Bring age appropriate people to theme parks

Earlier this month, my family and I took a trip to Universal Studios in Orlando, Fl. for spring break. I was extremely excited to go on rides from some of my favorite movies featuring my favorite characters and see awesome places like the castle from Harry Potter.

However, during those three days we spent in the park, my family and I began to realize something we found to be quite common: a large portion of park attendees weren’t age appropriate for said park.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against children or older people. However, when 80-something year olds are having trouble getting around, maybe spending more than $100 to get into a park isn’t the best idea.

I’m not bringing this up because I saw these situations once or twice during my visits to the park. I saw it at least multiple times every day. My family and I were constantly seeing old people in wheelchairs waiting for family or moms pushing around strollers with two-year-old children in them.

It’s not that hard to figure out. If a child is under the age of 7 or if a family member is above the age of 70, maybe the family shouldn’t be going to a theme park.

Now I understand that grandparents wish to be with their grandchildren and children, but that just seems like an expensive trip to take when they’ll just be sitting down.

I also understand that parents want to give their children the experience of going to a theme park, but I went to Disneyland when I was 5 years old and, honestly, I barely remember the trip.

One night after our trip to the park during the day, I thought of a system that I think would work best for families looking into taking a trip to a theme park.

I, along with my brother and parents, have been to all three major theme parks: Disneyland, Disney World and Universal Studios. I loved going to all three, I’ve noticed that there are certain ages when kids should be taken to each.

Disneyland is great for kids that are between the ages of 4 and 8 because a lot of the rides there are more geared toward young children. They’re not “thrill seeking” rides, but young children still get the amazing Disney experience that Disney World has to offer.

Disney World is great for people ages 8 to 15. I went when to Disney World when I was around 15 or 16, and I really enjoyed it. I spent a good mix of my time going on some rides, meeting different characters and shopping. However, I will say that it’s hard to balance your time at the Disney World parks. There was a lot more stuff that I wanted to see and a lot more rides that I wanted to go on, but because of the lines and amount of time I was there for, I didn’t get to see it all.

Finally, Universal Studios is a great park for those ages 15 and up. As I said before, I went for spring break and I absolutely loved it. Out of all of the parks I had been to, Universal was my favorite. I was able to go on each ride more than one time, shop and take pictures with different characters during the three days I was there. The rides were also a lot more thrilling and a lot more to the taste of older people. A lot of the rides were 3-D rides, which I absolutely loved. Along with that, there weren’t too many activities that were taking away from the rides. There were a few times where we stopped to get a pictures with a character or go see a show, but they took 15 minutes at most, so we were able to get back to riding rides soon after.

Now this list is by no means set in stone. Families are free to do what they want, and children and grandparents can go whenever they wish. However, I believe that following this little list will help families get the best out of their vacation.