Looking at trying it (with littles)

[Jmljasmine]

So I'm looking into disney alternatives and would love to hear people's suggestions and advice for a family of 6 regarding universal. Kid ages would range 3-8. I've been part of a Disney family since I was 4 but things are getting so different now.

 

[Makmak]

I’m pasting this from a reply to another person a few days ago so I don’t have to type it all again bc it basically addresses your questions:
We have had annual passes at UO since my child was a toddler. In “normal times” there is a wonderful building open with lots of interactive dinosaur activities near the Jurassic Park ride. They have an “ultrasound” where kids can sort large dinosaur eggs, interactive fossil activities, huge dinosaurs with kid size viewers and microphones that you can use to see out the dinos eyes and make them “talk” and an interactive exhibit where baby dinos hatch in a lab and one child is selected to name it. (You get a certificate and can request updates about your Dino with the Number on future visits and they will show you videos of your baby Dino aging). Sadly this was all closed because of Covid-19 and I’m not sure when you are going but this was my daughters favorite spot in the park. There is also a big outdoor play area near pterodon flyers (kid ride) with tunnels and fossils where they can run around and explore (kind of like the Dino area at AK). In terms of rides and shows there are a lot of height restrictions, but minions ride, shrek show are good at those ages. The simpsons area has carnival games and the TM will tell you which ones “always win” if you have small kids. There’s a ride like dumbo but with the aliens from simpsons and the dialogue is hilarious. There is another play area back by woodys roller coaster (also for littles) including a water feature near ET. Last time we saw a very small child like a year old on ET and were surprised, so apparently really small kids can go on it. But the problem is that the play areas, Dino building and interactive water features were all closed when we were there in June/sept 2020 and still closed in January 2021, and I’m not sure when they will be open. There is another dumbo type ride in Seuss landing and a cat in the hat ride that I personally find creepy haha. There is also a very very slow trolly ride there. Face painting was still available and they had modified it for masks, so it’s just top half of the face. In the Harry Potter areas your 6 year old can do the interactive wand and not sure ages of your other kids but my daughter liked doing the spells at 5. The roaming wizard professors will notice small children and “help” them do spells (we have had this happen in less crowded times). When we were there the Olivander show was made into a single family event due to covid so you may want to check if that’s still a thing since it means you can pick which of your kids is “selected” by the wand. Just a note that some kids get scared when the dragon breathes fire, it’s loud. There’s a small roller coaster (hippogriff) in the IOA side of Harry Potter that has a lesser height restriction.
EDIT:because I remembered more stuff

 

[AJA]

What about Lego Land or Sea World?

The attractions for Ages 3-5 are going to be limited with the play area Covid closures. By ages 7-8 most kiddos are tall enough for the milder family friendly “thrill” rides Universal specializes in, but I’m not sure it would be ideal for the younger ones. There is nothing worse than a little sister/brother being too short for everything the older ones get to do.

My daughter really started to love Universal around age 7/8 when she was finally tall enough for the Mummy coaster.

Usually my advice for a family with a little one and then older kids (say 7+) is Universal has a lot to entertain a pre schooler while the other adult can the older kids on rides. But with Covid closures a lot of the fun pre school offerings are not available.

Just My Opinion, with 4 kids all age 8 and under I would wait until the play areas reopen before going to Universal.

 

[ChanaC]

I second Legoland and/or SeaWorld. While it's not like there is NOTHING preschools can't do, as others pointed out a lot of the smaller kid stuff is closed. If you do go, I would only make one day of it because you could do all the smaller kid stuff in one day at both parks. As mentioned above, good rides/attractions for that age group are Minions, Shrek, ET, Hogwarts Express and all the Seuss stuff. And if you want to take the 8 year old on more "big kid" attractions, I would also argue that Universal has a better child swap arrangement. At Disney, the whole party goes to the front of the queue but only one person walks through the line while the other waits outside with the child. Then when they finish the second parent gets to go on the ride. At Universal, the whole family goes through the line together and at the end there is a small room (with seating, AC, and usually with a TV playing a related movie) that the waiting parent and the child sits in. After, they swap and the second parent also goes to the front of the line. I personally think this is a better policy because everyone gets to stay together and the family waiting rooms are actually pretty nice.

