Tips for helping my two year old learn disney characters before our DW vacation.

[Honeybee83]

Hello all,

DH and I have a trip planned with our little girl who will be about 2 1/2 during our trip in September 2014. She is a big Elmo fan but since we're not going to Sesame Street world I was hoping you Dis parents might have some tips for introducing her ahead of time to who the characters are. She watches Sesame Street every morning but that is on "her level". She won't sit through the Disney movies as she doesn't have a huge attention span. I'm starting to record Mickey mouse clubhouse in the mornings since that is geared toward her age but was hoping for some more suggestions. I'm not interested in Doc Mcstuffins or Sofia the first bc those characters are not as prevalent in the parks. Also she is not into "dress up" as any skirt or hair accessory is short flung off after being put on, so princess dresses probably won't be a hit either. Any help would be appreciated. I would just live to hear her squeal "Mickey" or "tigger" or "Cinderella" like she does when she sees the Sesame Street characters in the grocery store (cracker boxes, dolls, etc).

Thanks in advance!

 

[squirrel]

How about some books. I have found lots of Disney board books at the second hand store.

You could purchase the Disney Junior Encyclopedia of Animated Characters-new edition comes out June 3rd.

 

[mom2maggie]

When my daughter was 2.5, she knew the characters from books, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and disney song videos on YouTube, since they are shorter than movies. She did watch disney movies with her older sister too though

 

[crayon3448]

Does she like music? My one year old DD loves to watch the songs from Disney movies on youtube and dance. Her favorites are I Just Can't Wait to be King from the Lion King and Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid

 

[Gillyrose779]

We took my kids when they were 2.5 and 4. They are big Disney Jr. fans so they knew Mickey and the gang.

You are right about Doc and Sophia- both boys watch them and loved seeing them at HS but they are only there. When we went to MK my kids saw the castle and exclaimed "There's Sophia's Castle!" It was adorable- my 2 year old just said last night he wants to go to Sophia's castle again.

Mickey's clubhouse is a good start but, like the other person posted, You Tube is a great place for short films too- you should be able to search there for Cinderella and all the princesses. I let my kids watch it on my iPhone from time to time.

 

[Honeybee83]

Great suggestions. Keep em coming. She's not into books. She'll sit with me to look at the pages for all of 15 seconds and then she's onto the next activity. She loves music though. We play disney songs on pandora during bath time. Maybe YouTube will help.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Do you have a WDW planning DVD? Even an old one would help. Look also at places like Wal-mart for short Disney cartoon that feature the fab4. The reality however is that seeing them on TV in cartoon form, is going to be very differnt from seeing these tall, moving characters at the parks. I would seek our places where she can see costumed characters in real life. Chuck-e-cheese, sports mascots etc. I would keep re-introducing the books, not only for 'wdw but in general. Books should be a big part of her life by now.
No matter if she knows the characters by name or not, she will have fun at WDW!

 

[blana]

See if you can get a hold of some of the Sing Along Songs that focus on the parks:
http://www.amazon.com/Disneys-Sing-...92919&sr=8-8&keywords=disney+sing+along+songs
http://www.amazon.com/Sing-Along-So...2919&sr=8-11&keywords=disney+sing+along+songs
http://www.amazon.com/Sing-Along-So...ell&keywords=disney+sing+along+songsisneyland

They help introduce some of the characters (although not in their movie homes) AND show the child the size of the costumed characters they'll run into at the park, so they aren't expecting someone THEIR size instead of adult sized.

 

[mom2maggie]

Oh yes! The Disney Sing A Long songs dvds - we checked them out from our local library and she LOVED those.

 

[aimes0105]

My daughter is currently 2 1/2 and will be closer to 3 for our trip. She has recently really gotten into the Princesses after a friend got her the Princess sing along DVDs for Christmas. Once she saw all of the beautiful princesses with their hair tied back she also all of the sudden allows me to put clips or ponytails in her hair (so there's hope there!) and likes to wear dresses like Ariel and Cinderella. I've tried to show her a few movies but she really just wants to fast forward to the songs so the sing alongs are perfect.

