where to test out characters on a toddler pre-dis trip?

[2Pirates2Princesses]

Great ideas on this thread. We are also testing the waters with our 18 month old DD and trying to get her accustomed to seeing live characters before our next Disney trip (her first trip to see Mickey ). We recently spent a day at Idlewild park (a family amusement park out our way) and they have a Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood area (her favorite tv show) which has a live stage show, themed trolley ride, and character meet and greet. This was a great chance for us to see if she recognized her favorite cartoon/tv character in "tall and furry" form . We got a close front seat during the stage show and she pointed to him and with a big smile said "Danny Tie" (we're still working on her saying the word tiger ); and during the meet and greet she didn't hesitate to give him a hi-five and hug. The suggestions of Chuck E' Cheese is great too. We still frequent our local one and he is great with interacting with the kids as well as following the cues of the little ones; but taken from the stories I've heard not all Chuck E' Cheese establishments are alike . We also have the Beach Party and Campout Sing Along Songs in Walt Disney World dvds and they are on quite a bit in my house (DS13 has ASD and is pretty much obsessed with these videos) and these videos are great opportunity to give your little one the chance to see what the Disney World characters look like in person and not just in their cartoon form. OP, you are near Sesame Place which is also a great little park and experience for little ones to see their favorite characters. We haven't taken our 18 month old there yet but we went there a few times when our older kiddos were little and we all loved it there.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I took my niece on her first trip to Disney when she was 5. To say she was terrified of the characters is an understatement!!!

but, we took it slowly and by about the 4th day she was happy to pose with most characters. (Not Tigger or Goofy, those took a few more years.)

Day 1 - I would point out characters from 100' away or so
Day 2 - Would point them out closer and wave
Day 3 - We went closer and a couple of them she wanted to get her picture with but I always asked the handler to request that they not touch her
Day 4 - She was all set and ready to pose, hold their hands and more.

It was great to see her progress in a way that she was comfortable with. Glad we took it slowly and that I didn't let her fear deter me from booking a trip. We still would have had a great trip even if she hadn't warmed up to the characters.

2 years later I was wishing she didn't like them quite so much as ALL she wanted to do was meet characters. We had to talk about it being a trip for both of us so getting enjoyment out of things we both liked to do!

 

[SanderMC]

We just went in June with my 2.5 year old daughter. I was worried how she was going to react to the characters especially since she was terrified of the Easter Bunny. What I discovered is that she had a totally different reaction to characters she knew. While we had talked about the Easter Bunny we didn't watch any videos with him in it and depending on the movie/book the Easter Bunny looks different. The weekend before we went to Disney we took her to a Sesame Street Live show. It took her a little while to warm up to the characters on stage but by the time they came down on the floor she was ready to see them and went running for Cookie Monster when he came near. We let her watch Disney Movies and tv shows months before we left for WDW. I think her familiarity with the characters is what helped her. From the very first character she met she would go running for them when it was her turn.