5 year old?!

[DisKYFan01]

We are going the end of July and considering Universal or IOA. My son will have just turned 5. he is a scarey cat likes the little rides....Will there be enough for him and us as a family to do to justify cost?!

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

I think he could have a good time but Universal is more intense as a whole than Disney.

 

[imprint]

When our girl was 5 years old, she had a great time at both parks. She loved:

US: ET, Animal Actors, Twirl and Hurl, Men in Black (her favorite ride at either park), Transformers, Woody Woodpecker, Curious George Playground, Despicable Me
IoA: Spider-Man, Storm, Popeye, Flight of Hippogryph, Jurassic playground (she really, really loved this massive playground), Seuss Train, Seuss splashpad

She also loved meeting the characters all over the park.

We utilized the child swap as well, so we could ride the coasters, Forbidden Journey, and the few rides she tried but didn't want to ride again.

Definite hit for our family.

 

[bumbershoot]

If the family wants to go, you can find things for him to do.

If the family is iffy on it and it would be better to wait until he's bigger and more brave, then go that direction.

 

[puffkin]

We went when DS was 5.5. He is tall and rides most of the big rides as soon as he is tall enough so he was able to do a lot at Universal. However, I must say he wasn't overly thrilled. I just don't think he "got" a lot of it yet. And like I said, he will pretty much go on everything so I can only imagine what it would be like with younger/smaller kids or those that are more tentative. We still had a good time, but not a "wow" experience for him.

That being said, now that he is 9 he is very excited to go back to Universal. We do Disney 2x a year and I think he is starting to age out of it a little. I actually have a mommy/son long weekend trip planned for September to do just Universal while DH stays home with DS2. It's a surprise trip, but I think he will have an amazing time now that he is older, has read the Harry Potter books, and is tall enough for the big coasters he couldn't do last time.

 

[damo]

We took our 5 year old niece last year. This year we asked if she wanted to go back to WDW and she said, "No, I want to go to Universal Studios." She loved it but she is more adventurous than it sounds like your 5 year old. She loved every ride that she was tall enough to ride and loved running around the Jurassic Park playground as well as the Curious George playground.

 

[RocketCityMama]

We just returned this past weekend, took 3 kids, 14.5, 10 and 5 and all of them loved it. The 5 yr old is small (esp weight wise) for her age and seemingly barely on the charts on height (25%) but she rode everything except big coasters and Forbidden Journey. She was right at 42 or a lil above if I recall. She rode Gringotts, Spiderman (though it was too scary had to take glasses off, but did OK), Simpsons Ride, ET, MIB, Twirl n Hurl, all the Seuss Rides, Despicable Me, Shrek etc with no problems. We never made it to ANY of the play areas lol but we took breaks midday in the hot sun because of her med condition.

 

[schumigirl]

Have you looked at www.universalorlando.com

You can see what both parks have to offer and decide if it would suit your family or not.......one 5 year old will vary with another with what they will be capable of doing.

I would take a 5 year old to Universal

 

[RMulieri]

Depends on your kid.At that age my DD was way too short still for most things and was so timid/scared that she wouldn't have enjoyed most of it.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

We took our kids to IOA when the youngest was 5 and pretty timid about rides. She loved the Dr. Seuss rides and play area, the Jurassic Park play area, walking through the FJ line (we used the child swap area), and seeing the super heroes. She thought the Pteranodon Flyers was a little too scary, although she'll tell you now that she loved it. She liked Poseidon's Adventure, the nearby talking fountain, and the Sinbad stunt show. She regretted going on the Jurassic Park ride because of the drop, even though she liked being scared by the dinosaurs, and refused to go on the Popeye ride because she was convinced it would have a big drop. She also refuse to ride Spiderman. Like some else said, a 5-year-old who doesn't like scary rides will have a good time if the rest of the family wants to go, but if you're just going for him, you might want wait a few years for Universal and try out LEGOLAND instead. If the adults want to experience thrill rides and/or are big HP fans, it's totally worth it and he'll have a fun day too.

 

[hpfan100]

These are great suggestions from PP. I would check out the ride lists and see what would be available for your 5 year old by height and then go from there. I think there are plenty of things to keep a little one busy. If you are going to pick just one park I would suggest USF. If you need to use the child swap so the little one can see the props and lines without fear of riding.

 

[kohlby]

We started taking our kids when our eldest was 3 years old. (And second child was 2 months old). There was plenty he could do! He was 40" and was willing to try everything he was tall enough for. He actually preferred IOA to the Disney parks. (Though Epcot was a close second). However, our third child went at 4 and refused to do most of the rides due to his sensory issues. (By most, I mean that he refused even rides that toddlers could go on). We still had fun. On that trip, we did US and IOA and did 6 days total. IOA was easier for our family, as the rides didn't last as long so it was easier to do parent swap.

I see another person mentioned Legoland. On our last Orlando trip, we did Disney and Legoland. That same child who refused rides at US/IOA was refusing at the start of our Disney trip. He was 5 then. Then we went to Legoland and he got up his courage and had a blast! We did a few days at Disney after that and he was much more bold. (No test track but could handle Star Tous). At Legoland, it's easy to see what the rides do and there's less darkness and the park was pretty much empty when we went. For a sensitive child, Legoland is a lot easier than Disney or US/IOA. So - if you have Legoland planned for your trip too, try to do it before US/IOA to help get your child's courage up.

 

[ForMyBoys]

I agree w/ the PPs. I also have a 5 yo and we are leaving for Universal on July 18th. What I've been doing (and what I did on past trips as well) is I show my DS videos of the rides I know he'll be tall enough to ride on You Tube. He is always worried there will be a tunnel or something scary, so if we watch a POV video of the ride he can assess if he'll like it or not. He's very excited to ride Flight of the Hippogryph!

 

[Momma2PrinceNPrinces]

We're going for the first time as a family with our 8 and 5 yr olds. I think I'm more scared of the rides than my 5 yr old DS is He won't be tall enough for some things (I think he's 44.5"/45") nor do I think he'll even go on everything he can, but I'm sure it will still be a blast for him regardless!

 

[Momma2PrinceNPrinces]

We leave July 18th too! I may have to steal your suggestion for myself and get mentally prepared