Disney or Universal?

[cam8n]

We are going to disney for 6 days in sept and were gonna do 2 days at universal before we checked in to disney staying at the hard rock. We have 2 boys 10 and 2 and I know are 10 year old will love universal as we have been before, but I 'm not so sure about the 2 year old
So my question is should we scrap uv and just ad 2 more days to disney or do you think are 2 year old would be fine with it? I'm just thinking there's alot more at disney for our 2 year old to do, and some of the recent reviews of uv are getting me concerned. they have not been very good.
Thanks for any opinions on this matter

 

[imthatgirl]

out od curiousity, where have you read these reviews? on here? they may be a bit biased
we love universal, and i like to go on eveyr vacation to disney. but i was a little unsure from your post how many days you are there. you said 6 days 2 at universal. is that 8 days total.
if its 8 days total, then if it were me i would do the 2 at universal.
if its 6 days total, than i wouldnt. theres plenty at disney.

 

[cam8n]

Yes , 6 days at disney and 2 at uv, 8 total is what we have now. Been reading some not so great reviews on the tgm forums
and some on here also. Have you been with young kids to uv? How was it? We have been to disney many times with young ones so we know whats there. thanks

 

[Camno's Mama]

We went there a few years ago when we were in Orlando with my brothers and their girlfriends and our parents. My kids were 2 1/2 and five months old. They do have some stuff to do in the Universal side. There is a really cute Barney area that my older ds loved at the time. They also have a Woody Woodpecker rollercoaster that is a lot like the Barnstormer that he was big enough to ride. They also have a water play area. The Islands of Adventure side has the Dr. Seuss area. There is a carousel in that part of the park. I don't remember there being much of anything for the little ones at IOA though.

That being said...it's pretty awesome for the ones that are big enough to ride the rollercoasters. My brothers really loved IOA and the whole family found stuff that they liked at Universal. We did both parks in one day, but you could easily take a day to do each.

When we went back this year, it was just my boys, dh and myself. We did not do Universal because they are too little to appreciate it. But I think if your older ones are old enough, you will be able to make do with the little one, especially at Universal.

 

[imthatgirl]

all of my kids have been there at 2 1/2 ish. thats when we start taking them to disney.
they have a great time. yes theres more things they cant ride, but there is plenty they can. plus kids that age dont get upset when they cant go on a ride, unlike i 4 yo who wants to go, they just except it. when one of us takes the other kids on, lets say hulk, the other parent doesnt usually just ist and wait. if somehting is close ill take them there, or even just walk around a store. i would let them get out of the carriage and wander around, showing me where they wanted to go.
luckily a kid at that age can be pleased simply with just walking through a store instead of riding through one, and that gave them the oppurtunity to do that.

i think the harder part was the original universal studios. it seemed to me that there was more there they couldnt do.

 

[weloveprincesses]

We've done both Universal and Disney. I do think there is much more to do for older kids, HOWEVER there are some fun things for younger ones to do, it simply isn't as much. The Dr. Suess side is good, the characters come out too, which was fun for my girls as we totally didn't expect to see them. For the older ones, if you have coaster fans, the rides are totally cool. We do spend much more time on that side than the other side, simply because we love the rides, but for the littler ones you can absolutely find fun things to do on both sides. Just not as much. We usually spend one day there and the rest at Disney. As the girls get older, I'm sure we'll spend more days there.

Have fun!!
Maggi

 

[mncherokee]

We were in Orlando for 10 days this summer.

I did both Universal Studios and Disney this summer with my 2 1/2 year old. I skipped Islands of Adventure with her because I thought there wouldn't be much she could do there.

She LOVED the Curious George play area... a small playground, sprinklers, ball room. We didn't have much time and missed Barney (not open until afternoon).

Because of her interest in the Curious George park, we were planning on returning another day, but didn't. Why you ask?

DOWN TIME!

We had 5 days at Disney, 1 at Daytona Beach and frankly, we were really tired and needed some days just to chill at the house (we rented a house).

For 8 days... I wouldn't plan a park for every day (whichever you choose to do)... take some down time!

I can see the benefits of both Universal and Disney, but next time, I would choose just one set of parks and not try to do everything... after all, you are on vacation!

 

[vcgirl925]

I'd personally do 5 days at WDW and 1 at Universal. I agree with the PP that you need some downtown. With that said i think that a day or two at Universal would be fun for your older son. I think that 2 year old will go with the flow and be fine no matter where you go.

 

[ChristusG]

I wouldnt listen to the reviews on here about Universal/IOA. We live 2.5 hours from Orlando and have been to both Universal parks quite a few different times. It's always been great.

We actually went to them for our then-2-year-old. She loves Dora, Scooby Doo, and Curious George, so she got to see all of her favorites! She loved the Curious George water play area at Universal....and the Barney Show....and Fievel's Playland. She even went on Twister and loved it when she was three!

There's more for small children at Universal than at Islands of Adventure. There's mostly thrill rides there, except for Seuss Landing, but they do have some cute things there.

 

[christa112]

We have yet to go to Universal because for that reason. I am going to wait until my dd (4) is at least 6 to hit Universal. In a couple of years we will do just Universal, Sea World, Busch Garden, Discovery Cove & GatorLand (or something along those lines), no WDW at all

I think at that point my kids will enjoy the older stuff better and we will all have a great time.