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Universal Studios with A Baby

Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!

Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!

We are die-hard Disney fans. We have annual passes and have taken Gracie 4 or 5 times already (oh my, I actually lost count). We love Disney and everything about the parks. However, we’ve been dying to take her to Universal Studios! It sort of felt like we were cheating on our first love, Disney. But we had so much fun! A lot of things are different in Universal than Disney World. So, I wanted to share 10 tips for taking a toddler to Universal (for Disney Fans).

Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation! Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!

1// EXPRESS PASS – The express pass is SO necessary. Disney fans know that you get three free fast passes for any ride. However, at universal you have to buy an express pass if you want to skip the long lines. This was SO worth it. We got the unlimited express pass, which means you can ride any ride (except a few Harry Potter rides) any amount of time. I don’t think you necessarily have to get the unlimited pass- but definitely purchase the extra express pass! You won’t regret it. 

Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!

2// DON’T GET THE MEAL PLAN –We LOVE the Disney meal plan. We always get it when we go. So, naturally we wanted to get the Universal Studios meal plan too. Bad idea. The meal plan works so differently than disney. We got the plan where you can get 2 quick service meals, 2 snacks, and 4 drinks. First of all, this was way too much food. But second of all, you can’t use your “snack” at a lot of places. For example, a “snack” on the Disney meal plan can get you ANY DRINK and any size at starbucks. On the Universal Dining plan, you can only get black coffee with your “snack”. Um, no. It’s really not worth the value. I would just pay for each meal and snack. 

Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!

3// THE RIDES- At Disney, there are SO many rides that you can go on with babies and toddlers. It’s actually easier to tell you the rides baby CAN’T ride at Disney. However, at Universal, it seems like they have a more strict height policy for their rides. Most rides require riders to be at least 36″ tall, although most were 40″ tall. The rides that you can take baby on are the Harry Potter Train, Despicable Me (only the stationary seating), Shrek, Caro-Suess-El, Dr. Seuss One Fish Two Fish, Twirl and Hurl. There are also a few shows that your baby or toddler would love. Gracie loved the Barney Show. 

Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!

Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!

4// PLAY AREAS –One thing we fell in love with at Universal was all the baby play areas around the park! Disney doesn’t really have spots for kids to just RUN AROUND. We ran into several play areas that Gracie loved. She just started walking a few months ago, so for her to get out of the stroller to play and run was huge. These play areas were some of her favorite moments on our trip! Our favorite play area was in the Dr. Seuss land! We had a blast. 

Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!

5//CHILD SWAP –In Disney this service is called Rider Switch. Basically if you have a baby or toddler that can’t ride a ride because of a height requirement, your whole group goes up to the line and tells the cast member you need to use Rider Switch. The Cast Member gives the waiting portion a pass (sort or like a FastPass) and the riding portion of the group waits in line. When that group is done, the other half (waiting with baby) doesn’t have to wait in line. Universal has a similar system, although instead of the waiting group waiting wherever they want, you have to wait in the Child Swap room. It’s actually kind of nice because then your party can be inside, in the cold air waiting. 

Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!

6//SWIM SUIT NEEDED – As we walked around Universal, we kept stumbling upon water play areas for kids. I mentioned all the play areas for kids to run around in earlier. Well, lots of those play areas have water and splash pads. This is so awesome for HOT, sunny, South Florida. Just make sure you bring a swim suit or a change of clothes for baby. We definitely forgot, and totally regretted it. The Curious George town is like full of water everywhere. 

Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!

7//BUG SPRAY- While we were at Universal, they provided bug spray! There were several stations throughout the park with complimentary bug spray. Now this was most likely due to the Zika outbreak, but anyways- it was awesome! Definitely bring sunscreen though. 

Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!

8//NURSING ROOM? – I’ve written before about Disney’s amazing baby care centers. They really are amazing. Universal does not have luxury rooms like Disney, but they DO have a room for nursing moms near the entrance! There are a few chairs and a changing table 🙂

Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!

9//FOOD – We loved the food at Universal and were pleased at how many healthy options they had! Our favorite restaurants were Mythos (nice sit-down meal) and Monster Cafe (quick-serve style). DELISH! The taco food truck in the Simpsons land was also great! 

Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!

10//CUSTOMER SERVICE – We are used to Disney World, which means we are used to Disney’s level of customer service. We did notice that there were some not-so-friendly staff members, however for the most part everyone was nice! We ARE used to everyone saying “have a magical day” though. Hehe. 

Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!Universal Studios with a baby or toddler! Some excellent trips for an upcoming vacation!

Family Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost

Family Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.com

Family Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.com

Dave, Gracie + I just got back from our quick weekend getaway to the Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach. It was such a fun little trip, and we enjoyed every second with our princess! The hotel was awesome. They upgraded our room to a suite when we checked in! YAY! The hotel was right on the beach, so we spent a lot of our time there. It was a very cold weekend, so we didn’t get to swim, but we did enjoy walking on the beach and enjoying the hotel hammocks :). Check out all of our pictures below, or watch our vacation video!

Family Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.comFamily Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.comFamily Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.comFamily Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.comFamily Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.comFamily Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.comFamily Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.com

We ate breakfast at Guy’s Gulfside Grill- and it was delish! Gracie was being adorable, as always… and the chef actually noticed how behaved and cute she was. He cooked her up her own minnie pancake and brought it out to her himself!! It was so cute. Gracie loved trying her very first pancake! Thanks Chef!!

Family Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.comFamily Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.comFamily Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.comFamily Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.com

There were so many hammocks around on the property. It was probably my favorite part to just lay and relax in the sun with Gracie + Dave. That’s what vacation is all about. Family Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.comFamily Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.comFamily Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.comFamily Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.com

We also loved playing in the sand and on the little chairs they had. So fun! Gracie is such an easy baby that she really likes anything we do. LOL! She loves being outside because there is plenty to look at. And she always takes an awesome nap after being outside for a while.
Family Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.com

For dinner, we ate at the RumFish Grill. What makes this restaurant special is the GIANT fish tank they have inside. Actually they have 3 fish tanks in the restaurant, but one is like massive. HUGE. It was actually built on the TV show Tanked, and it was one of their largest tanks ever. So that was cool! Family Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.comFamily Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.com Family Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.com

The hostess sat us a little far from the tank, so we asked if we could move closer and they were so accommodating. Our waiter moved us literally in front of the tank. Gracie had so much fun during dinner. She loved watching the fish in the tank! I think we need a fish tank in the house to keep her busy while we eat! Just kidding, but it was awesome. We got to enjoy our meal without worrying about Gracie at all. She loved every second.
Family Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.comAfter dinner, we got to see the most beautiful sunset. It was super cold outside, but still lovely. Like I said before, Gracie loves being outside, so she was in heaven.
Family Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.comFamily Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.comFamily Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.comFamily Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.comFamily Vacation: Guy Harvey Outpost in St. Pete Beach - More details at Gracefulmommy.comWe loved our mini getaway to St. Pete Beach! I would definitely recommend staying at the Guy Harvey Outpost. And if you do, you have to eat at RumFish grill. It’s awesome. Make sure to make reservations though! To see our wonderful trip video, click below!

 

DISNEY TRIP JANUARY 2016

DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com

DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com

We had so much fun last trip for Gracie’s first Disney World Vacation, that we had to come back! This was sort of a last minute weekend getaway, but that’s what is awesome about having annual passes! This trip was so fun with Gracie. I think she was even more observant than last time. She went on more rides than last time, too!

One of my new years resolutions is to learn how to do videography. So, during this trip I made sure to video a lot more! Check out my first YouTube video below!

I can’t wait to get even better at making videos. There are so many memories saved when you record those special moments. I also took a million pictures. Check out my favorites:

DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com

First, can we talk about how cute this outfit is!? Aunty Kaity’s friend and her mom made this for Gracie! HOW SWEET!

DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com

DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com

DISNEY TIP: If you ask any Disney photographer for a magic shot, they will put something special in your photos (like Tinkerbell!!)

DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com

Gracie’s newest trick is waving! She is still figuring it out, but here she was waving at Repunzel. SO CUTE!

DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com

DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com

DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com

We took Gracie on the Carousel this time. She loved it!

DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com

DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.comDISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com

We also took Gracie on Dumbo for the first time. I think this was her favorite ride. She loved the wind blowing in her face. It was actually my first time on the ride, too. Super fun! DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com

DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com

Gracie loves the bus rides at Disney. She gets really relaxed and sometimes falls asleep. AWWW!

DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com

Look at Gracie staring at that tiara! Hint hint- Daddy…. I think Gracie needs one of those.
DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com

DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com DISNEY VACATION JANUARY 2016 || Gracefulmommy.com

We had so much fun at Disney World for Gracie’s second visit. If you didn’t watch the Disney Vacation video yet, check it out below: