What seemed to help my kids was watching the disneyland parade on vhs many times. It gives a kids an idea of how much larger the characters are than the kids around them. Most kids are not expecting Pluto or Goofy to be 7ft tall.
My ds was never afraid, He ran up to Mickey at 18 months old to give him a hug that brought tears to my eyes.

 

[_queenie_]

I definately agree that it helps to get them used to the characters first. We've been taking our kids once or twice a year since they were infants so I guess having seen them multiple times helped. Try showing them some videos and pictures as the PP said, my DD13 always used to watch a tape I made of her at nine months with the characters so I think that might have helped.

 

[mickeylr]

and some never out grow the fear/dislike of characters.

DD#1 is now 19 and still does not like them. She will tolerate the occasional photograph for me, but she really is not comfortable.

face characters are almost OK.
full costumes are very uncomfortable for her.
Clowns - as a child we had to cross over to the other side of the mall whenever one of those balloon selling clowns came any where near or screaming would occur ... and that is still her opinion of clowns.

DS#1 (16) thinks that they are all his best friends and would have brought them all home with him if he could have.

so you never know. we just learned to not push the issue.
It just wasn't worth it, even for the annual santa pictures, and luckily
with two of us, DS could stand in line and do his thing and DD didn't
have to.

Mary

Mary R. in Maryland, USA

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

As a former entertainer, here is some advice if your kids are scared:

-I heard from parents all the time that Minnie was the first/only character their kids weren't scared of or would go up to. Perhaps her face is more welcoming than the others? She's also more petite and on their level.

-Try starting kids off with the princesses or other characters who can talk to them.

-Let your child set the pace. My cousins came and visited me with their 2 year old girl and 5 year old boy. We knew the 2 year old was scared. We gave her an autograph book to give to the characters and took it slow. At first we were giving the characters the autograph book, then she would do it and run away. We advanced to one of us holding her on the opposite shoulder, one of us holding her while she got hugs, to letting a princess kiss her! At our Character dining I had alerted my friends in advance that she was nervous and we reminded them when they came up to the table. We made sure to seat her where she wasn't close to them. By the end of that day, she was running up to Donald and taking pictures! If you let the kids set the pace and give them something like an autograph book to occupy them, many will start to come around.

Whatever you do, please please please do not drag your terrified child up to the characters. It will backfire. If you do want to get a picture with a scared child, hold them on the opposite shoulder from where the character is. If you are directed to do so, please do not try to switch them next to the character. They will hit the character in the head, and this is incredibly painful for the character.

 

[TotalSnowWhite]

Headed to Disney with DS2(almost 3) and DNiece5(almost 6). Both haven't had any issues with Santa, Easter Bunny or other random characters we've run into at various events. Sometimes DS is a bit timid, but if I talk to the character first, he's all for it.

During Halloween, one of the houses in our neighborhood goes all out. This year they had a scary skeleton playing an organ on the porch! Long story short, he ended up sitting on the skeletons lap for a picture and a high five. He usually just needs to see that the character is nice, no matter what it looks like.

 

[Disneyvirg]

As a former entertainer, here is some advice if your kids are scared:

-I heard from parents all the time that Minnie was the first/only character their kids weren't scared of or would go up to. Perhaps her face is more welcoming than the others? She's also more petite and on their level.

-Try starting kids off with the princesses or other characters who can talk to them.

-Let your child set the pace. My cousins came and visited me with their 2 year old girl and 5 year old boy. We knew the 2 year old was scared. We gave her an autograph book to give to the characters and took it slow. At first we were giving the characters the autograph book, then she would do it and run away. We advanced to one of us holding her on the opposite shoulder, one of us holding her while she got hugs, to letting a princess kiss her! At our Character dining I had alerted my friends in advance that she was nervous and we reminded them when they came up to the table. We made sure to seat her where she wasn't close to them. By the end of that day, she was running up to Donald and taking pictures! If you let the kids set the pace and give them something like an autograph book to occupy them, many will start to come around.

Whatever you do, please please please do not drag your terrified child up to the characters. It will backfire. If you do want to get a picture with a scared child, hold them on the opposite shoulder from where the character is. If you are directed to do so, please do not try to switch them next to the character. They will hit the character in the head, and this is incredibly painful for the character.

Great advice! I'll keep this in mind. Is there a way to let someone at the character meal know that our daughters are timid around the characters so maybe they'll take their time like with your niece?

Thanks!

 

[rt2dz]

I haven’t read the replies, but I’m sure someone has told you every kid is different. Even those from the same family.

DS7 was never afraid of the characters. When he was two, he would only spend a short time with Santa, but every other character and Santa at every other age has been an enthusiastic go.

DS4 was terrified of all characters from the time he was about a year old until right before his fourth birthday, which, btw, was when we had our last Disney trip. Two weeks prior to our last Disney trip, he was flipping out at the book fair because Clifford came to close. He liked the characters from afar, but not near him. At WDW, he could have cared less—there was Mickey Mouse, Peter Pan, Buzz Lightyear, Goofy, Donald Duck—he was getting autographs and pictures. Surprised the bee geezers out of me. Now, when he was 15 months, half way through our trip he warmed up to the characters, except the face characters. The Mad Hatter was telling us that they see that a lot, they like the full characters or the face characters, but not both.

We chose not to push it because, what difference does it make? You have to seek the characters out; they don’t come to you. While he was frightened, we found that we just seated him in the most distant spot at character meals. He could see the characters, but they weren’t too close. If you tell the characters as they start to come near, they are wonderful about staying away. My oldest loved having characters to himself. The characters were willing to wave over at us, from our safe distance. And he loved every other aspect of the trip. In the end, we left everything up to him. We bought him the autograph book and asked him. We took each character as they came. We never expected him to want to see one just because he saw the previous one. Additionally, we let him wait in line and if he wanted to back out when we were next, then that would be fine.

DS2 didn’t like characters a whole lot, except Disney ones. Now that he is getting closer to three, he is warming up to other characters. He was just over excited to see characters on our last trip, but flipped out over Santa.

Now, I have eight nieces and one was terrified of all characters, including Santa, until she was close to nine. I honestly think she still doesn’t like them, but just isn’t terrified anymore. None of the others were ever frightened nor ever was my nephew.

 

[DevilDuckie]

At 5 my son informed the Evil Queen that he was "not comfortable" with her being so close. He was okay with Pooh Bear but the queen was NOT Okay.

 

[puffkin]

My son was never scared of the characters. He is 2. The only one he had an issue with was the Mad Hatter He is a pretty fearless child though.

 

[EnchantedPrincess]

My dd and ds were both scared of Santa, Easter Bunny and whatever character that they sometimes have at the mall... and we were a little worried when we took them to Disney World last year...but nope, they were not afraid of Mickey or Minnie at all...ran right up to them and gave them a big hug!