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Harry Potter might wish they had magical powers, after being forced to queue for hours to try out Universal's newest ride based on the boy wizard.

After dedicated fans queued for up to seven hours on day one at the new Diagon Alley theme park, by Wednesday the wait time had dropped to a mere five hours for the ride.

But those who braved the long queues, came out of the Escape from Gringotts ride came out raving, even claiming the wait was worth it.

Getting shorter: After a peak wait of 450 minutes, fans were forced to queue for 'just' 350 minutes on Wednesday

Diagon Alley opened on Monday, the newest addition to Universal's Harry Potter attractions.

While the first day saw queues of seven hours, they were down to five hours for the second day the attraction was open.

A sign at the entrance to the 3-D ride at midday on Wednesday said the wait would be 300 minutes.

'We're not going to wait,' said Eric Poudrier after snapping a photo of the wait time. He was visiting with his girlfriend and two-year-old daughter from Montreal.

Tammy Clark and her 11-year-old son, Ethan, also decided to skip the ride after seeing the line.

Get ready: The Escape form Gringotts ride is the centrepiece of the new Diagon Alley

'It's a five-hour wait,' said Clark, of Bridgeport, W.Va. 'You won't be able to see anything else.'

Juan Sigler, his wife Susy and their two children, Samantha and Steven, arrived at the park just after 7am and got straight in line, but didn't exit the ride until well after noon. But they said it was worth a five-hour wait since they felt immersed in Harry Potter's world.

'It has great special effects and you see the central characters,' said Susy Sigler, of Pembroke Pines, Florida.

The ride is the centerpiece of the new Harry Potter section. It combines a roller coaster ride with 3-D projections featuring characters from the Harry Potter books and movies. The rest of Diagon Alley consists of seven detail-heavy shops selling merchandise such as wizard robes and interactive wands that allow visitors to perform wizard tricks throughout the section.

Fans tweeted their excitement as Gringotts, the bank run by goblins, opened to the public

Honeymooners David and Jennifer O'Neill spent their second day in Diagon Alley but skipped the ride since Jennifer isn't a fan of roller coasters. Dressed in wizard robes, they wandered through the shops of Diagon Alley purchasing wizard wands and other merchandise.

'It's fantastic! It's like being in Diagon Alley,' said Jennifer O'Neill, of Dallas. 'We walked in and it was so surreal.'

Universal spokesman Tom Schroder said the park doesn't disclose attendance figures but 'we are very pleased with the results we're seeing.'

Centrepiece: Gringotts Bank and its spectacular ride were the main attraction at Diagon Alley when it opened to the public on July 8

Flaming success: The new Diagon Alley attraction in Orlando opened, complete with fire-breathing dragon

Reunited: Stars from the film, including Helena Bonham Carter (second left), Robbie Coltrane (centre), Tom Felton (second right) and Warwick Davis (centre front), launched the new Diagon Alley attraction

Park workers were trying to accommodate the crowds by giving visitors a ticket with a time to return if they found the wait too long on a first attempt, he said.

Not everyone was thrilled with the long wait to get on Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts.
Jason and Kristi Phillips of Baton Rouge, La. waited with their twin 9-year-old sons, Jacob and Jordan, for four and a half hours. When asked if the wait was worth it, all four said in unison: 'No!'

They had to board the ride three different times Wednesday morning since it stopped twice mid-trip because of technical glitches.

'Nothing is worth a four and a half hour wait,' Kristi Phillips said.