Universal Studios Orlando: Hogsmeade & Diagon Alley

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This write up is going to focus on the two Harry Potter themed areas at Universal Orlando.
Disclaimer: I am not a Harry Potter Fan, so if I get any references incorrect, I'm sorry. I also won't be going in very deep about what each building is, because I personally have no clue.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is located in Islands of Adventure. It's themed to Hogsmeade and is home to 3 rides. These three are Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey, Flight of the Hippogriff, and Dueling Dragons Dragon Challenge.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is the main attraction on the Island. It is a large dark ride located in the Hogwarts castle. This ride is unique because the ride vehicles are actually Kuka robot arms, like those shown below.
photo credit to Orlando Informer
The ride is also quite unique, because it is has both screens and real props. This creates a great flow throughout the attraction.
Dueling Dragon Challenge is actually two roller coasters. Built by B&M, Dueling Dragons opened with the park in 1999 as the landmark attraction in The Lost Continent. 
When this ride opened, it was revolutionary because of the dueling aspect. B&M designed a special weigh station to determine how fast each lift would need for it to duel, and would speed up/ slow down accordingly. The ride had many interactions, including an airtime hill over a Zero G roll and the loops at the entrance. Riders feet came within inches of each other in this element.
The ride was rethemed to Dragon Challenge for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter


Sadly, in 2010 Universal decided to stop dueling the coaster due to two different incidents with loose articles harming other riders. Now the ride is marketed as a chase, and B&Ms special weigh station is being used for the opposite action.
Recently, the park added a TSA style set of metal detectors in the rides queue, to make sure no loose articles get on, but there is still no dueling.
Check out more photos of Dueling Dragon Challenge below!






Flight of the Hippogriff, but it is also a former Lost Continent attraction which was retimed for Harry Potter. It is a Vekoma Roller Skater.

Below are some more photos from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure.



Diagon Alley
Diagon Alley is the newest Harry Potter area at USO. It is located in Universal Studios Florida on the former site of Jaws: The Ride.
To enter Diagon Alley, you sneak behind a brick wall located in the parks London section. 
The sole ride in this area is Harry Potter and the Escape From Gringotts. This is a photo of the outside of the attraction. It is themed to Gringotts bank, and the dragon on top actually blows fire.
The ride itself is an indoor coaster/dark ride. I'm going to call it an Intamin coaster, because they provided the track, drive tires, and trains. But everything else was done by other companies. This is a really fun ride, but the coaster section is quite short, especially for a ride that was marketed as a coaster. The most similar ride in the park is The Mummy, but they are pretty different. Check out photos of the queue below!











Both areas are also filled with Tons of Easter eggs for Harry Potter fans. I unfortunately do not have photos of these because I was not sure what to look for. 

Thanks for reading!
#FullOfAmusement

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