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How We Braved a “10 Hour” Queue for Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure

Alexander: Good Morning!

It’s 5:45am on June 13th, 2019, and we’re here to try and snag a ride on the hottest new coaster on the planet: Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure! There’s no telling what the day holds! Let’s go!

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Cars were already queueing well before 5am for Hagrid‘s debut. We’re lucky we arrived when we did!

At around 6am, Universal started funneling guests through the north side of Islands of Adventure.

Guests are held outside of Hogsmeade to await further instructions!

Queue for Poseidon’s Fury was used to hold guests until the official Hagrid queue was ready to open.

Much to our delight and surprise, the queue route continued behind the Lost Continent and skirted the backstage perimeter of Island Of Adventure.

If you’re wondering how Universal fit over 10h hours of queuing guests in the resort, now you know!

We couldn’t help but pose for a few shots with the backlot.

Guests continue to pour through the backlot threshold and past the show building for Poseidon.

We then continued in the general direction of Hogsmeade, passing the track for Hogwarts Express along the way.

We then re-entered the park proper between Poseidon and Sinbad.

Both Lost Continent show areas appear to be Universal’s answer to Hagrid‘s utterly insufficient queue space, which only seems to hold about 3-4hrs of queue.

The courtyard in Sinbad‘s Bazaar served as the last stop in our queue journey before the ride’s official opening. Here we could use the bathroom and get ice water without sacrificing our places in line! A DJ helped keep energy up as morning fatigue set in.

It’s now about 9:15am. We’ve been here for about 3.5hrs, and we’re only half way there!

Soon queuing guests were allowed entry to Hogsmeade. We were loaded through a separate midway corridor that allows for non-queuing guests to still access the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Lots of press was on hand to cover both the ride and the crowds! It’s not every day a ride fetches 10 hour+ queues!

Like most Universal thrill rides, lockers are required for larger loose items. Lucky the queue threads through the ride’s different locker areas, allowing guests to stow their bags without losing their spot in line.

At this point, the camera and phone are stored for the remainder of what wound up a 7 hour wait for Hagrid. After a handful of short delays (one weather-related, the rest mechanical), we finally took our adventure with Hagrid just before 1pm!

The ride overall is excellent. The queue, I must admit, was better as Dueling Dragons, and pales in comparison to the queue for Forbidden Journey. Standout qualities of Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure include the ride’s excellent pacing overall length (over 3 minutes). There’s an abundance of practical effects and surprises of the thematic and mechanical variety – enough to make even the most stubborn coaster enthusiasts blush. 

Congratulations to Universal Orlando Resort on what we would consider a hugely successful new marquee attraction and a pretty solid opening day. We look forward to future adventures with Hagrid on his $300M new thrill-ride!

Thank you for checking out this quick Hagrid report! We recorded a podcast episode for Coaster Kings Radio where we talk all about the new coaster! Check it out! We’ve got a ton of new coverage coming your way from around the world! Here’s some of our new content:

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