Finally was able to ride this yesterday. Wanted to keep things brief but accidentally wrote everything out so whoops :shrug:
Eh, it's fine. It's worth a 40 min wait, but it definitely isn't on the same scale as Hagrids or Unchained. It spoils it's biggest wow moments at the very start of the experience, and that's the Floo effect into the massive and incredible Atrium. Nothing else in the queue or ride itself can top that moment. It'd be like putting the AT-AT room from Rise in the queue; it completely ruins the scale of the ride it's supposed to be building towards.
That said, it's only a problem because the Atrium is just so well-done. It's an incredibly impressive show scene. Maybe too impressive, as it seems to create bottlenecks where people stop in line for a long time to capture video and pictures. This is despite guests being given full ability to take all the pictures they want after the experience on the other side of the stanchions. TM's will shout at them to keep moving from near the Floo Chimneys, but the large room is built to look cool and not to aid in sound projection, so these TM's shouting at the top of their lungs at guests might as well be shouting to the void. They are not well-heard at all.
I was really interested in the new ride system going in. It felt like it was going to be a really interesting new take on this kind of ride. In the end, we got Transformers again. This ride is Gringotts on a Scoop. There are some cool scenes like the bookcase fight, but none of the show scenes or animatronics are anywhere as cool, fun, or engaging as Unchained, Spider-Man, or Forbidden Journey. Unchained is the real innovator in so, so many ways.
A lot of the scenes with the heaviest amount of motion such as the elevator shaft rooms with the floating car ahead of us had zero fan/wind effects or airflow into the car, and I think that's insane. That's definitely what's causing the motion sickness issues I've heard around.
I knew this wasn't going to happen before I rode, but honestly I think if that Erumpent animatronic had chased us for a scene, I-Rex Style, I might be substantially more kind to the ride. That's the kind of wow moment that the ride experience is just completely missing.
The ride has pacing issues too, and you can feel the development hell a little bit as we are suddenly thrust into Fantastic Beasts for two scenes before going back like nothing ever happened. It also goes bonkers at the end. The climax of FJ was Dementors in a cave; The climax of Gringotts was Voldemort in a cave; The climax of this ride is Potter and Umbridge free-falling through the existential concept of time itself. That was pretty wild, and I'll admit, bold enough for me to appreciate quite a bit.
As it stands, it's all very same-y for Potter at USO. Lots of not very convincing screen effects and some very static animatronic figures.
I wish it was more. I wish there was more airflow, a proper jaw-dropping "wow" moment, a more interesting motion profile, more expansive physical animatronics. I'm just glad that it's in a park without a huge lineup of screen-based simulator attractions. I'm just glad we're in the timeline where USF wasn't stuck with new E-tickets for 2021 and 2023, Mario Kart and Battle at the Ministry. That would've been a really dark timeline in hindsight. It's at least as good as Mario Kart, for all that is worth.
My favorite part is the robot gag. That's truly great set-up / delivery. It can barely pick up a few sheets of paper, and they task it with cleaning up the concept of time itself. I believe in that little guy.