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

[bookluvingbabe]

We went first when DS was 4. We didn't talk much about our plans other than we were having breakfast (and lunch and dinner) with Pooh and the gang. He also met Pluto, Mickey and Minnie. This was also the year he declared his belief in Santa.

He announced at the beginning they were people in costumes. It doesn't seem to change his excitement level. He sometimes asks if they are real and I let him take the lead in talking through his belief. I think he believes in the magic of Disney. (And Santa. Though I think he's totally conning me on Santa.) Oddly, his belief in the tooth fairy seems true.

His awe and his desire to see the characters doesn't seem to be impaired by his belief system. I will say we don't do the face characters, mostly because he hasn't seen any of those movies.

 

[>Ash<]

Hi O.P

when did you stop believing?

i cant wait to have kids to live in a land of make believe again, me and my wife get excited about meeting characters every year, i love when kids as questions that adults just cant answer... ive helped some parents over the years that want to keep the magic alive for their children, here are some of my answers for you if you ever get asked these questions,

1) the princess looks older than she did in the movie
A) well, have you aged since the movie? so has Belle.

2) Why are the faries so tall
A) well, Disney is the home of magic, once the faries took residence at Disney World, Sorcerer Mickey provided them with some special farie dust, not pixie dust but farie dust, like the blue fairy gave pinnochio, it holds certain properties which can cause the faries to grow. in return the pixies provide pixie dust to help the faries fly

i have hundreds more like this, if anyone would like a full list to help explain to the magic and keep the show alive PM me,

 

[>Ash<]

just also been reading some of the other comments on this thread,

i think kids whilst at home away from the magic, will probably say yeah its a person in a costume, once your in the setting, in the magic kingdom and your kid meets mickey mouse, they will be awestruck! to this day, when i meet any character in the park (and im 23) somthing takes over inside, that little place in all of us and you forget everything about a costume, at that moment your kids are meeting mickey mouse.

im telling you, wait and see. your kids will be awestruck by the characters

 

[chartle]

This thread has me worried - my DS will be 4 and my DD will be 6 in october and I really hope that they still believe in the characters.

Can anyone with similar age children tell me they still believed.

some will say yes some will say no. its really how your kids and you handle it.

you just have to realize its part of growing up and moving on. did you get upset when they first started walking?

 

[CuteAndFluffy]

My 4 yo: never. Tried to get inside Tiggers suit when he was about 18 months old to see what kind of shenanigans were afoot. He is a very concrete thinker and wants to understand how things work more than he wants to play pretend.

That being said, he has ALWAYS been delighted at meeting the characters. He just has lots of questions he whispers to me after.

 

[Minnesota!]

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

My kids have never believed. I guess I never thought to nurture the idea of the characters being real. We went when my oldest was just under 2... and he was terrified the first time he saw Mickey. So I just told him it's just a mom or dad in a costume and he was fine then. So we just went with it.

Still love the place, they still get a kick out of seeing the characters even knowing. Has never dulled the magic one bit

 

[kakiegirl]

My dd is 14 now and was 3 when we first started going to Disney World. We have never discussed it. She is a very smart girl and I am sure somewhere down the line she realized it but she is like me when we get to Disney World it is magic. We get excited when we see our favorite characters and we never think about that. I think she said it perfectly when she was about 9 we were there with friends who had a little boy and she was talking about seeing Stitch. The little boy told her you know that is not really Stitch that is just a person in a costume. She just looked at him and smiled and said "he is real to me".

 

[redsonja76]

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

WHAT???

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

Wait, what's not real?

Don't you guys listen to the mean lady, of course they're real!!!!!

 

[krohloff08]

My oldest was about 3.5. That was the trip we went on when my brother was a CM as different characters. We have a picture of her with him as Goofy and she is so excited because she knew it was her Uncle. She was so proud! That was when Goofy picked one child in the morning to open up Toon Town Fair and ride the barnstormer with him. She got to walk hand in hand with him and ride it. My middle DD is 5 and knows that there are people inside. It hasn't taken away any of the magic for us. It is still a big deal to meet them!

 

[sparkylauren]

I remember being 6 or 7 and still thinking that they were real. Commenting to Rafiki that I loved his movie, really excited about meeting the queen of hearts. I'm sure that around 8 when someone at school told me Santa was fake I pieced it together. I never told my mom though, because she told me if I ever stopped believing in Santa I would stop getting gifts. I thought she would never take me back to wdw.

My son will be going on his first trip in less than three weeks and I am excited for him to meet Mickey!

 

[rapunzels]

We ate at Crystal Palace a few years back, and my then 7 year old daughter saw some sort of zipper on the back of Eeyore... that did her in. "Mommy, Eeyore has a zipper on his back. There is a person in there isn't there?" ....so me being the coward I am I say....."what zipper?, I didn't see a zipper""

My girls now know there is a person in the costumes..but that doesn't change the fact they adore getting autographs, photos and hugs from everyone. The princesses..that's another story. They can see the princesses face, so obviously they are still real....

My girls, even my 10 year old, are still a little immature and believe a lot of make believe things. I'll be darned before I squish those precious moments left...

 

[cgattis]

So WTH with the zippers at Crystal Palace??? Pooh has a very noticeable zipper-like birthmark as well!!

My kids are 11 and 9. My 11YO told me once at a football game that Big Al (the Alabama elephant) is "just a mascot, don't you know..." I asked what that meant and she said "a person in a costume." But not once EVER at Disney have my kids ever questioned. It's real RIGHT THEN to all of us, and that's worth the price of admission to me

 

[Phillie_Boy]

My son has been to Disneyland once and Disney World four times and is now four turning five. He's been well acquainted with the characters through character dining and meet and greets. I'm very enthusiastic and when we meet characters, I'll be like "Look, it's Mickey! Nice to meet you, Mickey!" to sell the illusion. It's fun to engage and fall into the suspension of disbelief, especially for the sake of my kid's childhood and imagination.
Earlier this evening I put on one of the old 1990s Disney Information Channels on YouTube, and I mention how the pirates on Pirates of the Caribbean are animatronics, or "robots". My son replied "The characters are just people dressed up." (meaning Mickey and friends), and I kind of froze up, especially since I always energetically try to sell the moment when we meet them (we were just at wdw in May and saw Mickey at the Town Square Theater). I kind of danced around the comment and didn't really give a response, mainly because I didn't want to lie, but I also didn't want to spoil the illusion or "magic". Nonetheless, it was actually an upsetting moment for myself.

I always felt that a healthy connection to fantasy and imagination is crucial to childhood. We have our whole adult lives to be joyless, gloomy, cynical people I'd rather my kids hold onto their innocence and suspension of disbelief for as long as possible.

 

[Simba's Mom]

One of my granddaughters stopped believing when she was 5. She whispered to me, "Grandma, I don't think the characters are real-I think they're people wearing costumes." However, fortunately she didn't tell her older sister (7), who believed until she was about 9.

 

[loislane]

Not sure what ages my kids might have understood the idea of people in costumes, but they are now 28, 24, and almost 20 and still "believe" - as in they understand that the magic comes from within and from the cast members. My husband and I still believe as well.

They were the same with Santa - once the oldest figured it out, he wasn't sad at all. I explained to him that Santa is a belief in our hearts that helps make Christmas so special. He wanted in on the magic and decided that "Santa" (meaning himself) was going to leave notes for his siblings with their gifts. He was so excited to bring out the gifts for his siblings once they went to bed and be part of the magic.

That's my long way of saying how you as the adult approach it makes a huge difference.

 

[Pyxie]

My kids never thought they were real. We never told them one way or another either. It didn't make it any less magical for them.

 

[Sparrow'sLady]

Mine never really believed they were the real characters. She also never believed in Santa. My daughter was very mature and advanced in her thinking for her age. My niece believed in Santa and all the Disney characters until she was about 12. She is very child-like. It really depends on the child.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

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.

The characters are real.

 

[imbelle]

I remember having a heated discussion in kindergarten over whether or not Santa was real. I was in the pro camp because my parents wouldn't lie to me, right? I went home and asked my parents to tell me the truth. They said "Well, there is no Santa who brings you presents but we do it in the spirit of Christmas." My little brother's eyes got big and he said "I don't like it when you talk about spirits!" I was more outraged that they had made me look like a fool, never quite trusted them after that.

 

[B-Ride]

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

Same with ours. They still had loads of fun on our first trip getting autographs.