{"id":12495,"date":"2026-01-02T23:54:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T07:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/?p=12495"},"modified":"2026-01-13T14:17:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T22:17:57","slug":"universally-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2026\/01\/02\/universally-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"Universally Fun"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hey!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy Who-Years!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We started things off with a classic 2026 celebration sign inside the gates. Our main priority was going to the Waterworld show. We headed on over to that section next. Much to the kids’ delight, around the corner, they saw this big shark hanging down – they recognized it as the Jaws shark. Correct again!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even better? A light mist started to come down- and then out walked the police officer and the fisherman characters from the Jaws movie. The kids were like magnets. Elijah even went over a couple of times to talk to the officer and the fishermen about sharks. Luca was initially scared of the shark, but with some convincing, he let us take a photo of him with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next? The Waterworld show. It didn’t disappoint – the kids even sat low in hopes of getting soaked. Weather? Well, at this point, the mist had progressed to light rain falling in the area as well. They didn’t care – Elijah and Arabella sat as low as possible, hoping to get wet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They did get wet- but not soaked. They were only slightly disappointed, even saying that they wanted a good soaking. Ah, well- maybe the rain will pick up for them instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As the day progressed, we got some butterbeer, both frozen and cold. It was good! Nearly everyone, except Luca and me, preferred the frozen (both were good, but we all had a favorite) – so it’s good that we got one of each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We made one final stop in the Super Silly Fun Land before heading to the lower lot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Made a stop at Jurassic World and took it for a spin. The rain had already progressed to a moderate rain at this point, and everything we had had been soaked since about the Harry Potter drinks. When we got off the Jurassic ride, it was pouring – which I took a bit of delight in. We took a big group photo with everyone at the 2026 sign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a day well spent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After riding the Mummy ride and Transformers, it was time for a final ride of the night. We split the group up – Grammy went with Elijah, and everyone else headed to Transformers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grampy went with Arabella and Sky the first time, then just about at 10:02, they let me know it was my turn. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to ride, as the park was technically closed, but they said that since it was a child swap (due to Ezra and Luca not wanting to ride anymore since they were tired), they let us on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We got in, and they closed the doors – but then what? Nothing. They waited a few minutes, tried again- still nothing. They then apologized and asked us to exit the ride, stating that some engineers were coming to fix the issue. After a few minutes, they came out and took the car we were supposed to ride to a repair area. Then we boarded the next car with no issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After we got done, they said, “Hey guys, we are so sorry you had to wait when you got on last time. To make it up, do you want to ride again?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arabella almost squeaked with excitement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Yes,” we told them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we got off the ride, it was nearly 10:30. Arabella grabbed her phone and took a video of the next couple of minutes, showing Universal to be virtually empty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a nice gesture, something Arabella is sure to remember.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we walked out, I had to capture one last photo of those iconic gates, dazzling with the Christmas lights still aglow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you, Universal, for a fantastic day- or maybe I should say… for a Tramtastic Day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

just Pray<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey! Happy Who-Years! We started things off with a classic 2026 celebration sign inside the gates. Our main priority was going to the Waterworld show. We headed on over to that section next. Much to the kids’ delight, around the corner, they saw this big shark hanging down – they recognized it as the Jaws…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/jan2-unibeau.jpg?fit=1704%2C1278&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3316,"url":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2017\/12\/20\/2017-december-part-6\/","url_meta":{"origin":12495,"position":0},"title":"2017 – December part 6","author":"me@jshox.com","date":"December 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"We had major plans for our last day. We found that throughout the trip as we were so busy that we hardly had any time to get some souvenirs. I think we stopped at a Loch Ness store but other than that- nothing until we were at the airport shops.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/view.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/view.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/view.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/view.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/view.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11205,"url":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2025\/05\/19\/the-big-8\/","url_meta":{"origin":12495,"position":1},"title":"The Big 8","author":"me@jshox.com","date":"May 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple of days ago marked another year around the sun for the boy. 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