Hundreds flocked to the annual New Year’s Even Wishing Wall in Times Square this week, dreaming of very human things such as getting in shape, finding romance — and a world with “no more AI.”
The plea to eliminate artificial intelligence was among those scribbled out on tiny squares of tissue paper at the Wishing Wall, which has been open since Dec. 1 and attracted visitors from around the world.
The papers will be among the 3,000 pounds of confetti tossed into the Manhattan sky by volunteers after the ball drops at midnight on Dec. 31.
The Wishing Wall — located on Broadway between West 45th and 47th streets — received 183,000 wishes so far as of this week, including ones submitted online.
Many want to enrich their lives, with wishes such as “read lots of books,” “have my dream body” and “fall in love.”
Others have dollar signs in their dreams, and are hoping to purchase “a new car,” “a new house,” “a walk-in closet,” and even “a new pair of glasses.”
Some submissions — such as “no more potholes,” “my fave restaurants stay in business” and “for 311 to be effective” — were Big Apple-centric.
Gymnast Leah Frisbie, 11, revealed her wish to The Post at the wall on Monday — “to get my aerial.”
“It’s basically just a cartwheel, but with no hands,” explained Frisbie, who is from Athens, Pennsylvania.
High schooler Alaina Small of Nashua, New Hampshire, also had an athletic goal in mind.
“I wish to win the New Hampshire D1 Basketball Championship,” said Small, a 15-year-old point guard who has been playing basketball since the age of 4.
The college kids who stopped by jotted down wishes for self care and lasting love.
“Get skinny,” was University of Alabama student Sawyer Brooks’ wish.
“I feel like I am more confident in myself when I’m skinnier, and I feel better about myself every day when I wake up,” said Brooks, 21, of Oxford, Alabama.
Emma Kate Sohoski, 21, a student at Florida Gulf Coast University, was visiting the wall on the 13-month anniversary of dating her boyfriend Caden, and wrote both of their names and a heart on a piece of confetti “so that we can have a happy 2026 together,” she said.
Adding to the love in the air in Times Square was a newly engaged couple.
Jason Hrdina of Raleigh, North Carolina, was visiting with Paige Degner-Williamson — who he had just proposed to at the Rockefeller Center ice rink.
Hrdina is the father of a 15-year-old daughter, and Degner-Williamson, the mom to 18-year-old and 14 year-old girls; so her wish was to successfully manage their new blended family.
“We got two in high school and they go to different high schools, so we’re trying to figure it out, who goes where and what do we do,” said Degner-Williamson, 48.
“So I put, ‘I wish for a happy family life for the rest of our lives together on Earth.’”
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