Where are my Potter Fans at? We are less than 2 months away from the opening of Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure on June 13, 2019! Are you packed and ready yet?
With the opening of this new immersive coaster experience in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade in Universal’s Islands of Adventure, I’ve got all the tips muggles need when venturing into the Forbidden Forest.
Let’s start with the ride itself.
Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure is replacing the Dragon Challenge roller coaster that closed in 2017. It will be located next to Hogsmeade Train Station in Hogsmeade in the Island’s of Adventure park. If you are facing the station, the ride will be on your left.
This new ride is being called the most immersive, highly-themed coaster experience yet! There were over 1,000 trees planted to truly take Muggles deep into the forest! The ride itself is a steel roller coaster that will go forward and backward with speeds up to 50 mph! The ride cars are Hagrid’s motorbike and sidecar. There will be 7 rows of motorbikes on each train. Two people per row. You can ride on the motorcycle or in the sidecar. There are 2 different experiences based on where you are seated. So you will need to ride at least twice!
Muggles must be 48″ tall to fly into the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid. But what I love about Universal Orlando is that at the “thrill” rides they have a child/rider swap room right next to the loading and unloading of the ride. This way if you have little ones that are not quite tall enough or if they are a little too nervous to take flight, one parent can stay with the child in the room. The best part is: both Escape From Gringotts and Forbidden Journey’s child swap rooms have Harry Potter movies playing! Plus there is lots of seating and air conditioning. We are expecting this attraction to have a child swap room as well.
In addition to the child swap rooms, Muggles may also see a ride sample outside of the entrance. At several other rides in Universal, guests can get into the ride car itself and secure it to check your fit. This is an important step to make sure you can ride the attraction. Several rides at Universal have size limitations, so it is important to test out the seat before you spend the time in the line. We are expecting this attraction to have this as well.
A green light means you are a go!
Magical Creatures
Once you take flight, as part of Hagrid’s Care of Magical Creatures Class, you will encounter some familiar and not so familiar creatures. If you are a fan of the movies you will definitely recognize Fluffy, the Three-Headed Dog. Fluffy is a guard dog and in this new adventure, he weighs 8,000 Ibs., which is roughly as big as two standard Muggle cars!
You will also encounter more than 20 Cornish Pixies (as well as the blue Ford Anglia). These magical creatures made their movie debut in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets during Gilderoy Lockhart’s Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
Continue on through the Forbidden Forest and you may encounter an 8 foot Centaur! This is a magical creature with a human head, torso, and arms joined to a horse’s body. These magical healing archers were also in the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
And for the first time ever Muggles can encounter a Blast-Ended Skrewt! This magical creature is a cross between a scorpion and a crab. As you may have read in the book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Hagrid created these creatures by crossbreeding Fire Crabs and Manticores. These Skrewts create actual fire from their ‘blasting-ends,’ igniting at random intervals – so be cautious during your flight!
In addition to the magical creatures you will also have to face the Devil’s Snare, a plant from the wizarding world – often strangling people who touch it with its vines. Remember to remain calm! If you don’t, you may end up entangled in hundreds of its vines.
Getting to the Magic Faster
Early Park Admission
First, a little background on this perk:
With Early Park Admission guests can enter one of the parks one hour before the scheduled opening time, either 7 am or 8 am (valid theme park admission is required). Which park has the Early Morning, Universal Studios Florida or Universal’s Islands of Adventure depends on the day. As of right now, Universal has their Early Park Admission schedule up on their website for April and May of 2019.
A new change with Early Park Admission is that the attractions that are open during this time can vary. It used to be just The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in the Universal Studios park was open, but now they change which 3 attractions are available at each park. For example, Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, and Ollivanders are open in Universal Studios and Flight of the Hippogriff, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, and Ollivanders is open in Islands of Adventure.
Early Park Admission is free to all guests staying at a Universal Orlando on-site hotel:
- Loews Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Orlando
- Universal’s Hard Rock Hotel
- Loews Royal Pacific Resort
- Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort
- Loews Sapphire Falls Resort
- Universal’s Aventura Resort
- Universal’s Endless Summer Resort – Surfside Inn and Suites & Dockside Inn and Suites (opening August 2019)
Premier Annual Pass holders can take advantage of Early Park Admission on any morning, as well as Preferred Pass holders on select days (blockouts apply).
What does Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure have to do with Early Park Admission? You get to be in the parks 1 hour before the general public! Even if this new attraction isn’t on the list of early rides, you will at least be one of the first in line!
Universal Express Pass
With the Express pass, riders get to skip the regular lines at most popular rides and attractions once per ride. Express ride access gets you to the front of the attraction faster because there is a separate queue line with a shorter wait time at participating rides and attractions. For this pass, you can buy a 1 park or 2 park pass separate from your regular admission ticket. Pricing varies depending on the day.
Universal Express Pass Unlimited
Very similar to the Universal Express Pass, but with the Unlimited Express Pass you get to skip the line as many times as you want! Remember I talked about riding in Hagrid’s Motorcycle and his sidecar were going to be two different experiences? The Universal Express Pass Unlimited will perfect for this!
*There is no word yet on Express Pass access or single-rider line for Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, but all of the other attractions in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter have Express Pass access.
It is also important to note that the Universal Express Pass Unlimited is FREE when you stay at:
- Loews Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Orlando
- Universal’s Hard Rock Hotel
- Loews Royal Pacific Resort
The wait is just a little longer. Are you ready to take flight?
Are you heading to Universal Orlando from Disney World? Check out this article on the best way to get there.
Happy Travels!
Photo Credit: Universal Orlando Blog
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