are the characters/people on tv real?

[utrythinkinof1]

i'm glad you would never be my parent youd be horrible at it

Whoa...

 

[phenom1307]

Whoa...

yeah i said it

 

[sbkline]

i'm glad you would never be my parent youd be horrible at it ...telling kids santas not real is like telling them they cant be whatever they want to be in life....i know santa's not real but my parents still try to convince me that he is...let the kids figure out on their own that santa or the characters arent real

I'm sorry that you think a person's parenting abilities are based on whether or not they tell their children that there is such a thing as Santa Clause. I think there are far more important things that define a person's parental abilities than whether or not they choose to allow their children to believe in Santa Clause.

Some Christians don't believe in celebrating Christmas at all, including Santa Clause.

Some aren't Christian, and while many non-Christians celebrate the cultural holiday known as Christmas, including Santa Clause, there are other non-Christians who want nothing to do with Christmas in any way, shape or form.

Some Christians believe in celebrating Christmas but don't believe in any of the "non Christian" aspects of Christmas including reindeer, Santa, etc (although one can argue that the Santa figure is based on a historical figure named St Nicholas, who was a Christian).

Other Christians, like myself, enjoy Christmas, and even enjoy the Santa Clause aspect of Christmas, with the provision that, while my family plays along with the Santa gag, we all understand that it isn't real. While we will surely take our kids to have their picture taken on Santa's lap (actually we did that last year), and write letters to Santa, etc, we still plan to let them know that it's all just a fun Christmastime game, and that there is not literally a jolly old man who lives in the North Pole and who reads all those letters.

I, personally, feel like I would be lying to my children to encourage them to believe in the literal figure of Santa Clause, and I don't want to tell my children falsehoods.

But I don't judge those who feel differently. If someone else wants to encourage their kids to believe in Santa Clause, that's their business and I'm certainly not going to condemn them for it.

To each his own, I say. If you want to celebrate Christmas, then do it. If you don't want to, then don't. If you want to encourage your children to believe in Santa, that's your business. But let's not be spouting any pathetic horse hockey about people being horrible at parenting just because they choose not to teach their kids to believe in a fat guy in a red and white suit who flys around the world every Christmas Eve.

 

[LoriMistress]

I think kids are pretty smart to tell the difference. When I was a child I knew that the characters weren't real, and just a bunch of teenage kids in costumes--but I enjoyed pretending that they were "real."

 

[LoriMistress]

i'm glad you would never be my parent youd be horrible at it

Wow, that's just jumping the gun on this one. So from a few posts you can automatically assume this person is a horrible parent?!

...telling kids santas not real is like telling them they cant be whatever they want to be in life....

These two are completely different. So if a child asks you if Santa's real and you tell them the truth is completely different then belittling a child's self worth/esteem by telling the child they're worthless/nothing/etc. It's like comparing apples and cancer.

You should focus more on raising your OWN CHILD then worry about how a stranger on a Disney message board raises their kids.

 

[phenom1307]

I would like to apologize for my inappropriate post earlier in this thread…I was way out of line and I do apologize for that

 

[sbkline]

I would like to apologize for my inappropriate post earlier in this thread…I was way out of line and I do apologize for that

50 Hail Mary's and stand on your head naked in front of Cinderella Castle for half an hour and you shall receive absolution, my son.

Thanks for the apology, it's all good. :wave:

 

[phenom1307]

do i have to stand on my head? i've never been able to do that...can some one prop me up with something :ROFLOL:

 

[sbkline]

do i have to stand on my head? i've never been able to do that...can some one prop me up with something :ROFLOL:

Ya, you can prop yourself up against the Castle if you want. And I'll even let you decide which side you want to face out towards the guests: the sun or the moon.

 

[bauton]

My kids have asked me why the characters don't talk in person, but do during the parades and shows. We tell them that they can only talk in cartoons and the "real" toontown. So when you hear them talk in the shows and parades, what you are hearing is just a recording.

It is stretching the truth, but it still is the truth.

 

[lilclerk]

I hope they dont get mad at me some day! But I have a feeling they won't.

I'm sure it's all in how you do it. My mom just hates being fooled, plus my grandma is sort of a compulsive liar. It was just the first one my mom found out about. =\

And I love watching Santa's progress online on Christmas Eve too =)

 

[LoriMistress]

I would like to apologize for my inappropriate post earlier in this thread…I was way out of line and I do apologize for that

It's okay. I think everyone has been there in one way or another. I know I've gotten heat several times before because some people may not like how I worded it. All is forgiven.

