How to preserve the magic as kids get older?

[azarine]

I have a 6 yr old DD and am afraid that on our upcoming trip she's going to be much less enchanted with the princesses if you know what I mean I remember reading on here a long time ago some great things to say to your kids as they get older... help me out!

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

Wish I could help but my 4 year old just said "the easter bunny is just a person in a costume right?" Not boding well for our next trip when he's 6...

 

[Mousemommy1]

I believe in giving my children the choice to believe in the magic. That goes with everything, including Santa, Easter Bunny and Disney.

During the very early years of our girls lives, we loaded on the magic!! Everything done to the max, and they love it. They are 11 and 9 now and still love this stuff. I think they know it's not "real" but they love to believe and that's ok. I'm never going to tell them it's not. When they have asked, my response is always "do you believe?" And they always tell me yes.

Now we also have a 14 month old son, so they are loving to see him experience all of the "magic of childhood", so regardless, I know they will hold onto it just for him.

 

[msdroz]

I'm 40 and I'll never grow out of the magic of Disney!

 

[pa. dad]

My sons are now 21 and was surprised that they wanted to join us on our recent trip to Disney. We first took them there when they were 4 and about 1o times in between those ages.
The things they like wax and wane as they get older. the things they like vary with each trip. Some things like a Splash Mt or space mt they have always liked since they were tall enough. Other things they like for a certain time and they move on. One year we had to do those Teacups at the MK like 3 times in a row until we were completely dizzy. That may have been the last time we rode them.
They don't stay 6 forever. But we keep them anyway.

 

[gladgirl]

Wish I could help but my 4 year old just said "the easter bunny is just a person in a costume right?" Not boding well for our next trip when he's 6...

I had the same experience today. She said the bunny had 'human eyes'. But...she still KNOWS that we're seeing the real Mickey next month

 

[TXStormtrooper]

My 15 year old DD still enjoys the magic.

 

[mom2grace]

I found that it has evolved, if you know what I mean. My DD is 14 now, we started going on her 5th birthday and we go every 2-3 years. She wants to be an engineer for Disney or NASA. She is always wanting to go to Disney.

The princess thing was pretty much a 1 & done for us, and her younger brother was pretty afraid of the characters so that was never a big part of our trips. I insisted that we see Mickey once a trip.

The tours are awesome and a great way to help kids learn about the magic at Disney. They don't get into the 'tricks' of the magic until the one where you have to be 12.

 

[Pesky]

You can't force belief on her. You can encourage enjoyment. If she asks, ask her what she thinks. I wouldn't lie to her but you can talk about how well the spirit of the princess you see in the film shines through. Sometimes kids love the characters, sometimes not. DD has little interest in the princesses now but a lot of interest in the villains. They tend to be more fun anyway. But just ask her about her favorite moments, favorite food, favorite rides, and that helps to focus on a positive, even if not magical, experience. Have fun!

 

[Hikergirl]

If you think its because she will know that the characters are not real then don't worry about it. My kids always knew the characters weren't real, that never effected their love of WDW or made it feel any less magical.

 

[Marlyn]

I took my twin boys to WDW for the first time when they were 5. Since then we have been to WDW 9 times (2 week stays each time...and always hated to leave), Disneyland once and have been on 3 Disney cruises. This summer we are going on our 10th trip to WDW. My boys turn 21 in June. The magic may have changed slightly over the last 16 years but it has always been there, and I suspect always will.

This will be our first trip with them being 21....and I'm sure we will find many magical things to do. Because we love Disney so much, my adult boys still want to go on a vacation with their mother. THAT is magic if I've ever seen it!!!

 

[heywagners]

My oldest (now 12) was always scared to death of any character. We told him that they were just people dressed up for fun, but he was not to ruin the magic for others. The other 2 kids obviously picked up on it the older they got (now 8 and almost 7). With all that said, they still love meeting characters and doing character meals. They love to have their picture taken with the characters and all of the joy that comes along with that. Just because they know that Pluto isn't actually THE Pluto doesn't make them love him any less.

 

[kreckl]

We have a son- so have never cared about the princesses. I know that for many people that is a huge part of Disney, but it certainly doesn't have to be. When our son saw Mary Poppins he was confused because she didn't look exactly like the one in the movie. ( He was 5 and we watched some Disney movies before our first trip.) Without missing a beat Mary confided that she was the real one, and the movie one was played by Julie Andrews. She said she didn't have time to film a movie as she was taking care of the children. That was reassuring for my watchful guy, and he never questioned anything at all after that. I think he did know that the big characters were costumed, but the "real" people were very real to him.

 

[msmama]

My son is almost 8 and told me many years ago that he knew the Easter Bunny wasn't real and the Santa wasn't at the mall and characters were people in costumes (strangely enough he is still freaked out by the tooth fairy though).

Anyway, we still have just as much fun at WDW. I tried princesses once with him and he was TERRIFIED of them - have since learned he's afraid of all the face characters. He still loves the big stuffy ones though and we've never NOT experienced the Disney magic. We don't do as many meet and greets as we used to, usually stick to character meals unless we're in the right place at the right time, but he still gives them BIG hugs (Chip and Dale are his favorites).

I'm an adult, I know that there are "friends of the characters" inside a big costume, but that doesn't mean I still don't like to hug Mickey each time I see him!!

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

DD never thought the characters were real. When she was 3, she looked at Dora who was visiting at the zoo and said, "Dora is my size. That's just someone pretending."

Disney is magic all by itself, so your DD will find her own magic, no matter when she thinks about princesses.

My strategy with DD was always to answer, "What do you think?" when she would ask a question about things like this. This let her drive the conversation. Kids will come up with a reason to believe until they ready.

 

[mzsarah10]

My now 10 year old feels Disney is the only place she feels she can still be a kid and not worry what anyone else thinks.

 

[snowman]

Took my nephew for the first when he was turning 7. He whole-heartedly believed the characters were real. He believed that the "birthday party" at Chef Mickey's was just for him because Mickey had invited him. The next time we took him he was 9 and it was my (then) partner's 30th birthday. We again did Chef Mickey's. While DN knew the characters were people in costumes, he still believed I had powers. "Tia! You did this for Darla didn't you!?" That part of the magic has been my favorite memory from my trips with him. His third trip was at 14 and he had to make sure to get his Mushu pic because it was tradition.

 

[keepswimming76]

I think at 6 she will still be enchanted. My DD will be 6 in May during our next trip and I know she will be very excited to see them. We went 2 years ago with my niece who was 8 at the time. I'm not sure if she "believed" the princesses and other characters were actually real, but she sure enjoyed meeting them. I think it can be fun regardless of age. Our son is 9 and has never said anything about characters being real or the princesses not looking the same every time we see them and he's very observant. I think he knows but enjoys the "magic."

That being said, I am not looking forward to any questions my daughter may have about characters if they do arise. When we were watching a video recently of our last visit to WDW, she said, "Tigger can't breathe!" I asked her what she was talking about and she said, "He isn't talking so he isn't breathing." I told her that some characters don't talk because they have to "save their voice," so they don't hurt their throats because they meet so many people. I'm not sure if she bought it.

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

The magic is still there, it just changes overtime

 

[BLAZEY]

DD7 believes the princess and "human" characters are real but the ones like Mickey, Donald, Goofy etc are people in costumes. She doen't love them any less, and still wants her picture taken with them.