Dragon Challenge at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando Florida is Nothing New

Dragon Challenge is located at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universals Islands of Adventures in Orlando Florida. If you have been to Islands of Adventure before you will already be familiar with this ride. Dragon Challenge used to be at Islands of Adventure but was called Dueling Dragons. Dueling Dragons was given some small line changes and is now part of the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter which is popular so the lines can be very long for this ride. If you have been on it when it was the Dueling Dragons I would recommend doing something else as the ride itself is the exact same.

While the Dragon Challenge may be the exact same roller coaster that it was when it was the Dueling Dragon roller coaster they have redone the line for the ride. The entrance is brand new which seems silly as the two dragons at the front entrance could have been reused and they could have just changed the name. Many people liked the iconic dragons at the front of the line. Going through the forest area before getting into the castle the only big differences between the old line and new is that their are lots of banners for Quidditch talking about Harry or other people from the Harry Potter series, and right before the castle you go by the Weasleys' crashed flying car. Inside the castle there have been some changes made as well but these are all very minor.

One of the best changes is on the inside of the building in one room you can see the shadow of a dragon flying above you. The rest of the line has some small changes but the line for Dragon Challenge is not nearly as entertaining or Harry Potter themed as the line for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Once you get to the actual ride you will find that nothing is different though they have changed the names of the dragons.

The ride itself is fun. If you really want you can try both sides of the ride as they are a bit different. If you have already been on it when it was Dueling Dragons and the line is long then I would just go on it once though. I personally prefer the red side but I also like the color red so that may be why I like it. I have heard that many people do like the red side though. The red side does not feature a zero g roll though but the blue side does.

Overall the Dragon Challenge is a good ride but all they did to change it was add some simple elements to theme the ride to Harry Potter. Considering the Wizarding World of Harry Potter only has three rides you would expect more out of each ride and other then Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey none of the rides validate a whole new land being made.