I'm planning on taking my barely 2 year old for the first time to Disneyland and would love some great pix of her with the characters. I'm not sure how she'll react to the characters and wondered are there any past articles that give suggestions on how to approach this with her or does anyone out there have some good advice for a memorable first time experience?:confused:

Well, I can tell you this....not every greeting experience will be the same. Early on my son was fine with the characters. He also seems to do better when we are at meals where they visit the table. Now a picture taking event where we go up to the character is completely different and he will not react well. It totally depends on your child. I've also noticed that when the parents get into it the child tends to be more willing to pose with the characters.

In previous cases where we have eaten at character buffets, there have been instances where my son was so playful with the characters and not afraid at all. In more recent character meals, he has gotten more timid and shy with the characters. Ir'a not always a case where once the child is okay with the characters he will continue to be so.

My son does well with the "face" characters. Those are the characters with a regular face and an outfit on such as the princes and princesses. That might be a good start and go from there.

My 2 1/2 year old did a great job with the characters.. but we went at her pace. If she wanted to go, she went. If she didn't, we walked away from the line.

If you really want memorable pictures, don't force your kid to go if they don't want to. If you do, you'll get a crummy picture and get yourself all worked up in the process.

We also prepared our daughter in advance by mentioning the characters are larger than in the movies/pictures, and that sometimes they don't talk...

But I also agree that it is often easier for kids to relate to "face" characters, because they are more like people they've met...

At age 2, my younger daughter was terrified of any non-human characters. They are so big compared to a tiny person. It doesn't help when the animal side-kick characters appear without the recognizable human character from the story. When we had dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern (at WDW), she freaked out when she saw Meeko, without Pocohantas. In her view, she was being attacked by a giant raccoon. At age 5, she still has little use for a character that is not a princess. We dined at 1900 Park Fair (at WDW) last year, at the Cinderella dinner, and she loved Cinderella, tolerated the Prince and Fairy Godmother, and had no use for the mice. I would be patient, and try to keep it to the human characters, as much as possible.

Definately start with the face characters. Those aren't as scary to little kids.

And it really does just depend upon the kid. I have 2 boys that were terrified of all characters (one at age 5 still doesn't like them). And I have 2 that adore every single character they see.

We just came back from Disneyland with our 2 1/2 year old daughter. She was surprisingly very excited to see the characters and even ran up to some of them to hug them. We started her with the princesses- she was shy at first, but later was practically running up to them. We later took her to the princess lunch- by then she was a pro.

My niece, on the other hand, is very shy and was scared of the characters. She is a real princess fan, but was still scared to go to the princesses. My brother finally got her to go to them if he walked with her. I think it helped that my daughter was going too. We were finally able to get the both of them in the picture with a couple of princesses.

Although my daughter liked almost all the characters, she didn't like Captian Hook or Max. Those were the only two she didn't want to take a picture with- so maybe it depends on what character. I would start with real people characters first- and characters they know... we tried to show my daughter a lot of other movies that she didn't see before going to Disneyland so that she would have some reference to characters like Peter Pan, Lilo and Stitch, etc.

Pooh Bear, Ariel, Cinderella, Fairy Godmother, Mickey Mouse, the characters my DD was familiar with were easier for her to handle. Also, we went to the Minnie and Friends breakfast later in the morning so by the end of the meal when we got to Minnie and Tigger and characters my DD still knew, she was very tired... full belly... nearly naptime... cranky no matter who's around. I was excited to see Captain Hook and took a pic with him by myself first which helped the kids warm up to him. I agree with a PP, take cues from your child, if they want to stand in that line to see that character, do it; otherwise back down.

Liz :cool:

I chose the Minnie & Friends breakfast for my child's first encounter with characters -- she was a little over 2 1/2. She loves all things Winnie the Pooh, and was just THRILLED to see him & Eeyore & Tigger up close and personal. She liked the Fairy Godmother & Alice quite a bit -- had a minor meltdown when she saw the Mad Hatter. She loved the penguin (from Mary Poppins) even though she had never seen the movie -- I think she just likes penguins. :) Minnie was a big big BIG hit -- DD kept asking for the rest of the day where Minnie was. She was also very happy to meet Mickey (thank heaven - since we stood in line for about 1/2 hour to meet him).

Now, just shy of 3, we're taking her again. I'm hoping to find a few Princesses & see how that goes.......

I had a feeling she was going to be ok with the characters, but I wasn't 100% sure (she doesn't seem to be scared of much). Just take it slowly & go by your child's reaction. You'll do just fine!

we talked a lot about who we were going to see. I think we even went online and looked at the pictures. Then when we got to the park, we just let her do what she wanted. She still doesn't like villians, but she will see anyone else and really never had too big of a problem. Just be patient!

Ang

My 2 year old has been going since 6 weeks old, and went through a little character fear over the past few months, but, she never got scared of Pooh and Tigger. I think because we have them all over at home and she watches them on tv and they were a little more familiar to her. Back by the Pooh ride there is a Pooh and friends character spot that you should try out, adorable backdrop and all. Plus it is not usually crowded during slow times, I've hardly ever waited in line (the longer we wait, the better the chance that my princess changes her mind and decided she is scared afterall!)

