Universal or IOA for 10 year old

[Minnie404]

totally newbie here-have been to Disney many times but never to universal. I'm taking my son for a mom/son trip in early November for a long weekend. We are primarily staying at Disney but he did ask for a day to check out universal. I can't decide which park to do or should I get the park to park option? He isn't much into Harry Potter-hasn't read the books or seen the movies but loves rollar coasters. This trip is a surprise so I can't just bring stuff up online since I'm surprising him. He knows he is getting a trip just doesn't know when., any suggestions or tips for me would be great-I'm a huge Disney fan-have gone about once a year for the past 8 years but when it comes to universal I don't know much.

 

[macraven]

Check out the website and get a visual of both park layouts

Www.universalorlando.com


Check out all sections for ride descriptions, shows, parades and eateries

Island of adventure has a great super hero entrance to their section in the park at set times each day
Great fun to do meet and greets with them
Be sure to take a camera for this

Discover the dinosaurs at the Jurassic section

Studios is the other park and has exciting rides and shows that will entertain you and your son

Read the menu food sticky to get an idea in advance what is popular in the parks

Read some of the trip reports on the trip report forum and get an idea how others spend the day at the darkside

It might help you decide to do a park to park day and not just one park

I tried to watch the potter movies but did not get into them
Have never read any of the books
But really have fun in the potter sections of the parks

You do not have to know all the background about potter to enjoy it

 

[bumbershoot]

Both. Park-to-park or invest in 2 days there. (who am I kidding? 2 day park-to-park tickets!)

At 8 does he meet the height requirements for the big coasters? Make sure of that before going with a coaster lover!

(and maybe...consider starting to read the HP books? they really are very good. read then watch.)

 

[TheConsciousness]

UndercoverTourist.com has some great deals going on right now for Park2Park tickets. I just got back from Universal 2 weeks ago, and these deals are making me want to pull the trigger again. You said a long weekend, so maybe you'd be able to do 4 days at the park?

There is a 2-Day Universal Park-to-Park Ticket - plus 2 days free which I'd love to have right about now.

Also, like bumbershoot said: make sure to check the height requirements first!

 

[iivye]

IOH has the most traditional roller coasters. Universal has smaller coaster type rides with virtual simulation (3-D glasses and screens) and one big traditional roller coaster. My daughter is 12 and she preferred IOH for the traditional roller coasters. If you are only doing one park I would do IOH. If you are able to I would do the last night (or first night) at an onsite Universal hotel that comes with the unlimited express pass so you can do as much as possible and gain an extra hour for early entry. Best case would be park hopper and express pass; you could ride pretty much all the big rides in both parks in one day.

 

[kohlby]

If you can only do one day, then look at the different attractions and figure it out based on you knowing your child better than the rest of us. My kids used to like IOA better. Now they like US better. But - we can easily spend more than a day in each. My middle child is 10 years old. Her favorites are RRR and Mummy. She was only 51" on our last trip - at 10 - so she wouldn't have been able to do Hulk or Dragon Challenge. My eldest is less of a thrill rider and he prefers US too.

 

[babesboo99]

My kids love both parks and they are age 9 . We will be back this October and they can't wait. If you want to ride Hogwarts Express you will need the PTP and I think it's worth it my kids loved riding on the train that brought Harry to Hogwarts.

 

[Ametista]

My son has always preferred IOA, hands-down. I also just bought us the 2-day plus 2-day free tickets on Undercover Tourist, so now we will see both parks twice in October (I hope). But if he has a 1-park-in-Orlando choice, it is always IOA. He just turned 20, been going to Orlando since he was 9. We never bother with the added expense of park-to-park either, as we normally just do IOA, but when deals like this come along we spend time at Universal.