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

[Travelgrrl]

I think when your child finds out about Santa, and the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny quickly meet the same fate, they also stop believing in Disney characters and princesses. I really sold Santa and other fictitious characters to my kids but decided once they asked me point blank I would tell the truth. My son was young, about 6 when he asked me about Santa (in the car, in the hearing of his 4 year old sister). I kind of brushed it off, but when we got home I brought him into my room and gave him the "Santa is really more the spirit of Christmas and it's really me and it means now you're a big kid and it would be great if you kept the secret" talk. I had NO confidence he would keep the secret, as he loved to blab out the punchline of a joke or story his little sister was trying to tell. But he DID! My daughter firmly believed in Santa, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and Disney characters and princesses at least until age 9 or so. So he kept the secret for 5 years, just giving me a sweet 'knowing look' when she would prattle on about imaginary beings.

Because she was more of a daredevil, she got to go to Disney at age 6 & 8, and firmly believed. However, her most memorable character interaction was with a young and handsome French guy working in the France pavilion. She was 6 and still eager to drag her Lee Middleton baby doll to the parks with her, and he said "Ees zis your Bebe'? May I kees your Bebe'?" and so he did. Then he asked to kiss her and gave her a sweet one on the cheek. She was absolutely dazed and thrilled. I died laughing because she was so little she had no shame about carrying a doll with her, and believed in Santa etc and Mickey etc but was still grown up enough to be dazzled by a handsome Frenchman! She finally did ask me about age 9 about Santa and was absolutely SHOCKED he wasn't real.

My son, the early non-believer, took his first trip to Disneyworld at age 11 and we brought his clever and somewhat jaded 11 year old friend. Friend is disabled and uses a wheelchair and sometimes we got special attention, like being able to ride Star Tours 4 times in a row. (I made it to 3 before I got dizzy.) As we left the ride, there was a new photo opp place with a land speeder, and... Chewbacca! This was in the 90's so Star Wars was still pretty new to Disney. Anyway, the CM accompanying Chewbacca took one look at us and swept the boys forward to the front of the line, saying: "Chewbacca! Here are some very special friends of yours!" and as they went in for hugs I could see that my son, who hadn't believed in imaginary characters for 5 years, really believed this was Chewbacca. As did his friend.

I could cry just thinking about it. Special memories! I get to go back this fall and watch my great nieces and nephew experience it for the first time and I can't wait. Even I come over all blushy when I meet a character, and I'm in my 60's!

 

[Jack Kerouac]

All three of my boys (ages 9, 6, and 4) know the fur characters have people inside of them. But they still light up whenever we do a character meal. One example: my oldest was too nervous to eat at ‘Ohana last August because he couldn’t wait to meet Stitch, even though he knew there was a person inside. So that knowledge has yet to diminish the magic for them.

 

[proud mom]

My kids are 25 and 29 and they both like to "believe" that the characters are real. Quite honestly, I do too.

 

[GrumpyGal43]

I'm 50 and while I know they aren't real - it's the "magic" in Disney that lets your imagination take you away and believe

 

[DisneyFive]

I don't think our kids ever thought they were real (We never told them one way or the other). To be fair they were 3, 6 and 8 the first time we visited.

Either way, we still love to pretend anyway. That's what WDW is all about, taking you out of the reality and into the fun and fantasy. Shoot, we still like to pretend Santa Clause brings gifts on Christmas and the youngest is now 17.