Was your 15-16 mo. old afraid of the characters??

[MinnieMe2DW]

My daughter is not really one to like new people until she warms up to them, which is usually fairly quickly - so I'm obviously a leeeeeetle bit worried that the characters will freak her out. I certainly don't plan on forcing her, but I'm secretly hoping that after seeing the gigantic heads of charcters, maybe she'll get used to them and be ok after a trip or so?? Is it wishful thinking on my part??

 

[Eyore4Ever149]

Rarely- although Tigger came up and she got upset and he patted her head and she exploded. Poor Tigger. Other than that she had no response to characters. I think it will be different at 2- our next trip

 

[annie1995]

My son was 14 months and he really didn't like them, but he didn't freak out either. I'm hoping this year he will like them more, but I'm almost thinking hes gonna freak out this time since hes a bit older now

 

[Sheaboys]

At the ages of 6 months, 1 yr, 10 months, 15 months and 3yrs, none of the boys were afraid of the characters. Except when ds3 was 3, he was afraid of Cinderella, because she was a real person.

Now, our youngest is 18months and he wanted nothing to do with the Easter Bunny, and Santa forget about it! I have no idea how he will be this August when he is 2.

So as you see, it really just depends on the child.

 

[dancin_princess]

I hate to admit it but i was afraid of characters when i was younger.

 

[lutherlovr]

Last September, my DS was 16 months. He liked the characters he knew, like Mickey, Goofy, Jojo, Little Einsteins, etc. He did not like the ones he did not know, like Monsters Inc., Toy Story. We also watched the Disney Sing Along Songs videos that have actual park footage so he could get a sense of how big the characters are.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

At 12 months, my daughter was okay with the characters if I was holding her. At a character meal, Mickey came up to her while she was in her high chair and she freaked out.

 

[Hayloburger]

My daughter (18 months) wasn't afraid, but wouldn't get close either. When we took a picture, I had to hold her and she didn't want to be right next to the character.......BUT, she loved the face characters (anybody who had a human face and spoke!)........She loved Aladdin and let him kiss her, we have adorable pics of that.........her first character connection.

We went back 3 months later and she was CRAZY for any character and would hug and kiss all of them! I guess she just needed a little time to get over those big heads and eyes! She LOVES Drizella and Anastacia!

 

[NotUrsula]

Just know that some kids are leery of characters, and some of them never get over it. My DS is now 10, and he still will go around the long way to avoid passing near a character. Face character or big head, doesn't matter to him. He is no longer afraid of them, but feels embarassed by the attention that they generate.

On the positive side, we've never wasted a single minute of our precious park time standing in line for an autograph, and we've saved a lot of money by avoiding character meals.

 

[Amy Epcot]

I think it just depends on your child and you won't know until you get there. I was fully expecting my then 12 month old to be scared of the characters but he loved them! In fact at a character dinner he cried hysterically when they left the table to go to another! More than once we had to keep him from running after the character! I think he thought they were huge stuffed animals.

 

[hoosiergirl7]

It just depends on the child. When DS was 16 months old we were living in So. California and took him to Disneyland. A few days later a friend of ours who came into town wanted to take him so it gave us a day off. He wasn't afraid of any of the characters and had a blast at the character meal she and her husband took him to. However when we took him to WDW once before it was about 3 months before he turned 3. He said hello to Pooh and after that, forget it. There was very little we could do to get him anywhere near a character.

Things will be very different next month when we go to WDW. He's not afraid of characters anymore. He met Arthur & the Cat in the Hat at a store opening last fall and couldn't get enough. Ditto with Santa Claus and just this past weekend the Easter Bunny.

 

[Matt'nMeg'sMom]

Definitely. My 15 month old DD was terrified. We thought she'd like the "human" looking ones, like the princesses, but after meeting Mary Poppins and her big hat, DD decided that NO ONE was safe.

DD was still terrified at 3 years old, and again at 5, though she was more reasonable, she still refused to walk up to a hug a character. She became the official family photographer while her brother and I would go up to the characters!

Here is a typical picture of my DD(3) with a character.

 

[mom2girlsn1boy]

My daughter at 18 months loved all the characters except for the Beast, but at that time she hadn't really seen Beauty and the Beast so she had no clue who he was, just that he was some really huge scary looking thing. lol

 

[Honeymooner04]

My daughter didn't have a problem with any of the characters except for the male face characters like Aladdin and Prince Charming.

One thing that I think helped is that she watched the heck out of that Disneyland Sing A Long Songs DVD before our trips. That's like her favorite DVD to watch. She loves dancing to the music.

 

[tjlovespooh]

My DS was 17mo when we went last May. He LOVED the characters!!! It was too cute for words! I honestly think he regarded them as giant stuffed animals DH could barely keep him restrained when DS saw Pooh for the first time - he literally wanted to run into his arms.
We were also afraid DS would be afraid of the characters - I guess it's really unpredictable how kids will react.

 

[jennilouwho]

Our DS was 17 months. He LOVED Mickey! Ran right to him. Wanted nothing to do with Minnie. We thought that was interesting. The rest of the characters he was fine with as long as we were next to him. He was happy to see the Pooh Characters at Crystal Palace and wouldn't stop hugging them.

 

[algg]

Just got back from Disney, my 4 year old grandson hid under the table everytime a character would walk by at the breakfast we went to. My 2 1/2 year old grandson just screamed when he saw one. They would go no where near them when we saw them at the park. Both rode the Barnstormer rollercoaster with smiles on their faces. Go figure!

 

[LilGMom]

My oldest was never scared of the characters but my youngest (he is almost 3) wants nothing to do with them if they are closer than 20 feet from us. I have to hold my youngest in my arm on the opposite side from the character if I want a picture of him near a character.

 

[DebRMN]

last trip my youngest was 1y 10 mos......she didn't want anything to do with them. I hope this year (2y9m)will be better!

 

[MinnieMe2DW]

thanks everyone, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Gulp!!