universal with toddlers????

[mhannigan]

Our family will be visiting WDW at the end of this month and asked if we could possibly go to universal for a day. We have never left disney property on any of our prior trips and do not know if either universal park is suitible for toddlers. ( we will have four children: 2,3,4, and 5 yr olds). does anyone have any suggestions?? good idea or wait till their older???

 

[4greatboys]

When we went last Sept my kids were 15 yrs, 12 yrs, 2.5 yrs and 5 months. I think the best park for toddlers is IOA. The Dr Suess area has wonderful theming the kids will love and they can ride everything there (about 4 rides I think). Marvel comic area is really cool looking and though we didnt do it teh kids can play on Me Ship the Olive and there is a small rollercoaster for kids, the Unicorn. Check out the US/IOA website to see all the cool stuff. We did also take the kids to US but in my opinion there is less for them to ride. Alought my 2 yr old rode ET and liked it and we played at Fievel's playground.

 

[snor67]

We are going we a 2 and 5 yr old in early May. Anyone know if the strollers are hard seats or cloth? trying to decide if we need to bring ours or rent.

thanks

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Are these all your children or are a couple of families going? I don't know that I would bring 4 young children unless it's from two families and there will be 3-4 adults. With the extra adults you can split up and a couple can bring the older kids on a ride and the other two can watch the younger kids. Also, that would allow the adults to do the baby swap without leaving one adult watching 4 children. There are some rides that you can all enjoy together.

We went when my youngest was 20 months old and my other kids were 8, 11, and 13yo. We did the baby swap for the bigger rides and brought my toddler on whatever he could go on. We're going next week and he's now 3yo and is tall enough to do a few more rides.

 

[highlander447]

Got to agree with so many young kids it may not be worthwhile a trip too universal there is barney animal planet curious george etc plenty to do for them but if u are already settled at Disney it maybe a bit of a trek

 

[mhannigan]

The kids are from two families and there will be at least 8 adults and maybe 2 teens with us. Do I look like I'm nuts LOL. I don't mind the baby swap thing but would they would the kids have enough to do to make it worth what looks like about another $150. for each family of 4?( on top of 5 day hoppers an disney ) or should I just wait a year or 2 and go when they are older. It kind of defeats the point to take kids if they only get to sit in strollers while the adults do all the riding.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Would you be able to stay onsite and have the front-of-the line access? Would you be able to spend more than one day so you can go to both parks? The teens would love the parks and the young chidren would have fun, too, especially if the adults took turns with the children in the play areas and "younger" rides while the older kids and other adults went on the thrill rides. As far as what rides the younger kids could go on, it really depends on their height. At 42" a child can go on most of the rides, except the thrill rides. At 40" they can do Spiderman and Back to the Future, besides ET, a couple of kiddy coaster, shows, etc.

 

[highlander447]

Hey with so many adults u should have a blast the kids will love seuss and fieval etc and don't forget the animal planet show its great

 

[Cindy B]

Lets see, there are many things.. the Curious George play area is a blast. the small Woody Woodpecker coaster is fun as well.

Depending on how tall the older ones are you could do MIB!

Jimmy Neutron is open, and you can stationary seat if you can't make the height requirements.

Shrek may be opening soon, and that could be great.


As for IOA... Seuss Landing is a blast. If the kids are boys, they will love Marvel Super Hero Island. Me Ship the Olive is fun as well, same with Camp Jurassic.


My Four year old was able to go on every ride besides the bigger coasters. There is the Posiedon show which they both liked.

 

[mhannigan]

thanks all for your info. We will not be able to stay on site as we are dvc members and it would be silly to pay for rooms elswhere. After finding out all of the info maybe we will try it out for a day this time and plan a longer stay onsite during our next stay. We traveled last time with the same group minus 1 adult and the possibility of the 2 teens and had a great time. We are dvc members and took the same group last year for their first time. no need to say the obviously had a good time as we are doing it again 1yr and 2months later. Thanks everyone.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

You'd have a wonderful time! The end of this month shouldn't be high season, right? In that case the lines shouldn't be too bad. The biggest decision would be which park to try. That's a tough one. IoA has the big roller coasters and Spiderman, not to mention the Dr Suess area and US has Men in Black and the Curious George water and ball area for the young kids. I would lean towards IoA unless the teens and adults don't like big thrill rides.

Is there any way you could come for 2 days and try out both parks? One day really is not enough time to scratch the surface of both parks, especially with young children in your party. If you have one day you'd probably be better off choosing only one park.

 

[4greatboys]

mhannigan--we are dvc members too be we always stay onsite at
Universal atleast 2 days. You just cant beat that FOTL access and their resorts are wonderful. They have dive in movies which are a lot of fun and there are good rates to be had.

 

[MaryLynne]

I've never been on Spiderman. Do you think it is too scary for a 3 year old?

 

[the Dark Marauder]

Originally posted by snor67
We are going we a 2 and 5 yr old in early May. Anyone know if the strollers are hard seats or cloth? trying to decide if we need to bring ours or rent.

thanks

Hard seats.