Legoland is definitely geared towards the younger kid demographic with tons of rides. SeaWorld now has the Sesame Street with lot of little kid rides. Plus, I would argue that the animal stuff is good for kids of all ages, and if they are really into animals you could spend a lot of time just looking at the aquariums and exhibits, and even make repeat visits throughout the day because the animals are always doing something slightly different. I believe most of the shows are still happening as well, which takes up a good portion of the day.

 

[puffkin]

We just started travelling to Universal with my pretty adventurous 8 year old (I also have a 15 year old). We held off until he was a bit older to handle it and was tall enough for most of the rides. Even the more kiddie rides are a bit more intense than you might expect, especially if you are used to Disney. With the current closures, I just don't know if it is worth it with kids that young since the closures mostly impact rides/activities in that age group. I can say, our two pandemic trips we saw very few kids in the parks younger than my son.

ETA: My kids grew up at Disney, 2-3 trips a year since they were 12 weeks old. We are DVC. They still love Disney and we will continue going there, but there is a lot to really like about Universal now, especially with all the changes at Disney even before the pandemic. Our two pandemic trips we have also felt Universal far outshone Disney. I am glad my kids are at the age where we can really enjoy Universal now. Our next trip in April is actually a Seaworld/Aquatica/Discovery Cove and Universal split trip. My kids wanted to try DC over going to Disney! We do have a Disney only trip planned in the summer.

 

[ksdaveb2003]

We took my kids to WDW for many years while they were growing up. Then we went on a trip when my daughter was 11 and my son was 9 for two days at UO and 5 days at WDW. About a month after we returned, we started to plan the next year's trip. When we asked our kids how they wanted to split it, they said they just wanted to do UO. The said the characters/autograph books/rides at WDW no longer interested them and that they loved the "grown up" feel of everything at UO. We made 1-2 trips per year to UO every year after that until they were both in college, normally staying at PBH. My daughter now has two girls, one who is three today and has already been to WDW in 2019, and one who was born at 5:15 PM yesterday. Her plan is to do WDW until they are around 10 and 7, then start UO trips.

 

[GoofyDad_4427]

Let me start by saying that as we all know, all kids are different. My boys are currently 14 and 11 and are riders, anything they are allowed to ride they will. Our first universal trip was when they were 12 and 9, and i thought that was perfect timing. They had done Disney plenty of times and had outgrown the autographs, characters, and such. I can't imagine having taken them to Universal much sooner, as i feel like it would have been wasted money, or at least the parks. We love the resorts and the Citywalk area, and you could definitely do those things at any age.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

We started taking our children right after they were born, so they've grown up visiting US/IOA. (They're now 24 (living in Orlando), 22, 19 and 13). We always snuck in a trip before returning to work full-time from maternity leave and our trips were usually in early Winter, so just feeling the glorious sun on our skin was enough to make us happy. Ticket prices were a lot lower than they are now, so we'd get US/IOA annual passes and managed to spend several days each trip there with plenty to do, no matter what their ages.

 

[dawnball]

So I'm looking into disney alternatives and would love to hear people's suggestions and advice for a family of 6 regarding universal. Kid ages would range 3-8. I've been part of a Disney family since I was 4 but things are getting so different now.

I can speak mostly to 3 year olds. On our last trip with a 3 year old he rode:
Pteradon flyers (all morning long)
Woody Woodpecker's nuthouse coaster (I think only once, but I don't remember why)
Kang and Kodo's Twirl and Hurl (dumbo, only a few times because it is hot and shadeless)
Hogwarts Express (both ways)
Storm force Aceleratron (over and over)
One Fish, Two Fish (until we we were all soaked)
Cat in the Hat and the Seuss Trolley (not really a fan of either)
Carouseusel (multiple rides)
Flight of the Hippogriff (over and over again)

There's more he could have gone on, but there wasn't enough group interest. At 4 he'll be 42" and that opens a bunch more rides. We spent 5 days, and he never expressed frustration over a lack of rides or missing Disney.

