6 and 2.5 yr old at Universal?

[123LuckyMom]

I've been reading Harry Potter with DS. We've read 2 books so far, and he LOVES them. I'm also a big fan. I was thinking about taking the kids to FL to visit relatives between Christmas and New Year's and maybe doing a day or two at Universal. I went to Universal once when I was little, so I really don't know much about it. Would it be fun for kids as young as mine? Do you need more than a day? Would it just be totally crazy to go at that time of year? I'd love some advice!

[ExcitedMamma]

No clue about Universal but I'd love to go! I have to ask since I love HP and have been thinking of buying the box set just to have to someday read to my DC, what age did you start reading the first one to your DS? I'm going to ask now so I can decide when DS can finally get into HP...and then I'll have to plan a trip!

[kboyle]

We've gone to universal twice, once when the first part of HP world was built and this past summer after the newest part was added. The first time we did 3 days, day 1 was Islands of Adventure HP and Dino land, day 2 was Universal Stuidos, day 3 was back to islands of adventure for marvel and dr Seuss and anything we wanted to ride again. My boys were 5/7/9. This year we did the two day park to park because you need that ticket to ride the Hogwarts express. Day 1 was all of islands of adventure, day 2 was universal studios and back to anything we wanted to ride again. It was just my three boys and my mom so we made sure to know how to use our time and what rides to ride. Ds3/7 was only tall enough to ride the newest hp ride and that had a 2hr+ wait time. We went the morning of day 2 at early open (we stayed on property) and waited an hr. It's our favorite parks so we know how to do in/out.

Not sure about the time of year, we went in summer both times and it was busy but I find it's busy anytime...it's Orlando!

We had a blast both time, but it's definitely nicer to go when the kids can ride stuff.


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[Percycat]

We just returned from Universal/Islands of Adventure. My family spent 3 days at the two parks with park hopper tickets. We found the best rates through AAA. Your children are young. These parks are more for older kids, but there were great areas for little kids and I did see a lot of little kids at the park.

We stayed at Universal Hard Rock hotel. There are 4 on-site hotel properties -- with one being a "value" hotel. I don't know the benefits of staying at the value hotel, but there if you stay at Loews Hard Rock Hotel, Royal Pacific Resort, or Portofino Bay Hotel, you are minutes walking or water taxi to the parks, get early admission to Diagon Alley, and receive an unlimted express pass that lets you use a shorter line for most of the attractions.

You will want to get a Park to Park ticket so you can ride the Hogwarts express betweeen the two parks. Diagon Alley is the newest attraction and is located at Universal Studios. We visted Olivanders at Diagon Alley and my DD was selected to receive a wand. If you purchase an activated wand ($40), you can use it to cast spells throughout Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade to make things move (e.g, open a book, turn on a water fountain). There is only one ride - Escape from Gringots and you must be 42" to ride. We enjoyed the Beetle the Bard puppet shows. Most of this section of the park is enjoying Diagon Alley and reveling in Harry Potter. If you stay on property, you can enter this section of the park 1 hour before the parks otherwise open.

You can board Hogwats express and pass through the wall to platform 9 3/4 to get to Hogsmead (or you can visit Islands of Adventure directly). While in Hogsmead, you can tour Hogwarts castle by riding Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, restricted to guests 48inches and taller. This section also has two rollarcoaster attractions - Flight of the Hippogriff (36") and Dragon Challenge (54"). You can hear the Hogwarts Frog chorus or watch performances from Durmstrang and Beauxbaton students. Also, there is another Ollivanders location and many places to perform spells.

At Universal Studios, there is a cute Woody Woodpeckers Kidzone (we enjoyed the animal show) which includes a playground/water slide area and a junior rollarcoast. Little kids might also enjoy ET's ride. At Islands of Adventure, Suess's Landing has cute whimsical family rides and there is a fun play area for kids in the Jurassic Park section, which includes a hanging rollarcoaster type ride restricted to guests 56" and below plus a parent.

The rest of the park is really for older, bigger guests. We had a great time and enjoyed having three days to do everything we wanted to do. With small children, you could plan on just doing the Harry Potter stuff -- if you really just want to immerse yourself in the experience and purchase a wand to do the activities -- and try to visit one or two of the kids areas. The Harry Potter sections get very crowded and the express pass does not help except for the Flight of the Hippogrriff ride.

Personally, I waited until my kids were older before our family visited Universal. Your kids are a good age to visit Legoland -- it is a much smaller park designed for a target audience of kids 12 and under.

I hope you have a great visit with your family.

[smilequeen]

Staying on site definitely makes things easier. I don't love Universal, but my kids really liked it. We stayed at Portofino Bay...did HP each morning before the park opened. Fast passes are free if you stay on site. If not, they will be very pricey that time of year (we did Disney in that time frame and a day at Universal and everything was CRAZY and the fast passes were something like $100 each, on a less crowded day they might be 20-30.)

The Dr. Seuss area was a lot of fun for the little one.

[123LuckyMom]

Thank you all for the information! I think we'll wait. Although DS is taller than 42", it sounds like Universal is really better for older kids.