I think there is a miscommunication here.
I don't think anyone thinks that Uni is going to FOCUS on "the kiddies". I don't think most of us on here expect that. They never have and even now, their MAIN FOCUS is on bringing in a widespread audience.
But while doing that they also need to continue to add some things for smaller children to do if they want to turn some of these visitors who are just taking a day out of a Disney vacation to see Diagon Alley this summer into a repeat customer. Hell, maybe even down the line, they'll end up staying at their hotels, which will lead to spending more money on Universal property.
But just because the 7 and under crowd isn't Universal's MAIN FOCUS at the resort doesn't mean that it still isn't something that needs to be attended to.
I completely agree with this. They need enough stuff so that the family who came to Uni once to see one thing will come back again and not have a bored 3 year old with them. Because if the 3 year old was that bored then they won't come back for several years. And you all would be surprised what a few spinners, carousels, and rides like HE can do. Most younger kids are REALLY easy to please at a park if you can give them some things to do in between the boring stuff. My daughter loves Epcot, but she only really goes on Spaceship Earth, Nemo, Living Seas, Mexico, and Norway. She also likes the innovations part especially the piggie bank. That is 5 rides, innovations (which we only go in 50% of the time), and fireworks and she is happy. The problem at Uni is prior to some recent and future additions she only had Shrek (loves it), ET (until she was 34" this was not an option either), Barnstormer (not an option until 36" inches), and DM (but with no motion and being so close to the screen it is only OK). Now notice 2 of those have height restrictions, so a 2 year old may only have 2 as an option. And an infant, forget about it, none of those. Which means a family is always doing child swap.
These she CAN go on, but she really can't or doesn't.
1. Disaster - HATES IT - too scary with all the people screaming and looking scared too - she was fine until she saw others scared
2. T2 - too scary wouldn't even try
3. Twister - Tried once, again too scary
4. Barney - Yeah, just not happening. Many parents like me are totally against this purple dino and have no desire for there kid to be exposed to it
5. Animal Actor, Revue, Fear Factor, and Horror Makeup - I will admit have not taken her on these. Took my son to makeup and he was bored out of his mind. So these technically for some families would be an option. Sometimes shows are hard with little ones, so this is a hit or miss.
So what I am saying is in Uni alone by the end of the year they will add two more options for little ones. If they redo Kids Zone to be something completely different more focused on families of all ages, then they would have a park that a family with some kids under 7 would actually repeat and come back to. This is what Uni is trying to do, they are not trying to be fantasy land. But they are trying to get families that have kids of different ages to come to their parks BEFORE all their kids are 7+. This is key, you have to remember people sometimes wait 4 years between kids. Some families have 3 or 4 kids. So if you have a family that is 2, 6, 8, & 10 Uni wants that family before the kids are 7, 11, 13 and 15. Realistically they may start coming at 5, 9, 11, and 13, but in reality Uni wants them to come now because two of those kids are in their target demo. Uni is NOT trying to go after the families of 1, 3, & 5 year olds. I get that. But they would love that family if the parents are huge thrill seekers. Because some families if you give them enough to entertain the LOs they will come back if they enjoy the rides. But if the whole day is kids waiting in child swap, running around, and whining, it is never happening again. Not only that it may put a bad taste in the parent's mouth and they may wait a long time before returning. On that note, they also need more TVs in child swap. That would go a long way to helping, or do what LegoLand does and give the kids something to do. Not sure what Uni could do in this respect, legos are so easy to do. The could do things like have some stuff on the walls for the kids to move around, push buttons, etc that are themed to the current ride they are in. It would be a cheap addition (almost interactive line type stuff) that could entertain the kids while both parents ride with the kids old enough to go on.
There is a HUGE market of families that they are missing right now, that truly they can easily get and are trying to get. If they weren't they would not be adding twirl & Hurl and talking about the WHOLE family can go on HE. They know and they are addressing it.