At 8:30 a.m., the line to get into Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure was eight hours. By midday, the wait for the new Harry Potter ride was 10 hours and growing, according to Universal’s official Twitter.
Twitter users reported the park began handing out water, letting people save their space on line for restroom trips and even set up entertainment along the line.
The richly-themed family coaster opened Thursday at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. Once again, Harry Potter fans proved they have no limits to their devotion. It helps that it’s a fun, speedy ride, full of Easter eggs for hardcore fans to find along the elaborate queue.
ALSO READ: We rode the new Hagrid roller coaster at Universal’s Harry Potter world
Thursday was a free-for-all, but starting Friday, Universal may start making use of the theme park’s fairly new Virtual Line system that lets visitors set an appointment for a ride instead of standing in line. Park spokespeople wouldn’t give a specific start time for virtual lines.
It’s not unusual for a new attraction to draw such a rabid response by fans eager to be first. When Universal opened the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in 2010, the line was reported as longer than nine hours just to enter the new area.
The official Universal Orlando app will allow riders to reserve a time on their smartphones and pass time in the park instead of standing in line all day.
The theme park rolled out its app-based Virtual Line in 2017. Unlike Disney’s FastPass, you have to be in the park to make the reservation, so you can’t make it in advance.
If you don’t have a smart phone or the app, you can also reserve your ride time on kiosks in the park.