Back in 2017, the Dragon Challenge roller coaster closed forever, and Universal confirmed that replacing this attraction would be an unnamed Wizarding World dark ride that “will take [guests] deeper into J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World, where you will encounter some of your favorite characters and creatures”. And while that sounded pretty generic, it was the only description we had of this new ride for over a year. However, earlier this week Universal finally revealed some new details about this ride…and perhaps most importantly…when guests can go check it out!
Introducing Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure
Image: Universal
Though speculation was that this new attraction might be based on the new Fantastic Beasts series, it looks like Universal is still looking to characters from the original Harry Potter books and films for inspiration, confirming that this new roller coaster at Islands of Adventure will feature the character of Hagrid.
As you might guess from the name, Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure will bring guests flying on Hagrid’s motorbike beyond the grounds of Hogwarts castle on a roller coaster ride, where they’ll see “some of the Wizarding World’s rarest magical creatures.” The ride will have very unique coaster trains that recall the look of a motorbike and its sidecar which were featured in the films and replicated as a photo op in Diagon Alley.
Image: Warner Bros
Though Universal hasn’t shared much about the plot of this new attraction, it is now calling this the most “highly themed” roller coaster ever in a Universal park, which is quite the statement, considering Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts (which is a coaster/dark ride hybrid) is just across the resort.
Though unconfirmed, based on photos posted on social media, we can sort of guess what Universal is meaning here however, as there will be both indoor and outdoor sections of this ride, as well as animatronic creatures (reportedly including Fluffy and the Pixie featured in the concept art above) for guests to see as they zoom past both indoor and outdoor areas. Though we can’t know for sure, it looks like this ride won’t be too reliant on screens, which has been a criticism of both of the other headlining Harry Potter attractions in Orlando. But the good news is, even though there are still a lot of missing details about this attraction, we won’t have to wait long at all to check it out for ourselves…
Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure will be open on June 13th
Image: Universal
Though Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure is still very heavily under construction, it looks like work is progressing quickly, as Universal has said that this new attraction will open on June 13th. Of course, this timing is not an accident, as Universal is probably trying to roll out its newest Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction as far in advance as possible of the late 2019 opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
And though Universal is remaining tight-lipped for now about what guests who check out this new ride will be able to experience, we’d guess that, with an opening date that is less than 4 months away, we’ll be learning a whole lot more about this upcoming attraction in the very near future.
Image: Alexandre Breveglieri, Flickr (license)
Of course, this new Harry Potter attraction isn’t the only project Universal has in the works, with plans for an entire new park (reportedly named Universal : Fantastic Worlds) now being finalized, two new hotels being built on the land formerly occupied by the Wet ‘n Wild water park, and another Wizarding World of Harry Potter addition rumored to be in the works on the Diagon Alley side as well. But for right now it looks like all of Universal’s attention is on getting the word out about this new attraction, coming in just a few months to Islands of Adventure!
