little one scared of characters?

[jane52]

My grandson, who is 18 months, has developed a fear of "large" characters like Red Robin and the Chik-Fila cow. He absolutely freaks out when he sees them. We are scheduled to leave for WDW in three weeks, and have a few character meals planned. Anyone have any suggestions on how to best handle this? I don't want him to be scared to death when these giant Piglet and Pooh characters come around to our table. His brother(they are twins) is fine so far about the characters but my daughter is worried he will not get to enjoy them because the other one is terrified. If anyone has gone through this and has suggestions, I would appreciate it. Thanks!

[Madame Leona]

My boys are 20 months apart. My little one is 22 months now and he was afraid of characters on his first two trips. At the character meals we put him in a "corner" where the character couldn't come up behind him. We did mention that he was scared and they stayed away from him. By the end of the trip he ignored them and they ignored him. His older brother is now 3 1/2 and he has never been afraid of the characters.

[Itchy]

On my recent trip to DW with my grand daughters ages 1 yr, 4, and 14.

Well the 1 yr old and 14 yr old no problems. It took the 4 yr old quite a while to warm up to the charaters. She finally warmed up to Mickey when we were a Chef Mickey's for dinner. I guess you need to let them find their own comfort zone with reinforcement from mom and dad.

Hope this helps.:mickey:

[teambricker04]

My oldest DS who is now 4 has always loved the characters. My youngest DS is a little over 2 and has always hated them. He freaks out and pitches a huge screaming fit. We have learned that he can't handle meet and greets at all. So DH or I take the older one and the other two of us go find something else to do. When we do character meals, we make sure to inform the staff that we have a child who doesn't like the characters too well. The characters don't come too close and generally don't wave at him (sets him off if they do) and he is perfectly content to watch his brother and the other kids as long as they don't approach him.

If our DS couldn't handle even being in the same room we wouldn't do the meals. Maybe making the ADRs for later in the trip may help him warm up to them? Or making a really big deal out of the food. Usually there is so much going on that it is hard for my DS to be too upset. Take it step at a time and see what happens... maybe all the Disney magic will help!

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

I took my nephew a while to warm up to the characters he was 2.5. By the end of the week he was fine with them. I think the constant exposure and seeing them everywhere helped. But he did NOT like Pluto licking him! He still hasn't forgiven him for that. And as someone else suggested, if you do a character meal, put him on the inside where it's harder to get to him and warn the characters to keep their distance. They deal with kids every day so they usually can gauge when to keep their distance.

[TheRustyScupper]

My grandson, who is 18 months, has developed a fear of "large" characters like Red Robin and the Chik-Fila cow. He absolutely freaks out when he sees them. We are scheduled to leave for WDW in three weeks, and have a few character meals planned.

1) OK, maybe a silly question.
2) Why schedule character meals if the child is scared of characters?

[jenny1976]

Well, here are some Suggestions:
1) Maybe do the Mickey Judge's Tent where it is just Mickey and you go get a picture with The Mouse so he sees you are not affraid. Always take pics with characters yourself first.
2) Maybe you can take him at Park opening so he sees the show and then sees the characters around the park and have him decide if he does that or something else.
3) Start with smaller characters like Stitch, and not Large ones like Pluto or Goofy.
4) Let him know in advance when you are going to come in contact with characters and have him tell you what he needs to feel more comfortable.
5) Start your trip with non character meals that are maybe close to character meals, like the Contemporary, to see how he reacts.
6) Relate the characters to what he watches on TV
7) Do not let him walk up to characters alone, always hold his hand and warn cast members to not let the characters touch him. Have them come down to his level so he is not so intimidated.
8) Let him take a blankie or security object he can hold on to if he feels intimidated.
9) Watch the planning DVD or the promo channels at the Resort where character interact with kids and reassure him he will be safe.
10) Sit him in the corner out of reach, and always LISTEN to what he needs, try to coax, not force. Ultimately he will tell you when he is ready.
Hope it helps...:blush:

[jane52]

Thanks everyone for the ideas. As to the question of why schedule Character meals if we knew he was scared, well this fear just developed in the last month or so and we made our dining reservations the end of July. So, we are sorta stuck. I guess we will just go and if he gets too upset, one of us will take him out. I'm not too worried about in the parks because we can avoid them if possible. It's just the character meals that were a concern. I can hope this is just a phase right?

[Dawn,DeniseandDiane]

Oh, we feel your pain! We have one little niece who was terrified of the characters! It was definately a phase. We always made sure to inform the staff when we checked in that the littlest one at our table was scared of them and they never bothered her. The other kids were thrilled to see them. She'd scream when they came around but ,realized they weren't there to see her but her brother and the rest of the family, she was fine. We put her in the corner as well, to be extra safe. It lasted the whole 10 days or so. She was around 19months at the time. They went back 6 months later and she was thrilled to see them! Go figure.... I believe it helped that after we got home she looked at the pics and videos over and over and found out "how cute" they all truly are. We also reminded her that they all are her friends. Plus, seeing Snow White, Cinderella and Jasmine as "real" people characters.It helped her to be able to "talk" to them too.
Good luck and you won't be the 1st or last Mom to have to deal w/ this.Our hearts are w/you!

Dawn,Denise&Diane:wave::wave::wave:

[thrillme]

The chick filet cow and red robin are just BIG characters. They're not what he's familiar with. He might recognize them as a bird or a cow but...he may know they are not the right size for such an animal.

Let him watch a lot of Disney movies that have the common characters like Mickey, Pluto, Pooh, Piglet. Read story books that have these characters so that he learns to know them on friendly terms. The other big animals aren't something he sees or recognizes everyday so that alone might freak him out just as a "stranger" would. Show him PICTURES of the different characters and let him try to name them..."Can you find Mickey", "Can you find Pooh".

I would say don't schedule character meals till you know how he's going to handle them but...the "other" little ones LIKE the characters so that's not "fair" to "them". Consider asking the hostess to have your table in the back or away from the mainstream of characters and let them know of the child's fear. The braver children can always "approach" the characters on their own. I'm sure they've handled this quite often.

[VolMickey]

When our DD was 4 she loved the characters and wasn't afraid of any of them. As she got older (6 or so), the villians started to creep her out. Seemed counterintuitive, but seemed to be reversed timeline for character willies!

[Disney Doll]

1) OK, maybe a silly question.
2) Why schedule character meals if the child is scared of characters?

Because there are 2 kids.

[ThanxForNoticin]

We had a similar situation with our kids growing up. Our older son didn't want anything to do with the characters. Our younger loved them. One thing I can assure you. The Disney characters are exceptional with the kids - if they sense (or if you tell them) a child is afraid of them, they will respect that and keep their distance. I would recommend you try a character meal and see how it goes. Perhaps seeing all the other kids in the restaurant having so much fun with Mickey and Goofy will make them realize there is nothing to fear. Hope you all have a great trip!

[prprincess]

One thing I can assure you. The Disney characters are exceptional with the kids - if they sense (or if you tell them) a child is afraid of them, they will respect that and keep their distance.This is very true!

On our last trip our DS#2 was only 18 months old and horrified of the characters and freaked out whenever he saw them. On our last day there, we had breakfast at 'Ohana and while the other characters kept their distance, whoever was playing Mickey came over to him, and ever so gently started patting his head and his back. He finally looked up (he had his face on my DH's chest) and we got a smile!!!

So you never know. I say just give him some space with them, and play it by ear. By the time you get back, he may have overcome his fear. Mind you, my son still hasn't (he was recently scared of Elmo at Sesame Place) but at least we got a happy picture of him with Mickey, and know to just be patient with him.

Have a great time!