DD is almost 12 and she has always hated those characters. Now she has a great sense of humor about it. She is definitely someone who relies on facial cues, so not knowing who is in those costume is pretty scary! My other 2 don't care for them either, but I wouldn't say they are scared. Just not interested.

I htink a kid who is apprehensive around those characters has pretty good intuition!

This is totally normal for her age, OP. She does not know they are just "characters" with normal people inside. And think about it -- they are damn weird looking.

My DD was terrified of anything anthropomorphic.

My Grandson is 4 and 1/2 years old and today we we're celebrating his little brother first birthday. The event took place in a playground which he remembered the last time he went there, there was a mascot of Elmo. He is so terrified of ANY! mascot that I ended up spending the all time party outside with him even though there was no mascot at that moment, he did not want to go inside for fear that Elmo was still there ( Really sad to see him willing to miss all the fun because of this enormous fear enough to get a panic attack. It breaks my heart. We always have to watch where we go and make sure no mascots are around and if this happen, we have to leave immediately!

It's the biggest reason we have not gone to any amusement parks. DD would freak out...like we would have to leave IMMEDIATELY.

Yes Yes and Yes, my DD does the EXACT same thing. She is 4 also and scared of certain Halloween costumes, people in masks. Pretty much unless you're a little kid like her dressed in a costume she's afraid. She's afraid of the dark and sleeping alone, afraid of shadows (with a nightlight). I asked our Pediatrician at her 4 year checkup and she said it's totally normal phase kids go through.
I'm 41 and I'm am scared sh*tless of clowns.

This is normal. Children rely on facial cues to formulate their understanding of a person, and so a covered or immobile face leaves them without the signals they recognize.

my 2.5 year hates them. Whenever the red robin bird trys to stop by he keeps saying No no no no no no no, and freaks out. Same with the easter bunny.

Wouldnt you be scared shitless if you saw some giant cartoon looking being that can't move it's face and is covered with cloth

our kids are 5 and 7 and still scared of the big characters (ie, adults dressed in costume.) Personally, I find them a little creepy too. Nothing wrong with that.
They have never sat on Santa's lap (too scared.) I think it's natural and shouldn't be labeled "anxiety" or cause concern.

My son is six and has always been horribly fearful of characters. We had leave chick fila once when the cow came. He sees disney commercials and tells us "don't ever take me there." I thought he'd grow out of it but still very scared of characters. It impacts him at school, at spirit day they had an adult dressed up like school mascot and he cried, and they had a safety dog there again he cried. You are not alone!

My DD was scared of everything Disney, characters at amusement parks, etc. It made it easy to save money when we went to DisneyWorld - no need to spend money on the princess breakfast she would have been terrified to be a part of.

My DD was petrified of the snowmen in our neighborhood last winter. And I am 31 and still scared to death of clowns.

Yes, DS is terrified to the point of tears. Not so much of Halloween costumes (he didn't seem to mind looking at those, but he wouldn't wear one himself), but of characters like at Disney or even the candy bars at Hershey Park. He's 4 also.

This is totally normal phase.

My DD 4 is terrified of them! I can see being afraid and to hide behind me when she seems them but she has a panic attack. She is also scared of sleeping alone, I don't know what to think here. I always felt we were on the normal track but her anxiety about the two situations seem alarming to me.