Universal and Disney

[minnie4me]

So, thinking about trying Universal Studios next summer (2009). It would be DH, myself & DS (who would be about 6&1/2). DH & I were at Universal years ago (only one park at the time.) But a whole week seems too long there. It does seem cheaper than wdw, up front, but I am wondering if it really is.
We would be flying into Orlando, so I think we would have to rent a car to get to Universal, would want to stay on property.
Would it be worth driving over to DHS for a day, maybe back to downtown disney for an evening?
With a 6 yr old, would we need more than one day at each Universal theme park?
Just looking for some opinions...thanks !!

 

[shoppingbou]

Hello!

On our last 2 trips, we took 3 days to go to Universal. We visited both parks (1 day each) and on the 3rd day, we redid our favorite rides from both parks... We did not have kids yet, though...

I find it was wonderful to see something "other" then Disney and we really did enjoy Universal!

Hope this helps,

 

[rellabee]

I've debated the same thing as you many times. I have a 7 year old, and a couple of younger ones. For our upcoming trip, I did my typical over-analysis on whether we should go there or not. We've been to Disney 5 times now, and haven't gone there yet.

In the end, I decided that while my 7 year old would enjoy himself, there is not enough for the other younger kids. also, there is still a number of things that my 7 year old cannot do based on height! He's brave and would try anything, but he's just not yet tall enough.

We're going to wait until at least this one is tall enough to go on the remaining rides. Even then, someone might just run over with him for the day.

If your 6 year old is hesitant or too short to ride the scarier rides, IMHO it may not be worth it.

 

[Darcy03231]

We went to US/IOA last summer and spent 6-7 days there (we were there for 16 days). If you're staying on-site and have the express passes 7 days might be too long for your family, although we would still enjoy it as my kids love to ride their favorites multiple times. We stayed off-site, arrived at park opening and stayed in the parks until 1-2 pm. By that time it was getting really hot and the lines were getting very long. We went back the rental house, had something to eat, hung around the pool and just relaxed. Some nights we went back and other nights we didn't. We did/saw everything at least once and some of our favorites we did multiple times. It was one of the most relaxing vacations I ever took to the Orlando area. Our group consisted of my mom (71), me (46), DD (16), DS (14), my sister (42), BIL (50), DN (12), DN (9) and DN (3.5). Everyone had a great time. I'm a huge ride chicken and rode everything in US. In IOA I skipped Dueling Dragons, Hulk, Dr. Doom and the spinning things next to Hulk (I can't remember the name - think teacups). Othen than the 3.5 y.o. the other kids rode everything. The youngest had a great time at all of the areas designed for her age group and loved the shows.

 

[3mickeymom]

It is different from Disney, but still lots of fun. Don't miss the great deal on tickets for Universal, $81 for seven consecutive days. My kids LOVE the Mummy and Spiderman. MIB is like Buzz with target shooting and more uncontrolled spinning. My youngest son did most rides at age 8. Although he was a liitle scared, he now loves thrill rides. He hasn't done Dueling Dragons, although he wants to. There is not alot for real young kids to do. When my youngest was little, the two older boys had a father son day and hit Universal without me, while I spent the day with my little guy.

 

[Crystal824]

I like Universal and IOA. IMO a week is too long for a family at those parks unless you kids just love to ride things over and over. I think 2 or 3 days at most would be sufficent. Have you considered doing half the week and Universal and half at Disney or Sea World, etc. The drive from Universal to the WDW area is not that long and Sea World is even closer.