Is Universal for us?

[wbarkhur]

Ok I know that this seems to be a very common question, but I am going to ask it again. My husband and I will be coming to Florida on Nov 20-Dec5 of this year with our five children. Two girls and three boys ages 12(g), 10(g), 7(b), 6(b), and 2 3/4(b) at time of travel. We are planning spending two days at Universal one day for each park. I have a couple of questions and was hoping that you all could help answer.
Because we will be there Thanksgiving week we are trying to avoid all of the parks(Disney, Universal, Sea World, ect) the day before, of, and after the holiday. If we do this will we avoid most of the crowds?
Second we would like to do the grinch christmas breakfast, will it most likely be going on when we are there?
And is there anything else going on holiday wise that is a not to miss event at Universal?
Ok the big question, is universal something we are going to enjoy or are we waisting our time and money? The reason I ask is we are pretty picky/protective about what the kids watch/read (not looking for opinions on this, each family is different this is what we choose for ours(and this is not just limited to Universal there are things at disney we will be skipping to)) so we will not be doing anything with Harry Potter, Simpsons, Shrek, or sponge bob. I am also not sure about Men in Black, Revenge of the mummy,and Terminator, worried they may be too intense/violent. So will there still be things for us to do and enjoy, or should we skip one or both of the parks?
Thanks for your help with this, I am trying to plan a great vacation, and not finding much info on Universal.

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Because we will be there Thanksgiving week we are trying to avoid all of the parks(Disney, Universal, Sea World, ect) the day before, of, and after the holiday. If we do this will we avoid most of the crowds?

I think you'd find less crowds the day before and the day of Thanksgiving than the rest of the weekend.

Second we would like to do the grinch christmas breakfast, will it most likely be going on when we are there?

The Grinch character breakfast doesn't usually start until the month of December.

And is there anything else going on holiday wise that is a not to miss event at Universal?

The holidays at Universal don't usually start until the first week of December.

Ok the big question, is universal something we are going to enjoy or are we waisting our time and money? The reason I ask is we are pretty picky/protective about what the kids watch/read (not looking for opinions on this, each family is different this is what we choose for ours(and this is not just limited to Universal there are things at disney we will be skipping to)) so we will not be doing anything with Harry Potter, Simpsons, Shrek, or sponge bob. I am also not sure about Men in Black, Revenge of the mummy,and Terminator, worried they may be too intense/violent. So will there still be things for us to do and enjoy, or should we skip one or both of the parks?

You would be wasting your time and money. Unless you get a 1-day, 2-park hopper to hit the attractions you won't be offended by, you're missing out on some of the best attractions.

Check out the Universal Orlando website for attraction descriptions. Also, here's the 2010 brochure for Universal which features park maps and overviews of the resort.

http://www.univacations.com/pdf/2010_UNI_brochure.PDF

 

[Disn3y]

With that many restrictions towards your kids watching anything with those characters listed you might as well pass IMO.

 

[rwdavis2]

With that many restrictions towards your kids watching anything with those characters listed you might as well pass IMO.

Agreed.

 

[Friendly Frog]

I have to agree. Based on your personal comfort level, Universal may not be right for you. Especially IOA. If you still think you want to go, I would suggest that you watch video's on youtube first. Especially video of the superhero area.