Toddlers and Characters?

[DisneyBride94]

We've moved up our departure date to WDW so our daughter will now only be 20 months when we arrive.
Any advice or experiences on exposing a child of this age to characters? I dread the though of her being too frieghtened by them. We were thinking of maybe starting off w/Chef Mickey's where she could see other kids interacting first.

Okay--it is my experience that all babies universally love Chip and Dale... I don't know why...but all three of my kidlets when ape over those big old chip munks... and they ARE at Chef Mickey's.

My youngest will be 16 months when we go in October--he is already a Mickey Freak...we have stuffed Mickey's and pictures of Mickey's on everything--and he already loves him...he'll even point him out on my clothing--like my pajamas.

Turn on Disney Channel and have her watch House of Mouse--that will familiarize her with the characters--get Disney Videos and watch them with him... Oh yeah--there is The Book of Pooh on DC too... Lilo & Stitch... etc. I found that my older children (2 and 4 last trip) were thrilled with any character they were familiar with prior to the trip--and not so much if they didn't have a lot of previous knowledge of said character. Books are also a good idea... Have your little one look at pics here of people with characters.

Kids also love the face characters (princesses, Mary Poppins, Aladin, etc.) My kids all have loved Pluto and Goofy... I've really had no problems with them being frightened of characters thus far...my firstborn was 15 months on his first vist...my second and third kids all started at 3 or 4 months... and up from there. My infant son was gaga over the princesses fawning over him

If you want me to e-mail you a link to my shutterfy pics of kids with characters--drop me a private message and I'll send it to you tomorrow.

HTH?

 

[DisneyBride94]

Man, my kids must be character brave or something--they've never been afraid of them. LOL. They aren't fond of Eyore though (I kind of find him to be a sad sack myself).

When Summer was 15 months old at Chef Mickey's, Dale (or was it Chip?) came up to her and put his hand out for a high-five...(or was it four?) and she didn't understand the gesture...so she put a piece of her banana in his hand. LOL. He tried it again with her other hand--and she gave him yet another piece of banana.

Parker just loved the characters at 4 months old.... Hunter from 15 months (then 2 years, 3, years and last year 4 years) just beams whenever Mickey is around... And loves all the poohs.... Last year at too Summer was even smitten with Stitch at Studios... I have cute pics of Stitch holding my infant last year. I'll be really surprised if he balks at characters this year! I also have pics of him with princess Jasmine's lipstick marks on his face. LOL.

My 2 and 4 year old mobbed poor Goofy at Chef Mickey's...he got down on the floor with them and had a tussle. Goofy also accosted me under the hat at the Studios. The baby was sleeping in my sling...and Goofy comes up to me and surprises me and is gesturing for me NOT to laugh because the baby is sleeping... LOL. Pluto seems to like to lick babies...LOL.

 

[dixiegirl]

Well I wouldn't say any of my stories are especially good just bizzrare. Mostly I think it's just odd when the kid is screaming and crying and they want a picture of that. Jokes on the parents though because they are the ones who are gonna have to pay the kid's shrink bills.

lol, that reminds me of standing in line for santa with my children and hearing at least one child screaming andthe mother telling the phograher to just take the picture....oh yeah thats gonna be a pretty christmas card!!!

 

[dixiegirl]

Man, my kids must be character brave or something--they've never been afraid of them. LOL. They aren't fond of Eyore though (I kind of find him to be a sad sack myself).

When Summer was 15 months old at Chef Mickey's, Dale (or was it Chip?) came up to her and put his hand out for a high-five...(or was it four?) and she didn't understand the gesture...so she put a piece of her banana in his hand. LOL. He tried it again with her other hand--and she gave him yet another piece of banana.

Parker just loved the characters at 4 months old.... Hunter from 15 months (then 2 years, 3, years and last year 4 years) just beams whenever Mickey is around... And loves all the poohs.... Last year at too Summer was even smitten with Stitch at Studios... I have cute pics of Stitch holding my infant last year. I'll be really surprised if he balks at characters this year! I also have pics of him with princess Jasmine's lipstick marks on his face. LOL.

