Timid kids and characters

[belle&beast]

My DH and I were so excited to take our family to WDW that we didn't even think about the characters being scary to our kids (DD4, DS will turn 2 while we are there.) They are both afraid of Santa Claus even at a distance! I know my DD will be ok with the princesses, but does anyone have any suggestions about how to introduce them to the characters? Where can we go that we will be able to have the time to ease them into pictures and not be rushed? Thanks!

 

[FSUGrad97]

You might want to try a character meal. We went to 1900 Park Fare, Liberty Tree Tavern, and Crystal Palace, and all the characters approached my DD2 cautiously, and let her warm up to them. They were so good with her, and she loved them all. In our experience, all of the characters took their time (within reason).

Prior to the trip, I would point out characters that I knew would be at the character meals and explain that she would be seeing them when we went to Disney.

 

[tw1nsmom]

I don't have specific advice about getting the children used to characters. I just wanted you to be prepared that if your children are anything like my DD, they may not get over this in time for your trip. We found it easiest to just avoid most character interactions. It was a little difficult for us since her twin brother loves the characters. She was truly terrified and only relaxed when she realized that she wouldn't be forced into close contact with the characters. By the end of the trip she wanted to get into the pictures with her brother (as long as she was the furthest from the characters). But if we didn't have Ds begging to meet the characters, we would have avoided them alltogether. DD was a lot better seeing the characters at a distance in the parades. On the bright side, skipping the character lines will save you a lot of time.

 

[haley's mom]

I would agree with a character meal. My DD (2-1/2) loves the princess, so like you I was not concerned. On our second day at Disney we did Liberty Tree Tavern for dinner. DD loved it! She was hugging, talking and interacting with all characters except for Goofy. She never did warm up to Goofy during our entire trip. I would also recommend, many disney movies, disney channel, etc. My DD knew all the princess, yet very little classic disney. We returned in October and the Toon Disney channel is always on! Good luck

 

[crisi]

I'd schedule the character meal late in the trip though. That way you can cancel if you have a "screamer." The deal with the character meals is that the characters are really good at avoiding timid kids, but the tables can be so close together that it doesn't make any difference if Pooh avoids your kid when he is six inches away with someone elses if yours is terrified. If a kid likes characters from a distance, but cries if they are too close, character meals might not be good.

My son was timid at 3 1/2. He was willing to get close enough for photos, but it was definately a don't touch thing. At 5 we went again and he was STILL timid until he said "Mom, we need one of those books so they can write their names." With an excuse he was willing to go up, get their autograph and get a photo taken - even brave enough to get Captain Hook's! (While he was standing in line for that one I said "He'll never do it, he'll chicken out at the end and give me the book.) He's seven now, and he's never been a character hugger.

 

[susykt4]

My son was 2 and 5 months last trip. He was always terrified of Santa, Easter Bunny, baseball mascot, etc. We went convinced that he would avoid the characters and DH and I would take turns taking DDalmost 5. The first char we met was Ariel and DS wouldn't go near her. Later that evening we went through the Pooh and Friends line at the ToonTown tent. DS SHOCKED us by running right up to Pooh and hugging him and then Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore. From that point he absolutely loved all the characters. I thought he'd be frightened of huge, tall Goofy, but that turned out to be his favorite! You never know, your kids may end up loving the characters after all!

DS recently turned 3 and again was freaked out by Santa. BUT, he loves to look at all the Disney photos and can't wait for our upcoming trip to see Mickey.

 

[belle&beast]

Thanks to everyone for all the advice! We do have character meals planned and will hope for the best. It sounds like every kid is different and we will have to just figure out what to do when we see their reactions!

 

[JulieEck]

We bought an autograph book before MGM opened our first day at the parks. We never did use it. There were a lot of characters out first thing in the morning and as I was pointing them out to her, I couldn't even get her to wave to them from a distance. She liked them ok as in she would point them out when she saw one, but I figured if she wasn't willing to wave to them then I wasn't going to try going through a line to meet them. We decided to not try that and keep the autograph book for a later trip. My dd tends to be shy at first with anyone new, but once she gets "warmed up", she's ok. I'm hoping she'll be more receptive to meeting characters the next time or 2 we go. Good Luck!

 

[Rachie0507]

We just got back and DD5 never went up to a character. But that was okay with me. When she was a little younger, she was a 'screamer' about these things so I'm just happy that she didn't do that!!

I didn't have any expectation of her ever going up to anybody so it didn't bother me. We assured her from the beginning that nobody would approach her unless she wanted them to (I think she was worried about someone sneaking up on her). She did go up to princesses as long as they didn't have any of their costumed friends with them. Her little brother loved the characters and she understood that she had to wait if he wanted to go meet somebody. We went to a character breakfast and while the characters circled the room, she hid under the table.

But the amazing part to me, is that now that we are home, she talks like she really met them. So even though she didn't go hug Mickey Mouse and get his autograph, she still got the magic of it all.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[wils]

Do you have any photos or video or you with the characters. Then at least your kids will have an idea how big the charcters are and that you were OK with them.

 

[FSUGrad97]

Another thing I just thought about is to get the WDW planning dvd to show them the true size of the characters. I was a little nervous because I was afraid that DD2 would be frightened of their size, (seriously, Pooh is WAY bigger than her stuffed animal ) but I think she just saw the character and ignored the size.

