Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts

[Miketheboss]

I haven't been yet or seen POVs. But everyone's been saying it's tame and that snippet of the commercial with the coaster looks more mummy than kiddie coaster. On the video it looks frighting and fast.

No spoilers with a response to my comment please. Lol

 

[Teebin]

I haven't been yet or seen POVs. But everyone's been saying it's tame and that snippet of the commercial with the coaster looks more mummy than kiddie coaster. On the video it looks frighting and fast.

No spoilers with a response to my comment please. Lol

Suffice to say that, while there are no actual coaster tracks sweeping through vast underground caverns, there are illusions on the ride that will convince you otherwise. As people have said, if you want the greatest illusion, ask to sit in the second car.

 

[Mad Dog]

The ride portion of that video was apx. 2 seconds in the dark. How can anything be assumed from such a brief segment?

 

[awhen]

I rode for the second time yesterday. Finally. Single rider seems to be closed off and on and always when I'm around, so I got in the normal line with a 120 min posted wait. None of the uncovered queue was being used, and only about half the covered outside queue (it didn't go as far as the prop mine car). The line moved quickly for about 45 minutes, then the ride had a few stops. Took about an hour and 15 minutes to get into the lobby. Line stopped again just after the security photo for about 30 minutes. There were at least 50 people in the "express" line with those printed express pass things. So about 1:45 total to get to the Bill Weasley preshow door. The posted wait time ended up being accurate, but without the downtime it would have been closer to 70 minutes. And of course with more or longer breakdowns it could have been worse. I wasn't timing all this exactly, but it's within 10 minutes or so of being correct going by my texted status updates to my wife.

If they can keep things in this range I have no problem with the wait. My first ride was early entry, which with ride breakdowns can still be a crapshoot (in my case I spent an hour at glasses distribution, and got off the ride at 9:15am after having arrived at the gate at 5:55am). I also want to congratulate Universal for having the guts to not have express for things like this. The psychological impact of a line that actually moves cannot be underestimated.

Overall I did enjoy the second ride more. The preshow and elevator were not crammed to capacity as on my first ride, which I hope is the correct procedure. I could hear and see everything this time. Speaking of the elevator, I thought it was amusing that my 6 year old daughter came up with the idea on her own that it should let you off at the level of the loading platform instead of immediately making you walk up the steps. Both sides were loading, although the dispatch time is so slow you end up staring at the other car at the merge point for a few minutes. One big glitch: the screen after the drop was in 2D (no Dolby 3D color wheel in the projection path). The moving screen worked well this time (no smoke my first time, clearly a gaping hole), but I'm still waiting for that elusive perfect ride through.

 

[Talking Head]

Suffice to say that, while there are no actual coaster tracks sweeping through vast underground caverns, there are illusions on the ride that will convince you otherwise. As people have said, if you want the greatest illusion, ask to sit in the second car.

I didn't think the ride did a very good job of convincing you that the car and tracks are traveling high up through deep cavernous spaces. (The ride snippets in the video and some of the concept art definitely gave the impression of cavernous spaces.) As good as the 3D is, the physical sets don't really give an impression of "deep space" as something like the Indiana Jones Adventure does.

Whether that's a shortcoming in the ride is personal preference, I suppose.

 

[MrRoamer]

Finally went on it Saturday, had a 2-2.5 hour wait with a few breakdowns before we got in. I was very happy with the ride and was blown away with how well they did everything. It is definitely pretty high on my list of favorite rides but want to ride a few more times before committing.

 

[Teebin]

BTW, a few here have mentioned that there were cuts to this ride. Could those few please enlighten us to what was cut?

 

[ChrisFL]

- - - Updated - - -

Went with my roommate to UO today, arrived around 8:30 AM today...not realizing the park opened at 8:00 AM (oops!!)

Tried to get on Gringott's...270 min wait posted...or 4.5 hours...roommate said he'd be willing to wait, but we also heard there was some operational issues and when we got straight back, there was a sea of people in the outdoor, unshaded queue (?)

We gave up at that point, will have to try another day.

Edit: yes, I see OU now shows park hours, I just wasn't thinking

 

[rhino4evr]

4 hour wait on a Monday...geeze

 

[neoshinok]

It would seem Universal is inflating the wait time to reflect possible (likely) downtime for the ride. When the ride operates consistently, people report waiting half the wait time displayed out front. They've probably got 2 hours worth of people in line, bump it up to 4 hours supposing there will be some breakdowns along the way.

