Like most toddlers, my three-year-old son, Liam, has very particular interest: dinosaurs. He’s highly intrigued by anything to do with these colossal beings. And when I say highly intrigued, I mean… obsessed.
Liam probably owns every “Jurassic Park”-inspired dinosaur action figure ever made. (Or at least, it feels like he does!) His favorite movie is “Jurassic World” — my husband and I assumed he would be too scared to watch it, but it easily became his absolute favorite. He typically requests to wear his “Jurassic Park” or dinosaur-inspired clothing just about every day. And to cap it all off, Liam often requests to watch Jurassic World – The Ride POV videos to fall asleep at night. (And before you ask, yes! It’ll calm him down and get him to bed — it works every time.)
Once Liam’s dinosaur obsession hit, I knew I needed to take him to Universal Studios Hollywood, the home of “Jurassic World” in real life. But I was worried he might be too young for Universal Studios Hollywood – would it be scary? Would he be able to get the most out of the experience? Luckily, I had absolutely nothing to worry about. If you’re the parent of a toddler who loves dinosaurs, there’s so much fun to be had at USH. Even for the little ones.
The World-Famous Studio Tour: King Kong 360 3D
I was excited to show Liam one of my favorite attractions at Universal: The World-Famous Studio Tour. Given his age, I wasn’t sure if he would be interested or intrigued. But lucky for me, he ran to the queue and eagerly grabbed his pair of 3-D glasses. In fact, the Studio Tour ended up being the highlight of the day for my little dinosaur fan! Liam was in awe the moment we began our tour. From pointing out the construction area for the new attraction-in-progress, to screaming “Wow!” when he saw all the sound stages, he was really taking it all in. It was so neat to witness.
But the highlight of the Studio Tour was most definitely our visit to Skull Island in “King Kong 360 3-D.” During this attraction, we experienced firsthand a battle between King Kong and a handful of Vastatosaurus. This is such an unreal experience: You’re seated in the Studio Tour tram and you enter Skull Island which comes to life with 3-D imagery. And you don’t just see the island — you can also smell and hear it, it’s so vivid! Then, King Kong enters, along with two dinosaurs that duke it out to save us from a vicious fall!
Now, this part had me worried for Liam. I worried this 4-D experience might be too scary for him, at just 3 years old. But he loved every minute of it! He kept ooo-ing and ahh-ing throughout the entire experience. He giggled when we were sprayed by the dinosaurs and kept saying “Mama, look wow dinosaurs!” It was the perfect attraction for him to witness such a unique, immersive and thrilling experience.
Jurassic World – The Ride
Once we exited the Studio Tram we made our way to our next destination the Lower Lot, where we were determined to experience Jurassic World in real life. To get there, we had to take multiple sets of large escalators. For us grown-ups, it’s nothing out of the ordinary. But Liam was in escalator heaven. He loves feeling independent, so this felt like a world-class theme park attraction for him. He couldn’t get enough.
But that was just the warm-up. Once we hit the last few steps my son screamed “Dinosaurs!” He’d spotted it: Jurassic World-The Ride. This was the moment I had been most excited about. Though Liam was just two inches shy of the minimum height to ride (that’s 42”), he had a blast admiring the ride’s façade, watching guests crash down in the epic drop at the end of this river raft ride. For Liam, watching the ride was like riding it!
From there, the adults made a quick stop at the Isla Nu-Bar for a much-needed fueling break and a tiki cocktail. We sipped on our drinks as Liam explored the nearby gift shop, Jurassic Outfitters. He wanted everything in sight, we compromised and let him know that it was impossible to purchase all of the dinosaur action figures but he did end up choosing the Jurassic World Mission Mayhem Truck Set that features an off-road style truck along with an Einiosaurus dinosaur.
Raptor Encounter
If your little one is a bit too small to experience Jurassic World – The Ride like my son, don’t worry! There are plenty of ways for them to get their dinosaur fix in the Jurassic World area of Universal Studios Hollywood.
During the daytime, the Jurassic area also offers a Raptor Encounter where guests can come face-to-face with Blue the Velociraptor from the “Jurassic World” franchise. If Blue is little intimidating for your toddler, there’s also a very friendly Triceratops named Juliet and a baby Raptor named Tango, who’s too cute — not to mention, just about the same size as Liam!
DinoPlay
There’s also a kid-forcused playground area called DinoPlay tucked behind the entrance to Jurassic World – The Ride. DinoPlay is constructed to resemble dinosaur fossils at a dig site, with a jungle climber and a rope plank bridge all on a nice, cushy surface. Liam liked exploring the area so much! This is the perfect spot for kids to let out some energy and run around — not to mention, for mom and dad to take break themselves.
Our visit to Universal Studios Hollywood was fantastic for our little dinosaur-obsessed toddler, and Liam loved every minute of it. He totally got his dino fix in — he wouldn’t stop talking about how cool they were! He’s still the same dinosaur-loving kid he was before we visited Universal, just one big difference: now, when he watches Jurassic World – The Ride videos on YouTube, he begs me to take him back!
What dinosaur-themed experience is your toddler most excited to have at Universal Studios Hollywood? Let us know in the comments below.
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