Though we are of the opinion that Hagrid’s Magical Motorbike Adventure is one of the most impressive attractions ever created for a Universal park, this ride hasn’t been without its problems. As we saw on opening day during a 14 hour wait, this attraction isn’t running smoothly at all, and though at the time we chalked the long line and frequent downtime up to opening day kinks, after a return visit this past weekend to ride Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure again, we encountered frequent downtime yet again, with Team Members turning guests away several times during the day while the ride wasn’t running. And though we finally got on the ride in the early afternoon, we ended up waiting four hours after we entered the queue, with the line stalled for over half that time due to technical issues and downtime.
And while we were willing to wave this off as more opening jitters, it looks like this issue is a lot more serious than we thought, as Universal has announced that they will be taking an unprecidented step with this ride, effective immediately…
Universal will keep Hagrid’s Magical Motorbike Adventure closed until midday until further notice
Image: Universal
According to an official statement released by Universal Orlando Resort, the massive demand for Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, as well as weather issues and technical difficulties have made it necessary for the park to run this new ride on a very limited schedule. Though no official times were given, Universal has said that they will start opening this attraction at midday, every day, and will be using the morning hours to perform maintenance on the ride to ensure it runs as smotthly as possible for as long as possible before they close the ride for capacity (this has been happening lately around 6:00 PM)
This new policy will go into effect immediately, and Universal anticipates running this attraction on a limited schedule for the next few weeks at least. But why is this even happening?
Failing to test a new attraction
Image: Universal
One of the most exciting things to be a part of as a frequent theme park-goer are soft openings, where theme parks allow a limited number of guests to experience an attraction as a way to test an attraction before its grand opening. Though they haven’t really said as much, the reservation system for Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge land is essentially a giant soft opening period, as Disney controls exactly how many guests are in this land at a time, and how many have access to the Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run attraction so that nothing gets overloaded and they can control guest flow.
However, perhaps a more relevant example might be the 2017 opening of Pandora – The World of Avatar, at Disney’s Animal Kingdom where extensive passholder and DVC previews were scheduled to ensure that both attractions in this land ran as stably as possible in the run up to its grand opening. And while there will still some problems at launch, Disney did a good job scaling up demand for their new rides and making improvements where they could during an almost month-long preview period.
Image: Disney
Though Disney has had great success with this policy, over at Universal when it comes to soft openings, previews, and scaling attractions up for demand, this resort has had a pretty spotty record, especially when it comes to Harry Potter attractions. Both Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey as well as Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts had significant issues when they opened, and it looks like Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure will be the same. However, this is the first time Universal has limited the availability of a new ride, which points to how extreme the issues surrounding this new ride are.
However, a simple soft opening/test period could have helped Universal identify these issues before the ride’s official grand opening. By allowing a limited number of people to experience the ride and then ramping up capacity slowly, Universal could have ensured a smoother rollout of the ride on its grand opening day (avoiding any and all 14-hour waits) and kept this ride going all summer long, instead of limiting its availability during the busiest part of the summer.
Image: Universal
Sadly we don’t know how long Hagrid’s Magical Motorbike Adventure will be on this limited schedule during the summer, and it looks like Universal doesn’t really know much either. But if you have your heart set on riding this ride this summer, we’d suggest still heading to the park early, grabbing a Butterbeer and hanging out in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade until the ride opens for the day, and then getting in line as soon as possible.
