Characters & young children

[jebstuart]

Our 2 & 3 year old daughters will be going to Disney for the 1st time this fall. They watch the Disney movies and read the Disney books all of the time. What are some pointers for warming them up to the characters while on site? They may take to the characters right away (hopefully), however, if they don't, what has worked for you all? Thanks for your help!!

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[mktiggerman]

I'd be a bit wary of letting a 2 & a 3 year old meet characters. Most kids are scared off when they find out that tigger is almost 6 feet tall. I'd start out on the smaller, more human characters before I work my way up to the big ones.

[ January 05, 2003, 12:44 AM: Message edited by: Beast_fanatic ]

[lorirose]

Try a character breakfast early in your trip. Something about watching them walk around the room and interact with other children takes some of the fear out of it. It could also be that it gives the child a little time to warm up to the idea.

When my daughter was 2yrs4mos, we did the Crystal Palace breakfast with Pooh & friends. The characters come around to each table one at a time. She wouldn't get out of her chair when Eeyore came around.... but 10 minutes later when Piglet got to us, she was ready for a hug. From that moment on, she hasn't been intimidated at all. ... oh, except for Pluto. She is still afraid that he will lick her! too cute!

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Dec '80 - Golf resort (now shades of green)
1992-1995- a bunch of day trips. (lived in Orlando)
Jun '99 - All Star Music
Jan '00 - All Star Movies
Feb '00 - offsite
Sep '00 - All Star Sports
Jan '01 - Fort Wilderness / Shades of Green
Next up:
Sep '01 - all-star movies
Dec '01 - all-star sports/ Port Orleans (French Quarter)

[shepherdgirl]

Before we went last year with our 4 year old twins, we watched the Disneyland Sing-a-long video. It was filmed at DL, but most things look the same and your kids can get an idea of the park and see the characters interacting with the kids in the video.

Hope you have a great trip.

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WDW Trips '76,'80, '81, '83, '91, '94, '95, '96, '97, '00, '01 with AP's!

[beth]

I would recommend starting off with a character breakfast too. That way you children can get "used" to the characters. Characters are also very "in tune" and know when to stay away too.

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beth
[email protected]
Intercot Staff Member

"Love and Mercy that's what you need tonight. So Love and Mercy to you and your friends tonight."

For more fun on all things Disney, check out our sister site, www.webdisney.com

For fun and info on the land that started it all check out our sister site: www.intercotwest.com

[PolyGirl40]

My children have never been afraid of the characters...

The characters are very sympathetic to the child's age and will not "get in their face".....Let your kids observe them from afar and progress from there..




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~Carol
"To get to the rainbow, you have to put up with the rain."

[Narcoossee'sFan]

I took my daughter to WDW for the first time when she was 13 months old. She loved the characters and was not scared at all. The Sing Along video someone mentioned above is excellent and I totally recommend it to prep your child for a trip. The character meal idea is also a good one. The characters come to your kids "turf" rather than the child walking to the character. This works really well for little ones because they don't have to worry about "battling" for attention against bigger kids. The characters are very sensitive to little kids and know when to "back off". A Disney storybook with lots of different stories is good so that they can get to know the names/faces of the characters as you read the book to them. And of course, you can show them lots of animated movies before you go. Have a great trip!

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Valerie a.k.a. Narcoossee's Fan
Next Trip September 13-16!

[Nuts4Disney]

My DD, Allison(now 3 1/2 years) has been going since she was an infant and was never scared. However, I tried to prepare her each time. Showing pictures of just how big the character really are, and telling her that "Mickey Mouse(whomever) is as big as Mommy!" Allison, I feel was just well prepared and the character meals are a great introduction. Perhaps doing one the evening you arrive to prepare for the next day. On on last trip we had our 9month old and he did great too.

Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes!


Holly


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Too nuts for Disney!

[Noah's Helper]

You might be able to find some (non-Disney) characters in your local area, and see how your children react to them. Our local bookstores have had story-telling sessions with the Berenstain Bears, the mouse from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, and Bob and Larry from Veggie Tales. Our 3-year-old enjoyed them all. We took our 1-year-old to see Bob and Larry too, and he was fine as long as I held him and didn't get too close to the characters.

A few months ago we attended a local kids' festival, and there were plenty of anonymous characters around (mostly commercial mascots). Our daughter loved greeting them all; in fact, that is what started us thinking about a trip to WDW. Our first trip as a family will be this November -- we are really looking forward to it, and appreciate all the help we are getting from this board.

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Ben

[DisneyWizard]

Welcome to Intercot, Noah's Helper!

Glad you could join us ben! Feel free to jump into all of the discussions!

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-Casey
(Kc, Wizzy, DizWiz)

"...I say believe in the future. The world is getting better."
-Walt Disney

[CuteAsMinnie]

When our daughter was 2 1/2 years, she hugged every character in sight. She loved each and every one of the characters. That was, and still is her most favorite memory of that vacation.

Our son, on the other had (same age, too) would not have anything to do with anyone until the very end of the trip. Then he let Pooh and Tigger hug him and gave Mickey his baseball hat to look at. We even went to see Pooh at the Crystal Palace (at 2 in the afternoon w/o resies and walked right in I may add) the 2nd day of the trip and he hid whenever any of the characters came near him. Even his sister interacting with Pooh did not help. At the end of a 10day trip, we did a character bkfst at Artist Pointe and finally then, he warmed up to Pooh and Tigger.

I think this situtation totally depends on the child. Seeing the characters from a distance until they are ready to meet them, definitely will help.

Good Luck!

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[jebstuart]

Thank you all very much for all of your input--we will use your suggestions!!! 92 days left til DISNEY!!!!

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[spiceypj]

don't be surprised (like I was) if your children like the characters (try love) and instead of going to the rides and the shows you spend the majority of your time - locating characters. I was not prepared for the reaction of my niece and nephew to the characters at all. It was fun but it blow my plans to pieces. Taking the kids to the show at Mickey's first thing really helped them. Of course that was the only show we saw.

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[beth]

If you find that your kids do love characters, you might try a character meal or two, you'll get more time and interaction with the characters that way!

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beth
[email protected]
Intercot Staff Member

"Love and Mercy that's what you need tonight. So Love and Mercy to you and your friends tonight."

For more fun on all things Disney, check out our sister site, www.webdisney.com

For fun and info on the land that started it all check out our sister site: www.intercotwest.com