My 2 and 4 year old mobbed poor Goofy at Chef Mickey's...he got down on the floor with them and had a tussle. Goofy also accosted me under the hat at the Studios. The baby was sleeping in my sling...and Goofy comes up to me and surprises me and is gesturing for me NOT to laugh because the baby is sleeping... LOL. Pluto seems to like to lick babies...LOL.

yeah same here...i think because we kinda brainwashed them..but also...we've shown them videos when we had gone on previous trips...with them as babies and before they were even born....also disney is everywhere in our home....every room , the car...you name it...one daughter has a pooh murel painted in her room with all the 100 acre wood characters....there is also some kind od disney show playing at our house...so in a way ...our kids are being brought up in a disney utopia!!!lol....its funny because my girls did not like santa or easter bunny at a young age but they loved mickey!!!! they have their priorities!!!lol..but we have never pushed it when we go to disney..we always feel it out.....its funny because when my oldest was 1 when she went down for the fisrt time she always spotted mickey before us...and she let us know!! but also my children aren't timid ..so i guess we are just lucky.....oh also as well as this wonderful site..go to disney as well watch some footage of the parks with your little one ..i know there are many ohther sites that have footage of the rides and characters that you can watch..

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

My youngest was 23 months on her visit and she was scared silly by the characters - despite being in her mums arms she just didn't want to interact with them

 

[hokieamy]

My daughter was 15 months the first time to Disney. The first characaters she encountered were at Animal Kingdom by the Festival of the Lion King. I put her on the ground a couple of feet away from Mickey when it was her turn, and she walked right up to him. I would suggest trying that if you can. But as others have said here, my child is brainwashed with Disney so she has known the characters all her life!! We are going back this October again and she will be 27 months and she asks everyday "are we going to Disney today?"

 

[dhall]

You never can tell

It really depends on the kid, and even as a parent, you never can tell whats going to happen...

My older daughter was 13 mo. on her first trip, and was definitely a 'mommy's little girl' (in that she grouped everyone she met into two groups: mommy and everyone else). I'd've thought she might not like the characters, but the first time she saw one up close (Chip walking through the lobby of the Wilderness Lodge), she basically stalked him and gave him the biggest hug.

My younger daughter was an easy baby - very cuddly and went from person to person really well. She loved to see the characters, as long as they stayed 15-20 feet away -- once the started getting any closer, she'd shy away (OTOH -- she was an absolute doll for all of the princess face characters, especially Jasmine and Belle).

Eventually, the younger one outgrew it, and in her case I know precisely when. We were having a character breakfast at Cape May on 1/1/00 (the whole property was completely dead that day, as everyone was exhausted from the day/night before). We were drinking smothies when Chip came over to the table, and my younger one went into her normal turtle shell because a character got too close. A few minutes later, she had evidently decided that the characters were really OK after all, because Dale came to the table and got a great big hug from her.

 

[SpenceMan01]

My kids have been going to WDW at least once a year since they were born, my son is 4 and my daughter will be 9 in Sept. My children were terrified of ALL the characters until they were about 3 years old. As a toddler my son would only get near a character if my hubby was holding him on the arm opposite the character. My daughter tried to stab Minnie Mouse with a fork at Chef Mickey's . Hey the kid tried to warn her (well she actually screamed her head off) but Minnie couldn't take a hint and tried to give my "sweet" little girl a hug.
Lucky, grandma has fast reflexes or Minnie would have been toast!LOL:lol:

When Summer was 15 months old at Chef Mickey's, Dale (or was it Chip?) came up to her and put his hand out for a high-five...(or was it four?) and she didn't understand the gesture...so she put a piece of her banana in his hand. LOL. He tried it again with her other hand--and she gave him yet another piece of banana.

:lol: :lol: Both of these posts made me laugh and smile! :sohappy:

Thanks! :wave: