Our family of 4 would like to go to WDW this Spring. My 8 year old son is very fearful of large mascots. Are the characters aware that some children are very fearful and how can I ensure that my son has a good time?

My oldest daughter is now 18, and she will still tell you stories of how desperately I tried to get her to pose in photos with the characters when she was young.  She was terrified from the time she was a baby through until she was eight or nine years old!

The characters have always seemed to me to be trained not to be aggressive in approaching children, so if a child seems fearful, they have time to stop themselves and just wave or blow kisses or something.  We have never had a character bound across the room and pounce right next to our kids, so there has always been the opportunity for either us or the child to indicate they didn't want the character to come too close.

Most of the opportunities to see the characters will be in meet and greet situations, where you wait in line and walk up to them to meet them.  If you son wants his photo taken but does not want to stand too close, you could stand between him and the character, or just indicate to the photographer that he would rather have some distance between him and the character.  They can be quite accommodating.  I have a great photo of my youngest at the Crystal Palace with Tigger standing a few feet behind her, blowing her a kiss - and my daughter completely oblivious, just smiling for the camera as if she were in the photo herself.  So there are ways that you can have him in photos with characters without him getting too close.

Have a great time!