2 Year Old Scared of Characters

ODD at 2 1/2 was ok with the characters. YDD at that age, hid under the table for the ENTIRE Chef Mickey meal. So it's hard to say.
I've always found the princesses are easier bc they are not huge costumes like say Mickey and Donald.
 
When we went with our two year old she was very leery of the characters. We found that character meals worked best for us. Garden Grill was our first and it was amazing! The character interaction was great and they played with her from a distance. The characters play peek-a-boo and that broke the ice. By the end she had warmed up enough that she would give hugs and kisses. She was still timid with the one on on meets but all the character meals were great. I think seeing the characters gave her time to warm up before they got to her. She has never liked Santa but was ok this year (3 yr old). We will see how Disney goes next time. I would say don't push them and just watch cues. We only did lines if it was a short like so that if she was scared we didn't loose much time. Ariel was a big hit and I think the only face character we saw.
 
If it's iffy, maybe have the child approach the character, if possible. Give them some power in the situation, you know? The characters, in my experience, are good about meeting slowly if a child looks like they may not be happy.

My son has never been afraid of big fluffy characters or any character with a mask or face covering (which is weird because he's afraid of his own shadow) but doesn't do face characters. He's almost 12 and he still runs the other way if he sees a princess.
 
My kids were all scared of characters! We just avoided them and didn’t push them to see any. They were fine with the parades, as long as they didn’t go near them! It’s definitely doable!
 
When my kids were that age, they did not like the face characters(princesses) but they had no issue with the plushies. Maybe the face ones were too "real". But they went right up and hugged Mickey, Minnie, goofy, etc. Other kids are the opposite. You never know. But if they don't want to do character meet and greets, then that is one less thing to wait in line for. LOL
 
We had a screamer when it came to furry type characters, good to go from a distance, up close was a no go at about 1. Was over it by the next trip at 2 thank goodness. The characters do a good job reading the situation and won't push past a kid's limits. They usually get down on the ground, reach out for a high five, that sort of stuff. They don't race in for a hug unless invited. Our youngest is still afraid of chewbacca at 9, she had to be taken out of the meet and greet by her older sister last month on our trip. I felt bad for chewie, he really tried. Just wasn't happening. :scared:
Your kid was scared of Chewbacca? I find that hard to believe that children find Chewbacca scary. Maybe because to him Chewbacca was big and your son thought that he was gonna hurt him. If you have a situation like this again the way to calm this fear is buy your son a Chewbacca plush and when he hugs it he will see that Chewbacca really isn't scary at all. I have always liked Disney characters and never have found them scary and what I think what they really do is get oversized masks and put the character actors in them to make them look real and big. Did your son also meet Luke Skywalker too? If so how did he do?
 
This might be super unpopular but when my son was little 4-5 he was terrified of all characters. Easterbunny, Santa, and every holloween store. If it was wearing a mask or costume he just wouldn't have it.

So we made the choice and sat him down and explained that they are people in costume. People just like me and dady just wearing a suit. Yes at 5 he knew santa wasn't "real" but now he could take photos with him and enjoy the holidays.

He would always play along with people who still thought santa was real. Even adults who would ask what he wanted from santa. "Mom I didn't wanna tell them he wasn't real"
 


I simply don't understand why kids find Disney Characters at the parks scary and why they bring fear to children? My aunt was scared of Santa Claus when she was younger and when my grandma would take my mom my uncle and my other aunt shopping during Christmas my grandmother decided to let my mom and aunt get their Santa photos and so my mom took my aunt first since she was the littlest and when it was her turn my aunt screamed her head off and cried big tears and she had to tell Mom that she had wanted to leave. So the only two people that got Santa photos were Mom my uncle and my other aunt. But if Disney Parks brings back Meet And Greets there should be a sign that reads "CHARACTERS MAY FRIGHTEN CHILDREN UNDER 4 YEARS OLD, PARENTS WILLING TO ASSIST CHILDREN UNDER 4 MAY REQUIRE SPECIAL ASSISTANCE FROM CAST MEMBERS OR CHARACTER HANDLER" But what they should do is have another cast member at the meet and greet to help calm down children if they are scared of characters and this would be a smart idea
 
I simply don't understand why kids find Disney Characters at the parks scary and why they bring fear to children?