 

[handicap18]

My DS is generally a very outgoing and personable person at 3 1/2. Except when it came to going up to Disney characters. He wouldn't go anywhere near them if we waited in line. We did buy him a Buzz Lightyear toy laser blaster. He had it with him when we went in to meet Stitch, The Incredibles and Buzz Lightyear. He wouldn't stand in line as we waited for Stitch. By the time we got to Buzz he was standing next to DW as she took pictures. Buzz spotted him and took the toy blaster from him and showed him how to properly use it. DS still wouldn't "pose" with Buzz, but we did get some pictures of them playing.

At the 1st character meal (Chef Mickey's) it took him a while to warm up to the characters. Chip & Goofy came by and he would hide his head. Then Minnie came by and stole his laser blaster and started shooting everyone in sight including Mickey. It was priceless. She got him out of his shell. The next 4 character meals DS was great. He would hug the characters and pose willingly for pictures. Though he still wouldn't go up to any characters in the parks which was fine. DW and I along with DD (13 months) got our pictures instead. It all ended up working out great.

Just take it as it comes.

 

[pezpam]

One trick is to hold your child - though it's partially so they can hug you if they need to, it helps some kids if they're face-to-face with the characters instead of staring WAAAAYYYY UP at them. At character meals, some of the characters are capable of bending down to kid-level.

Once they get more comfortable, you could put them down for pictures or autographs while you're right there and see if they get more brave as time goes by. Some kids stay shy, some (like some described in other posts) wind up running up to characters.

 

[bedgraynexl]

Really you just never know how a child is going to react. I thought that both my kids, DS5 and DD3 would be terrified. They never really warmed to other costumed characters as was mentioned in previous posts. Our first day we saw characters greeting at Main Street, but just passed on by. Later that day we met Mickey in Toontown and from then on it was gotta find the characters, gotta get their autograph. Best advice is let them decided when to meet a character. Let them find a favorite from a distance. For instance, DS5 is a huge Toy Story fan. We missed Buzz the first day, but met Woody and Jessie. We went into the Diamond Horseshoe and just let the kids see them. Before you knew it DS was getting into line to meet one of his heroes. DD liked meeting Jessie too, but her highlight came when she got to meet Belle one on one after the Story time. She was able to watch the show and work up the idea of meeting her without any pressure from being in line. All I had to say is do you want to meet belle and she was ready to get in line.

Plus as you can see below they got around to Goofy too

 

[NotUrsula]

Thanks to everyone for all the advice! We do have character meals planned and will hope for the best. It sounds like every kid is different and we will have to just figure out what to do when we see their reactions!

I would second the advice to let them see characters in the parks before taking them to a character meal. If they refuse to go closer than 10 ft. or so in the parks, then it would be best to forget character meals, because there is no getting that much distance in a restaurant.

Some kids just never warm up to characters, but still love the parks. DS, now 8, has been to either DL or WDW over 20 times, starting when he was not quite 2. He is big enough to go on any ride in any of the parks, but there is no way on this earth he will voluntary get any closer than about 20 feet away from a "big-head" character. The one and only time we accidentally booked a character meal (didn't realize until we were seated) we tried to just keep them away from the table. Disaster. DS spent the entire meal underneath it, with his eyes closed and with a death grip on the table leg, repeatedly praying "Please, God, make them disappear!" He was four at the time, and every time they got close enough to have their feet become visible under the table, he would start shaking. We actually had to ask the handlers to have them all leave the room momentarily so that we could get him out of there without using force to pry him off the table. Nowadays, he just goes to great lengths to avoid them: a few months ago at BB, he walked halfway around the park in order to avoid the characters who were standing on a bridge between the location of our beach chairs and the entrance to a slide he wanted to go on.

Just FYI, character-avoidance has a great upside: we never spend half our park day waiting in autograph lines instead of going on rides, and we don't have to bother with the expense of character meals, either.

 

[Schmeck]

Our first character experience ws a bit of a mess - DD2 1/2 was in her stroller, and Goofy (who is sooooo tall!) freaked her out. This wasn't a line-greeting encounter, he was just walking around a pavilion at EPCOT.

So, I bought her a medium sized Mickey Mouse doll, and started the mantra "Mickey will keep you safe", LOL! On any attraction that was a bit scary, she'd just close her eyes and hug the stuffing out of Mickey.

Then, we took her to see the real Mickey, who is actually about my height (5'3" or so) and she loved him! Held his hand, waved to him, etc.

Of course, we started an awful thing with DD - she now collects as many character stuffed animals as possible each trip. She spends all of her $$ on them each trip! That 'Mickey will keep you safe' is coming back to haunt me!

 

[handicap18]

I would second the advice to let them see characters in the parks before taking them to a character meal. If they refuse to go closer than 10 ft. or so in the parks, then it would be best to forget character meals, because there is no getting that much distance in a restaurant.[/QUOTE]

That doesn't always work either. For us it was the other way around. We saw characters in MK first. DS 3 1/2 was terrified at first, but did eventually go up to Buzz for a moment.

Then that night we went to the first of 5 character meals we had planned for the week. DS had a little more control, meaning that they had to come to him. This worked for him. By the time we had our 2nd character meal he was loving it. Each meal after that he would ask who's coming to our table next, this was even at the meals that there wasn't a character meal. He still, however, wouldn't go near any character in any of the parks.