The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Universal Orlando Resort) the Whomping Willow, a horde of dementors, giant spiders, the Hungarian Horntail Dragon, and a Quidditch match. Flight of the Hippogriff is a steel roller coaster designed for families, located adjacent to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The ride opened in 2000 as the Flying Unicorn. Similar to the Dragon Challenge, this ride was re-themed prior to the opening of the Wizarding World. The roller coaster's back-story is that Hogwarts's Care of Magical Creatures professor, Hagrid, is teaching young wizards to fly on a hippogriff (as Harry does in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban") by using a
The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter it was "cool that their hero, Harry, was encountering some of the creatures of mythology." Colbert felt that knowing the origins of Rowling's character and creatures increased "the books' magic tenfold" and made the "Harry Potter" universe seem more lifelike. Feeling that he wanted to share this with others, Colbert spent a year researching the references in the novels and collected his discoveries for a guidebook to the magical world of Harry Potter. Colbert wrote "The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter" while teaching a seminar on self-publishing to graduate students at the University of North Carolina. He had it self-published