January, staying onsite with 5 year old (and a baby) - touring considerations?

[olive]

I haven't been to Universal since the early 90s, so I have no idea what I am getting into here. I have read quite a bit about it, but don't feel very prepared, at least compared to our Disney trips. Any expertise will be appreciated!

We will be checking in on a Wednesday and checking out on a Friday, and not visiting during a holiday period. Well, unless you count intersession from colleges. In any event, we are planning on getting two day tickets to visit both parks - whichever is basically the Universal/IOA version of a park hopper. I assume it won't be terribly busy, and we will have the onsite line access perk. Our son is about 44" tall now, so he likely won't grow more than another 1/2'-1' between now and then. He will want to go on every ride that he is tall enough to ride. Since we are flying in from out of town Wednesday, I assume we won't get to the hotel until early to mid afternoon; we are planning on possibly moving our luggage to our Disney hotel mid-day Friday. One parent can handle that, and the other can stay with the kids in or near Universal (maybe lunchtime). Does it make sense to devote Thursday and as much as possible of Friday to the parks, in this case, and just spend Wednesday afternoon and evening at the hotel/CityWalk? Is there much for a 5 year old to enjoy outside of the parks? Will we need to stay until pretty late Friday to get everything done in the parks? I have gotten the impression that given the height restriction we are dealing with, and since we can get through lines a bit more quickly because of staying on site, that we should be able to go at a pretty leisurely pace and even get our son on some rides several times. Is this correct?

Also - are there are restaurants in the parks that aren't suitable for a 5 year old and an infant?

Thanks so much!! We are really looking forward to our first family trip to Universal. Our son is particularly excited about Spiderman.

 

[RMulieri]

We went in Jan and had our 8 yr old with us .She was not tall enough for alot of the rides. We stayed onsite for 6 nights.We found PLENTY to do in the parks, went about them at a leisurely pace and used the express pass.I will say the parks are low crowds, LOTS OF South American tour groups though so the express pass was a life saver.We enjoyed pool time because it was warm out, but that can't be counted on.Citywalk is alot of restaurants, but there is a movie theater plus mini golf .As for restaurants in the parks, they are all family friendly.

 

[AJA]

With the little baby I don't think you'll find anything to really "do" at City Walk. Lots of restaurants (that have GREAT food) but other than the movie theater or mini golf there's not much else other than shopping.

TONS inside the parks though. You will have a great time. At IOA you have Jurassic park and the Marvel area for the 5 year old and Seuss Landing for both of them. Then at the Studios there is a great play ground/play area right past the E.T. ride. Also the Animal actors on stage if they like animals. Also if it's warm enough for water rides IOA has two of the best. We went for the first time with DD last year, she was just turning 6 and had a BLAST.

 

[olive]

Thanks so much! I thought Mythos sounded like fun, but didn't know if a 5 year old will be welcome. (The baby will sometimes be back at the hotel with either my husband or I.) I just learned today that getting a three day park-to-park ticket is like $3 more than the two day, so that gives us some additional breathing room. We will spend some time there on the first afternoon/evening to get acquainted with the parks and then spend the next day fully there. We can spend as much or as little time as we like there on the third day, then. I think our son is going to have a ball!