A couple of years ago Universal Orlando closed down the Dragon Challenge roller coaster in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at the Islands of Adventure theme park to make room for a new attraction. While this new ride was clearly going to be Harry Potter themed, we did not know what was officially planned for the space until now. This morning, Universal Orlando Resort officially revealed the name of the new coaster, Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, as well as an opening date June 13 of this year.
According to the information provided, the new ride will have guests flying through the air on Hagrid's famous motorbike as the coaster "plunges into the path of some of the wizarding world’s rarest magical creatures."
Universal is calling the new attraction its most highly themed coaster yet. No details have been provided yet about exactly what that means, but more information is promised to be revealed next month.
While this announcement makes the attraction official, the rumor that a Hagrid themed coaster, including ride vehicles that resembled a motorcycle and sidecar, had been previously rumored and now those rumors are confirmed to be true. It's an interesting design for a ride vehicle as it implies that one rider will sit on a motorcycle in some way while the other would occupy the sidecar. This has the added benefit of making it worth riding the coaster more than once as the experience might be slightly different depending on which car you sit in. This is assuming the vehicles are meant for two people. It could be the bike is just part of the theming and all riders will sit in the sidecars.
As ride vehicles go, Hagrid's motorbike is a pretty good model for a roller coaster. In the Harry Potter books and films Hagrid's bike flies through the air and it often does so in a high speed and chaotic fashion. Check out some highlights in the video below.
While a Hagrid themed roller coaster in the Hogsmeade portion of Universal's Islands of Adventure seems like a great choice for a theme, it can't be overlooked that the focus of the attraction is also magical creatures. With Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them being the current Wizarding World franchise being made into films, this ride has the potential ability of helping to promote it by including creatures that we know from those films, as well as the ones that we see Hagrid taking care of throughout the Harry Potter movies.
With Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure opening in June its practically almost here already. Hopefully we'll get a real look at what the attraction has in store for us before it actually opens. We'll have to wait until the promised additional details coming in March.
