What was your childs first character experience?

[StirlingSilver83]

I thought it would be fun to start a thread on our kids first experiences with the characters. How old were they? Were they scared? Did their little faces light up when they saw their heros for the first time?

I'll start! I remember when we took my older son to the world for the first time. He was only 3. Our first park of the trip was animal kingdom. The first thing we saw as we walked into animal kingdom was the character spot with eeyore, tigger, and pooh. My son is a HUGE tigger fan and he still is to this day so what better way to start our trip off then to meet his hero. We got in line, it wasn't that long but to a 3yr old it was a mile long lol. He didn't understand y he had to wait in line. When we got to the front of the line eeyore was first to meet. My son didn't really get it. He ran right past eeyore and over to tigger and gave him a huge hug lol. I had to pull him off to bring him back to eeyore bc there was still people with tigger and I had to explain that he had to get his picture taken with eeyore first before he could see tigger, lol. He was so excited. I will never forget the first time he met tigger.

My younger son was only 8 months old when he had his first character experience. We were at chef mickeys and he didn't quite understand what was going on. But he wasn't scared and he didn't cry at any of the characters. When we go back in April though I have a feeling that he will be scared and the tears will come when he sees the characters lol.

 

[ken2]

My daughter was around 6 or so the first time we went.When we walked under main street station at MK to the right was a princess.The look on her face was priceless.She was shaking all over the place.My eyes teared up for a moment while I was enjoying the excitment she was having.I will never forget that day as long as I live.

 

[DVCkidsMOM]

DS was 2 and DD and infant who could have cared less. Anyhow, we were at CP and Eeyore came up behind DS as an intended happy surprise. DS doesn't like surprises, it turned out; and he was done with all characters until he broke his arm at age 6, got a glow in the dark cast, and wanted Buzz to sign it.
DS and DD didn't like Santa that year either. DS is 16 now and no longer afraid of characters

 

[prudence64]

My daughter was 4 1/2 and it was daisy. She kept whispering to me, is that real or just a person in a costume?

 

[ImDMous]

I don't have any kids and I don't remember it myself but there is a lovely picture of me, about 5 years old, standing with Mickey looking terrified with my eyes all red and puffy and tears running down my face. Thanks mom! There is a similar picture of me sitting on Santa's lap. She also has a picture of me about a year older smiling and happy with Minnie, so I must have gotten over it and I no longer run screaming in the opposite direction.

 

[pigletgirl]

Goofy at the character spot in Epcot. She initially was nervous/shy but by the end of the trip she was running toward them. On this next trip I plan on booking some character dining. Crystal Palace is one we hope to get!

 

[ktlm]

DD was 2. It was the first day of her first WDW trip. We walked into MK and I expected her to see the castle and be amazed. She could have cared less. First thing she spotted was Pluto in Town Square. Wild horses could not have stopped that child from getting in line to see Pluto. She did not care how long the line was. Our plans to book it to Fantasyland before the lines got long went out the window. My extremely high energy totally wild child, stood patiently in line for Pluto for almost 20 minutes- unheard of for her at that time. She then ran at him and threw herself in his arms almost knocking him down. He got down on his knees and they hugged for what seemed like the longest time with her clutching onto him like she was never going to let go. I stood there with my eyes welled up looking like a total goofball. We learned quickly that she was a total character nut- loves them all.

 

[yeheyprincex2]

on my I have tears clouding up my eyes as i think back looking at the pictures.

My oldest son first experience was at the EPCOT character spot Mickey mouse. He loves the entire experience, he tried to bite Mickeys nose and is smiling ear to ear in all the pictures. my youngest son was at Chef Mickey. I remember being worried my son would not want anything to do with them. He surprised us all when he happily played with everyone. Those are some great memories.
My favorite character M&G is when my son, age one at the time ran up to Jake the pirate and gave him a big hug. At the end of the same trip he also gave a big hug to a CM at the World of Disney store DTD (I have picture of that hug too).

Thanks for the post

 

[JimmyV]

She was 6 months old and in a stroller. We walked over to Epcot's International Gateway from the Swan Resort, and after entering the park, we made a left-hand turn toward the UK Pavilion. Right there in the open, (back in the days before meeting characters was an event that you had to plan for 60 days in advance), was Tigger. She had been given a talking Tigger doll that bounced when you pushed his head down, so she clearly recognized the figure standing in front of her. Her fists clenched up into balls and she shook them uncontrollably as she laughed and smiled at the sight of him. No fear. No tears. No negative response whatsoever. And this story is even more ammunition to use against people who insist that a child of a particular age is "too young" for Disney World. While my daughter certainly does not remember that day, as you can see, I remember it like it was yesterday, and that was over 16 years ago.

 

[Laketravis]

His first? Well, it was Mickey of course......

