Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
What it is
Motion simulator dark ride.
Scope and scale
Super-headliner.
Fright potential
Intense special effects and wild ride.
Bottleneck rating
Off the charts.
When to go
Im-
mediately after park opening.
Special comments
Expect
long
waits in line; must be 48”
tall to ride.
Authors' rating
Marvelous for Muggles; not to be missed; .
Duration of
ride
4⅓ minutes.
Average wait in line per 100 people ahead of you
4 minutes.
Loading
speed
Fast.
This ride provides the only opportunity at Universal Orlando to come in contact with
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore as portrayed by the original actors. Half of
the attraction is a series of preshows that sets the stage for the main event, a dark ride.
To understand the storyline and get the most out of the attraction, it's critical to see
and hear the entire presentation in each of the queue's preshow rooms. You can get
on the ride in only 10-25 minutes using the single-riders line, but everyone should go
through the main queue at least once. If you see a complete iteration of each of the
preshows in the queue and then experience the 4⅓-minute ride, you'll invest 25-35
minutes even if you don't have to wait.
From Hogsmeade you reach the attraction through the imposing Winged Boar
gates and progress along a winding path. Entering the castle on a lower level, you
walk through a sort of dungeon festooned with various icons and prop replicas from
the Potter flicks, including the Mirror of Erised from
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone
. You later emerge back outside and into the Hogwarts greenhouses. Cleverly
conceived and executed, with some strategically placed mandrakes to amuse you,
the greenhouses compose the larger part of the Forbidden Journey's queuing area. If
you're among the first in the park and in the queue, you'll move through this area
pretty quickly. Otherwise … well, we hope you like plants. The greenhouses are not
air-conditioned, but fans move the (hot) air around. Blessedly, there are water foun-
tains but, alas, no restrooms—take care of that before getting in line for the attraction.