We had a great time, but we're pretty willing to split up. So typically someone would ride Pteradon flyers or Hippogriff with him while the bigger kids did Hagrid's. He also needed more naps and breaks, so we used those times for big-kid or adult choice rides. We never used child swap, and it was June 2020, so we didn't need express pass, but we are planning express pass for this summer.

 

[puffkin]

I can speak mostly to 3 year olds. On our last trip with a 3 year old he rode:
Pteradon flyers (all morning long)
Woody Woodpecker's nuthouse coaster (I think only once, but I don't remember why)
Kang and Kodo's Twirl and Hurl (dumbo, only a few times because it is hot and shadeless)
Hogwarts Express (both ways)
Storm force Aceleratron (over and over)
One Fish, Two Fish (until we we were all soaked)
Cat in the Hat and the Seuss Trolley (not really a fan of either)
Carouseusel (multiple rides)
Flight of the Hippogriff (over and over again)

There's more he could have gone on, but there wasn't enough group interest. At 4 he'll be 42" and that opens a bunch more rides. We spent 5 days, and he never expressed frustration over a lack of rides or missing Disney.

We had a great time, but we're pretty willing to split up. So typically someone would ride Pteradon flyers or Hippogriff with him while the bigger kids did Hagrid's. He also needed more naps and breaks, so we used those times for big-kid or adult choice rides. We never used child swap, and it was June 2020, so we didn't need express pass, but we are planning express pass for this summer.

Unfortunately Kang and Kodo's is now only open during very busy times, and Aceleratron is closed indefinitely. I hate that they took away two rides that the younger ones could do given the limited options. My 8 year old is a bit too short for Hulk, and Aceleratron was always a good diversion for him while waiting.

 

[03GirlsMom]

We're a family of 6 as well and we just couldn't justify the price of the tickets until the kids were tall enough to ride the majority of the rides. I will be taking my older girls (ages 7, 10, & 11) for the first time as a "girls only" trip next month since my 7 year old finally hit 48". My 2 year old will be staying home with my husband while we're away (they're planning a "boys only" trip elsewhere). Even though our fall trip is a split between UO and Disney, the 2 year old will not be joining us on our UO days - he'll either swim at the hotel or go to a more age appropriate park with dad or grandma. My girls are also love big rollercoasters and thrill rides. If they didn't, I'm not sure that I'd take them then, either.

It really depends on your kids, their heights, and interests.

 

[ChanaC]

Just something to add since I see a lot of people talking about the "big intense" rides and roller coasters - I'm not someone who likes the big coasters and I still love Universal. For some reference, while I love HP and the Forbidden Journey I hate The Mummy and I'm too scared to go on anything more intense than it, even Rip Ride Rocket. In Disney terms, I've done Everest and I really don't like it and I'm also too scared of Rockin Rollercoaster. So even if you're a "moderate" thrill person, there is still a lot to do.

 

[TreeFalls]

We just went with 5/8/10. I think under 42 inches limits your options quite a bit.. The 5yo is over 42 inches and rode everything he was allowed to, which was most things. I will say that the lines got pretty long around lunchtime, and without express pass he would not have had stamina for the lines. There are a few playground-like attractions that he would have loved, but are closed for covid. The 8yo is a daredevil and was tall enough for everything but the hulk and the free fall ride, and she rode everything she could.

 

[dawnball]

Unfortunately Kang and Kodo's is now only open during very busy times, and Aceleratron is closed indefinitely. I hate that they took away two rides that the younger ones could do given the limited options. My 8 year old is a bit too short for Hulk, and Aceleratron was always a good diversion for him while waiting.

Aww man. I wouldn't be sad about Kang and Kodo, but we'll miss the Aceleratron.

 

[Gatrcruzer]

I am a big fan of Universal but haven't been back since covid times. If the play areas were open it could be a good option, but given that they are closed, I agree with others that Legoland is the way to go with that many young children. It is really geared toward your age demographic AND cheaper.