So my son is 4 and we have been going since he was 18 months old. We’re going back next week and this is the first time I think he has been actually excited about it. I caught him watching an ET ride video on YouTube the other day and he was saying he wanted to ride it. Worth noting that ET has a height requirement of only 32” so he has been on it at least twice previously and both times said he doesn’t like it
I don’t know how tall your child is but I feel like this is the first time going that my son will be tall enough to do more rides. At 40” he will be allowed to now do transformers and Spider-Man if he wants, as he is big into super hero’s now. I’m going to try to encourage him to try them, but not force it either. He was tall enough to do flight of the hippogriff last time, but won’t do it. Maybe this time.
I will say two rides we will NOT have him do are simpsons (40”) and kong (36”). Simpsons made me nauseated and Kong I think is actually too scary for him/that age. I suggest you want some videos of the rides ahead of time either with or without your child to see what might be good.
My son has always had an enjoyable time when he’s there. I know this trip will be different as some of his favorites (play areas) are closed, but here are the things we really enjoy doing with him
- dr suess train- it’s his favorite ride! There are two tracks and have different themes / routes so you can ride it more than once
- Hogwarts train - need a park to park ticket. Make sure you ride both ways as it’s different
- Walking through the castle in hogsmeade (Islands of adventure) - he’s too small to ride, but enjoys the “tour” while we do child swap to ride. Make sure to watch both spell cycles in the defense against the dark arts room; it will snow during one of them
- Casting spells around hogsmeade and diagon alley. Mom and dad have interactive wands that we let him borrow, though he might get his own this time. Some of the spells (ie the frog fountain) are simple enough that he can do and he loves seeing the magic happen
- Ollivanders wand show - watch the wand choose the wizard. Currently you have to sign up for a time slot to come back
- Animal actors show - really cute especially if your kid likes animals!
- Cat in the hat - slow car ride through the cat in the hat story
- Caro-Seuss-osel - merry go round themed to suess. Each animal you ride can do something silly like move it’s tail or eyes when you pull the “reins”
- One fish two fish - “dumbo” style ride where the fish spit water at you.
- Jimmy fallons race through New York (40”). He admittedly hasn’t tried this yet, but I think will like it
- Shrek - supposedly there is stationary seating but I have never seen/asked for it even when he was 18 months old. 3D theater so seats shake a bit
- Minion mayhem - he’s only done this in stationary seating, but tall enough this time to do the actual ride. I think it can be just a little rough, so wouldn’t hurt to just do the stationary first to see if your kid likes the story and then come back for the moving one. There is a seperate line to the side for stationary seating that is much shorter
- ET: I know, I said he doesn’t like it. But he spends the whole ride looking around and does think the baby ETs are cute at the end! I think the queue being in darkness and the first part of the ride where the scientists are trying to capture ET scares him a little. This is another one where it might be worth watching videos ahead of time and making the decision
Two final things.
I know majority of the play areas are closed, but it does list the Popeye ship play area as open. I’ll try to look into that when we are there next week.
if there are rides you want to do as adults that your child is too small or scared of, universals child swap is amazing. You all go through the line togetehr then when it’s time to ride they put you and the child in a nice room while your party rides, then switch off and let you ride immediately when your party gets back. The rooms usually have a movie playing (based on the ride), lots of seats, and often a changing table even for the really little ones
Since our kids are about the same age and we are headed down late next week let me know any specific questions you have!
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