I have never been to Universal, and my husband went when he was 15, so it is a wee bit different now.
I am a HUGE coaster fan. I will be single-rider-lining whatever I can, and with the exception of the Harry Potter rides, I won’t be forcing my child to ride anything. She is 7 and 53.5" and so can ride nearly everything available, but she was afraid of Everest in Disney 2 years ago, so I don’t know how she will feel about bigger coasters.
My question is: What will my daughter and husband (who WILL NOT ride things with large drops under any circumstance) want to ride? Is there a list someplace that concisely describes what the rides are like? I tried looking at the Wikipedia entry for the list of rides, but while complete, it really just lists height requirements.
I can’t make a touring plan if I have no idea what we are going to be riding, and not planning is giving me anxiety. We leave in 20 days and will be there on my husband’s 34th birthday. I need some guidance!! Help!
Have you looked on the Universal site? I can’t recall how much detail it goes in to. Also the Unofficial Guide. There is one for Universal but the WDW one covers it too.
The Universal site is so terrible and hard to navigate, I have looked at it but not in detail enough. I was sort of just looking for favorites of people who have kids of similar age/interests, but yeah, I guess the website is the option.
I think judging what might be scary for one family/child is difficult since so many factors play out. Our DS9 rode ToT at 6 without issue. But when he was 8, last February, we went on The Mummy. He liked it, except that the part where the “person” who works in the little booth is killed. This kind of emotionally traumatized him, despite the fact that we barely even registered it. We had to talk him through what it meant, and how it was just pretend (which he knew, logically, but didn’t alleviate the fear). Eventually, on a subsequent day, he felt the only way it wasn’t going to torment him was to go on it again. He went on it a couple more times and was fine after that.
My son was too short, however, for the bigger coasters, so he couldn’t ride them. He probably would have, though!
It’s hard because my daughter likes spooky things (she liked all of ToT except the dropping hah). Thanks for the input. She’s in a weird place about people dying in non-magical ways so maybe we will skip The Mummy (she is suddenly and abruptly traumatized by Moana’s grandma dying, but doesn’t care about people dying by wand or magic. So weird).
Sounds normal, actually. One is a case of relational loss. She can relate to the idea of losing someone you love. But the other typically would be just random nobody’s with no relationship to, well, relate to. So it is probably less about the method, and more about the who (and perhaps the how).
Our family just finished up a day each at USF and IOA. My 10yo has similar reactions to death and he and DH are not thrill ride fans. My 7yo is game for anything.
USF: loved Minions, disappointed by Shrek, enjoyed Transformers, loved Diagon Alley, loved Simpsons, enjoyed Fievel’s Playground. Didn’t have MIB or Mummy on our list. Missed Gringotts but kids haven’t gotten enough through HP to know Bellatrix so that’s okay.
IOA: loved Spider-Man, loved Forbidden Journey (though two of our party were a bit queasy after), enjoyed Hogsmeade, enjoyed Cat in the Hat, disliked Seuss Trolley, enjoyed Caro-Seuss-el, loved Camp Jurassic, and had a lot of fun on One Fish. Didn’t have time for Hippogriff. It was on the cool side so we avoided water rides.
I would suggest you go on Youtube and watch the POV ride videos. I did this with my kids before we went last year, and it helped them decide what was right and what wasn’t. Most rides at Universal are bad for people with motion sickness though. But here’s my take on most rides but we didn’t ride everything and I won’t list the kiddie rides:
USF: MIB (jerky, lots of spinning on a single track); Mummy (indoor dark coaster, goes forward and back, minor drop feeling); ET (slow motion track ride, no sudden movements); Simpsons (motion simulation with simulated drops, they aren’t real drops); Transformers (another motion simulator with simulated drops): Minions (same as Transformers and Simpsons, but not as extreme with drop feeling); Gringotts (indoor coaster track with motion simulator, very minor actual drop at beginning, very jerky); Rip Ride Rocket (large drop at beginning); Jimmy Fallon (motion simulator with simulated drops); Fast & Furious (motion simulator, very minor simulated drops only)
IOA: Hippogriff (outdoor small coaster, minor drops); Spiderman (another motion simulator with simulated drops); Hulk (very large drops and inversions); Jurassic Park (beginning is calm river ride that finished with large drop; Forbidden Journey (your seat is attached to a robot arm, so you go every direction very quickly, goes with a motion simulation); Kong (graphics could scare a kid, but no huge motion on this one)
On our last trip, my seven-year-old son’s favorite rides were Forbidden Journey and Rip Ride Rockit. No joke, he rode Rip Ride Rockit three times in a row and would have stayed on it forever if we had to let him. He was extremely disappointed that he was too short for Hulk. As others have said, I think it’s difficult to make a determination about what someone will like without knowing the specific child.
I agree with a lot of what has been said. I was a ride operator for a few years and can see what happens when you put a child on something before they’re ready. All in all there’s plenty to do for kids if they can handle the bumps of 3-D motion simulators. (That’s the majority of Universal’s BIG attractions). I’m going to suggest the following would be OK for your “unsure DD7”
IOA =
Spider-man, Storm Force, ALL the water rides (BEWARE! You WILL get SOAKED – No joke), All the Jurassic Park attractions, All of Hogsmeade, Poseidon’s Fury – more of a show than ride, All of Seuss Landing, especially Cat in the Hat – which even as adult I love
(Kong Skull Island is great for adults, but may be too much jarring motion simulation and violence.)
USF =
Despicable Me – (Get on early in morning as line never goes down)
All of Diagon Alley – BTW wands aren’t necessary, but if you decide to get one go ahead & pay the extra $10 for an interactive wand.
Men In Black , All Simpsons land, All of Woody Woodpecker Zone – E.T. Ride may be boring to her if she doesn’t know the character,
(Mummy isn’t too bad, but it’s mostly in the dark and does have some “pop-up” scares.)
To be clear AVOID – Hulk, Dr. Doom, Transformers (loud & jarring), Shrek 4-D (it’s just BORING, even to kids), Fast & Furious, Jimmy Fallon (another boring ride)
Everyone has made great suggestions in this thread. Here’s my list of rides that have drops and is around the same intensity of Everest. Avoid these with both of them.
HRRR - Big coaster, massive drop.
Mummy - Indoor coaster but is as intense as Everest.
Gringotts - One drop at the beginning of the ride, this can be minimized by sitting in the front row of the vehicle.
Hulk - Big coaster.
Dr Doom - Freefall tower, scary on its own.
Duddly - Big drop you can see from the midway
Jurassic Park - Drop is hidden but it’s 80 ft and into water
Hagrid’s Motorbike - One large swooping drop in the middle of the ride and one vertical drop like Tower of Terror near the end.