 

[H20Babie]

My parents never told us that Santa or whoever was not real. It was just something that we eventually figured out on our own. My son, 6, has been asking now, and I use the same line ... it's real if you believe it is. Right now, he thinks that the Mall Santas are his workers, who relay the lists back to Big Man. He thinks the same way with characters and tv shows. The shows are not real, but in WDW they are. I hope this lasts at least another year! :xmas:

 

[wdwdude423]

I would like to apologize for my inappropriate post earlier in this thread…I was way out of line and I do apologize for that

I understood the comical way you were portraying that comment, but some people get offended easily. "We're all in this together"...lol let's all get along:animwink:

 

[Gorjus]

well mickey IS real, but the costumed characters probly are not... cause if you say they are, then you are going to get questions like "why is mickey's autograph different this time?"

His hand is getting tired. If you sign your name 50 times, it is going to look different each time. And by the way, All characters are ambidexterous.

"I just saw mickey on Main Street. How did he get over here to Toontown?"

Well, how did you get over here to Toon Town? But Mickey doesn't take the same path as you. We have an elaborate backstage transportaion system.

"How come Mickey won't talk?"

He has to save his voice for the Castle show

As a CM, the only time I break the magic is when a family has lost a photopass card and needs to search for photos and the photos they specify are princesses. I then ask one of the parents to occupy the children elsewhere while we search through a couple of hours of princesses. I explain that I don't want their child to see that Cinderella looks slightly different at different times of the day.

And when characters are in front of guests, they ARE the characters (unless they are in a sucky mood and won't even put forth an effort). The second there are no more guests around, some still stay in character, and some relax. Then I see a CM. Even as a guest, I go and see the character, not the CM.

 

[Enderikari]

Listen, I am 26 years old. I visit the Disney Theme Parks 6 days a week. I have been backstage and seen the preparation that Entertainment goes through in order to bring the magic to guests. I know how hard each and every cast member works to ensure the guest experience. I have seen it all and done it all.

And there is nothing, not one thing that anybody can ever say to convince me that there is more than one Mickey Mouse. And its not that way because I have to say it, its not that way because I have been brainwashed. Its just that there is no reason to believe otherwise. What good do you do for yourself if you don't believe that. You rip away fantasy, you tear apart wonder, all for your own self-righteous gratification. Preserving a bit of a childhood is what so many people cling to later in life, why be in a rush to kill it now?

If pressed, I will give this example... How many James Bond's are there? Pierce Brosnan, Sean Connery, those cats may have portrayed James Bond, but there is only one 007.

My two cents

 

[cdunbar]

I think I'm begining to see now why all my friends and family are telling me specifically not to have children because I'm a realist and would say "sweetie, mr and mrs incredible are just simply cartoon characters and they do not really exist accept in your imagination which is completly fine!" Now if she asked me about like Hannah Montana or something like that I would tell her or him for that matter that "__________ is a person pretending to be this character just like you pretend when you play with your friends accept ____ gets money for it!" Yeah I think I need to work on that....:ROFLOL:

 

[mermaid1]

I have NEVER received a Christmas present from my parents. Santa brought every present to our house until my mother passed and now brings every present to my house (my son is 20). If you didn't believe in Santa at our house growing up, you didn't get a present, plain and simple. I never asked my parents if Santa was real because I believed that they believed in him. My son never asked us about Santa or Mickey and friends because he believes that we believe. The characters are real, Santa is real, tooth fairy, and Easter bunny are all real. They are the spirit, the magic that this all too real world needs to balance everything out.

HEAR! HEAR! Ain't it the truth? I LOVE this answer and what it means to all of us who may have grown a bit cynical by the "real world" It is easy to NOT believe, takes a LOT of imagination and setting the "real world" aside for a while to experience the real magic! We do that. DH and I are like gigantic kids when at the parks. It is all too real for us. I cry when I have to leave Eeyore until the next trip! And I count the days til I get to see all my magical "Friends" again!
mermaid1:ROFLOL:
Oh, and we don't have any children except of the furry kind! We married late in life, we ARE the big kids!!!!!

 

[mermaid1]

I try to keep the magic alive. My parents always went out of their way to make sure that I believed. I have a sign I put up every Christmas that says just that, "I believe". A cute Disney story. My DS13 told my husband when he was six after we just left our character breakfast at the Crystal Palace, "Dad, I think they are really people in costumes, but don't tell mom--she thinks they're real."

:ROFLOL::ROFLOL::ROFLOL: This is one of the cutest things I have ever heard! WOW! I love this...You must have had a great laugh...
mermaid1
If I had, had kids, I would totally hear the same thing, I'm sure, I am such a sucker for Disney!