Gpaul

Hola! Will a nearly 7 yr. old enjoy Universal Studios, sans rides?

If so, can we do the "kid" stuff in less than 4 hours?

How far is la Brea Tarpits from Disney and also from Universal/

Gracias1

FainaAgain

If you mean Universal in CA there is a special place with waterslides. Also the tram ride (downstairs). And shows.

I enjoed an almost a full day there without the rides!

Bill_I

Universal, http://themeparks.universalstudios.c...ite/index.html - usually has some type of animal trainer show, I think this year it is something from Animal Planet. There is also a Shrek 4-D movie. May also like the Water World show - there you have the choice of wet seats or dry seats. Plus the tour as Faina said. I also second Faina's notion that you can spend the whole day with just the shows, depending upon the pace you use. I don't know actual distances from the Tarpits, but comparatively speaking it is closer to Universal than Disneyland. A rough guess would be, after leaving the Universal parking lots it would take about 20 - 30 minutes to get there depending upon traffic. & maybe about 45 or more minutes give or take from Disney area. Tarpits, http://www.tarpits.org/ - can take about 1/2 day or less to visit, go through the Page museum & then walk around the pits & if they happen to be exivating that day, you can watch them do that. We are leaving for Southern CA tomorrow. Have been to the Tarpits a couple of times with the kids & they really enjoyed it, but we won't be going there this trip, but will be going next door to the LA county museum of art to see the King Tut exhibit. We will be going to Universal though. A few things have been changed & added since we were there 3 years ago.

FainaAgain

Bill, do you have tickets to Tut's exhibit? Heard this morning in the news - 2,500 advance tickets sold already.

Bill_I

Faina,
Thanks. Yes I have tickets. I bought them about 1 month ago, for noon entry on Tuesday, 28JUN05. Which works well for us. but at that time I checked for the weekends we are going to be there & all the tickets were gone. & some of the other days were almost sold out. I purchased them online at: http://kingtut.org/tickets.htm
It eventually turned out that it goes through ticketmaster. Bought 6 tickets, 2 adults, 2 seniors, & 2 children, then also purchased 2 vouchers for the carry along recorded guide. Ticket master charges added some cost to the total. Ended up being about $150 total. Now I just need to remember to bring the tickets along when we fly out tomorrow. I saw the Tut exhibit 25 years ago in Chicago, but the wife, kids, & parents never saw it, so thought this would be a good chance for that. The exhibit 25 yrs ago was fantastic. I know the one now, does not have all the artifacts the last exhibit had, but still should be very worth while.

beachbum

Why would you pay the admission price to Universal, which includes all the rides (doesn't it?), and not go on any?

ssm

Yes, a 7 yr old will enjoy it. Not sure when you are going but if it is in the summer, you may want to bring along or dress your child in swim wear. They have a Nickeldeon section of the park that has lots of "water activities". My daughter, who was 6 when we last went, still talks about it.

Depending on the crowds, you can do the kids stuff in 4 hrs.

The Shrek show is a MUST!

FainaAgain

Beachbum, I went there to learn, as silly as it sounds. We were there 8 hours total, tram ride, shows, lunch, some souvenirs, we had enough to see without wasting our time in ride lines.

And I Love Lucy pavillion

Gpaul

Thnaky all! If we go, it would be on Dec. 29, so swimming outdoors may not be a possibility.

We'll see....

Bill_I

We were at Universal Hollywood on Monday, 27JUN05. Got there about 9:30am & left just before closing about 7:45pm - then walked around Citywalk for about 1/2 hour or so.
Went on the tram ride as soon as we got there. The tram tour was changed abit because they were filming an episode of Desperate Housewives that day. After that, went to the lower lot & walked right on to the Mummy ride, it was ok, but not quite what I expected - the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland is much better. We then walked on to the Jurassic Park ride. (later on, both rides had about 10 minute wait.) Then did the Special Effects - alittle bit changed from 3 years ago, & Backdraft shows, & went thru the Lucy display. Then we did all the shows & the Back to the Future ride on the upper lot. Went thru the Van Helsing display, wouldn't recommend that for a 7 year old, even my 13 year old was a bit frightened by that. The Animal Planet, Shrek 4-D, & (as always) the Waterworld shows were good & entertaining. The Fear Factor live show was ok, except for the usual gross parts where the contestents had to drink some blended drink made up of animal parts & insects, & when they needed a time filler & took a couple kids out of the audience to eat chocolate covered crickets & grubs.
If I had about 4 hours with a 7 yr old & no rides, I would do the tram tour, the Special Effects, (Backdraft can be intense for a younger child)Animal Planet, Shrek 4-D, Waterworld (watch out for the wet zones), & if time then Terminator 3-D & then Fear Factor.
Another day, we went to the Petersen Automobile Museum, which is maybe a couple of blocks away from the Tarpits. I thought that both myself & the kids would be bored by that. Surprisingly I was wrong about that. It was enjoyable for all & took about 3 hours to go through.