Universal Orlando Resort's newest attraction, Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, just opened to the public, but unfortunately, that opening has not been going particularly smoothly. Yesterday, the ride saw some pretty epic wait times, and while that's not unexpected for a brand new, and highly anticipated roller coaster, day two has added increased technical problems into the mix.
It seems that, some of the problems today are actually left over from yesterday's opening. Anybody who was in line for the attraction when the theme park closed last night was allowed to stay in line and get on the ride. However, due to the extensive line, that meant the ride was running very late, and as a result, Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure was not available when the park opened this morning.
It seems that because the ride ran so late, it needed extra time to get ready for the new day, and thus had to open late. The line was reportedly not allowed to open until the ride did. Of course, all this likely would have simply repeated the process of having incredibly long lines and running the ride late into the night.
To help alleviate the line issues, Universal Orlando was reportedly planning to set up a virtual queue system, wherein people would be able to hold a place in line virtually and wouldn't actually need to stand in line for 10 hours, as some reportedly actually did yesterday. That meant people could actually go enjoy more of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter or the rest of Universal Orlando Resort and not have to waste their day in line. Unfortunately, plans to launch that system today did not go forward.
Of course, for those willing to stand in long lines, and deal with it, at least they'd get to ride the brand new roller coaster, which, from all accounts, is pretty damn impressive. Unfortunately, it seems even that didn't quite work. The attraction has been having technical issues of its own, which has even left some riders stranded, which is an issue since it's June and it's Florida.
Technical issues and ride break downs are certainly nothing new for theme parks. They are impossible to avoid and will always happen from time to time. It's just extra frustrating when the attraction is brand new and there are a lot of people who want to go on it. While soft openings and media events can act as a test for a ride to help make sure everything works, there's really no replacement for opening the ride to the general public. Only then will it get constant use over the course of several hours. Only then will you discover if there are elements of the ride that can't handle the load.
Hopefully these issues will be ironed out and Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure will begin to run a bit more smoothly. If you love theme parks you know how much fun they can be, but you also know how frustrating it is when things don't work out. These problems are going to lead to a lot of unhappy guests. Hopefully the park is prepared to take care of them.
