HOw old should my DDs be to visit these parks?

[Casey's mom]

I have 2 DDs -- now 5-1/2 and 4 and we have visited WDW a number of times. The girls are fairly conservative in their ride choices -- Splash Mtn is a non-starter for them and I took my 4 yr old on Big THunder this past weekend and it scared her. What would be a good age to bring the girls to Universal parks? Obviously they are a long way off from trying the big roller coasters (although I will try them ), but is there enough to interest them say next year or should we wait longer? Any help would be appreciated!

 

[suzysezso]

While IOA has Seuss Landing specifically for the young set, and your kiddies may enjoy other rides there, mho is that your family would enjoy Universal Studios much more.
There are not as many thrill rides as IOA, more show type attractions, but do be careful in your choices. You know your kids best, and while we find Kong and Beetlejuice laughable fun your kids may get frightened. Same with MIB, T23D, Twister, Jaws, Earthquake, and BTTF. Good fun, simulators with good but not too violent action, but the story lines may be too intense for little ones.
Best bets are the Hanna Barbara ride & interactive area, Nickelodeon Studios, Barney show & play area, Curious George Play area, Woody Woodpecker coaster (very scaled down version of a big coaster and probably a good intro to that type of ride for them), ET adventure, Animal Planet show, and the Wild West Show.
Both parks have baby swap areas for most rides so that Mom, Dad, and older siblings can enjoy the more adventerous rides without waiting in line twice.

 

[sha_lyn]

I think IOA is more entertaining for the little ones. Sure there is more they can do at US but there is more they will want to do at IOA. At least this is the case with our DD. She was 3 1/2 on our first trip and 4 1/2 on our last. She loves Seusslanding and the play area in Jurassic park. She also like US. US does have the barney show and play area. DD was so thrilled to ride some of the bigger rides this yr however so she wasn't interested in Barney.

 

[webray]

Take them now...let them do all the cool kid things...look at uescape.com. They can ride the ET bicylcles at universal, go through Seuss landing at IOA...and much more. They will love it, and so will you.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

We went to Universal and IoA last August when our youngest was 20 months and our older children were 7, 10, and 13yo. We had a wonderful time and would love to return. We plan to wait until our youngest is at least 42 inches tall, though, so that we'll be able to do more as a family (MIB, Spiderman, etc). We don't need to wait until he is old enough to do the big coasters since our now 8yo is not a coaster kid. We'll have to do the baby swap for the 8yo so it's not as if we could all ride the real big rides anyway.

There is a lot for younger kids to do at Universal besides the big rides. How easily do your girls get frightened by "scary" situations? That would determine what rides and attractions they could handle. For example, my 8yo wouldn't go on Rock N Roller Coaster at MGM, but thought that Alien Encounter was lame.