Universal for Five Year Old and Transportation Options?

[coopersmom]

With Disney's new ticket policy (five-day max) I'm considering the possibility of spending a day at Universal. Has anyone been lately and is it a good fit for a five-year-old daredevil/Transformers freak. He is tall enough to ride, but I wonder if that (and many of) the rides are too intense. Also, I don't know how he'd feel about the "show" elements.

I was looking at the VIP tour, which gets great reviews, but know half the day is tour stuff and I'm worried about "losing" my little guy's interest.

Lastly, we had decided not to rent a car for the Disney portion of our and I have ZERO interest in taking a bus/train/metro to L.A. Call me a snob (seriously, I'm fine with it) but public transportation isn't my idea of a vacation, so if we want to do this, our options would be ...

1) Just leave Anaheim a day early, pick up our rental car a day early, drive to L.A. and check into a hotel near Universal ready to go the next morning.

2) Get the car a day early but stay at Disney (we're staying at the Grand Californian) and just drive back-and-forth for Universal Day. Should take roughly 45 min. to an hour and a half depending on traffic? Is that accurate?

3) Is there some sort of car service (what we're using from the airport) that would do door-to-door transport from the Grand to Universal? Has anyone done that?

... The park hours for the time we're there seem to be open at 9 or 10 and close at 6 or 7.

Advice on whether to go or not at all, and, if so, how to get there, is appreciated.

 

[inluvwithbuzz]

First off my son is 5 as well and he loves Universal Studios. There is not a lot of rides for him to go on but he loves it there.

And regarding the VIP tour, I have done this in the past myself. And I am not sure my 5yo son would be able to handle a day of it. Some of the parts can be boring especially if they take you into the props warehouse. It is a great tour, but not something I would do with my 5yo.


For transportation, what about taking the Grayline Anaheim Tour to Universal Studios. I did this last time I was in Disneyland. They pick you up at your hotel and take you to Universal and then pick you up later in the day. I think it ended up being a 12 hour day. But my son loved the double decker bus ride to Universal. I would do this again for sure. It was very convenient.

 

[chrissiecutie]

We just rented a car & drove to Universal from our Disney hotel. Drive was about an hour, not bad at all.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the city around Universal. So I would much rather stay near Disney & make the drive.