Toddlers and Characters?

[noname70]

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.

 

[mousermerf]

From my experience -

Young kids who may be frightened do best meeting Face characters (Princesses, Aladdin, etc..) and then for "furry" folk they do best with Pooh and friends. For some reason the mouse himself and particularly Goofy tend to scare kids. I think it's the color - the black is intimidating.

 

[daisyduck448]

i think starting off at chef mickey's is a great idea! if you're still unsure maybe you should go up to the characters without her (while shes watching) maybe take a picture and then have her come up with u there.
have a magical time at disney!!! :sohappy:

 

[Coaster3001]

Go about it slowly. You will know if they are afraid. Just whatever you do DO NOT FORCE THEM TO SEE A CHARECTER IF THEY DON'T WANT TO. Know I know I may come off a little harsh, but I work seasonally for Disney as a Charecter Greeter and cannot tell you how many times this has happened. Other than that enjoy your trip and I hope ya'll have a great time.

 

[cj2me]

Based upon experience, mousemerf is correct, Pooh and friends are a better choice than the mouse himself. The Mickey and Minnie characters have such large shaped heads that they are overwhelming for little ones. Let your child see the characters first from afar and then each time slowly get closer. Some of the Disney character cast members have a habit of coming up from behind the child and this will set them into a frenzy. Good Luck and see how your child reacts form afar before bringing them up close.

 

[Laura]

My kids don't like the characters, except for a couple specific ones (Figment and Timon) that my son likes.

For the next trip I'm going to get him an autograph book and I told him that he doesn't have to hug the characters, but it would be nice for him to let them write in his book. He said that would be great!

But I don't think a 20 month old would understand that LOL.

 

[lscott933]

we just went to king's island over the weekend. we had a 23 month old. he saw the parade first to see the chacater then we went and saw them. he did want to wait in line at all to see the dora. he want to go right up to her. then he want to stay and hug her. he didn't understand about waiting in lines. try going to chuck e cheese for a trail run too. we have done that too. see how they do with the chuckie there if you have one where you live.

 

[noname70]

We got he vacation planning DVD and my DD points and shouts "Mickey!" everytime he appears on the screen. I just hope this happens we we arrive at the meet and greet. I just have to have that picture-ya know. However, I have seen the screaming child encounters in the past and certainly don't want that photo.

Coaster3001, do you have any good war stories about incidents like this?

 

[Fran98765]

My son has been twice now, at 19 mos and 28 mos. I think the best thing to do before leaving for your trip is doing some homework. Get your kid familiar with many of the characters and that will make it a bit better. My son has always been a big Mickey fan, he used to say night-night to him each night when we passed thru the kitchen with many Mickeys in it, so he was very familiar with Mickey and he knows that mommy loves Mickey.


His first day there at 19 mos, we went to Liberty Tree Tavern. He was a little scared of Pluto, Chip and Dale, but when Minnie came around he just lit up like a lightning bug! He was all smiles and flirts with her. He was not very familiar with the others, so he didn't like it as much, but he was very familiar with Mickey and Minnie is practically the same thing. The next day and the rest of the trip he loved seeing the characters that he knew, and he wasn't that familiar with others besides Mickey at that time. Others that he didn't know, like Rafiki, he hesitated a bit with.

On the next trip at 28 mos, he was a lot more familiar with many more characters and loved seeing the ones he loved. Goofy still scares him a bit, I think because he's just soooo huge. And he would be in the foulest of moods and cry when other characters would come by and he wanted nothing to do with them, but then Mickey came over and he was happy and smiling and cheerful and his mood was changed for the rest of the day. This magical Mickey transformation happened a couple times on that trip.

Definately don't push your child to hug and kiss them. Encourage and offer but don't push. A lot will depend on your child's temperament as well. If they are more shy they might not like it as much. But use yourself as an example, if they don't want to go up, you can go up and let them see how fun it is! Maybe the next time they will join you.

 

[inafog]

When DD was 2 she was fine with the characters, would hand them the books and play with them. She beeped Pluto's nose and ran straight to Mickey. After the hat came off her Dumbo toy, she told Wendy that "it needs sewing."

My DD is 3 now. On this trip just past (July-August), she was actually more intimidated by face characters. We couldn't get her to talk to Peter Pan, although he sat on the pavement and showed her how he could write his name. This is the second time we've met Peter Pan, and both times he was great with my kids. However, she was wearing her Snow White dress for breakfast and Snow White sat down and held her and her brother on her lap. DD didn't talk much but she told complete strangers all day long that Snow White had kissed her forhead.

She didn't come out of her shell with characters until she met Eeyore at Crystal Palace. DD had been so shy with characters that I had been holding her for every encounter; then Pooh was at our table and DS (6) and I were interacting with him. Eeyore came over to the table and kissed DD on her head--and she LOVED it. After that it was like the defenses were breached and she was eager to talk to and hug all the other characters.

