Traveling with 6 year old..not big rides, need EP?

[SwanVT2]

The title of the post says it all. We are planning a trip for the last week of February. I printed out "What to do at Universal Studios with Small Kids" ride list and lots of the big rides will be a no-go for us. It would cost us 600.00 more to stay at RPR to get the express pass (currently have Sapphire Falls booked). We will have 5 days at the parks. I don't think it is worth it, but DH thinks it is. Anyone care to chime in to help out with our planning? Thank you!

 

[gotomu212]

Someone else had a very similar question (forgive me if it was you and I’m answering twice) but we’ve been going since ours was 3 and I think EP is. A fantastic addition even with younger ones.

First you’ll be surprised what the 6 year old can ride. The huge roller coasters ar out but our son could do everything else (except FJ) by 6.

Second, since here are fewer things for them to ride, my son tended to want to repeat rides right away. Flight of the Hippogriff 5x in a row. Having EP made it easy to just get right back in line and not worry about juggling wait times or skipping to another ride and going back.

Third, if there are rides you and your husband want to ride that she can’t the kid swap is nice with EPs. At UO the family all gets in line together and you enter the kid swap room right at the load area. Having my son wait in a 5 minUte ride with us was no problem, but I would have felt bad making him wait 45 minutes for a ride he couldn’t actually get on. So it allowed us to take advantage of more rides.

I know $600 is nothing to sneeze at, but for our family EPs are almost priceless.

 

[SwanVT2]

Someone else had a very similar question (forgive me if it was you and I’m answering twice) but we’ve been going since ours was 3 and I think EP is. A fantastic addition even with younger ones.

First you’ll be surprised what the 6 year old can ride. The huge roller coasters ar out but our son could do everything else (except FJ) by 6.

Second, since here are fewer things for them to ride, my son tended to want to repeat rides right away. Flight of the Hippogriff 5x in a row. Having EP made it easy to just get right back in line and not worry about juggling wait times or skipping to another ride and going back.

Third, if there are rides you and your husband want to ride that she can’t the kid swap is nice with EPs. At UO the family all gets in line together and you enter the kid swap room right at the load area. Having my son wait in a 5 minUte ride with us was no problem, but I would have felt bad making him wait 45 minutes for a ride he couldn’t actually get on. So it allowed us to take advantage of more rides.

I know $600 is nothing to sneeze at, but for our family EPs are almost priceless.

Ha, ha, I think you did! I just decided to make it a separate post to get some more replies. Thank you for your help!

 

[skylock]

You will have 5 days in the parks. I would skip it.

 

[macraven]

You have 5 days for the parks
Assume that means you have 4 nights at the hotel

One possiblity is stay at one of the 3 hotels that has free ep for one night

You will get the ep for day you check in and the day you check out

Book the upper hotel that is the cheapest of the 3
Avoid weekends as they run higher

One night in the deluxe hotel and the rest of your stay at Sfalls

Two days of unlimited ep and then two days without it

All the onsite hotels have the one hour early entry to one of the parks

 

[bumbershoot]

The rides with lower height reqs have long lines, too...

EO for Barney can be priceless, if your child is like my son and liked to torment us with that show.

Second, since here are fewer things for them to ride, my son tended to want to repeat rides right away. Flight of the Hippogriff 5x in a row. Having EP made it easy to just get right back in line and not worry about juggling wait times or skipping to another ride and going back.

Yep.

Start of the day: 14 times in a row on hippogriff with my 6.5 year old made possible by unlimited EP.

End of the same day: 15 times a row *watching* my son go on Nuthouse coaster at the end of the day made possible by unlimited EP and the realization (on the 14th exit from hippogriff) that at 48”+ he could ride it alllll by himself.


I don’t even look at the non deluxe prices. I know I won’t do it so I don’t torture myself with savings I know I won’t realize.

 

[SwanVT2]

My daughter does not know Barney thank goodness!

 

[bumbershoot]

My daughter does not know Barney thank goodness!

Neither did my kid. Thanks, Universal!!! (Haha, but seriously)

After he saw his dad’s reaction to it he delighted at begging to watch it again.


And then after Universal he wanted to watch it sometimes. But then he got into dancing (and the pop music that goes along with that) and we found that both Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato on the show, so they had to be watched.

 

[kohlby]

I would not worry about express that week with 5 days. You will easily be able to work around any crowds - though I've been then before and found it quite manageable.

 

[GoldmanTrust]

We have done both EP and non EP. It didn’t really make a difference in our case. You can always add the EP when you see the lines in the park that particular day.

But we started out NOT buying EPs to kind of “force” our daughter to explore the park. So going back to back to back on rides wasnt an option.

But believe me - 6 year olds can do a whole lot. By 7 she had done The Hulk and Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. At six she did The Mummy, and everything else at the park.

We went in June for a week and will be returning for two weeks in September. By now she has gotten really good at finding rides with little wait times and helps us strategizing.

So, for me that is the updie of not having EP.

Btw with kids this age I recommend going to the parks early, stay for a few hours, go back to the hotel and then come back once it is colder. We have probably gone 40-50 times (single days) to UO over the last few years and never spent more than 4-5 hours at the park without returning to the hotel.

 

[macraven]

Btw with kids this age I recommend going to the parks early, stay for a few hours, go back to the hotel and then come back once it is colder.

Going during the summer months is gonna be hard waiting for cold weather
Maybe once the sun sets would be tolerable

 

[GoldmanTrust]

Going during the summer months is gonna be hard waiting for cold weather
Maybe once the sun sets would be tolerable

My point. Colder as in not burning hot haha