Dealing with character fear? About This Page:

[Sesana]

My family's planning a Disney vacation for November 2010. My niece will be 4 1/2 then, and right now she's scared of, or at least very nervous around, characters in costumes. I mean the mascot-type costumes that are all over the place at Disney, not the princesses. Anything that has that kind of mask. Of course, she may have grown out of it by November. Has anybody else had to deal with something like this for their kids? Any tips?

[Mommy Princess]

Our girls were both much younger on their first trips, but we found that if one of us held them the first time or two, they'd see that everything was OK. The year my younger DD was 2 (her third trip), she didn't want anything to do with them until she saw Minnie, and she ran over at top speed to give her a hug! Does your neice have a favorite character like that? If so, maybe try to track that one down early in your trip to break the ice.

[Colexis Mom]

On our first trip, my DS was definitely like that, and DD had some fears as well (they were 4 YO and 15 months). We didn't do a lot of character stuff, and the character meals that we did do, the characters were respectful of their fears and if they weren't reacting favorably, they'd just wave and move on.

[kdavenport29]

i had a 4 yr old when we went 2 years ago that was afraid of santa but when we went to Disney and she saw all the mickeys and minnies she just loved them and we even saw sulley from monsters inc. and she took a picture with him

[mad4mickey]

DD was two the first time she went. Minnie was her favorite character so we made sure that she was one of the first characters that we saw. We actually ended up seeing Mickey first and she wouldn't have anything to do with him but as soon as she saw Minnie it was all over! She ran right into Minnie's arms and from there on out she had no problems with the characters, although we spend most of our time with Minnie!

DS was 10 months on his first trip. Ironically, he loved the characters but didn't like the Princesses! Go figure, he loves the Princesses now (especially since his sister is always telling he's a prince) and he loves to get kisses from them now. The only Princesses that able to sneak a kiss in was Snow White and I have a great picture of him with her bright red lips on his cheek.

On his third trip he was just over two and we did find he was fearful, even of his all time fav, Mickey. We had dd (she's 6.5 years older) and/or dh go to the character with him and we didn't push talking or touching the characters. I have a couple of pics where it's 'Character', dd, dh and ds allllll the way on the other side ~ LOL.

Ok, all that to say I would try to see her all time favorite (non princess) character first and to just not push it if she is afraid because you don't want to ruin future visits. If you visit the characters at the Toon Town Fair, she may see other kids having a good time with the characters and want to join right in. We have always found that the charcters are extremely considerate of children and their fears. If she really does end up seeming to be stressed seeing the characters one on one, you could always try a parade where she would still be able to see all of them but not up close and personal.

[thebrehms]

Our dd was only 1 1/2 on our first trip. She didn't like the characters either. One thing that we found that helped was if we saw them at a character meal. She really seemed ok with them there for some reason. She hugged them and got her picture with them and was fine. Now if we saw them in the park and waited in line to see them with our 3 1/2 year old ds, she freaked out when we got up to see them. Just an idea you might want to think about trying. And it's a lot easier than having to search out the characters and wait in line for them.

[Clare loves Stitch]

I not a mommy but my freinds little one hated characters (after a surprise meeting with spider man was her first experience).
Their next vacation they did not get involved in anything that has character interaction so put no pressure on her (she is an only child which made that easier) ... after a few days she asked to meet minnie.

[DouglasE]

I used to be one of those children. My recommendation is to respect the feelings of your child. There will be a day when they will grow out of it. But just stay nearby and don't force the child into getting near or interacting with any of the characters that causes distress.

By the way, to this day clowns still creep me out.

[guitardiva]

Originally Posted by DouglasE

I used to be one of those children. My recommendation is to respect the feelings of your child. There will be a day when they will grow out of it. But just stay nearby and don't force the child into getting near or interacting with any of the characters that causes distress.

By the way, to this day clowns still creep me out.

well maybe not the clown thing.....unless it's Pennywise...Ikes!

[stitchyfan101]

i havent delt with this before but u might want to try showing her a stuff animal of the charecter like winnie the pooh and then you can take a picture with her then bring her over

[MousEarz]

Originally Posted by DouglasE

I used to be one of those children. My recommendation is to respect the feelings of your child. There will be a day when they will grow out of it. But just stay nearby and don't force the child into getting near or interacting with any of the characters that causes distress.

By the way, to this day clowns still creep me out.

I second that motion (even the clown part). DD LOVED Stitch, he was her favourite (Stich has been dethroned my Minnie Mouse as of late). We got her a stuffed Stitch to help prepare for "the meeting", but the sheer size of Stitch when she met him at breakfast was, understandably, overwhelming for a small child. We tried & Stitch was VERY patient (kudos to those CMs, they're really amazing), but no dice. Never force or it will be a very unhappy experience, and that's just not what it's all about. One of these days, the fear will go away and you'll be off hunting for favourites all day.

[Laughaholic]

I agree with the sentiments in this thread. I would just let it play out, one day she might warm up to them!

With that said, if you want to try and introduce the characters at a distance maybe you could try seeing a show (Dream Along with Mickey at the Castle stage comes to mind) from a far enough spot from the stage that she could see what the characters looked like and if it is positive you could introduce other experiences. Maybe the next step could be watching a parade or passing by a character greeting.

I wouldn't push it though!

[Ceara's mawmaw]

When I took my DGD3 last year she was scared too. I didn't push her. She liked them as long as I held her and in restaurants I sat her away from the aisle so they could not come up behind her or close to her, by the end of the trip she was running up to them and giving hugs...

[Griffin]

I would just avoid the characters that are scary. We went to WDW a couple of years ago with friends. And their DS would cry at the sight of the characters. I'm not sure what his parents were thinking, but they made him get his picture taken with as many characters as possible...Some people make me scratch my head.

[elcodfish]

The great thing is that a lot of the character meets are out in the open so you can always stand by and watch for a bit. It also helps if your child thinks they are the ones making the decision to see the character so let them pick their own pace. Personally, the best way to get my nephews to try a new food is to put it on my plate and tell them they can't have it, so they always "steal it" and if they like it next time, they get some, it can work the same way with the characters. Have Mommy go meet Minnie while sh watches and really ham it up, the next time, she may want to join.