Y'know, before I had kids I thought the characters were the biggest gimmick going, just a way for WDW to occupy more people without building more rides. I have to say, though, that meeting them is a high point for both of my kids. And I want to second what Fran said--be an example and go ahead and play.

 

[drew81]

Don't force them to do anything that may upset them. Many times kids get upset and start crying just because mom or dad wants their kid to have a picture with Mickey. They take them up to the character and they are not ready for it. It's not worth it to the child to upset them. It puts the character in an awkward situation too.

 

[Connor002]

its interesting how kids take to some characters faster than others

my advice, start with the cute and culdleist(is that a word?) and work your way up. always do villians last. and remember, height is a big issue! mickey amy be smaller than i am at 14, but for my sister at 4, he's still very much taller than her, and height can be intimadating

 

[dixiegirl]

definatly order a disney planning video..get your child to see (yes i know its tv) but to see the characters....if you can get hold of disneyland sing along video..or disney camp out sing along.....lots of charcters dancing and singing with other children....may help....we did this with our daughter who is now almost 5...and she loves all the charcters....and we are doing the same with her sister.( yes we are brainwashing her too!!).but gradually feel things out when you go there....see how your child is....and definatly do chef mickeys....the way we talk about all the charcters..you'd think they are members of our family....well i guess in a way they are..

 

[robynchic]

Some more ideas- introduce them to smaller ones or more familiar ones, first. What's your child's favorite Disney stuffed animal? Try to find them.

Another GREAT alternative- have her start watching Jojo's Circus. If she likes the show, take her to see the Playhouse Disney show in Disney/MGM Studios. Buy her either a Jojo or Goliath stuffed animal, and take her to meet the characters on Mickey Avenue. I've seen a lot of families bring their timid children up to Jojo and Goliath when they're holding a stuffed animal of them, and they seem to cope fairly well.

Chef Mickey's is a good idea, if they are a little older. The noise, roaming characters, ESPECIALLY the celebration may be overwhelming to someone so young.

Another option is to bring her to Toon Town first, and introduce her to Mickey first. He's in a small room, and it's just him, so there aren't other characters around, and large groups of people waiting to take a pic with the other characters. If she's hesitant, ask Mickey or his attendant if he would mind sitting on the floor so she can walk up to him herself.

 

[mousebymarriage]

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:

 

[Coaster3001]

Coaster3001, do you have any good war stories about incidents like this?

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.

 

[FSUgly]

Make sure you let your kids know that the characters are adult size before you get there. The kids see them on TV (as well as their stuffed toys) and they don't appear to be all that big, but when they get to the park, they are bigger than mom and dad (alot of them).

 

[noname70]

Another option is to bring her to Toon Town first, and introduce her to Mickey first. He's in a small room, and it's just him, so there aren't other characters around, and large groups of people waiting to take a pic with the other characters. If she's hesitant, ask Mickey or his attendant if he would mind sitting on the floor so she can walk up to him herself.

I like this idea a lot :lol:

 

[Ralph Wiggum]

cinderella is great in toontown. she'll kneel on the floor and spread her dress out for little ones to sit with her and she talks to them so gently. we took friends with twin 2 year olds. we got them an eeyore and a pooh stuffed animal to carry with them before we went to the parks. when we got to the characters, it worked perfectly.

 

[WDWKat26]

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.

Amen to that. I once refused one time to take a picture with a child when I was friends with Prince John because the child was kicking and screaming and was starting to get violent (Tried to hit me!). It really frustrates me when parents are so obsessed with getting their kid in the picture with the characters, that it makes the kids cry. Why would you want a picture with an unhappy child? I mean it's Disney, it's supposed to be happy! Talk about wasting film! It's like they don't understand that they're just scarring them more by forcing them to see the characters. There's some great advice on here, and definitely the best tip is to give it time and just understand that some kids like the characters and some don't. But who knows, even if it doesn't work out this time, it could the next! I've seen shy kids warm up to the characters and others run the other way like Forrest Gump! But I hope everything goes well!

Oh yeah: Usually a good indicator of how the child will act with the characters is the child's personality right now. What is your 20 month old like personality wise? Shy or outgoing? Loudspoken or quiet? I've found that more outgoing babies tend to deal with the characters a little better since they tend to be a little more "curious" about these "Giant Animals" in front of them lol

Edit: One more thing. If your daughter does actually become frightened of the characters, please don't hesitate to say "I'm sorry she is afraid of you" or something along those lines if you don't want the character at the table so you can calm your daughter down. Trust me, the Characters won't take it personally. They deal with thousands of kids per day and I can't tell you how many they deal with that are scared. I once had a 8 year old scared of me! Hope this helps