5-year-old at Islands of Adventure questions

[littlej]

Hi all,
So, on our upcoming January 2012 trip to WDW, we are first spending one day at IOA. It's me, DH and DS5. We are staying one night at the Royal Pacific to take advantage of the Express plus thing, then getting up the next morning to hit IOA at opening. It's our first time at the Universal resort. Any general advice?

Here's specific questions:
- What should we hit first thing in the morning? He's only 44 inches and doesn't know much about HP, so we're probably only going to do Flight of the Hippogriff. Can we do that later in the day? I read we should do Pteranodon Flyers first because it doesn't use Express plus.
- How wet do people get when going through Me Ship, The Olive? We want to skip any rides/attractions that will dampen us.
- Will we get wet on Jurassic Park River Adventure? If not, will that be too scary for DS5?
- Could Poseidon's Fury be too intense for him?
- Is the Eighth Voyage of Sindbad Stunt Show worth checking out? He didn't care much for the Indiana Jones stunt show.
- Finally, I'm wondering if Spider Man will be too intense?

Thanks!

[currence]

Every child is different and you know your child best. We went to IOA in May 2011 with our 5 year old and he did almost everything that he was height-eligible for. He loved Spider Man if I recall. I don't think we did Poseidon's Fury or The Sinbad Stunt show because I don't like them.

When we went, Harry Potter land opened 1 hour before the rest of the park for people staying at their hotels. That was where we started since it was the only thing open. We left around when the park opened to everyone.

We liked Pteranodon Flyers and would agree to go on that somewhat early since you can't use the express pass. But, it has height restrictions and when we went the line wasn't horrible. The kids also liked the play area right outside the ride.

You will likely get wet on Jurrassic Park River Adventure. I don't know if they turn down the amount of wet depending on the season, but if you don't want to even get damp, you probably will have to skip it. My husband took our son on that while I took our daughter on the Flyers so I don't know how well he did, but had it been especially poorly I am sure that I would have heard about it.

We went without the kids in January 2010 and found it was not very crowded. Hopefully your experience will be similar. I really liked the Express pass.

[littlej]

Thanks, currance! You're absolutely right, best if one of us can check those out first and judge for ourselves. I heard they're pretty good with the rider-swap, which would be nice, because I'd at least like him to see the queue for Forbidden Journey even though he's not tall enough. Do you happen to know if they will allow a sort of rider-swap for Pteranodon Flyers so both parents can ride with him without waiting in line twice?

Thank you so much for the great info!

[currence]

I don't know how they do with the rider swap for Forbidden Journey, but when we were there in May they had a dedicated non-rider lane that allowed you to see most of the details inside the castle without actually going on the ride. If you have to rider-swap anyway, I would recommend going together to see the castle decor and then splitting up and doing the single rider line - or go on the ride first through the regular line if you get there first thing but know that you can go back and pay attention to most of the details later. We did it both ways and the only area I recall not seeing in the walk-through was the outside garden area. Which was cool but not worth waiting in a long line. We went through the regular line when we got there right at hotel guest early opening.

I don't know about a parent swap for the Flyers. I suppose it never hurts to ask.

[3Princesses1Prince]

The rider swap room is right at loading/unloading so you can see the whole queue for Forbidden Journey.

[cbarry]

My 8-year-old twin boys were absolutely freaked out in Poseidon's Fury. The lights went out. It was loud and we had to find the escape exit out of there. Never saw the whole thing.

[tappenfeat]

HP World aside, we didn't really care for IOA. However, Dr. Seuss Land was cute. The train ride was adorable. We actually had enjoyed ourselves better in Universals. But, for a 5 year old, a lot of rides are intense even Forbidden Journey. But, I don't think your 5 year old would make the height requirement?

We waited until our kids were 10 and 14 to finally take them to IOA and Universals. Even still, they skipped a lot of the intense roller coasters.

