Universal and IoA with 1.5 year old

[Jasmineandrajah]

Could someone give me some insight on going to Universal/IoA with a 1.5 year old? We are doing a long trip at Disney and might have some extra days to spend there. I love Harry Potter and would love to check it out, but would it be worth it for us right now, or should we go when our son is a little older? I know we can take advantage of rider swap, but would we mostly be standing in line for long amounts of time to ride the "big" rides? We are staying off property, so I don't think we would get an express pass? (Not thoroughly sure how that works). I would hate for my son to have a boring time because his parents are having all the fun! He does love the minions! I guess my question is, is there much for a 1.5 year old to do at Universal and IoA? Thanks in advance!

 

[tweak89]

You do have children's areas at both parks, Seuss Land, a Popeye themed play area and Camp Jurrasic in IoA. The Studios side has a themed area (Curious George, Feival and Barney) area as well. There is a non-motion seating area for Minions as well. Child swap at Universal is much better than at WDW with nicer waiting areas. So, there would be places that are stimulating for a child of that age and again, the child swap lines are handled really well. There are also several other shows/rides like T2 3D, Poseidon's Fury, Sinbad Stunt Show, Oh the Stories You'll Hear, ET, Day in the Park with Barney, Animal Actors, Horror Make-up Show etc. There is a lot to do that doesn't involve rides that can easily be done with little ones.

As far as Express Pass, it's front of the line access to almost every ride. You just walk up to the Express Pass entrance whenever you want and ride (no set time or ride reservations). Standard Express Pass gets you on each read once, the unlimited Express Pass as often as you want.

 

[FargoBear]

We were there when my son was 18 months old. He had an epic meltdown due to the heat (it was only early May), but he had a blast in the Seuss and splash park areas. If you're a huge Harry Potter fan and haven't been there before, I'd definitely go. If you want to avoid long lines, I would try to utilize the single-rider lines whenever possible. You may miss out on a little scenery, but it beats sticking your partner with a 45-minute wait if you try to advance through a packed queue and meet up later. Now, a person could travel through the castle together, all depends on how scared your kid gets when it's dark and so forth. If you've never been there before, and it's going to be 3+ years before you get back to the Orlando area, I'd definitely go.

 

[bchbetha]

Go for it. It's ok to put yourself first for a day! Your little one will have a fine time.

 

[Jasmineandrajah]

Thanks everyone!! Really appreciate the insight!

 

[kohlby]

Go if you want to see it for you!! There are a lot of rides with height minimums too high for your toddler, but that doesn't mean you can't do it. The child swap areas have you all staying together for most of the line. We just made sure to have some yummy snacks and take our bag with us into the ride. (The rides with metal detectors don't allow this so we waited outside of the ride instead - that's only Hulk and Rip Ride Rockit currently).

As for what there is for a 1.5 year old outside of rides (since I don't remember all the height minimums) - the talking fountain, If I ran the Zoo play area (excellent for toddlers), Camp Jurrasic Play area, Discovery Center (Inside and air conditioned too!), Fieval's Playland, Barney area, Curious George water play area, ball shooting place at the end of Curious George, and Animal Actors show are all things that toddlers could do. So - another option is to split up on occasion and have one adult do single rider line while the other is in a play area. When we had young kids, we stayed together for the most part except once each day, each parent would take off to do one ride in single rider. That way, it was easy to work in and the young child didn't have as much time in child swap rooms.