Help! My Son is Afraid of Funship Freddie

[kal72]

We are planning our third cruise ever and third in 2 years (all on carnival). We have fallen in love with the cruise concept especially being able to put our twin 3 year olds in camp and steal a few nice moments for mom and dad each day.

 

One of our sons didn't take to the Carnival mascot, funship freddie on the first cruise, then had issues with him on cruise #2. Now we are trying to get them pumped up for cruise #3 and he is insisting on staying home. :)

 

Any suggestions besides booking on another line? :) We really like Carnival but early enough in our cruising 'careers' to try NCL or RCL...

[chezcarp]

I was in your shoes when our 25-year-old daughter was young. She was terrified of anything in a costume, and it was genuine fear. I think you all should look at other cruise lines like RCL. Good luck!!

[APDMOM]

Is he afriad of anything in a costume, like the Chick-Fil-A cow? Our son was terrified. We explained to him that it is just a normal person dressed up. At first it did not help, until he saw a dressed up bunny who took her bunny head off. Then he understood. Now when we see anything dressed up, he exclaims, "It is just a person dressed up!" He still kind of keeps his distance but does not lose it anymore.

 

Hope it will help your son.

 

If you choose a different line, just remember that NCL has a Fish mascot... I can't remember about RCI, but they are starting the Shreck thing.

 

[mama_2_boys]

Is he afriad of anything in a costume, like the Chick-Fil-A cow? Our son was terrified. We explained to him that it is just a normal person dressed up. At first it did not help, until he saw a dressed up bunny who took her bunny head off. Then he understood. Now when we see anything dressed up, he exclaims, "It is just a person dressed up!" He still kind of keeps his distance but does not lose it anymore.

 

Hope it will help your son.

 

If you choose a different line, just remember that NCL has a Fish mascot... I can't remember about RCI, but they are starting the Shreck thing.

 

 

This exactly. Our 4 year old has been terrified of anything in a costume since he was around 18 months. We finally have him convinced they are just people in costumes. It took him seeing our friend dress up as Santa and a couple of the costumed people taking their heads off. I still have to remind him whenever we see one, but at least he doesn't start screaming now ;) Good luck and hopefully he won't be so scared by the time you set sail.

[Julienatul]

They will outgrow it ;). As you can see we cruise at least twice a year with our kids mainly on Carnival. DD was deathly afraid of funship freddy from the time she was an infant until about this year at age 5. Now she high 5's him and hugs him when she sees him.I would always just take her to another part of the ship if he was there or hold her while he was greeting everyone. Just promise your son he wont have to see him if he doesnt want to. Domt take him to camp the morning he is scheduled to be there etc etc. Keep telling him he's just a daddy in a costume like when he dresses up for Halloween. Eventually he will come around and understand Freddy is fun.

[smoothy]

OP, what route are you looking at going? On RC, the Shrek characters are not on all the ships, only the Oasis, Allure, Freedom and Liberty. Also, Celebrity does not have mascots running around and my boys absolutely love the Celebrity fun factory, its a great line to take kids on, not as many hooks for the tweens/teens (rock wall, wave rider etc.) but for the younger kids its a blast.

[mike91911]

I'm 40 and I find Funship Freddy a little creepy. :D

[IMDORY]

I'm 40 and I find Funship Freddy a little creepy. :D

 

I'm almost 40 and I too find Funship Freddy a little creepy myself!:D

[Onessa]

They will outgrow it ;).. . .

 

DD is 15 and a half and still avoids anything other than Bucky Badger in a big foam costume (her favorite uncle brought her on-field when she was 3YO and Bucky polka danced with her - so Bucky is OK).

 

We were at the Mall of America with four of her friends and she refused to pose with "Sharky". She's no longer afraid, now just kind od creeped out. That is one reason we've done so many cruises -- to avoid Disney!:D

[boulders]

My 15 year old son says there's something seriously wrong with people who dress up in costume so they can hug little kids. :p

[cruiserNC]

I am afraid of Funship Freddy too very creepy.

 

But seriously our dd was afraid as well even when we showed her pics before her first Carnival cruise. What we did find out he shows up during the welcome aboard dance they have in the disco lounge on the first day of the cruise. We went out on the dance floor hugged and shook hands with him ...she eventually followed...now she loves him.. We even ended buying a stuff doll from the gift shops...

 

Maybe you order the doll before the cruise...

[fionaeire]

I have a five year old who also would like "stay at home" rather than go on our Spring Break Freedom of the Seas cruise--because of the costumed people. I made the mistake of showing him the RCCL website and the dreamworks characters were all over the site. He zeroed right in on them. I'm just going to have to be diligent about finding out where they will be so we can avoid them.

We recently went to a hockey game and wouldn’t you know it--it was mascot night! There were over 20 of them...what a nightmare!!

[goldne]

I would just not go to the scheduled times to meet funship freddie. On our cruise he wasn't just walking around at random times, which was too bad for my kids because they actually wanted to see him and didn't see him once the whole cruise!

[sunrise&set]

I have been on several Carnival cruises and saw Funship Freddie maybe once? My son is also afraid of characters in costume, we just don't get too close or avoid them altogether. We've gone to Disney 3 times, and just watch them from a distance.

[Naomi John]

One has to remember, Mickey Mouse to some 3 year olds is a 6 foot rat. I would not worry. Let the counselors know, check the camp schedule for "Freddy Time".

 

I liked the suggestion of the parents engaging the costumed person first, but you know your child, and know what may or may not work for him.

[seashell36]

I would (as other posters have said) check the capers to see when Freddie is supposed to be in camp. Plan something else that your son will like. If your other son doesn't have a problem with Freddie let him go to camp then. Maybe when he hears the fun that his brother had in camp with Freddie it might help a little bit.

 

Also, I'd speak to the head counselor and the counselors that will be working with your sons' age about this fear. They probably deal with this more often than we think.

 

My oldest DD was terrified of anything in a costume when she was small. She's 14 now and still doesn't like clowns. Freddie's okay, but Barney (at a younger cousin's bday party) is freaky.

 

On our cruise on the Dream we encountered a new costumed mascot - a towel animal elephant was walking around taking pictures with people. I'm not sure which ships they have him on. But, that's something else to look out for too.