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[Berlioz70]

DD was 12 days old, we had to start with Mickey at Character Spot. She was less than thrilled and started crying over the commotion of it all.

She's now 16 months and will run up and hug most characters, though she gets shy around the face characters.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

We went to the character spot in Epcot also.

 

[LittleHunnipot]

I don't have children, but I've always been told about the time when I went to Disney at the age 5. This was way before Disney offered princess dresses so you could dress up like the princess you desired to meet. My parents had dressed me up like Minnie Mouse; polka dot shorts, yellow shoes, white gloves, black tights, black shirt, and a minnie mouse (her actual face) as a hat. They even smudged black on my nose. I wasn't terrified according to my mother, but more excited to go see Minnie and Mickey. I have pictures of Minnie spotting me in the crowd, taking my hand and leading me to her character spot. She was excited as my mother said, and actually got on the tea cup ride with me before leading me to Mickey's place. Where Mickey and Minnie both took a picture with me. I have pictures of Mickey bumping noses with me, and Minnie hugging me super tight.

My mother said this was the best experience she had ever witnessed, along side when I went on my Make A Wish trip, and prince charming escorted me around to Cinderella and then took a picture with me alone saying 'tonight, you are my princess, princess'.

I thought I had to share this, best experiences of mine.

 

[pooh4evr]

Youngest DD had some of her first wobbly steps to Stitch. He was awesome, got down low and caught her, and we told him he was her first character and he was very happy. DD#1, and 2 were lucky enough to be in the ol version of Storytime With Belle about 20 minutes after they walked into MK for the 1st time, they were Cogsworth and Chip in the story. - We were hooked after #1 got to meet Belle- her absolute (and still at almost 14) favorite. DD#2 went nuts when she saw everyone!

 

[Vaninou]

Hello,

Our DS was 11 months when he met a character for the very first time! It was Donald Duck at the Cape May Cafe.
We were staying at the BC and decided to start our vacation with the character breakfast.
It was early and our DS ha fallen asleep in the stroller. But when Donald came to our table, he woke up. He saw Donald and started smiling!
We knew that it would be the best vacation ever!

 

[Dreamport]

No kids of my own, but it is my fault our little cousin had her first Character M&G. We had invited our cousins (her parents) to eat with us at 'Ohana when she was 19 months and of course Stitch was the first character to come around. He peeked right over her shoulder before I could stop him and the crying began. Not even Mickey or Lilo could get her to smile, but she would wave at "Puppy!" (Pluto) ...so long as he stayed at least a table away.

 

[KB'sMom]

Our youngest was just over 1 1/2 when we took him to Disney for the first time. Our first M@G was the princesses (he has a big sister). He wasn't that interested in Aurora, but the second princess was Cinderella. His eyes just lit up when he saw her and he ran over to her and gave her this huge hug and kiss - it was absolutely adorable one of my favourite memories for sure!

 

[jbish]

Daughter's first trip was when she was 4 (left the boys, then 1, at home with grandparents). We were so excited to take her on her first trip to WDW. She was in full-on princess mode at that time. I think she thought there would just be princesses everywhere we went while in Disney. Our first day, we arrived mid-day and so I decided to go to AK that day (first full day at MK would be the next day). To say she was disappointed by AK would be an understatement. She was NOT impressed. After doing the safari (cool animals! no?), watching the parade (hey there's Mickey and Minnie up there! meh), we finally head towards Camp Mickey and Minnie to find some characters. On the way, Pocahontas comes out and we see her immediately. DD just lights up. A real live princess!!! And they had a great interaction. The first real smile of the day.

Boys' first trip, also did the half-day at AK, get to Camp Mickey Minnie and one of the boys is asleep in the stroller. Passed out. Get up to Mickey - other DS is shy at first, but does well. The sleeping one slept through Mickey and Minnie's meets. Woke up to Goofy mocking him sleeping. Classic. LOL

 

[PoohsFan1]

My kids were 4 and 2 the first time we took them to WDW (in 2005). We went with my Dsis and her family (her DD was 3 at the time) and we had breakfast reservations for CRT. When we first walked in we were suppose to meet with Fairy Godmother downstairs but all three girls were scared so they let us go upstairs to get seated. The first character they met was not a princess but rather Mary Poppins and they had a great time chatting with her. This paved the way for when Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty came around to our table because each one of the girls were very excited to get their pictures taken and get their autograph books signed. So after we were done eating and went downstairs to leave, the Fairy Godmother was sitting in her chair with no one around. We asked her if it was o.k. if the girls could meet with her and she was very sweet about it. My kids and niece loved meeting with Fairy Godmother and she got to hear what rides they all wanted to rid, all three of the girls were talking poor Fairy Godmother's ear off, but everyone had fun.

 

[galaxygirl76]

As you can see she wasn't too sure about this whole character thing at first, but she warmed up to them eventually. All the CP characters did a great job coaxing her out of her shell.