So my 5yo asks me.....

[Lisa loves Pooh]

If Mickey and Minnie and the rest of the gang---are "costumed" in the parks?





I asked her what she thought and she said she didn't know--and I said neither did I.


Can't think of where I goofed up--but we don't really talk about the magic that way in our house.

 

[crisi]

Sometimes I think its just me, but I take an inordinate amount of pride when my kids figure these things out. I'm so glad they are bright enough to be able to seperate fantasy from reality and figure out "how its done." Its bittersweet that they grow up, but as someone with a special needs cousin, I'm glad it has happened to mine.

 

[SamIAm21]

My daughter and I went to a Christmas Parade (well if you could call it that, two firetrucks, a squad car, a float and a handful of characters followed by Santa) in a small town nearby recently and they had some "costumed" characters like Mickey, Minnie, Stitch, Tigger and Pooh and my daughter said right out -- Those are not REAL!!! We were in Disney this past September and the quality difference in the costumes was quite noticeable.

She knew there were people inside those costumes which also made her question the characters at Disney. I was dreading the question... Mom are there people inside the characters at Disney? I can't help it I lied a little. "I said of course not. Those are the real characters at Disney, but you know they can't just up and leave WDW because everyone there would be so disappointed. So those characters in the parade were just people in costumes."

Uggh, I just can't let the magic end yet.!!

 

[campingcorgi]

We were eating at the Crystal Palace with our 5 year old and she saw Tigger from the back, and his velcro was a bit obvious. She said 'There is a person in there!' and I thought that bit of the magic was toast. Then she told us that the real Tigger must have been tired Dodged that for a little longer, I guess!

 

[sanctus]

I have a standard reply when my kids ask me questions like these. I tell them if I have to choose between a world with magic or a world without one, I'll choose magic every time. They're now 10, 8 and 6, and I'm pretty sure the older two at least "know better", but they still *want* to believe. My answer is not a lie, and lets them keep some magic in their lives. Basically, I'm giving them permission to ignore what they "know" and go with the magic. So far it's worked.

 

[Karibeth19]

My DD asked me once how the characters could be at WDW and at DL at the same time. I asked her what she thought, and she said that when the real characters were at WDW, the ones at DL were just people in costumes. Then, when the real characters had to go to DL, then the ones at WDW would be people in costumes. She also used that theory to explain why she didn't see some characters on different trips. She didn't see Cinderella on one trip, so she said that must have been because she was at DL that week, and they didn't have someone who could "be" her at WDW. I thought that was pretty clever! She really believes that even if the characters she meets are just people in costumes, the real characters are around somewhere!

 

[bedgraynexl]

My DS5 is also asking the same question. He is a pretty bright little boy and observant. We were at a Christmas light show where the Grinch was posing for pictures. Not a great costume, with human skin clearly visible. My boy said matter-of-factly "That is not the real Grinch, he doesn't have green skin"

He got to thinking and asked on everything from Santa to Mickey. I asked him what he believed and he decided they were real. That is the beauty of magic. Even when you "know" the "truth" the magic trancends and allows you to still believe. You hate to see the real world intrude on kids beliefs.

There are enough people who will do their best to destroy magic, at least there are places where magic still exists.

 

[nyyankees5]

my now 6 yr old DS asked my DH "Why can't they talk like they do on tv" he was only 4 then. Can't remember how he answered, but it seemed to have worked. He has never questioned us again.

 

[WantToGoNow]

We went to WDW last December with my then 3.5 y/o ds and my 1 y/o dd We were celebrating her birthday at the Crystal Palace and Eeyore and Tigger walked up behind her. She looked up and started screaming – I have a picture of it – she was terrified. My 3.5 y/o said “it’s ok baby, it’s just a costume”. No one told him they were costumes, I guess he was just smart enough to figure it out. He still loved greeting the characters, getting the autographs and having pictures taken. The people at the table next to us gave us the dirtiest looks – hey, I didn’t prompt him to say that.