Day 2: Universal Studios!

We were fortunate enough to get Express Unlimited Tickets at Universal Studios Hollywood for Sunday, June 5. This allowed us to jump the line to all the rides. This boy was super pumped to ride the Jurassic World ride and see the characters.

We got our passes and headed to the lower lot to the ride.

He was nervous during the dark portion of the ride - but loved seeing the dinosaurs.

We saw there was a Raptor Encounter happening with Dino Trainer Jess and Velociraptor Blue. We missed the line to get photos with Blue but stood on the side and watched as others went up and interacted with the trainer and took photos. Blue came over to the side a few times and roared and the kids scattered - all except Cameron. He wasn't afraid. He said that Blue was a good dinosaur and always helped save the day. Trainer Jess came over to him after the session was over and spoke to him about how brave he was. He mentioned the above and said the he had had open heart surgery and nothing was scarier than that. He gave one of his Schwooperhero buttons to Jess and they took a quick photo. He let us know Blue would be back in an hour and that there was going to be a triceratops encounter in 15 minutes if we wanted to come to that. Jess also gave Cam a button that he proudly has displayed in his playroom.

We went over to the Dinoplay area to kill some time. Cameron loved playing inside the giant skeleton and peeking into all of the boxes to see what was there.

We went out to see Trainer Eddie bring out triceratops, Juliet. Cameron answered some trivia about the dino and was picked with a handful of other children to give commands to Juliet. he loved it.

After the triceratops encounter we got back in line for a chance to take some photos with Blue. He patiently waited his turn and the best thing happened. Trainer Jess picked him to be the trainer for that session and give Blue commands. Cameron was on cloud nine when it was over. I am so grateful to the amazing staff that work there and truly interact with the kiddos and make the experience extra special. It is pure magic! We grabbed pizza and a special t-rex cup for lunch.

We met Megatron (who he was not a fan of), Bumblebee and Optimus Prime from Transformers. We rode the Minion and Secret Life of Pets rides and explored some more of the park.

We caught the Waterworld live action show. Cameron loved the pyrotechnics, boats, jet-skis and all of the action.

We then headed over to the Studio Back Lot Tour. Cam was not a fan of jaws, King Kong or Fast and the Furious but really enjoyed seeing the sets and the vehicles.

After the studio tour, we did some shopping in the Jurassic Outfitters Store and headed back to the hotel. We decided to take a quick afternoon nap and ended up sleeping 6 hours!

We needed the rest and were excited that the next day was the BIG DAY! The Premiere!