What is there to do with small children?

PoohBearFamily

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Hi! We're planning our first trip to WDW and we're considering renting a car for the trip, and one of the things we'd love to do if we have time is go to Universal for a morning because my husband and I would love to see the Wizarding World of HP. We have four kids 6 yrs & under, what is there to do with little kiddos? Any tips? I know there may not be as much than at WDW but maybe some fun things to see or do. :) Thanks!
 
Both US and IoA have things geared to that age group, Seuss Landing being my favourite. but you'll have to pass them to get to HP on either side. If you can only do one, I would do the side in IoA but that may very well take more than a morning with Seuss Landing. -- good luck getting out of there with kids that age.

We did go when HP was only in IoA, and it was great. It's 10x better if you can do both sides and ride the train from Platform 9 3/4, but that makes it very expensive for a half day park.
 
We have had annual passes at UO since my child was a toddler. In “normal times” there is a wonderful building open with lots of interactive dinosaur activities near the Jurassic Park ride. They have an “ultrasound” where kids can sort large dinosaur eggs, interactive fossil activities, huge dinosaurs with kid size viewers and microphones that you can use to see out the dinos eyes and make them “talk” and an interactive exhibit where baby dinos hatch in a lab and one child is selected to name it. (You get a certificate and can request updates about your Dino with the Number on future visits and they will show you videos of your baby Dino aging). Sadly this was all closed because of Covid-19 and I’m not sure when you are going but this was my daughters favorite spot in the park. There is also a big outdoor play area near pterodon flyers (kid ride) with tunnels and fossils where they can run around and explore (kind of like the Dino area at AK). In terms of rides and shows there are a lot of height restrictions, but minions ride, shrek show are good at those ages. The simpsons area has carnival games and the TM will tell you which ones “always win” if you have small kids. There’s a ride like dumbo but with the aliens from simpsons and the dialogue is hilarious. There is another play area back by woodys roller coaster (also for littles) including a water feature near ET. Last time we saw a very small child like a year old on ET and were surprised, so apparently really small kids can go on it. But the problem is that the play areas, Dino building and interactive water features were all closed when we were there in June/sept 2020 and still closed in January 2021, and I’m not sure when they will be open. There is another dumbo type ride in Seuss landing and a cat in the hat ride that I personally find creepy haha. There is also a very very slow trolly ride there. Face painting was still available and they had modified it for masks, so it’s just top half of the face. In the Harry Potter areas your 6 year old can do the interactive wand and not sure ages of your other kids but my daughter liked doing the spells at 5. The roaming wizard professors will notice small children and “help” them do spells (we have had this happen in less crowded times). When we were there the Olivander show was made into a single family event due to covid so you may want to check if that’s still a thing since it means you can pick which of your kids is “selected” by the wand. Just a note that some kids get scared when the dragon breathes fire, it’s loud. There’s a small roller coaster (hippogriff) in the IOA side of Harry Potter that has a lesser height restriction.
EDIT:because I remembered more stuff
 
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Both US and IoA have things geared to that age group, Seuss Landing being my favourite. but you'll have to pass them to get to HP on either side. If you can only do one, I would do the side in IoA but that may very well take more than a morning with Seuss Landing. -- good luck getting out of there with kids that age.

We did go when HP was only in IoA, and it was great. It's 10x better if you can do both sides and ride the train from Platform 9 3/4, but that makes it very expensive for a half day park.

Ok maybe we'll just aim to do HP in IoA since we've never even been and save both sides for the next trip. Thank you for the tip about Seuss Landing!!
 

We have had annual passes at UO since my child was a toddler. In “normal times” there is a wonderful building open with lots of interactive dinosaur activities near the Jurassic Park ride. They have an “ultrasound” where kids can sort large dinosaur eggs, interactive fossil activities, huge dinosaurs with kid size viewers and microphones that you can use to see out the dinos eyes and make them “talk” and an interactive exhibit where baby dinos hatch in a lab and one child is selected to name it. (You get a certificate and can request updates about your Dino with the Number on future visits and they will show you videos of your baby Dino aging). Sadly this was all closed because of Covid-19 and I’m not sure when you are going but this was my daughters favorite spot in the park. There is also a big outdoor play area near pterodon flyers (kid ride) with tunnels and fossils where they can run around and explore (kind of like the Dino area at AK). In terms of rides and shows there are a lot of height restrictions, but minions ride, shrek show are good at those ages. The simpsons area has carnival games and the TM will tell you which ones “always win” if you have small kids. There’s a ride like dumbo but with the aliens from simpsons and the dialogue is hilarious. There is another play area back by woodys roller coaster (also for littles) including a water feature near ET. Last time we saw a very small child like a year old on ET and were surprised, so apparently really small kids can go on it. But the problem is that the play areas, Dino building and interactive water features were all closed when we were there in June/sept 2020 and still closed in January 2021, and I’m not sure when they will be open. There is another dumbo type ride in Seuss landing and a cat in the hat ride that I personally find creepy haha. There is also a very very slow trolly ride there. Face painting was still available and they had modified it for masks, so it’s just top half of the face. In the Harry Potter areas your 6 year old can do the interactive wand and not sure ages of your other kids but my daughter liked doing the spells at 5. The roaming wizard professors will notice small children and “help” them do spells (we have had this happen in less crowded times). When we were there the Olivander show was made into a single family event due to covid so you may want to check if that’s still a thing since it means you can pick which of your kids is “selected” by the wand. Just a note that some kids get scared when the dragon breathes fire, it’s loud. There’s a small roller coaster (hippogriff) in the IOA side of Harry Potter that has a lesser height restriction.
EDIT:because I remembered more stuff

Wow these are all fantastic tips, thank you! Our kids love dinosaurs so hoping that attraction can reopen by next spring :)
 
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There are a lot of great kids play areas across both parks, including the amazing Jurassic area mentioned above (and bonus, as an adult you can ride the Pteradon Flyer if you have a child with you). However, I agree that for a family of 6 it could be quite pricey to go for just a morning. You will pay nearly the full adult price for a child beginning at age 3. For a few hours of your time this might not be worth it. You might want to consider doing 2 days there and getting Park to Park tickets so that you can fully enjoy HP areas, and consider staying in an onsite hotel. Given that your kids are little and you wouldn't be doing a ton of the high demand rides, I would look at Sapphire Falls, because you don't need to pay a premium for fast passes (in fact, you and your husband can swap off doing single rider and might do just as well). I love Disney but find Universal a lot less crazy and more relaxing. Having an onsite hotel where you can easily return for a break/nap for a few hours would be very convenient. Maybe do a few days at Disney and end at Universal?
 












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