I think some of it depends on whether or not your child knows the character. My DD RUNS to the ones she knows.

Also, even though my DD LOVES the characters...the pictures don't turn out great. She is usually so in awe of them she kinda just stares at them, hugs them, or just looks right at them. Getting her to turn and smile for the camera is pretty difficult (some of the characters will "help" turn her head a little). But, *I* know how excited she was, even if it doesn't show in the picture. :)

My son was almost two the first time we went to DL last year. He LOVED the characters, much to my suprise! He ran up to Chip and Dale to give them hugs and was in AWE of Mickey (kind of star-struck). I think it helped that he knew who most of them were from cartoons. He did not, however, like the Queen of Hearts. Must admit, pretty ugly if you ask me. She's all snarly and mean-looking. I don't blame him.

He was totally in love with Cinderella. She was with Snow White at the time, and my son didn't know who she was, so Cindy got all the attention, but Snow didn't seem to mind. :)

One thing that helped us a lot was buying an autograph book first thing. I took a clickable Sharpie with us (which the characters seem to appreciate since there's no cap) and it was kind of like an ice-breaker between my son and the character. We got the book with the slots for photos and now we have a fun book to look at. Some characters, if there isn't a terribly long line, will even include your child's name (like, To: Lucas) in the autograph if they hear you say it or see a name badge (which you can get made just inside the gate or at the big Disney store in Downtown Disney). Each autograph is different and some of them draw pictures with their signature. Kinda fun!

We went to a character meal on Sunday and my three year old son seemed okay with the characters again. It really seems to depend on the situation and how he is for the day.

I think the best way is to keep it low key.

If you can get there early, when there aren't lines, and see who's out on Main Street, she might be most comfortable. My dd was 4 when we went...and painfully shy around strangers. If someone talks to her, even if she's holding my hand, she tries to disappear. If she's not holding my hand...she curls into a ball on the ground. Literally.

We saw Alice first, and dd was scared of her so we kept walking.
Then we saw Pluto, waved and went to go on, but dd pulled on our hands so we asked if she wanted to say hi. She literally threw her arms around him. Priceless. She didn't like crowds, but was happy to wait in even horribly long lines (and through honey/tea breaks) that were orderly to see characters. We gave her an autograph book so that she could just hand it to them and have something to DO rather than stand there and pose.

Not sure how your dd will react...but thats what worked for us. If dd is scared at first, take it lightly and maybe you or dh go pose with a character. Once she gets the hang of it, she may want a turn.

DS, who was 3 1/2 when we 1st went to DL, loved the characters. My middle son, who was 2 1/2 at the time, did not fare quite so well. We were sitting, eating lunch in DCA across from Playhouse Disney, right where the characters enter back stage. Pluto (and his CM handler) were returning and Pluto went right up to my middle son (who had his back turned to Pluto.) Pluto caught Anthony's eye and Anthony screamed and ran to me crying. Pluto's handler said "way to go, pluto!"

Needless to say, Anthony refused to even look at any characters for the rest of our trip.:crying: However, upon returning 3 months later, he was very willing to let me take his picture with all the characters we saw.

My daughter (3) always wants to say "hi!" to the characters but refuses to even get close to them.

We no longer stand in line to get signatures, only because there are some people out there who don't know how to wait in a line for their turn. Even when there is obviously a line where there are people waiting, they blatantly cut. I try so hard to teach my children patience that I don't want to subject them to my outright disgust at these rude parents!

gloria

Oh, Gloria, I totally agree with you about rude parents. We had been standing at the end of an obvious line to see one of the characters, got almost to the front (by then the line was shorter) and some rude parent shoved her kid right in front of my son and then acted like she haden't seen the line. I just kind of frowned at her and then she continued to ask for photo after photo with the characters. Some people don't realize that you need to limit your time. We take one photo (maybe two if the character is fine with it,) get our autograph and move along. UGH - it irritates me to no end. So, we've pretty much done the same as you - stopped standing in long lines (except for Mickey). If the character is there and not being swarmed by people, we end up having a better time because they can spend more time with us.

When my youngest daughter was four, we went as a family for the first time. She was terrified of all character--face and non-face. The ONLY character she approached was Mickey (she called him her Mike).
Now, when we look at the pictures, she asks why she is not in any of them. I then explain to her why.:| She doesn't seem to like it but there is nothing I can to now about it.

We had one of the "sing along with disney" videos, that went around a day at the park with the characters singing and interacting with the kids. i think it helped alot that our 2 year old nephew had seen the characters on the video before hand and how big they were, but that other kids weren't afraid of them..

LL

We had a great experience with our daughter's first trip to WDW (when she was two). We went to Toontown and Goofy/Pluto/Mickey/Minnie/Donald were all out in the street. Since it was December, it wasn't very crowded so she was able to meet all of them without having to wait too long. She didn't shy away from any of them and went up to each of them except for Goofy and Tigger. She was fine with them, as long as I was holding her.

One of our favorite memories of Disney was her interaction with Donald. He seemed to take a real liking to her and interacted a lot with her and the camera. Another benefit of the December trip, no long lines of people waiting so we weren't hogging the character.