This secretive new ride is a mystery to everyone. In this article we share what we know and what we can guess from photographs and rumours that have been circulating in the past weeks.
It’s no news that Universal Orlando is developing a new ride after tearing down Dragon Challenge in late 2017. But actually we haven’t heard much about this new attraction coming to the Hogsmeade area in the Islands of Adventure theme park. This has changed in the last few days since the website Attractions Magazine has made a thorough report based on the aerial photographs taken by Twitter user @bioreconstruct. And this is what we know so far:
1. We can now see the coaster train. The last aerial pictures show the tracks with the trains all covered. Some other photographs also reveal that this new ride will have a backwards drop, which will have riders falling backwards to a second track. It sounds like an incredible replacement for the thrilling Dragon Challenge, so in this sense, this new attraction has already won with us.
2. Based on the photographs, it looks like the coaster train could be Hagrid’s motorcycle. If you take a closer look at the aerial view of the construction site, you’ll find the coaster trains all covered but you may as well guess what could be underneath if you compare it to the motorcycle and sidecar found in Diagon Alley. A ride on Hagrid’s bike? Oh, yes! We sign up for that one.
3. But what is the story that invites us to this ride? Here we start making guesses. Will they recreate the scene from the first movie when Hagrid rescues Harry and brings him to the Dursleys or the one of the multiple Harrys from Deathly Hallows? Our guess is that it might take elements from both scenes but Universal will come up with something new, inspired by these events (the same way the did with Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts). According to the poster released by Universal Orlando Resort in October 2018, the ride will surely take place around the Forbidden Forest near the Hogwarts lands(?) and castle and near Hagrid’s hut. So, it makes sense if the train cart is a motorcycle.
4. When is this attraction opening? Apparently, it should be up and running later this year, with an announcement with more information coming up in the next months. As for the name of the attraction, there’s no information about that either. We did some research and we couldn’t find any new registered trademarks similar to the rides that already exist, so we had no luck with the name.
What we do know is that we are incredibly excited about this new ride and we can’t wait until its opening. A new Harry Potter attraction could be what Universal Orlando needs to compete with the highly anticipated Disney’s Star Wars land coming up this year too. Also, it would finally give closure to the Harry Potter lands by filling the void left by Dragon Challenge.
