To take one child on holiday and leave one at home?

[CatOnALightSwitch]

Hi all,

I'm just considering this and wanted others opinions.

I have a nearly 5 year old and a recently turned 2 year old.

I'm thinking of taking the 5 year old to universal Orlando for a week as he loves the transformers, dinosaurs, minions, trolls, shrek etc and slowly getting into harry potter and I've found a very good deal at the end of Feb for us and him.

However I don't think my 2 year old will benefit from it at all and won't really enjoy it.

My MIL has kindly offered to look after her for a week and she loves going to grandma's (her routine will stay the same as she's at nursery full time).

I would just like to mention both children are going to disneyland paris next week, Spain in may and florida in September however that's a disney only holiday and we're happy to leave 5 year old at grandma's for a weekend In the summer and take 2 year old to peppa pig land or something similar so she also gets time with us.

I just really can't decide what to do which is why I'm wondering if I'm being unreasonable.

Thanks

It sounds like the five year old has enough holidays coming up. I'd wait a few years and go together rather than leave the two year old behind.

I went to universal with the teens last summer it was amazing.

It's bloody exhausting though and I think the points of reference for a lot of the rides will be lost on a 5 year old.

Personally I'd wait until they were a bit older to do universal.

I would do it, there's nothing wrong with giving your 5 year old some quality 1 on 1 time while you have the opportunity, in fact this is probably the last time you could get away with it.

Your 2yo will have a lovely time with Mil and it's very likely they won't even remember you were not there for a few days.

Universal is definitely aimed more "adult" than Disney. He'll be too small for most of the rides, and those he can go on will be too dark, too scary and the "storylines" will be over his head.
And he'll have forgotten the trip within 6 months to a year.

No i wouldnt as you’ve got disney and its much more suited for a 5yr old. Save Universal for when child is older.

I wouldn't do it. Your nearly 5 year old will not remember it in five years time. Your 2 year old doesn't even cost as far as tickets go... they're free. Looking at the pictures in years to come, what are you going to tell the 2 year old when why ask why they weren't there?
Based on my kids experience, I'd wait until the youngest was 8... seriously. As other pp have said, Universal is definitely for older children.

I wouldn't do this unless you'd know you'll be able or willing to do something very similar when the 2 year old is the same age. Think about the future, when your 2 year old asks why they haven't had a similar holiday. A trip to a UK based theme park that they won't remember isn't equivalent to a trip to America when they're school age.

I'm going in a few months with my 4 children at the time they will be 11, 10, 7 and 2 years 2 months. Older kids are big Harry Potter fans. Planning on doing both Universal parks (probably not the newest addition) Disney and maybe SeaWorld. I've been to Florida a few times pre kids so I know ow exhausting it is. I could leave my youngest but I wouldn't as it's just not for me and as much as she won't love it she will love the non park days. Its also our only holiday this year.

In your situation I think it's absolutely fine to leave the little one. Enjoy your holiday 🤩

I think in my opinion it'd be a little mean to leave the 2 year old behind. There isn't anything strictly wrong with it but even if the 2 year old won't benefit it's nice to still have a family holiday with her there. Taking her to Peppa Pig Land etc. is nice though if you will actually do it but I still think it's best to just take her with you. Your 5 year old probably won't exactly remember a ton of it after a while anyway.

I would wait a few years before taking your eldest to Universal. It's really geared towards older children and adults and there are lots of rides that he'd be too small for. Lots of queuing and it can be very tiring for little ones. I'd take a 10 year old maybe but not a 5 year old.

We had a 6 yr age gap and our eldest went all kinds of places with my husband and my sister when the younger one was very small including Disney Orlando a few times . We went to Disney Paris a lot and took the youngest there from being a baby .

I think in general it is fine to split up if you want to take one kid to an age appropriate day out. However I think Universal isn’t really the best place for 5 year olds. We went when my kids were 9 and 13 and had a great time. I’d wait a few years.