Trip Tip: What can kids do at Islands of Adventure?

[BarryHom]

Your children are not tall enough to ride the Incredible Hulk Coaster or Back to the Future. Can your kids still have fun at Universal Orlando? Of course they can! Here are kid-friendly activities at the parks.


ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE

Seuss Landing
Seuss Landing is very kid-friendly. Fences, signs, and steps are intentionally set at a lower level for kids. What child has not read a Dr. Seuss book? The familiarity children have with the Seussian works will draw them in.

Children can also enjoy the rides on the island. On Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish is a Dumbo ride with a twist. You sit in large fish and navigate up and down in a circle like the Dumbo ride at the Magic Kingdom, but you need to listen to the song to avoid getting wet. When the song says go down, you best go down or you will get a shower! When the song says go up, head to the sky. The last part is a free-for-all where you just choose a spot and hop you will not get wet.

The Caro-Seuss-El is a carousel ride populated with various Seussian creatures. The creatures move up and down, just like any other carousel. The Caro-Seuss-El is accommodating to handicapped guests. Handicapped guests roll their wheelchair into a special area on the Caro-Seuss-El and the area bobs up and down like the other creatures.

The Cat in the Hat: Ride Inside is a dark ride based on the popular book, but it spins you around. Kids have fun on this ride, but you may want to avoid the ride if yours get motion sick.

If I Ran the Zoo is a play area based on the book of the same name. Your kids can crawl through holes, squirt water on a small island, play tic-tac-toe with Old Joe, and interact with many characters.

Don’t miss the Seuss Landing street show, A Something for Everyone. Not only will the show tell the stories of the Grinch, Horton, and others, your children can get autographs and photos of the characters after the show.

The Lost Continent
The Lost Continent is home to Dueling Dragons, a roller coaster for brave souls. Although the island may not appear kid-friendly, there are things for kids to do here.

If your children are disappointed that they cannot ride Dueling Dragons, they can get a roller coaster thrill by riding the Flying Unicorn. There are not big loops or inversions. The coaster banks, turns, and goes up and down a few hills during the one-minute ride. The height requirement for the Flying Unicorn is 36 inches.

Kids can be entertainment by the Eighth Voyage of Sinbad show. The show can be loud at times, so check to see if your kids are scared by loud noises. Otherwise, the plot of the show is pretty easy to follow and once the action starts, the fights, swings, ducks, falls, and explosions continue until the end. Even if you cannot see the show, do not miss the Mystic Fountain at the entrance. The fountain talks back at you and tries to make you wet. Most of the time, it succeeds. Kids seem to have the most fun talking back to the fountain and trying to get it to squirt them.

Sinbad’s Village has many carnival-type games at an extra cost. Your kids may want to knock down bottles to win the huge Scooby-Doo stuffed animal.

Jurassic Park
If your children are not tall enough for the Jurassic Park River Adventure, they can meet a living Triceratops at the Triceratops Encounter. You can see one of three Triceratops: Sara, Topper, and Chris. The Triceratops will move, yell, and even go to the bathroom. Kids have a chance to pet the Triceratops if they are as tall as the fence surrounding the dinosaur.

The Jurassic Park Discovery Center is a mini-science center where every exhibit is based on dinosaurs. Children can play You Bet Jurassic to test their dinosaur I.Q., they can X-ray the insides of a dinosaur egg, they can have their DNA sampled to create a new dinosaur, they can search for dinosaur bones in a rock, and they can “Be-A-Saur” by looking through VR glasses in a dinosaur model.

Camp Jurassic is another play area. Kids can run through caves, squirt each other, climb over rope bridges, and go down slides. Be careful because Camp Jurassic winds around a lot and it is easy to lose a child in there. Camp Jurassic is also home to the only ride exclusively for kids, Pterandon Flyers. Children must be 36 to 56 inches to ride. Anyone over 56 inches tall will need to ride with a child who meets the height requirement.

If your kids still want to get wet, but they are too short for the Jurassic Park River Adventure, they can stand in the splash zone for a dousing. The splash zone is by the Thunder Falls Terrace. When a boat comes down, it splashes a huge wave that hits anyone standing in the splash zone. You may even get more wet in the splash zone than on the ride itself!

Toon Lagoon
If your kids do not meet the 44-inch height requirement for Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls or the 48-inch height requirement for Popeye and Bluto’s Bildge-Raft Barges, they can still have fun on Me Ship, the Olive. Me Ship, the Olive is a three-level interactive play area. It is Popeye’s ship modeled after his girlfriend. Kids can climb up and down the stairs, go down the slides, and play on a piano. An elevator is provided for those who cannot climb stairs. The most popular level is the second level. On this level, squirt guns are provided so you can quirt the passing boats. Although the boat rides have a wetter experience in other parts of the ride, the squirt guns seem to annoy them the most. The guns bring out the little devils in children.

Children can see their favorite Toon Lagoon characters around the island of during the Toon Trolley Show. Consult your park map for times.

Marvel Super Hero Island
The three major rides on this island – The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Dr. Doom’s Fearfall, and the Incredible Hulk Coaster – have height requirements (40 inches, 52 inches, and 54 inches, respectfully). The only ride that doesn’t is Storm Force Accelatron. This is a teacups clone that is themed after the X-Men and Storm. If your kids have motion sickness, they may want to avoid the ride. Otherwise, just sit and spin the control as fast as you can!

Marvel superheroes appear on the island throughout the day and during the Meet the Marvel Super Heroes parade. Consult your map for times.

 

[sneezy123]

Barry, thank u very very very much for that great write-up.
We are heading down to US/IOA this coming week, and glad to see how much DS7, DD5 can
do in IOA. We have 3 day tickets (third day free from Discover) and wasn't sure
before there were enough for us to do all 3 days. Thank you thank you! This is a great
site! Can't wait to tell other Orlando-bound friends & family.

 

[im_vee]

We went in August with a 10-year-old (tall enough for EVERYTHING) and an almost-5-year-old (NOT tall OR brave enough).

You need to know what your kids will/can tolerate, and maybe consider splitting up as a last (or maybe FIRST) resort. My daughter ended up waiting in the switch-off area for all the coasters (my son then unfairly got to ride everything he wanted twice). My daughter, we discovered, likes getting wet but not SOAKED and HATED the Bluto's barges, even with a rain poncho on. She is also petrified of Characters (which saves HOURS of time but COME ON???). So her options were pretty limited. She DOES like to shop (aackkkk).

If we had to do it again, I think we would have each taken a kid in the morning, met for lunch, then swapped kids and kept going. We did this at Disney one day and it worked great. Both kids got to do what THEY wanted to do without having to wait for the other or participate in something they weren't interested in or afraid of. BOTH PARENTS also need to be able to make concessions of their own (had to convince my husband that it was NOT fair for he and Josh to take off and do all the good rides & shows, leaving me to babysit Jordan at the hotel pool for a week, and it is child abuse to force a kid to do a ride they are afraid to go on!!!).

We didn't make my daughter go on SpiderMan although she was tall enough and were VERY glad -- it would've scared the shtuffing out of her. Rest of us loved it though.

 

[emmalgin]

Posting Height requirements from the USF website below. I think you have Popeye's and Bluto's Bilge rat Barge incorrect.

Important to know as son is exactly 44" and going in 7 weeks.

Can you confirm?

Tahnks,


At Islands of AdventureSM children must be able to upright unassisted on all rides. Persons under 54" (1.37 meters) may not ride Dueling DragonsSM or The Incredible Hulk-CoasterSM , those under 52" (1.32 meters) may not ride Doctor Doom's Fearfall, those under 42" (1.07 meters) may not ride Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat-Barges, those under 44" (1.12 meters) may not ride Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls, those under 42" (1.07 meters) may not ride Jurassic Park River AdventureSM, those under 40" (1.02 meters) may not ride Amazing Adventures of Spider-ManSM, persons under 36 inches (.91 meters) may not ride The Flying Unicorn, persons under 36 inches (.91 meters) and over 56 inches (1.42) may not ride Pteranadon FlyersSM. Due to the nature of the attractions, expectant mothers are requested to avoid riding The Incredible Hulk Coaster, Spider-Man, Doctor Doom's Fearfall, Storm Force, Dueling Dragons, The Flying Unicorn, Jurassic Park River Adventure, Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls, Pteranodon Flyers, Cat In The Hat or Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges. We have provided comfortable areas where you may wait for your party.

 

[im_vee]

Our daughter was 40" but honestly, I don't think they were watching. I don't know if the height for the barges was 42" when we were there or if we just got on by mistake. Nobody was even measuring.

At Sea World, on the other hand, I think they have Kraken measured taller than advertised. They had this metal bar suspended from chains and it had to hit the kids in the head to prove they were tall enough. We had to stuff my kid's shoes with 2" of toilet paper to get him on, and we DID measure him before we went and he WAS tall enough to go on by their published standards.

Other than those two exceptions, as far as I recall I believe everything was as advertised.

 

[tigger'spal]

Thank a lot I'm going in July and I have a six and a eleven year old and you so helped me

 

[the Dark Marauder]

as of RIGHT NOW, until December 15, the following changes have been made: Pteranadon Flyers is Closed. Triceratops Discovery Trail is Closed. Storm Force Accelatron is Closed M-F. there's still lots to see...