Of the three Universal parks that we were set to visit during this trip, Universal Studios Florida (USF) was the one that would be the lightest when it came to coasters. We had three coasters to ride, two of which leaned heavily into dark ride elements, and the third would be a standard off the shelf kids coasters. But that was okay. We would get to focus on dark rides, motion simulators, and once the sun went down, Halloween Horror Nights (HHN). There was no way we were going to miss out on this popular event with it taking place during our visit.
There was one thing that we would miss out on though…
R.I.P. Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit
Sadly we would miss the park’s biggest coaster, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, by a little over a month. With its final day of operations in mid-August and us visiting toward the end of September, we got to see some of the ride’s remnants. The first drop and non-inverting loop were still standing tall, but a lot of the other ride had already been ripped out (pun intended). They were wasting no time getting this down. Plans must be in the works.
I really wish this ride had lasted just a little while longer. I know people either loved or hated the ride, with many seeming to hate it. I’m one who likes to judge for myself, though. Maybe I would have hated it too, but at least I would have gotten the experience. It was a unique ride. Hopefully something even wilder replaces it.
As for the coasters that were open, both were on the tamer side, but were themed to properties that I enjoy – The Mummy and Harry Potter. Let’s take a look at those and talk a little about HHN too.
Revenge of the Mummy
I’ve been wanting to ride this coaster for some time. I knew not to expect too much in the way of thrills going in. What had me excited was the Ancient Egyptian theming. I’ve always been enamoured by Ancient Egypt and liked the Brendan Fraser Mummy movies too. Now I was getting to combine all that with another passion – roller coasters.
Things got underway with the theming even before we entered the queue. Outside an Egyptian Queen/Goddess walked the plaza with her protectors. Sam knows how much I like Ancient Egypt and offered to take my picture with the actors. You can find that photo in the gallery below.
Once inside I was in awe of the theming. I loved how dark and cold it was. I felt like I was in an actual tomb. The giant Anubis statue really got my attention. I made sure to grab a photo of that as well.
As for the ride, I thought it was a good time. It feels more like a dark ride than a coaster for the majority of the tide. That was perfectly fine though as I’ve ridden a ton of extreme coasters with heavy airtime, laterals, and inversions. I don’t need to have that on every ride. The storytelling and fun little moments when it kicked into its coaster mode were great.
Sam also enjoyed the ride, even though she had never seen The Mummy movies. I’ll make sure that changes soon. Anyhow, we made sure to head back and ride this a second time later in the day.
Harry Potter & the Escape From Gringotts
After riding Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry a few days ago at Epic Universe, it was time to ride another Harry Potter-themed ride that I had been looking forward to. Much like Revenge of the Mummy, this coaster would lean heavy into the dark ride elements. I was so far impressed with Universal’s Harry Potter offerings and couldn’t wait to see if this one would maintain that standard.
Even before stepping into this ride’s queue you are already immersed in the world of Harry Potter. Walking through Diagon Alley would be enough to make any Harry Potter fan happy. Then, every so often, the dragon above Gringotts blows fire. It’s such a spectacle. All this before you even step foot inside.
Once inside the queue is an entire experience just like it was for Battle at the Ministry. There’s so much to look at and I’m sure there are Easter Eggs galore for the mega-Potter fans out there to find.
While the videos and effects during the ride portion of Gringotts are not on the level of Ministry, they’re damn good. You will spend a lot of time taking them in as your car rotates to storytelling moment after story telling moment. Like Mummy, there are coaster portions to experience in between. Fans of both coasters and dark rides should enjoy themselves. And of course, for any Harry Potter fan, this is a must ride. We made sure to give this a second lap later too.
Haunts of Halloween Horror Nights
Once HHN began we immediately got in line for Terrifier. We had heard the line for this haunt could grow to the point of them turning people away. I didn’t want that to happen because of all the hoopla surrounding this haunt. Apparently it was one of the best, according to many online reviews.
So what did we think? It was okay. Yeah, there was a lot of Art the Clown actors, but it didn’t really do much for me. I know my brother, who is a huge Terrifier fan, was jealous that we got to do this. He might have enjoyed it more than we did being such a huge fan. We didn’t hate it, just didn’t think it was as amazing as people made it out to be.
Being a WWE fan, I wanted to experience Horrors of the Wyatt 6 so we did that early on too. Funny thing, while in line for the haunt, we found ourselves behind a former WWE superstar Top Dolla (a.k.a. AJ Francis). What were the chances?
Francis was nice enough to chat with for a bit and take photos with us. We walked though the haunt together too and asked him what he thought afterward. He enjoyed it and said knowing the wrestlers from the Wyatt 6 group personally, they did a good job with the costumes and feel. We too enjoyed this one.
Sadly we did not get a chance to do every haunt and even left some that we really wanted to do on the table. It was a long day and we had been up late the night before after attending SeaWorld Orlando and their Howl-O-Scream event. We also had to be up early to visit Islands of Adventure (IoA) the next morning. We called it quits after doing six of the 10 haunts. Of the ones we did, we tended to like the original haunts ones better than the licensed properties. Not sure if that is a hot take, but that’s just how we felt. I personally liked Grave of Flesh and Galkn the most.
Final Ride Counts
Despicable Me Minion Mayhem (1)
E.T. Adventure (1)
Fast & Furious Supercharged (1)
Harry Potter & the Escape From Gringotts (2)
Illumination’s Villain-Con Minion Blast (1)
Men in Black Alien Attack (1)
Race Through New York Staring Jimmy Fallon (1)
Revenge of the Mummy (2)
Transformers the Ride 3D (1)
Trolls Trollercoaster (1)
HHN: Dolls – Let’s Play Dead (1)
HHN: El Artista – A Spanish Haunting (1)
HHN: Galkn – Monsters of the North (1)
HHN: Grave of Flesh (1)
HHN: Terrifier (1)
HHN: WWE Presents – Horrors of the Wyatt 6 (1)
How Were We Even Standing at the End?
Seriously, both of our feet hurt so bad by the end of the night. Making our way out of City Walk and to our car was a struggle. If we ever return to Universal during HHN in the future we will be buying skip the line passes without a doubt. We had them at every Universal Park, but decided not to get them for HHN. We thought with all the time for the haunt and doing it on a Sunday, we’d have plenty of time to get them all in. We couldn’t have been more wrong. Oh well. You live and you learn.
Now it’s time for bed. We have some much anticipated coasters to ride tomorrow. Can’t oversleep for those!
Universal Studios Florida Photo Gallery - September 21, 2025
If you would like to use any of the images in the gallery above for your commercial and/or non-commercial projects, feel free to do so. I ask that you credit We Were Inverted whenever they’re used. I also ask that you do not alter the image or remove the watermarks. If you need any images/video resized or without the watermarks, please contact me directly.
CREW MANIFEST
The following flight crew members attended this park, & earned the respective credits below:
Patrick
CAG
New Credit(s): Revenge of the Mummy, Harry Potter & the Escape From Gringotts, Trolls Trollercoaster
Sam
Admiral
New Credit(s): Revenge of the Mummy, Harry Potter & the Escape From Gringotts, Trolls Trollercoaster