3.5 year old?

[Jadeey]

I'm feeling torn about whether or not to go to Universal and IoA as part of our Disney trip next year. My daughter will be 3.5 at the time of our trip and it will be our first Orlando trip with a child. My husband and I adore the Universal parks and haven't been since Diagon Alley opened so are very keen to add some days (probably 2 days) there onto our trip.

Is there enough to do there for a 3.5 year old to make it feel like it is worth taking the days away from Disney? Or are we better to wait a couple of years until she's a bit older? The play areas sound amazing, but I wonder if it won't feel like it was worth the money.

 

[LYSE]

Honestly I would wait until she is a bit older. I dont think there is much for a child that is under 7 or so....maybe 6 depending on how brave the kid is. Are you trying to get in rides or do you just want to go and see diagon alley? If you just want to see it and not experience the rides, I would get her a wand and let her do some "Magic".

 

[Robo56]

I would not wait. I see families with little ones of all ages from infant, toddlers etc.. This never stops folks from visiting Universal.

I would go to the Universal website and look over the park maps. Certain rides do have height restrictions.

A good number of rides have a parent swap room...i.e..so while one parent is riding the ride the other parent will stay with child and they will switch off allowing both parents to enjoy the ride.

Universal has put a lot of thought into allowing everyone to enjoy the parks there.

She would enjoy Suess Landing in IOA. There are fun rides for you all to enjoy as a family that are geared towards littles her age.

Woody Woodpecker's kid zone is nice at Universal.

Diagon Alley is something to behold. Go and have a good time

 

[bchbetha]

I would not wait. I see families with little ones of all ages from infant, toddlers etc.. This never stops folks from visiting Universal.

I would go to the Universal website and look over the park maps. Certain rides do have height restrictions.

A good number of rides have a parent swap room...i.e..so while one parent is riding the ride the other parent will stay with child and they will switch off allowing both parents to enjoy the ride.

Universal has put a lot of thought into allowing everyone to enjoy the parks there.

She would enjoy Suess Landing in IOA. There are fun rides for you all to enjoy as a family that are geared towards littles her age.

Woody Woodpecker's kid zone is nice at Universal.

Diagon Alley is something to behold. Go and have a good time

Yep. The ride swap makes it easy for parents to enjoy big rides. There are kid appropriate rides. And the play areas are awesome (I wish we had a day just to do them!). Would it be even better if they were older? Yeah. But, I bet you can just plan to do both.

 

[ArtieRyder]

I was in Universal last year with 2 almost 3 year olds a 5 year and a 7 year old.

The first thing we did when we go there was to go "on" the shrek ride, its the first ride you see (I think). We went into the first room, it was dark, got darker and loud and my younger son (almost 3) wigged out and I left with him. I was outside and about 5 minutes later my wife came out with the other 3. They went to the second room, it was darker and louder and the kids started crying.

Every ride we saw the rest of the day, the kids would ask is it like shrek (i.e. a screen ride) ad we had to answer yes for most.

Its anecdotal, though. My kids just don't like dark and loud.

We had some fun in the dr seuss area and hogwarts/diagon. The kids do like roller coasters, but they all had very long lines,

I would say to go for just 1 day.

 

[kohlby]

I have been with a child that age. Actually, All three of my kids have gone at that age. Two hit 40" with shoes easily then - one even was 42" so he could do MIB in addition. Another was sort of 40". It depended on time of day. Wear sneakers and try those 40" rides first thing in the morning.

As for other things corn the under 40" crowd - if I ran the zoo play area, me ship the olive play place, camp Jurassic, Discovery center, Fieval's playland, animal actor show, talking fountain, Barney (though we never went to that), curious George water area, the ball shooting place at the end of Curious George, shrek, minions non-motion seats, terminator, parade, street shows etc. I don't know the height restrictions anymore but am thinking a few of the Dr. Seuss area rides have lower minimums as does Woody Woodpecker and perhaps even Hippogriff. Storm force might be lower too - the website will have that info on it. There is also so much to see and yummy food! For my kids, two days was needed. It meant we could relax and shoot balls at each other instead of rushing. IME, kids that age want plenty of time to play and sometimes want to do rides over and over.

 

[flortlebap]

Given the price increases, as much as I love universal, I'd wait.

We still had a great time with our non thrill riding 5 year olds, but even MiB freaked them out. They enjoyed the fieval play area the most. They hated the simpsons and cried all the way through. Spider-Man was okay. The dr zeuss stuff was good, but wasn't worth the waits or park entry just for that.

JMO though. I'm sure others would have an even better time

 

[yaya74]

We went to WDW last summer when my youngest one was 4, at 42 inches. This summer my youngest is 5 at 45 inches... my honest opinion for you would be: Universal will be fun for you and your husband, but probably not as fun for ur little one. My husband and I used child swap for various rides and the system is very convenient. HOWEVeR! You got to bring your kid along with you all the way to the loading area, and my young boy didn't like to go through the set at all, especially at Gringoff and at the Mummy.... I saw crying kids in the child swap rooms which can be as dark as the rest of the setting.

Hence, the decision is for you to make.... this trip is my first trip to UO and my next trip will b when my youngest boy is at least 9 yo at 54 inches or taller.

