Doing Universal with ds this time

[littlelambie]

We have taken ds (4.5 yrs) to Disneyland the last 2 years in a row, and are headed back the end of Sept. Last year him and I did Sea World, and this time we will be doing Universal. I know there are characters to meet, like Spongebob and Dora, so he will love that. But I know there are lots of rides that will be too scary for him. Is there some sort of "child care" in the park for him to play at while dh and I do the rides? I don't want it to sound like I am looking to get ride of him, but it would be nice if dh anand I didn't always have to do the rides alone. Is the Jerrasic Park ride really scary??

 

[kristasmom]

I'm pretty sure that there isn't any kind of child care available in the park, but I know that they do child swap at most of the rides. I have riden Jurassic Park only once, and I don't remember it being terribly scary, but there is a very big drop at the end. You might want to take a towel, water shoes, and a change of clothes or bathing suit since there is a really fun water play area - you will get soaked if you go in there. Have a great time!

 

[MadeToLove]

I went to Universal a few months ago with an eight year old. She found the dinos on Jurassic to be pretty scary, and she knew that they were bolted to the floor and couldn't get her. It depends on the kid, but that ride can be a bit too intense for most 4 year olds. The Mummy is pretty intense too, the eight year old would ride it, but she had her eyes closed the whole time and was practically lying in my lap because the mummy images scared her (although she loved the roller coaster feel). Terminator can also be intense.

You can get discounted tickets for younger kids who aren't tall enough to ride the big rides.

Back to the Future may be ok for a four year old if he likes motion simulators like Star Tours.

He'll probably love Shrek and the Animal actor show. And Nickelodeon's Blast Zone, where he's sure to get soaked. It's a fun play area for kids, and there are usually employees there, so you won't have to get wet yourself, but you can't leave him there alone. He should be fine on the tram as he can close his eyes for the short term scary bits.

And yes, tons of characters at every turn, including lots of Marvel comic book characters, and horror movie characters (Frankenstein is quite the dancer )

There are other threads in this section about taking kids to USH if you have more questions.