Toddlers and the Characters

[skuttle]

We're FINALLY going back to WDW in December. DS will be 2 1/2. We're wondering how he will be with the characters (not face)...we're debating about starting the trip with a character breakfast but afraid that DS will be scared.

We already planned on showing DS the planning video, our old videos and pictures, and reinforcing how big the characters are to try to prepare him. I know every child is different, but I'd love to hear how your toddler reacted to the characters. Thanks!

You can pick more than one..for those with more than one child.

 

[bsnyder]

I think they all react differently. My kids were never scared, but I have a niece who avoided WDW like the plague because of "That Big Mouse". I think she was 8 or 9 before she felt comfortable.

Do you have a Chuckie Cheese, or something similar, near you? They have "characters" there, and if DS is okay with them, he'll probably be fine at a character meal too.

 

[padams]

When DS was a toddler, he wouldn't go near characters at birthday parties (rented Barneys were popular at the time for kids' birthday parties). We went to WDW and he loved seeing the characters there.

I suggest going to a character meal at the Crystal Palace. The Pooh and friends characters there always seem attuned to the little ones who might be afraid. Another choice would be Liberty Tree Tavern or one of the quieter hotel character meals. Chef Mickey's, in contrast, is loud, and may be overwhelming for a shy toddler.

 

[skuttle]

We were actually considering Crystal Palace.

We do have a chucky cheese. I didn't think they still had characters there. I'll have to check into it, thanks!

 

[Annette_VA]

I was there in Sept w/ a just turned 1 year old and an almost 3 1/2 year old. The one year old was fine - too young to be scared. My DS3 is usually quite timid, but he totally loved the characters! Big theaters/auditoriums and loud noises freaked him out, but he ran up & hugged every character that crossed his path.

 

[Pam]

We went to Disneyland when our daughter was 2.5 yrs. old. She had a wonderful time!

She expecially loved Tigger, but her interaction with every Character was great! She had this little, high-pitched squeaky voice (she's now 19!) and I can still her squeals of joy every time she spied another Character!

We got great photos and wonderful memories.

 

[jgmklmhem]

My daughter was thrilled to see the masked characters but the face characters scared her to death. Aladdin about killed her...she eventually warmed up to the princesses. She was a week before 2yo at the time.

 

[justhat]

I wanted to vote for both hated and loved them but apparently didn't click on hated them. My daughter loves characters (she's almost 11 months) but my niece (who was 2 3/4 when we went to WDW with her in May) hated them and was scared the entire trip. My husband will ask her if she wants to talk to Mickey Mouse on the phone and she still runs and hides and it's been 8 months since she was in WDW! She saw Chip and Dale through the window at Pizzafari and literally dove under the table to get away from them. Meanwhile, my daughter, who rarely lets her own dad pick her up (and HATED Santa), loves the characters, stretches her arms out to them, and gets upset when I take her back.

 

[mommytotwo]

At the start, my daughter was scared of them and hung onto us. Then she had gotten used to, too them and pointed them out to us. The characters such as the princesses who are not in costumes, are the ones that my daughter likes better.

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

Based on your pictures of DS in his Mickey costume and with Santa, I am betting he will probably not be too fond of them on that trip. Now for my DDs, I had one that waqrmed up by the end of the trip (at 3 1/2; was fine at 5) and the other who loved them from the very beginning (6 mo and 22 mo). Each kid is different!

 

[skuttle]

jwsqrdplus2...you just reminded me that we'll have a trial run with the Easter Bunny this spring.

I'm hoping that maybe if he sees all of our pictures and video with the various characters that he won't be too scared. We didn't talk much about Santa this year before we brought him since he was so young, but at 2 1/2 he'll understand a lot more. At the very least, we plan on still taking our pictures with characters so that he can see that they don't hurt (my mom's coming with us so she could wait off to the side with DS and let him watch at a safe distance).

 

[Dan Murphy]

They don't scare me anymore.

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

My son was 2 1/2 when we went. He wasn't scared but I would say that he was cautious and reserved. He was excited when he saw the Pooh and Toy Story 2 characters. He also liked seeing Mickey. He wasn't smiling in the pictures but he wasn't crying either.

We decided before we went to not push the characters on him. He got to see his brother and sister interact with the characters and I think that helped. I think he did very well.

Lori

 

[cinmell]

The first time we took our daughter to WDW she was 22 months old and she LOVED the characters! She would hug them at character meals and try to call them over from parades and run up to them at the parks to have her picture with them.

Before the trip, we would explain that the characters would be bigger when we "met" them than they are on tv. She also watched (non-stop) the Disney Sing Along videos, Campout at Walt Disney World, Beach Party at WDW, Disney's Let's go to the Circus, Flik's Animal Adventure from Animal Kingdom and Disneyland Halloween. We also liked the planning videos. The vidoes showed the characters throughout WDW and Disneyland and they were interacting with kids which she thought was fun.

My daughter enjoyed each of the characterd meals we went to. We went to Chef Mickey's, 1900 Park Fare, CRT breakfast and Princess Storybook. Her favorite was Chef Mickey's.

We returned to WDW 8 months after our daughter's first trip and she still loved the characters as much as she did the first time.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[PryncessChrysty]

We took my nephew to DL and to Goofy's Kitchen when he was 2 and he LOVED the characters!! He couldn't get enough of them!!

 

[becka]

DS was about 21 months when we took him and he really enjoyed the characters. At first he was a little hesitant but he was so curious and so wanted to meet Daisy Duck that he got over it. We just kind of let him be the guide and we did not have any character meals scheduled until our 2nd day...that way we could guage his reactions in the park and change our meals around if necessary. The only problem we had was with the autograph book. DS was so proud of his "mickey book" and when he saw his first character, Daisy Duck, she took the book to sign it and DS went nuts screaming and crying "my mickey book, my mickey book"...he thought she was taking it from him so we no longer tried to get autographs after that and we didn't have any problems.

At first he would only approach the characters while holding our hand and he didn't really know what to do with them. Then Tigger put out his paw for a high 5 and DS loved that. By the 3rd day he was practically tackling some of the characters for his hug.

We also watched the planning videos and the WDW Beach Party sing along video to try to prepare DS for the characters sizes. I don't know if it made any difference but they are still some of his favorite videos.

 

[atlnewf]

My daughter liked SEEING the characters, but wasn't interested in going near them. Cinderella or Aurora in person are fine, though. It's the ones that are "in costume" she has issues with. She'll be turning 4 our next trip, so we'll find out if that's changed any then.

My son, on the other hand, commented that "They're so BIG!" first time he saw Goofy up close. After getting to watch Goofy move around, though, for about an hour, he was fine with hugging him before he left.

Ashley

 

[skuttle]

Thanks so much everyone! I know every child is different, and we definitely don't want to push DS, we were just trying to figure out if starting with a character breakfast (Crystal Palace) would be a bad idea. We originally weren't going to do a character meal until the end of the trip, but when we found out there will be a MVMCP during our trip (last year they didn't go so late into the month!) we had to rearrange things.

We already plan on testing him out with the fireworks for the 4th of July fireworks show here. I guess the Easter Bunny and Chuck E Cheese may be a good test for the characters. Thanks!

 

[liznboys]

On the last trip, our older two were 3 (almost 3.5) and the younger one turned 17 months on the trip. 3 year old was never scared, he loved them from the get go. 17 month old didn't want to get near them, but was happy to watch them from a few feet away.

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

I took my dd when she was 3 1/2. She was scared of 99% of the characters the entire trip.