My husband really wants to go for 1/2 days on our next trip to WDW. He has been before~ late 80's early 90's, DD, DS & I have never been. Our kids will be 7 (DS) and 10 (DD) if we get to go this November/December. One main concern I have is will there be enough for DS to do to make it worth it, he is 45 inches now and not a very fast grower if he hits 47 inches by then I would be very surprised. What kind of rides do they have for little kids? Will they be boring for DD, are there height limits (she is very tall for her age, already 54inches and a fast grower)? Do they do a ride swap like in WDW for the things DS can't go on? We would not be staying on property at USO (or WDW for that matter) are the special passes you can buy worth it to get on more? Do you think we would need 1 day or 2? We will most likely be there Nov 25-Dec 2, is there any thing special going on then like Christmas stuff?
TIA

Hello, There ae only 3 rides at Universal Parks that require you to be over 52/54 inches - Incredible Hulk, Dueling Dragons, and a "freefall ride". Other than that, the rest of the park is open for you son and daughter as long as he is over 44 inches. At times, you may have to accompany him. I think Islands of Adventure was really a cute park and should have plenty for your son! Toon Lagoon and Sues Landing are both sections he will enjoy - he can even ride the Jurassic Park and Dudley's Ripsaw Falls rides and I think these are two of the best (over 42 inches). If you daughter like roller coasters - IOA should be GREAT for her as well. I am not 100% positive about ride switching but I am pretty sure I have read they have that program as well.

They will both probably really like IOA.

As for Universal Studios - I have not taken my children there. I am not sure if it would appeal to your 7 year old althought he probably can ride all the rides. I have never traveled in Novemeber but ALL the boards say after Thanksgiving and up until a week before Christmas is a great time to go.

You could buy the Express Plus pass. This is an additional fee of $15 to your admission ticket. It lets you bypass regular lines at all the rides. This would save you time. For an additional $25, you can buy a pass that would let you go to both parks and bypass the regular lines in one day. This would be good it you want to try and do both parks in one day. One down side to this program is you have to schedule the date you are going to be at the park in advance. Some date do not have these special passes available but your dates should be fine. I would check with Universal on their cancellation policy on the PLUS passes or at least see how difficult it would be to switch dates if needed and in what time frame.

I think you could probably do it in 1 day, definatley in 1 1/2 days with the passes and decreased crowds after Thanksgiving. That would leave time to go back to WDW on your half day.

There are plenty of fun things to do at USF and IOA, for your age group. Read the ride descriptions and decide for yourself. The Unofficial Disney book has a good section on Universal. At USF there is Shrek 3-d, Jimmy Neutron, ET, Back to the Future, Jaws, Twister, Terminator, and my son's obsession Men In Black (Buzz times 10). The Mummy ride is more like a roller coaster, similar to Dinosaur, but faster. Also, there is an animal show and the good make-up & effects show. There are more kid oriented rides that were added after my kids were too old, so I don't recall the specifics. There are tours of the Nickolodean Studeio and characters walking around, like SpongeBob and the RugRats. Shrek, Scooby Doo, and others. At IOA Spiderman is the BEST attraction in Orlando, including Disney, IMHO. If anyone likes roller coasters Hulk is great, and Dueling Dragons is good. The theming between lands is good, especially Jurrasic Park, with the sounds and foliage and fossils in the ground. The ride has a drop at the end similar to Splash M. If the weather is good enough to get wet, Dudley DoRight Falls and Popeye's Rapids are fun, but you need a poncho if not hot (SPOILER, you get wetter after the fall cuz people shoot you with water guns, so be prepared til you get off). There is also a small Unicorn coaster that is similar to BTMR. In Suess Land there is Cat in the Hat, which spins and jerks more than you would expect, and a couple of kiddie rides. Poseidon's Fury show has the most amazing effect where you walk through a passageway of spinning water, and Sinbad is a stunt show. We always find plenty to do for 2 or 3 days, but my family loves the roller coasters and Men in Black multiple times. We have been there for Thanksgiving and in IOA there is a section in Suessland that is set up as Whoville with a tree and appearances with the Grinch. I've gotten e-mails that at USF they have the Macy's Thanksgiving parade recreated, but I've never seen it and don't know how soon after Thanksgiving it starts.

Thanks for the info!:)

I also wanted to stress something our bus driver said to us. You might want to make your way to the lower lot when you first get there. Well, that depends I guess when you get there. He suggested that you go to the lower level first, get all of that out of the way. The crowds tend to stay on the upper lot when they first get there.

Also, we went through the sound stage and things like that. My kids were 8, 9 and 13 at the time we went. They really enjoyed going through the sound stage because they learned how movies were made AND they got picked to become the horses running. It was fun for them.

Most of all, just enjoy yourself. You might want to go for the whole day though, so you can see the shows you want to see as well as ride the rides you want to do. There were some that we didn't get to ride and I regret that now.

[QUOTE=yellowrosedtxn]I also wanted to stress something our bus driver said to us. You might want to make your way to the lower lot when you first get there. Well, that depends I guess when you get there. He suggested that you go to the lower level first, get all of that out of the way. The crowds tend to stay on the upper lot when they first get there.



The upper and lower lots are in UNH, not Orlando.

Bump...
Any one else with tips/advice?

The only rides at Universal Studios Florida (the studio park, not IOA) that have height restrictions are Revenge of the Mummy (48" restriction - a roller coaster), Men-in-Black (42" restriction - a fast moving, fairly intense interactive dark ride -- kind of the Buzz Lightyear ride on steroids...), Back to the Future (40" restriction -- IMAX simulator ride), and Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster (36" restriction - kid's coaster). On our last visit, we used their child swap facility on both "Mummy" and "Men-in-Black" and it really is pretty well designed.

On both rides, your entire party goes through the queue, including the child that is too short to ride. When you approach the boarding area, they direct the adult that is waiting with the child to a special waiting room specifically for that purpose. The waiting rooms have chairs to sit on and even a changing table (not that you would likely need that for kids your age, of course). Once the party that is riding is finished, they meet up with you in the waiting room and the adult that was waiting (along with one other member of the party) can then proceed to the boarding area for their turn to ride.

I'm not sure if they have similar arrangements for the rides in IOA. I did go on two height-restricted attractions (Spider-man and Dueling Dragons) there, but in both cases we had other members of our party that didn't want to ride and, instead, just used the time to wander around other areas of the park with our son.

The full list of height-restricted rides at IOA are Dr. Doom's Fear-Fall (52" restriction - verticle drop ride), Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls (44" restriction - flume ride), Dueling Dragons (52" restriction - roller coaster), Incredible Hulk (54" restriction - roller coaster), Jurassic Park River Adventure (42" restriction - flume ride), Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Raft Barges (42" restriction - raft ride), Pteranadon Flyers (36" minimum & 56" maximum - ski-lift type ride -- one guest over the maximum can ride as long as they are accompanying someone within the 36"-56" range - basically the maximum is to keep the lines under control), Flying Unicorn (36" restriction - kid's coaster), Spider-man (40" restriction - Very fast moving dark-ride/3D movie).

-Jeff

Thanks Jeff!