What age did your child stop believing the characters are real?

[ammag]

Yes I know many adults here will say they are real lol. Curious what your families experiences have been? My dd believed it all at 5.5 even the fairy shrinking room...but as time goes on I wonder what will happen..I see some questioning questions starting to crop up. I think she will be be of those.."the fur ones are fake but the princesses are real" kids for awhile. She knows costumed characters in things like disney on ice are not the actual ones, because they live in disney world and don't ice skate professionally. Her words.

 

[disneyshakeygirl]

I think I was about 6 or 7? I used to believe it all as well, then started to realize things and it went from there.

 

[lovesdumbo]

I don't know that my younger 2 ever really believed but they didn't spoil it for my oldest who at 7 asked if she could see a photo of the incredibles from the parks. When she saw the photo she asked if they were just a real person in a costume. Then about 20 seconds later "what about Pooh?(her favorite)". I was fearful our next trip might be missing some of the magic but we always find it. She will be 14 next week and still loves Pooh.

 

[RMulieri]

Mine never believed they were.It didn't diminish any of the magic

 

[RalphinSC]

What do you mean by saying the characters aren't real?

 

[rebekah8284]

Well my oldest niece knew they were people in costumes by the age of 8 but we told her that if on our trip if she spoiled it for the other children that she would spend the rest of the trip in the hotel room. So she agreed to keep the magic alive for the other kids.

My other two nieces when they were 6 we had a conversation about native Americans and pocahantas and not even thinking about the disney movie I said that she had lived a long time ago. My niece then said but what do you mean we saw her at Disney on our trip last year? And I was just thinking oh crap why did disney have to do a movie about a real person! ! I managed to convince them that even though it was an actress playing pocahantas all the other characters are real lol. So they are 8 now and still believe I think it just depends on the child.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Neither of mine ever believed the characters were real. They also never believed in the tooth fairy or Easter Bunny either. Both did believe in Santa when they were preschoolers. They both however have always and still LOVE WDW and the youngest one loves the characters. The Easter Bunny and Tooth fairy still comes for the little one(6) and we play and have fun just like we do with the characters, but he does know the truth. We never told our boys any of these things were not real but we do confirm the truth if they directly ask in when we know is a legitimate question. It's just the kind of kids we have.

 

[Blessedwithboys]

Our first trip was last year. My then 4 year old was trying to figure it all out you could tell. He announced that he wanted to be a stormtroopers at Disney when he grew up and repeatably told my then 18month old not to be scared of Vader because he was just dressed up. But still thought that all the face characters were the 'real' deal and for some reason felt the same way about Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy. I am not sure what his rational was. But it did not effect our trip at all. Meeting characters was his favorite part of the trip!

 

[Mom2Stitch]

My DS was 7 when I knew that he knew, but here's the story....

We were at WDW in DTD, just hanging out and he says to me "Mom, other kids tell me that Mickey is just some person in a costume" Not wanting to lie to him and not wanting to ruin anything for him either, I asked him what he thought. His answer-"I know it's a costume, but when we are in Disney they are all real"

Isn't that the truth of it all?

 

[AladdinToMy4YO]

Never, if they did, they'd lose their college fund. Okay, just kidding. I don't think our kids ever thought they were "real" but just part of the overall Disney magic. From seeing my youngest finally get the nerve to walk up to Minnie and give her a hug where Minnie gave her an extra long hug (chills down the spine) to the Disney princesses this past January giving my buddy and I an extra special congratulations upon seeing our Disney Half Marathon medals (1st half). Special.

 

[JenCin78]

DS is 7 and is definitely not into the characters anymore. He realized that it is a costume and there are people inside. He's all about the rides which is fine-Disney means different things to everyone. Now my DD who's 5 is terrified of masked characters but LOVES her Princesses This upcoming trip is really for her as I'm not sure how much longer the Princess phase will last and I want to embrace it for as long as possible.

 

[skinsfan2878]

My little girl was around 6. She still likes doing the bbb but the character meetings aren't as important to her anymore. Broke my heart.

 

[BeerMe]

WHAT???

They're not real???????

 

[pigletto]

I think my son was about 6 when he said "I'm pretty sure that's someone in a suit Mom" after we met Tigger at Crystal Palace. However, it didn't change anything. He's 9 now and still just excited to meet his favourites. My dd who is 16 will still stand in line for pictures with characters to put on her Facebook. It's still just as fun as it ever was

 

[chartle]

Mine never believed they were.It didn't diminish any of the magic

same here. my sons are only 17 months apart so pretty much did and knew about stuff at the same time so we didn't ever have to tell the older one to not tell the younger.

 

[luvs2travl]

My 9 yr old said to me recently "Mom, Chuck E. Cheese is fake but Mickey is real right?" Of course!!!!! Gotta keep the magic alive as long as possible!!!

 

[luvmy2babies]

My DS was 7 when I knew that he knew, but here's the story....

We were at WDW in DTD, just hanging out and he says to me "Mom, other kids tell me that Mickey is just some person in a costume" Not wanting to lie to him and not wanting to ruin anything for him either, I asked him what he thought. His answer-"I know it's a costume, but when we are in Disney they are all real"

Isn't that the truth of it all?

This is it for my now 10 year old. She knew probably before she ever went as her first visit was at age 7 1/2 but it didn't take anything from the magic because we were at Disney. Her first character ever was Dora at age 2. They had a meet and greet at Adventure Landing a popular play place here. She was hooked from then. Finding out it's a person in a costume has not changed it. Her knowing actually helped on our last trip. When we were at dinner in the castle, Belle became ill and didn't get to us. They gave us fast passes to Town Square Theatre and it didn't phase her that we had just seen Cinderella and walked to another area and saw her again. Belle though had been informed of what happened and thanked my daughter for coming to find her after she went missing from the castle. Best meet of the trip. Belle was great. They all were to both children. I think she loves meeting characters even more now. There was obvious disappointment when I mentioned we would be cutting back on Character meals on future trips.

 

[disneydad78]

My youngest "thinks" he knows, but sometime his reaction says he still believes. He is 7. My two oldest stopped around the age of 10 or so.

AS for ME (35), I STILL BELIEVE IN MICKEY!!!!!

 

[LucyBC80]

I never really believed they were real. From early on my mom told me fairy-tales and always stressed they were just that, tales of how good behavior was rewarded and bad behavior had a cost. It didn't made me love princess or Donald and Mickey less and to this day I still love the characters.

I know this is not the norm but I believe it's a very nice way to raise kids and that's what I plan to do when I have my own.

 

[Groomer Gal]

My twin daughters are 8.
They do know that the 'costume' type characters (Mickey, Minnie etc ) aren't real. They have asked me before and I just told them that if the BELIEVE they are real...then they are.
I'm not sure about the Princesses though....I think they just want to believe so badly!

That being said.....they get so caught up in the fun you would never know that they questioned any of it!
They LOVE meeting all the characters! We had such a great time fooling around with Donald Duck at Chef Mickeys....my daughter told him she loved him in the Afflac commercials ....he made such a big deal about it and we all had such a good laugh over it....

Once we get on to Disney property....logic is just tossed out the window and they 'believe'.