But if Disney Parks brings back Meet And Greets there should be a sign that reads "CHARACTERS MAY FRIGHTEN CHILDREN UNDER 4 YEARS OLD, PARENTS WILLING TO ASSIST CHILDREN UNDER 4 MAY REQUIRE SPECIAL ASSISTANCE FROM CAST MEMBERS OR CHARACTER HANDLER" But what they should do is have another cast member at the meet and greet to help calm down children if they are scared of characters and this would be a smart idea

??????????

Children are irrational, because they’re children. They don’t have the same life experiences as adults. A child who might be alive for four years simply doesn’t have the experience to understand why their favorite character is now in front of them and 6 feet tall.

It’s also not Disney’s job to calm down children who are afraid. Parents should be responsible for their children and not put them in situations that will scare them.
 
??????????

Children are irrational, because they’re children. They don’t have the same life experiences as adults. A child who might be alive for four years simply doesn’t have the experience to understand why their favorite character is now in front of them and 6 feet tall.

It’s also not Disney’s job to calm down children who are afraid. Parents should be responsible for their children and not put them in situations that will scare them.


☝ This!
 
My oldest has always loved characters, but my younger one was not a fan until he was about 6. As a toddler he was fine with Winnie the Pooh characters and also Olaf, so hopefully your DD will be, too. He would stay away while his older sister talked to anyone else. We never forced anything on him.

Our last trip he was 6 and he was all about the character meet and greets. So you never know what they will do. He was dying to meet Darth Vader, but when we got up there he was a bit intimidated and he stood sort of apart from him, but he was all smiles in the picture!
 
My DD was never a big fan of character meet & greets so we simply didn’t directly participate. She was fine watching from a distance and that’s what we would do. Even character meals she often preferred to be seated away from the character path (against the wall, etc.). Take your lead from the child.
 
Kaya,
Has your kid gotten over his fear of Chewbacca yet? Another piece of advice I can give you is before you go on another Disney vacation in the future is to prepare your kid for the character meet and greet is to practice at home and all you need to do is get some Disney plushes and maybe the earlier mentioned Chewbacca plush and say this "We are gonna meet some characters today now get ready to give them a nice hug" and present the plush character to your child with open arms and your kid can hug it then say "Now say thank you" then wave the plush character's arms goodbye. For Chewbacca you can prepare your kid with the plush Chewbacca and say "Chewbacca wants to say hello to you will you please give him a hug?" and then if your kid is ready move Chewbacca's arms to a hugging position and motion your kid to do the same and it may take practice but before long your child will love hugging Chewbacca in no time at all
Hope this advice helps you
 
My DD was never a big fan of character meet & greets so we simply didn’t directly participate. She was fine watching from a distance and that’s what we would do. Even character meals she often preferred to be seated away from the character path (against the wall, etc.). Take your lead from the child.

Yep, we skipped Character meet and greets in those years that our kids were not wanting to. It's not mandatory. Plenty of other things to do and see at WDW. No need to stress the kids out over something like this.
 
My youngest at was 2 1/2 on his first trip, and wanted nothing to do with characters either. That worked out fine for me, as I never was one that was really into meeting the characters. We’ve happened upon a few of them over the years when the kids were young on subsequent trips, but I was HAPPY to not have to wait in lines with the kids wanting to meet them! We’re happy enough to wave from a distance if we see them in a parade or such, but never got into them much. There is still so much to enjoy at Disney parks!

My in-laws complained that they waited in line for Mickey for over 30 minutes (I think they thought it was kind of expected to meet a character) for their girls. I was grateful we never did I that!
 
Our rule when our kids were little was that no one had to go on any ride or meet any character they were afraid of. Our oldest has autism and his sensory issues made him wary of lots of things at the parks. Our younger guy decided he didn't like characters when he was two. When we took them to Disneyland, we just stayed away from characters. DH and I took turns on the rides if the kids were scared. Vacation is supposed to be fun and we didn't want to make it stressful for anyone. Both kids eventually came around. Older DS will now ride anything that doesn't go upside down or drop him too fast. Younger DS now loves all rides. His fear of characters disappeared on it's own when he was around 6. He even had a job in high school dressing up as characters and going to kids parties. You'd never know they terrified him all those years ago.
 

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