Universal for the Whole family?

[bnlbebes]

Looking into getting the Citypass but I am wondering if there will be enough there for my 4 yo son to do?

 

[eduk8r26]

In my opinion, I don't think there is much for kids of that age. They can go on the tour, but King Kong may scare them. There is a Nickelodeon play area, but most of the other rides and shows are too intense.

 

[Syn&Bri'sDaddy]

We don't get/take many opportunities to go coaster-ing, so my kids aren't used to them. My wife convinced my 8yo daughter to join her and 14yo daughter on Jurassic Park. They take the pic at the top of the 84ft drop at the end, and her eyes are literally (<---------THAT--------->) big. She survived it nonetheless, and then we all went on the Mummy (9yo daughter didn't want to ride JP, but we talked her into Mummy). My 9yo probably would have been better off with JP, as they were both glued to their seats on Mummy. We had a hard time getting them on anything else the rest of the day. lol (thawed 'em out at DL and CA the next couple of days tho)

That said, those two rides alone are probably too much for a 4yo, unless he's been riding coasters since he left the womb. Backdraft was interesting (in my opinion), but my girls acted scared (not sure if it was from the heat or what). Not to mention, you have to go down 8-10 escalators to get to this area of the park.

Back to the Future was a bit intense, tho it's just like Star Tours. Your son would probably enjoy Shrek 4D, tho like the movies there are some not-quite-for-yunguns jokes. As mentioned, there's the Nickelodeon area (play with some foam balls, and/or get soaked...there's a jungle gym or somesuch in back that we missed).

Animal Planet Live was great, my 9yo has been acting like a monkey for a week since. lol I felt the Studio Tour was boring, at least at the beginning (yeah sure, it's great that some show was filmed in that non-descript building, but put something on display to represent it!!), but it did have its high points. Didn't get around to Van Helsing.

If your son is a theme park veteran (as veteran as a 4yo can be, lol), then USH would probably be ok. However, I'd have to say that it's more geared towards the pre-teen/teen set. Otherwise, the Nickelodeon play area and meeting SpongeBob and Dora are about it.

On the whole, it seemed to me that USH felt "old". It had little ambiance, like you get at DL. It felt more like it was a collection of things to do, rather than things to experience.

 

[LucyKate]

Our kids were 5 and 9 when we went to the US and all the advice I got here, and in guide books, was that Universal was not suitbale for them, so we skipped it.

The rides seem pitched more at adults and older kids and we decided the kids woud have a better time with another day at Dsneyland.

 

[victorandbellasmom]

We've got a 5 yo and an 8yo. We thought about going to USH for one of our days but decided against it. our 5 yo was severely limited as to what rides she would be able to ride due to height. For the most part, the only thing that would seem to interest them was the nick zone and shrek 4d. We figue, we'll wait a few more years til there a little older.

 

[bnlbebes]

I was afraid of that...

Now that the CityPass comes with Universal, it looks like that's part of the deal that we wouldn't end up using. Maybe they should have left the option of Knott's Berry Farm for those of us who have little ones.

 

[victorandbellasmom]

I was afraid of that...

Now that the CityPass comes with Universal, it looks like that's part of the deal that we wouldn't end up using. Maybe they should have left the option of Knott's Berry Farm for those of us who have little ones.

Since it's already included in the cost of a citypass, I'd probably go for a few hours and check it out. You'd only have to shell out parking costs which I'm assuming is $10. I just wouldn't pay over $200 in addition for my family of 4 to go at their ages. There is the nick zone area. I'm not sure if your4 yo is familiar with the nick characters, but mine sure are. I know they'd easily spend a couple hours there. Shrek 4D looks really fun as well. If anything you can always have a meal at citywalk. I figure, if it's already paid for and you have nothing to do on one of your days, ther's no harm in going.