[3Princesses1Prince]

HP World aside, we didn't really care for IOA. However, Dr. Seuss Land was cute. The train ride was adorable. We actually had enjoyed ourselves better in Universals. But, for a 5 year old, a lot of rides are intense even Forbidden Journey. But, I don't think your 5 year old would make the height requirement?

We waited until our kids were 10 and 14 to finally take them to IOA and Universals. Even still, they skipped a lot of the intense roller coasters.

My 6 year old wasn't tall enough for forbidden journey.

[bluebayou]

Since apparently most of the people on here are against the "universals" (excuse me, it is UNIVERAL - there is no "s".. - maybe I should say, we got to the kingdoms..)I will be happy to answer your questions. (We live here and we go almost every weekend.)

- What should we hit first thing in the morning? He's only 44 inches and doesn't know much about HP, so we're probably only going to do Flight of the Hippogriff. Can we do that later in the day? I read we should do Pteranodon Flyers first because it doesn't use Express plus.

The Flight of the Hippogriff tends to get busier throughout the day. I would suggest conquering it first thing in the morning. If you do the Flyers - DEFINITELY do those in the morning - that line gets VERY long.

- How wet do people get when going through Me Ship, The Olive? We want to skip any rides/attractions that will dampen us.

I don't believe they get wet at all on me ship the olive.

- Will we get wet on Jurassic Park River Adventure? If not, will that be too scary for DS5?

Wetness depends on WHERE you are at in the boat, how many people are in the boat with you, and the water level in the ride (in winter it tends to be higher since in summer, it is set higher to account for evaporation.) It is TOO scary for a five year old unless he can handle going up a five story incline at a very steep incline and being in a very dark building for about five minutes which is filled with mean dinosaurs. You cap it off with a T-Rex trying to bite you before you plunge back down the 5 stories.

- Could Poseidon's Fury be too intense for him? Possibly but it is a show.

- Is the Eighth Voyage of Sindbad Stunt Show worth checking out? He didn't care much for the Indiana Jones stunt show. He may like the SInbad show as the performers are ALWAYS moving. There is virtually no setup.

- Finally, I'm wondering if Spider Man will be too intense? Maybe.. this one is your judgement call.

I HEAVILY suggest taking him to the Dr.Suess area where he will be able to do EVERYTHING. There is also the Jurassic Camp area. Here you clamber up and down dinosaur capture nets, play on a variety of themed slides, and negotiate suspension bridges or Take a walk down Thunder Lizard Trail and make the ground rumble with the roar of dinosaurs. This will probably be his favorite area of the park.

Make sure to visit the Universal Orlando website as it goes into great detail about the rides.

[tappenfeat]

[QUOTE=bluebayou;1693352]Since apparently most of the people on here are against the "universals" (excuse me, it is UNIVERAL - there is no "s"..

Sorry, I did that... :D...in NJ, everything is plural...like you's guys...LOL! I however do like UNIVERSAL (drop the S).

[mousecanuck]

If he's into characters at all, check out all the ones on Marvel Island (maybe you can find out when they'll come? They pull up on fancy golf carts with flags, then they're around for quite some time and pose with the kids. I think Spiderman is out all the time (like at Disney, he takes a 'break' and comes out again pretty quickly, has a set place to meet near the comic 'spikes' area - don't know what else to call them!) Pteranodon Flyers is really, really cool - at least it looked like it to us; DD went on as DS' 'adult' and we opted not to try and do it again. Dr. Suess area is pretty cool, too - some neat rides. I disliked Poseiden's Fury - we had to walk from area to area; if I'm going to 'sit' and watch a show, I want to 'sit' and be entertained, not herded from room to room like cattle! And our DS couldn't see half the time because it was a standing thing. Sinbad was okay, there is always 'action' but some is quite far away and easy to lose on the stage as it's quite large and dark-ish, but it had it's moments and it's a nice break to SIT and watch :)