I'm a bit torn. This really looks great and it's clear the passion shines through in every single detail. I don't think anyone is more excited than I am to see the Universal Monsters headline a permanent land in daytime in 2024 after my home Universal park closed both of their horror attractions in the last decade due to lack of interest (RIP Universal Monsters Cafe too). There's a lot of really great stuff here on every level. There's a lot of hype here, and rightfully so based on early impressions.
BUT.
I'm tempering my expectations slightly for a couple reasons. One of my core issues with the land is that I both love and appreciate themed lands, but you ultimately cannot ride them (this is an issue I have with many theme parks like Tokyo DisneySea). The problem is Universal does this ten times a year (ish) with temporary materials on both coasts for HHN, so I suppose I'm a little jaded because I *expect* this level of quality and attention to detail. Also, this land will live and die by the quality of the marquee ride to some extent, which is as of yet unknown (just assumed to be good). There's still a chance this land is not as good as the sum of its parts.
If we compare this to anything that exists, this is Hogsmeade in that there's a marquee ride (Forbidden Journey) and a short family coaster (Hippogriff) that is potentially an upgrade in terms of animatronics but is mere seconds longer in length nonetheless. I think Forbidden Journey is a very good, thrilling ride (even with the screens) with a cohesive story in spite of being a fan service laden greatest hits walkthrough, and I'm not even a huge Harry Potter fan. I have no doubt this will be good, but there's always that chance it misses the mark and is watered down, and it really needs to have a worthwhile, timeless story that's more just cool animatronics (see Tiana's Bayou).
So while I'm super happy that we got this land in 2024 against all odds, and it really looks like it's a standout passion project, but do I think this raises the bar set by Harry Potter more than a decade ago in terms of theming and rides? Objectively speaking, no. I'm not even sure it will surpass Galaxy's Edge yet, which, for all its many faults, is also a very good land, even in its highly nerfed form. Also, if decades of HHN speculation and attendance has taught me anything, it's to simply "wait and see" because you have to experience something first, as hype is no indicator of quality, so I'm only cautiously optimistic. I get this is a Universal centric forum, but I simply think it's way too early to declare this the best land ever and it's still going to need a couple more attractions first. Honestly, if we had gotten only the theater show and the coaster, I would have almost considered this land a disappointment, so I'm glad that the pandemic changed the plans. Not that I hate the theater, but it cannot support a themed land on its own. I really do hope that gets added at some point.
Back to the hype.
