Ranking the Harry Potter Attractions at Universal Orlando Resort

Best Harry Potter Attractions

While I was waiting in line for two and a half hours for Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure, I though to myself. This is easily the best Harry Potter ride that Universal has ever made, and I think it is almost unquestioned at this point. I wonder how do the others stack up. So over the next week or two, I had friends come into town and we rode Forbidden Journey, Flight of the Hippogriff, the Hogwarts Express, Gringotts, and the Battle at the Ministry. They all have their positives and negatives but I would say several of them all mix together in a vat of magicalness.

The worst one, I would say, is the Hogwarts Express. The journey from Universal to Islands of Adventure is the better adventure of the two, but this is just elevated transportation. The cars get incredibly stuffy during the summer, and to watch the screen makes me feel sick at times. It is a very cool mode of transportation though, and a great alternative to walking through all of City Walk. It can sometimes get long lines which makes it less desirable in my eyes. After waiting 45 minutes for this train, you could have finished the walk between parks by then.

Flight of the Hippogriff is a kid’s coaster that has light levels of theming but also has an INCREDIBLE animatronic at the beginning of the ride. It has awesome views of Hogwarts Castle during the lift hill, and this ride has some pep too. It is a great kid’s coaster. The Hippogriff animatronic truly makes this ride though, I will get on strictly for the Hippogriff animatronic, and the lift hill at nighttime.

This is where the list gets tough. The next three are very close in my eyes. Depending on the day and the level of motion sickness I feel, this could change.

Battle at the Ministry was one of the most hyped up attractions at Epic Universe. This ride was supposed to be the best ride in the park but has fallen short of expectations. I have this ranked fourth on my Epic Universe attraction list, and I won’t often ride this unless the wait is minimal. The reveal of the queue is one of the best reveals in the world and elevates this experience. The reveal of Diagon Alley at Universal is probably the only one that is close to this. I love how they are able to build these locations to look so close to the source material. After that large reveal, this queue becomes underwhelming quick though. Most of the wait is through random rooms of the ministry. I would say the Forbidden Journey queue might have more iconic locations. The ride itself is massive and the animatronics are world class. The deatheaters especially are incredibly lifelike. The rhino magical creature is massive as well. The whole scene in the Department of Magical Creatures is a lot of fun. The first section of the ride with the elevators and screens is a nightmare for people with motion sickness. I even have to close my eyes for that first section. Nothing much is going on except an exposition dump anyway. The animatronics outside of the deatheaters with the projection faces makes this ride look like Frozen Ever After. Not great, and I just can’t understand why they went the projection route. Another gripe I have for this ride, is not nearly enough fun moments. It is very similar the entire ride, not much happening when it comes to movement. Not enough WEEEEE.

Escape from Gringotts might be the best ride at Universal Studios. Not too much of a complement with how limited that ride lineup is. This attraction gets raised by the heavy lifting that the Diagon Alley theming does. This area of the park is so much like the movie that it feels magical. The reveal in the bank is another great queue reveal, but after you pass the animatronic goblins, it once again becomes very underwhelming. Screens play a large role on this ride but it is a lot more FUN than Battle at the Ministry. The screens don’t make me sick on this ride like Forbidden Journey or the section at the Battle at the Ministry. I love an indoor roller coaster and this one does a great job being tied with the story. If the coaster portions were a bit longer, this ride could be incredible. But with those moments being so short, I think it earned its place on this list.  

Forbidden Journey won the best dark ride at the Golden Ticket Awards in 2014 and 2015. Finally breaking the streak of Spiderman winning the award since it opened. This is a great hybrid ride, but unfortunately, I have started to get motion sickness on this ride. The screens, the bobbing of the ride car, it combines into a sickening experience. All of the physical elements are extremely in your face, and this is a fantastic ride brought down by the lack of accessibility. Especially after riding Monster’s Unchained, it is the same ride vehicle and it doesn’t have the magical bobbing that Forbidden Journey has, and it is much smoother. The queue and show building of this ride are incredible. Hogwarts castle is such an iconic location, and Universal did a great job bringing it to life.

The easiest number one attraction of possibly any list. Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure is one of the best attractions in the world. I haven’t been outside of the United States but this ride is an excellent combination of theme, thrills, and family fun. Dueling Dragons was my first big roller coaster when I was growing up, this ride was cemented in my mind due to nostalgia, and I absolutely hated to see it leave. The ride that it got replaced with was a more than worthy replacement. This ride is a strong example of doing everything right, all while being somewhat family friendly. The theming of this ride is top notch, zipping around on one of the best ride vehicles is extremely fun. It has good story beats, decent animatronics for being an outdoor roller coaster, and it zips around the ride layout for a great ride time of 3 and a half minutes. This ride time includes animatronics, launches, unexpected drops, and backwards portion. I am always super excited to get on one of the most complete rides in Orlando. One unfortunate part is that the queue is one of the more claustrophobic inducing queues in theme park history. Going through the endless tunnels after the dragon egg room is one of the more psychologically damaging portions of a queue I have ever been in. Another big part for why this queue is awful is how SLOW this line moves. Nothing is worse than a long queue that doesn’t move very quickly.