 

[earljam]

Check out this Disney sing along with characters at the park!!!! I showed my three year old and she flipped, now she won't stop talking about Disney World. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1QeShToq-E

 

[adc]

I felt exactly the same about my almost four year old. He already loved MMC, but that was about it.

The Disney channel will show the main movies you need to see. Keep an eye on the weekend schedules and record them.

YouTube is great. First I focused on the main five characters and Chip and Dale. Just search for Mickey cartoons and look for the old ones. They are so funny!

Even if she won't sit and way the whole movie, she can still fall in love with the characters.

These are the movies I focused on at least showing him once:

Cinderella
Beauty and the Beast
Peter Pan
Little Mermaid
Brave
Toy Story
Cars
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

You should check out Doc McStuffins. It is a really sweet cartoon with a good message.

 

[SamSam]

Dh and I took our twin grandson when they were just 2 1/2 and then again just shy of 3 years old. What helped them them the most were you tubes of families actual vacation, especially kids meeting the characters. We were really concerned that they would be frightened by the characters, but after watching the video's, they got very excited at every character they saw and couldn't wait to run up and hug them.

Since that time we've been having them watch Disney Movies, etc. every time they stay with us and I expect our next trip to be even more exciting.

 

[kellyjeanie]

I had a similar dilemma when we decided to go to DW. My 2-year-old watched Sesame Street most mornings but no Disney. About 9 months ahead of time I started putting on Disney Jr for MMC instead of Sesame Street. We watched Toy Story (Buzz is "Infineeyon!") and he knows Peter Pan from watching Jake. I don't know if he had ever seen anything Pooh but when we met Pooh he was excited just the same. He knows about princesses from his older sister, so even though he doesn't know princess names he was still excited to see a "pwincess". Honestly I think Mickey/Minnie are the most important to know, since they're everywhere - after watching MMC my son now LOVES Mickey, it was the coolest thing when he met Mickey for the first time.

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

Music, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Movies, and books.
We had to purchase a CARES harness for him b/c he will be in his own airplane seat…So, he got to watch MMCH and movies while practicing in his "airplane seat." This also gave me the opportunity to time out how long he could really sit through a video (MMCH episodes are 24 minutes long. 2 of those get us to our first connection and Monsters University gets us to MCO) This mostly took place on weekends or if I was cooking dinner.

Music always in the car.

Books…Everyday…Sometimes more than once.

 

[danceintherain]

We did Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and old school cartoons on YouTube.
He particularly enjoyed old school Donald Duck and Chip & Dale cartoons. By the time we went on our trip in April, he was sold.
He was vaguely aware of the other Disney Jr. characters, so he knew some of the other songs for the stage show.
I also watched TinkerBell movies with him on Netflix.

It did take him a bit to warm up to the characters, but by the end of the trip he was practically running into their arms.

Day 1


Day 6 (I think?)

 

[kellyjeanie]

It did take him a bit to warm up to the characters, but by the end of the trip he was practically running into their arms.

Oh my gosh, that is adorable. Those pictures!! How sweet

 

[RoosMama]

See if you can get a hold of some of the Sing Along Songs that focus on the parks:
http://www.amazon.com/Disneys-Sing-...92919&sr=8-8&keywords=disney+sing+along+songs
http://www.amazon.com/Sing-Along-So...2919&sr=8-11&keywords=disney+sing+along+songs
http://www.amazon.com/Sing-Along-So...ell&keywords=disney+sing+along+songsisneyland

They help introduce some of the characters (although not in their movie homes) AND show the child the size of the costumed characters they'll run into at the park, so they aren't expecting someone THEIR size instead of adult sized.

These are our favorites - they are just about the only movies/TV my DD will actually watch (she hates TV!) We pointed out the places that we were going to go before the trip (I know the one is Disneyland, but we pretend it is WDW since she is not old enough to understand). The beach party one shows the monorail hotels so we pointed that out (we stayed at BLT) and if you are staying at FW, the campout one is great.

Before the trip, DD told me that Mickey Mouse was "big and heavy", so I know she was not surprised that the characters were large. It's great to see them in the context of other kids. She ended up being not scared of the characters at all, and I think it was due to these videos.

 

[Legendteri]

Like others have mentioned, what helped us out was renting the Sing a Long songs DVD from the library.

This way she was familiar with what the characters actually looked like.