- I'm a mom of three kids under the age of 5, and we recently visited the Peppa Pig theme park.
- Our visit was great, but having been to other bigger parks, there's room for improvement.
- Regardless, I highly recommend the theme park for all parents of toddlers.
I have three kids under the age of 5 and I recently took them to the Peppa Pig theme park in Florida during their spring break.
I absolutely recommend this park over bigger ones for parents of little kids — all three of mine really enjoyed their time there. But as an adult who has been to other bigger parks, there were some things I loved about this theme park and others that I didn't.
Peppa Pig theme park has only been open for a couple of months and is still probably working out some kinks, but I want to share our experience so everyone can be well prepared before checking it out.
I appreciated the strict height requirements, which are clearly displayed
My twins are on the shorter side for their age, and I appreciated that all of the rides had the height requirements clearly posted. We could decide whether to bring them with us or not before waiting in a line.
We also asked a park attendant which rides they could join us on, and went to those first so they could have some fun with their older brother.
Some parents tried to convince attendants to let their kids onto the ride regardless of their height, but the attendants stayed firm. I appreciated this since the size requirements are for everyone's safety.
Likewise, there was a limit on how many adults could go on certain rides with kids. This meant some rides were operating half empty to accommodate kids riding with parents. This made the wait a little longer, but also made me feel safer.
You can also print your tickets at home and skip lines
When we first arrived the line to get into the park was incredibly long. I panicked, thinking we weren't going to have enough time to do anything since the park closes at 4 p.m.
Luckily, I had printed our tickets at home and was directed straight to the entrance. The long lines were people either buying tickets or printing the ones they had already purchased.
Once inside the lines for rides were incredibly short and manageable to do with little kids.
Remember to keep your printout if you're also going to Legoland or the water park since it's one ticket for all of them.
There are other things to do besides the rides
The rides and splash area are the focus of the park, but there are other things for little kids to do while visiting.
My 2-year-old twins enjoyed running around near the camper van parked near the store, and hid in all the little tents. There are also carnival-like games for kids to play for free, which included fishing for duckies and ring toss.
You can also find all of Peppa's friends and family's little statues around the park. Most of them make noises and were a hit with my kids. They wanted photos with every single character.
But the gift store was pretty bare bones and there weren't many restaurant options
I was excited to buy each kid whatever they wanted from the theme park's gift store, imagining it to be like the ones at Disney.
But I was quite disappointed to find empty shelves and the same stuffed Peppa over and over again. The kids ended up choosing books and stickers, all of which are available elsewhere.
I also had seen people who visited the park on opening day wearing Peppa Pig ears, similar to the Mickey-ears headbands you can get at Disney. When we visited, said ears were nowhere to be found.
I also spent hours scrolling through other people's reviews of the park, so I knew I needed to bring bathing suits for my family to be able to enjoy the splash pad. But many parents didn't and expected to be able to purchase suits and towels at the park's store, which is right across from the splash zone.
It seems like a huge missed opportunity that there weren't any swimsuits at the store. I would also suggest the store begin selling diapers (like Magic Kingdom does), especially since most visitors here are still not potty trained.
There's also only one restaurant in the park. We expected it to be super packed, so we opted to eat somewhere nearby before entering the park. When we got there, we realized it was an especially good idea because the park's restaurant had limited seating in the shade for dining.
There's very little shade throughout the park and no trees
I had read online that the park can get very hot because there's very little shade. However, being there really put into perspective how bright and hot the park is. The floors are all a whiteish cement, which reflects the sunlight and makes everything so incredibly bright.
There are also no trees inside the park, which sometimes made it feel like we were actually in the parking lot of a park.
Luckily, we packed our own SPF and there was some available for purchase at the store.
The splash-pad area is also an excellent place for kids to cool down if the day is too hot. We visited in April and the temperatures were in the 80s.
Peppa's show is short and it got super crowded
My kids were looking forward to meeting Peppa, but we didn't get to do it.
She has two shows during specific hours, which didn't last long. Kids can take photos with Peppa after the show, but the line was long and all of the kids were impatient so we decided to skip.
I understand that wearing the costume in the Florida heat must be a lot, but I wished there were other characters for kids to meet.
Maybe there's a future where characters can all be in an air-conditioned room like they do at Disney, which would allow kids to have a less hectic meet and great.