Disney World: The Terror and Delight of Giant Stuffed Animals

It's hard to blame a kid for the natural fear evoked by close proximity with 5 or 6 or 7-foot-tall stuffed animals. I mean, wouldn't a lack of terror in such circumstances really be a cause for worry? Yet we pay thousands of dollars to introduce our children to their favorite cartoon characters in "real life" and then are perplexed by the screaming when the cute, teeny mouse on their TV screens is suddenly 4 times their size.

After our first experience seeing Mickey and Minnie and then our character breakfast with Pooh (this is the face we saw whenever the sinister Pooh, Eyore, or God-forbid Tigger came into view) we were more than ready to write off our remaining character meal reservations. I mean, a petrified toddler is only fun for so long (milliseconds).

But then we discovered the secret weapon - the autograph book.

We actually purchased the autograph book for our princess lunches, but the day after the Revenge of The Hundred Acre Wood episode, Sasha saw Minnie and "puppy" (Pluto) at a character meeting spot and begged to go say hi to them and have them sign her book. Incredulous, I asked her to confirm another 45 times that she actually wanted to see the characters and, encouraged by her adamance, we waited in the meet-n-greet line.

When we got to the front of the line, Sash got nervous again (although this time without the tears and shrieking) and I offered to give the autograph book to Mickey. This proposed infringement on her book ownership and duties was all she needed - she marched right up to the Former-Terror Mouse and thrust the book into his begloved palms. And that was it! The spell was broken - hugs and high-fives abounded, characters were petted and caressed, and we filled not one but two signature books during our trip (at $14 a pop, groan).

Way to overcome, my darling.

You'll be happy to know that the boys barely struggled with the giant fluffy creatures

I'm pretty sure that by this point in the meal Sasha was convince Pooh was going to consume Ben

A whole new kid!  She even poses just like Minnie :)

The Minnie pose lasted through the rest of the characters as well

Note Sasha's firm grasp on the autograph book... and Ben's bizarre expression with Pluto's and preoccupation with Pluto's mouth

Once she got rolling, we had to stop for characters wherever they could be found!

I think this is the best one of them all - if you're ok with the 7-foot-tall, mock-humanoid Woody, you can handle anything Disney World can dish out.