Wizarding World: Every Harry Potter Easter Egg In Universal's Latest Ride
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Ready for a hands on Care Of Magical Creatures lesson?
Universal Studios Orlando has added yet another attraction to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, a roller coaster that blasts riders through the Forbidden Forest on a Care Of Magical Creatures class gone totally awry.
In keeping with the stellar standards held by the rest of the Wizarding World attractions at the park, Hagrid's new adventure features not only a stellar ride experience but also a world-class queue that's packed with intricate set design and tiny details for riders to notice as they wait for their turn. Earlier this week, we had a chance to not only experience the ride itself but to comb through the line for all those incredible details. Here are some of our favorites.
A view of Hogwarts
The layout of the park actually makes it feel like the Forbidden Forest really is on the outskirts of Hogwarts' grounds. There's a spectacular view of the castle from afar, through the trees.
Entering the ruins
Similar to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge over in Disneyland, this ride takes an additive stance on the Harry Potter mythology, introducing a brand new location to the mix. Hagrid has found old castle ruins that pre-date the already ancient Hogwarts and sit on the border of the Forbidden Forest. He's converted the crumbling grounds and the intricate network of caves beneath them into his very own sort of magical creatures mad science laboratory slash classroom.
Mermaids!
Apparently Hagrid wasn't the first castle resident to have an affinity for monsters--the entrance facade features a lovely sculpture of a woman surrounded by ominous looking mermaids.
Student graffiti
Hagrid's been teaching for a long, long time--and students in the wizarding world still have the same impulses as muggle kids. The walls of the castle ruins are covered in long faded and chipped murals, decorated with some choice graffiti from Hagrid's kids--like here, for instance, where we get a joke about a hippogriff swooping down to snatch up Draco Malfoy.
Buckbeak, is that you?
"I miss my owl, I miss my..." Diggery? Diggory? We can't read this one, but someone clearly misses their pet.
There are probably more phoenixes in the world than just Fawkes, but this one certainly does bear a striking resemblance.
In case you had any doubts about how long Hagrid's been using this place--here's a bit of graffiti added by Harry's parents, James and Lilly. Awww, young love.
"Now that's what I call a fancy..." Breakfast? We can't make this one out, either.
Hufflepuff pride.
Cages aplenty
Hagrid's hung a ton of cages from the ceiling of the graffiti-covered room--and though they may look empty, something periodically scampers around through them, making the whole network of crates and nets rustles and chirp.
Must be a Weasley
For the ride's pre-show cinematic, Hagrid enlists the help of a familiar face: Arthur Weasley, to add some, uh, "improvements" to his classic magical motorbike for his students. It's definitely totally safe.
More nests
Virtually every corner of the ruins have been colonized by some sort of creature--keep an eye out for all sorts of nests and footprints peppered around the walls and ceilings.
Spot some Thestrals
Someone took the time to draw some tiny Thestral silhouettes on the walls. They probably do exist on the grounds of the ruins as well, but we should probably consider ourselves lucky that we don't actually get to see them in person.
A dragon egg collection
Hagrid's got an entire room dedicated to all sorts of dragon's eggs. Hopefully they won't be hatching any time soon.
A friend from the Fantastic Beasts franchise
Hagrid's main workshop features posters of various magical creatures--most of which play some role on the ride itself--except for the Nifflers. While the fan-favorite gold-grubbers from the Fantastic Beasts arm of the Harry Potter franchise don't make an appearance on the ride at all, it's nice to see them get a nod.
Hagrid's workbench
Hagrid's extra-extra large dragon hide gloves (helpful when you're dealing with fiery creatures like salamanders or blast-ended skrewts) and several copies of the Monster Book of Monsters can be seen on his workbench in the heart of the ruins.
Thankfully, the Monster Book of Monsters has been soothed and left open, so there's no risk of losing a finger to its toothy binding.