1st trip to US/IOA - touring advice please!

[ellemenohpee]

I am taking my almost-6 year old DS to the US/IOA parks this weekend (he has never been and the last time I was there, Jaws was still an attraction). I know we'll be dealing with crowds because it's a weekend during Spring Break, but it is what it is. We have a 2-day, single park tickets. We will be there at rope drop on both days, but we have all day Saturday and I want to be out by 1-2:00 on Sunday.

UT has IOA as the preferred park on Saturday probably because of the Mardi Gras parade at US that night, but there's not so much that we are going to want to do there. While *I* would love to go to the WWOHP, DS really doesn't know much about it, and we won't be hitting any of the huge attractions. I'm thinking he will want to do SpiderMan, see any superheroes there are to be seen and maybe hit Seuss Land and/or some of the smaller rides in the Jurassic Park area.

Do you think we'll be ok hitting US on Saturday? I want him to get to see the parade (it will be too late in the afternoon on Sunday). He'll love the minions ride, Transformers, ET, Shrek, the Simpsons things....

Any thoughts or suggestions? If we love it, we'll upgrade our park passes to annual passes, so we can always go back, and he won't know what he's missing if we don't do all the things, but I want to make smart and efficient decisions.

Thanks for any and all suggestions!

 

[wookiebeck]

There is enough to do at both parks which makes your decision hard.

For IOA: When my kids were that young, they stayed in the Seuss playground/water area for hours. Then we got to the Jurassic Park playground and caves and I spent another two hours sitting on a bench waiting for them to get tired (which never happened). As you can see, it isn't the rides that they needed, just plain-old kid fun.

For USO: You mentioned most of the more subdued family friendly attractions. There really is a lot to do there. And behind E.T. is still a kids play area if I am not mistaken. If you want to see the parade at night, you should consider this the Saturday all-day park.

Have fun no matter which way you go!

 

[Metro West]

Do you think we'll be ok hitting US on Saturday? I want him to get to see the parade (it will be too late in the afternoon on Sunday). He'll love the minions ride, Transformers, ET, Shrek, the Simpsons things....

Any thoughts or suggestions? If we love it, we'll upgrade our park passes to annual passes, so we can always go back, and he won't know what he's missing if we don't do all the things, but I want to make smart and efficient decisions.

Thanks for any and all suggestions!

I think you would be fine to do the Studios on Saturday. Just plan to be there before opening if you want to try and do a lot before the parade. I wanted to make sure what parade you're talking about. Are you talking about the Mardi Gras parade or the Superstar parade? The SS parade should be performed around 2pm this weekend but keep in mind the park will begin to get really crowded as the folks coming for MG enter the park. If you haven't seen the Mardi Gras parade, you should plan on staying to see it. It's a lot of fun and kids love to catch the beads thrown from the floats. It's included in your park admission so you won't have to pay anything additional.

 

[jayster263]

Metro West is right...I found that when the rope drop at US that everyone goes right into the front area (Despicable Me, Shrek) and not too many go to the back of the park. That would be the best time to go do the Simpsons, MIB, and ET.....there is a great wet area by ET (Curious George land) and I think Barney and Woody Woodpecker Kids Coaster are still there too)

 

[ellemenohpee]

I think you would be fine to do the Studios on Saturday. Just plan to be there before opening if you want to try and do a lot before the parade. I wanted to make sure what parade you're talking about. Are you talking about the Mardi Gras parade or the Superstar parade? The SS parade should be performed around 2pm this weekend but keep in mind the park will begin to get really crowded as the folks coming for MG enter the park. If you haven't seen the Mardi Gras parade, you should plan on staying to see it. It's a lot of fun and kids love to catch the beads thrown from the floats. It's included in your park admission so you won't have to pay anything additional.

I definitely want to do the superstar parade. If he lasts through to Mardi Gras, even better.

Thanks to everyone!