I've been going to both universal parks at least twice a month (getting the most out of those annual passes. If I had passes to Disney, I'd do the same thing). Some of the things that Disney Expert said are true, but not all of them. The cast members at Universal used to be rude. Since they built IoA, the have fixed that problem. I would rate their cast members attitude the same as Disney's (of course, there is always an exception here and there, and that goes for all parks, including Disney).
About the Jurassic park playground. No...It's not a good idea to let a three year old loose in it, but is that a good idea in any playground? If you go with them, chances are you too will enjoy going around it (i've gone with a 3 year old). For Triceratops discovery trail (formely tricertops encounter), they have railings around the dinosaur. If you're worried about the dinosaur hurting you, or your kid, don't climb over the railing. I'm sure some sof the animatronics at disney can put out just as much pressure.
what makes you think the Teradactal flyers are flimsy? They are inspected every day. There has never been an incident involving poor vehical design. The only thing that has ever happened on them, is a brake coming on, and not turning off.
Like you said, busch gardens and Sea world are nice parks, but they DO have rude cast members, and hardly anything is themed (or very light themeing). The Universal parks are theme parks not owned by disney. Going to them doesn't mean anything bad will happen. I still reccomend going, because even though you may not be able to go on everything, you will still have a good time.
