What has been your experience with little ones noticing and enjoying the characters? Planning to take our daughter next year either in spring or fall - she would either be about 9months in spring or about 15 months in fall. I know she won’t remember them at either age, but wondering what to expect in terms of reactions at those ages (first time mom, not a lot of experience with kiddos). I know all kids are different so just looking for feedback on others’ experiences - thanks!
Been going to Disney since DD5 was only 10 months old. She has enjoyed the characters since day 1 and we have been 7 times in the last 5 years. She really likes to get autographs. The characters will back off if a kid starts freaking out. Every kid is different about their reactions. I would suggest starting out with a character they are very familiar with and to from there.
Our son has been having fun with characters since his first trip at 12 mo. He has grabbed Mickey’s nose, played with Pluto’s whiskers, hugged, high fived, and danced with others. Unfortunately I didn’t have the camera ready for when he leaned over and kissed lightning mcqueen’s headlight.
He has tons of disney books and other pictures of disney characters so he is pretty familiar with them, so that helped him get excited
First trip with ds he just turned two… Meeting Minnie And Mickey were the highlights of his trip, and ours too! Once he turned three, his interests in character meetings declined… He would rather “drive the cars” then meet characters 
he never had a problem being scared either… But I told him that Minnie would be daddy’s size good luck!!!
We took our DS when he was 15 months old and one of his first interactions with the characters was pure pixie dust. It was early morning and Goofy had just come out and no one was around, not even his handlers that I could see, and Goofy let him pull at his whiskers and feel his nose and interacted with him for a good 5 or 6 minutes. No tears, just intense concentration from my son! Amazing pictures!
At that age, kids change so much month to month. Mine have loved characters at both of those ages. At 9 mos, she may recognize a few if she has watched the shows. Mine generally recognize Mickey and friends, because I let them watch Mickey Mouse every day while I shower. By age 15 months, she will be much more able to interact. Whether or not she wants to is totally dependent on her personality.
Was scared for our little guy (2 at time) but he went with the flow. Think it helps to warn them that “friends” might be large and some tall. Also meals with meats seem more relaxed? Enjoy.
in 1996 we took our then 7 year old son and our then 3 year old Daughter. We stayed at Dixie Landings for 3 weeks ( we live in the UK). Our 7 year old met and hugged every character he met…our 3 year old would not go near any character face or other at all an would cling to me , until the very last day were all of a sudden she wanted to hug them all, we spent the day running round getting pictures with all the characters and have laughed about it since.