 

[UNIrd]

It would seem Universal is inflating the wait time to reflect possible (likely) downtime for the ride. When the ride operates consistently, people report waiting half the wait time displayed out front. They've probably got 2 hours worth of people in line, bump it up to 4 hours supposing there will be some breakdowns along the way.

Yeah, they've definitely been doing this for weeks now.

 

[Disneyhead]

Rode yesterday. Wait time posted 180 mins. Got in line at 10:40a, got on at 1:35p. The wait time sign was off by 5 mins.

 

[HalfGlass]

Rode yesterday. Wait time posted 180 mins. Got in line at 10:40a, got on at 1:35p. The wait time sign was off by 5 mins.

Would you say its worth the 3 hour wait? I'm thinking 2 is my limit.

 

[Disneyhead]

Would you say its worth the 3 hour wait? I'm thinking 2 is my limit.

For us, yes. We are locals and are in the park all the time. If I was a tourist with limited amount of time in the park then I would say probably not. We just popped over, rode one ride, and left. It was pretty crowded yesterday.

 

[retroeric]

Suffice to say that, while there are no actual coaster tracks sweeping through vast underground caverns, there are illusions on the ride that will convince you otherwise. As people have said, if you want the greatest illusion, ask to sit in the second car.

Teebin I am no sure who's actually saying this, but they are completely wrong. I've ridden Gringott's now 6 times and I can say without the slightest shadow of doubt that the front car front row is the best for the illusion/immersiveness. There's really no contest here. You're either getting a gorgeous completely unobstructed view of everything (front car) or you're in the back car where you see another car in front of you, seeing the tops of people's heads, and even a pole sticking high up from the back of that car that is right smack in the field of view of one of the main screens.

Again I'm not disagreeing that the second car gives better thrills, but you said "illusion" and there's no way it gives a better illusion than the front car.

 

[Teebin]

Teebin I am no sure who's actually saying this, but they are completely wrong. I've ridden Gringott's now 6 times and I can say without the slightest shadow of doubt that the front car front row is the best for the illusion/immersiveness. There's really no contest here. You're either getting a gorgeous completely unobstructed view of everything (front car) or you're in the back car where you see another car in front of you, seeing the tops of people's heads, and even a pole sticking high up from the back of that car that is right smack in the field of view of one of the main screens.

Again I'm not disagreeing that the second car gives better thrills, but you said "illusion" and there's no way it gives a better illusion than the front car.

Is not the smoke stack on the back of the second car? If so, how could it obscure the second car's guests?

 

[sjago13]

Teebin I am no sure who's actually saying this, but they are completely wrong. I've ridden Gringott's now 6 times and I can say without the slightest shadow of doubt that the front car front row is the best for the illusion/immersiveness. There's really no contest here. You're either getting a gorgeous completely unobstructed view of everything (front car) or you're in the back car where you see another car in front of you, seeing the tops of people's heads, and even a pole sticking high up from the back of that car that is right smack in the field of view of one of the main screens.

Again I'm not disagreeing that the second car gives better thrills, but you said "illusion" and there's no way it gives a better illusion than the front car.

From the second car you can't see the gap at the bottom of the pull away screen in the finale. Also I feel the two scenes where you are facing forward they do a good job of having the action towards the sides so nothing of importance is blocked. And the cars even swivel for the finale to set your focus on voldemort and then the dragon busting in. And to the point teebin brings up. At multiple points there is fake track that is overhead giving you a real sense of space and immersion. Unless you are in an end seat and looking down at the mechanicsame of the ride it is so impressively themed it still blows me away after 3 rides. I think row 4 is better because on my first ride, we asked for row 4 and I was unaware of the spinning and it is a real shock factor when you pull up to bill and the first car is gone.

 

[UNIrd]

I agree. I found the ride to me more immersive in the front car. But it pretty much doesn't matter after the first scene.

 

[retroeric]

Is not the smoke stack on the back of the second car? If so, how could it obscure the second car's guests?

I'm not sure what it is, but there's very much a tall pole (or "tailfin") sticking high up from the back of the cars. Of course, this is not an issue from the front car, but if you're seated in the back car it's clearly in the sight line for one and possibly two screens (can't remember for sure, but it's obvious for at least one).

Just in general, when riding in the front car, you really feel like you are alone. But in the back car, you feel like you following the car in front of you which is a very different experience. The back row does not give you a completely clean and unobstructed view of the screen as you have people's heads at the bottom of the screen. Even if the heads aren't in the way, you still see the car there in front of you which takes away some of the immersion that you get from the front car.

 

[patman345]

I've ridden four times now, and I would have to agree that the front row in the front car is the best. It is way more immersive sitting in the front. If you sit in the second car, you can barely see the first scene.