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This is episode 672 of the unofficial Universal Orlando podcast for July 22nd, 2025.

Hey everybody, what's up? I'm back. I've been gone for a bit. I missed you all so dearly.

We missed you. Oh, yeah. There you guys are. I missed you.

Hi. Only two of us, though, unfortunately. Yeah. I know. Our fourth musketeer is currently doing other stuff at the moment that she needs to take care of. So we'll have to man the fort this week. I think we can. Yes. It's all good. I mean, we have to, right? If not. I mean, we don't have to.

All right.

See you then.

Bye.

No. We don't have to. Hey, thanks for joining the show. We'll see you guys next week. Just quick do the birthdays at least, though. Okay. Okay. Fair. Yeah, that's true. Tracy, hit us with the birthdays. Okay, dokey. That's what these news shows are going to be coming from now.

We can't be bothered to talk about the news because we're all too tired.

It's the birthday. See you later. See you later. Yeah. New format. Love it. Okay, we are going to kick off with birthday twins. July the 23rd sees Lauren Park's birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. And that's also the birthday of David Wilson. Happy birthday, David! Happy birthday! He's only just joined as well. Oh, that was really, I should say, Rejoined. Welcome back. Welcome. Yes. And on July 24th, it's Nicholas Costa's birthday. Happy birthday, Nicholas! Happy birthday, Nick. And that'll do it for now. Yeah. Yeah. We'll get some more cake later. I hope so. I like cake. Spoilers, we will. All right, let's jump over to Seth with some little things. Seth. This is Seth Koberski, co-author of the unofficial guide to Universal Orlando, back with another look at all little

things that are new around the Universal Orlando Resort. We're going to start out with a big

update for early park admission at all of the theme parks. Previously, Universal Express passes

were not accepted during early park admission, which helped the standby lines for attractions move a lot faster.

As of just a few weeks ago, they are now accepting express passes during early entry, including at Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure in Islands of Adventure.

Since there's so many signature hotel guests with express passes who go to I.O.A. for EPA.

If you don't have Express, you can count on the weight for Hagrid's being much longer in the standby line in the early morning.

Also, if you're looking for a good deal on a good

meal near the Universal Orlando Resort, magical dining is back from August 15th through

September 30th. Participating restaurants include a few at the Lowe's hotels and their special

fixed price menus for $40 or $60.

All right, we're heading into Universal Studios, Florida, where the good news is that all Halloween Harnights tickets are now on sale, and the bad news is that the upgrade to express

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