 

[gotomu212]

We went with our son at this age and he loved it. That ball pit area in the Curious George area with the vacuum....oh man we spent a TON of time there. Jurassic Park playground and all the rides in Seuss land were big wins. He could even ride Flight of the Hippogriff-over and over and over.

The one thing that freaked him out was Poseidon Fury. When they said you will never survive he lost it...other than that minor childhood scarring we had a great time.

 

[Kerriowl]

I think it depends on how much your kid likes riding rides versus enjoying the atmosphere. My first born does not do well with missing out and would have been miserable at 3 years old in Universal since there is so much that he would have missed. That said, my second born is happy to walk through lines see the sights and wait in the child swap room watching tv. He would have been fine at 3.

 

[Kerriowl]

The one thing that freaked him out was Poseidon Fury. When they said you will never survive he lost it...other than that minor childhood scarring we had a great time.

This totally freaked out my 6 year old. I was holding him in the first room and we never made it to the second room. We used the "emergency" exit and saw the back stage area which had lots of signage for how to get back to the front of the ride.

 

[FargoBear]

Our 3.5-year-old son loved Universal when he was there at that age. He went on the Seuss ride, the kiddie coaster outside Hogwarts, Spiderman, Transformers, Simpsons, Despicable Me, etc. Now, if the child wasn't 40 inches tall that would eliminate a number of those rides. And once kids reach 42 inches that opens up Popeye and Jurassic Park, which are a lot of fun.

 

[schumigirl]

I would not wait. I see families with little ones of all ages from infant, toddlers etc.. This never stops folks from visiting Universal.

I would go to the Universal website and look over the park maps. Certain rides do have height restrictions.

A good number of rides have a parent swap room...i.e..so while one parent is riding the ride the other parent will stay with child and they will switch off allowing both parents to enjoy the ride.

Universal has put a lot of thought into allowing everyone to enjoy the parks there.

She would enjoy Suess Landing in IOA. There are fun rides for you all to enjoy as a family that are geared towards littles her age.

Woody Woodpecker's kid zone is nice at Universal.

Diagon Alley is something to behold. Go and have a good time

This.

Heck I think It's a small world is scarier than half the rides at Universal........

What makes some kids cry won't make others cry.........there's plenty for little ones to do at both Universal parks.......as Robo suggested check the website or Google (might be easier than the current website) and see what's on offer there for your family.......

 

[bumbershoot]

That ball pit area in the Curious George area with the vacuum....oh man we spent a TON of time there. Jurassic Park playground and all the rides in Seuss land were big wins.

Those areas are so great. If I had a wee one I would go just for those.

 

[keishashadow]

The play area is amazing. I freely admit I have lost 2 children in the ball pit area, both managed to find me

seriously, when it's busy it can be challenging to keep an eye on the littles there even if you are trailing them, all the while trying to avoid getting sprayed by other little darlings.

That area may be RIP sooner than later for Mario & his gang.

Disney has a proud tradition of dark rides too. Suggest taking the kiddies to your local/cheaper park first & see how they react. Many children who are sensitive to noises do well with noise-cancelling headphones, worth a shot.

 

[robl45]

I think from a price perspective, you might want to skip it. a day or two gets expensive. There are definitely things the young ones can do and things I worry my kids might miss out on if I don't go soon, but then you add the cost and its a bit expensive if they can't ride most of the things. Might consider a day at Legoland instead.

 

[erinch]

Both mine were there at age 3. Loved, loved, loved it. Although my husband still has nightmares about the Barney show, where in the fall they dropped rain on you, and then in winter they dropped "snow" which was soap flakes that melted on the wet clothes.

If you can't afford to stay at an Express Pass hotel, I would not do it. If you can, the other thing we did was "check" our daughter in to the Kids club (Lil Rockers?) at HRH. She had a fabulous time. And we LOVED some time to go back in and do the rides together. We had also done Disney, so we were happy to get some "us" time, with her happy and secure.

 

[atinkerella]

We are going to Orlando next march with a 6yo (only 40") and a 3yo. Me and hubby enjoyed the parks before the kids. Honestly i don't think there is a lot for the younger ones. At least not worth it with the ticket prices.

Take a look about the rides on the website. They list all the height requirements. Go through once and check how many u think your toddlers would enjoy.

We are opting for legoland instead

 

[bumbershoot]

Although my husband still has nightmares about the Barney show

oh, Barney. How we hate you lol.

If you can't afford to stay at an Express Pass hotel, I would not do it

Good point.

 

[maverik85]

I'd say it depends a bit on how tall your kid is and what they like to do. There is a lot that you can do between shows and family rides, pls if you're HP fans there is a lot you can walk around and do jsut in those sections. However, if they aren't into big thrills or too short to ride there is a lot that they might not be able to do. You can do child swap if you are ok with that for most rides though.
I would also look into what might be open at the time a lot of people mention the Kidszone with Woody Woodpecker, Curious George, etc. in US but there is a good chance that that coudl be closing down by next year for work to start on the Nintendo land.
OVerall I'd say if you really want to check out the HP stuff and it's within your budget I'd go for a day or two (depending on how much you can do). If your budgets tighter or feel there is a lot you wanted get to enjoy yet as a family might want to wait a few years.