What Should I Do If...

I get this question A LOT..."What should I do if my kids are terrified of the characters?" This is an answer I'm sharing with you based on a lesson learned the hard way. In fact, this incredibly unflattering photo of yours truly from Ronan's first birthday trip to prove a point.

When we took Ronan to Disney at five months old, he wasn't afraid of anything. As a result, I booked his first birthday trip centered on character meals and live shows. HA! Silly me. At one, Ronan was pretty terrified of the characters. He spent an entire breakfast at Tusker House trying to get as far away as possible from them. Regardless of our reassurances, he simply was NOT interested.

He's come a long way since then, and I can't recall any major issues since that time. But what does it come down to? Every kid is different and only YOU know what's best for your family. Some other advice to take into account is booking character meal(s) at the END of your vacation for two reasons: 1. To give kids time to warm up to the idea of having their meal punctuated with large, furry things interrupting their macaroni & cheese and 2. So that you can cancel and find something else to do if the kids run screaming from Donald.

I will also say that Ronan continues to surprise me when he really LOVES a character, even ones he doesn't know so well, like Winnie the Pooh and Piglet. He's always willing to get a princess kiss, too. I hope he never stops.