Which park for just turned 5 yr old

[peggy5]

Universal or Islands, she's about to turn 5 & is about 40 inches(42 with shoes). Which one would be preferable?

 

[LoveToDisney]

Any Disney Park. We waited until our son was a teen before hitting the Universal parks.

 

[momnum1]

We took our daughter when she had just turned five. I can't remember how tall she was, but I believe there were only three or four rides she couldn't go on between both parks. I'm sorry you can't go to both, but I would just check out the height requirements and look at all rides to see which she would be more interested in. There are a couple of play areas and some shows at US, and Shrek and ET, but my daughter loved IOA. I don't mean to disagree with the previous post, but we have been taking our children since my youngest daughter was 5 and she is now 14 (the other one is 17) and they both have always loved US and IOA. Good luck!

 

[Babbletrish]

First thing you have to understand is that there aren't many rides designed with little kids in mind at Universal. There are a handful of play areas and that's about it; pretty much every ride and show is directed at adults and teens. Heck, even the innocuous-sounding Cat in the Hat ride is *terrifying*.

That said, if I were five years old and I walked through the "Jurassic Park" land or the Wizarding World, that alone would probably blow my mind.

 

[Metro West]

Universal or Islands, she's about to turn 5 & is about 40 inches(42 with shoes). Which one would be preferable?

This link will give you an overview of the attractions at both parks for kids. Check it out and decide which park holds more interest for you.

http://www.universalorlando.com/OverviewPages/Rides/ridesforkids.aspx

If you have any questions on specific attractions, feel free to ask.

 

[peggy5]

Thank you all, we decided to do USO

 

[melbiel]

We went to IOA when our daughters were 1, 4 and 6. Our older two absolutely LOVED this park - even more so thank Magic Kingdom, I would say. (Our youngest was too little to have a say. LOL) They rode the Cat in the Hat about 5 times in a row, and even though someone mentioned something about it being scary, they didn't find it frightening in the least. It is really cute. They also loved Jurassic Park and rode the water coaster there twice. They loved the Superheroes section and the section with the water rides. Basically, we thought the whole park was amazing - clean, SO uncrowded and just so much fun. I have heard from several people (one being a friend of mine who worked in Universal for 10 years) that Universal is definitely geared more for older kids. We didn't find this to be the case with IOA AT ALL. We're going to FL in two weeks, and I have to say that my daughters, particularly the oldest, are most excited for IOA - especially now that Harry Potter is in the picture. My husband and I always tell people about this park - it is just wonderful! Hope this helped.

 

[momnum1]

We went to IOA when our daughters were 1, 4 and 6. Our older two absolutely LOVED this park - even more so thank Magic Kingdom, I would say. (Our youngest was too little to have a say. LOL) They rode the Cat in the Hat about 5 times in a row, and even though someone mentioned something about it being scary, they didn't find it frightening in the least. It is really cute. They also loved Jurassic Park and rode the water coaster there twice. They loved the Superheroes section and the section with the water rides. Basically, we thought the whole park was amazing - clean, SO uncrowded and just so much fun. I have heard from several people (one being a friend of mine who worked in Universal for 10 years) that Universal is definitely geared more for older kids. We didn't find this to be the case with IOA AT ALL. We're going to FL in two weeks, and I have to say that my daughters, particularly the oldest, are most excited for IOA - especially now that Harry Potter is in the picture. My husband and I always tell people about this park - it is just wonderful! Hope this helped.

I agree! My children have never felt anything there is "terrifying". However, I would caution people with younger children about T2, as that is very loud in some parts, and JAWS, if their kids would find that scary... otherwise my kids have always loved both parks.