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Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts

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Finally rode yesterday, had a wonderful time. Almost left because of wait times but figured we'd just do it. Overall, really wonderful experience, the entire attraction is pretty flawless. I definitely feel like they are inflating wait times to adjust for breakdowns. Really enjoyed the massive theming for the line, absolutely felt like I was wandering the halls of Gringotts the entire time (even the outdoor queue did a good job with minimalist theming)... Looking forward to visiting again sometime, couldn't hear the conversation with the silhouettes in the hallway with Harry and the gang. The preshow system works very well because it felt informal, I didn't see a guard anywhere and really enjoyed watching it instead of wandering past it... Seriously enjoyed the elevators, probably one of the highlights of the entire wait. Really awesome. The loading room is arguably one of the better themed too - never taken out of the moment (although it's a shame they can't unload somewhere else because the cheering kind of take you out of your story). Really glad I only read about some of the technical elements because Ben the ones if ears about truly surprised me. Loved the tilt, really great way to make everyone anticipate the drop. The ride really goes at a great clip, which I loved. Loved the story and the really great screen interaction with the ride vehicle and the track, really sells the mixture of the two. I did notice the thieves downfall effect not working (at least I'm pretty sure I was supposed to get wet). But no part of the experience was ruined or incomplete, and the finale is so phenomenal, absolutely amazing concept and execution. Probably could have used more fog to cover the screen for the launch because as it was launched, the fog dissipated enough to see the hole.
Overall, with all it's kinks, I still rank this as my new favorite attraction. I absolutely loved every bit of it and cannot wait until the next time I ride it. I at on the first row of the second car which really felt like the best mix of thrills and views to me. The other cart only obstructed a small portion of the screen and I really feel like I need to ride again to asses the other rows.
Had a wonderful time and really cannot wait to give this another ride.
 
So what is the water effect supposed to be? Jut a quick sprinkle as in Spiderman?

Indeed, amaing queue, though what a tease, you first get in and see the marble hall to your right and you get all giddy, then you are led outside and see that ocean of people lol.
Only thing I dislike is that photo thing, I don't care about having my picture taken and the flash of this camera is so bright that I was seeing a circle for a minute or two lol
 
April said:
Yeah, they definitely aren't as long as they were but it usually holds steady above 2 hours.
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I don't think they've gotten any better since week 2. They're still 180+ minutes during the first 3 hours of park opening. The lowest it ever gets down to during regular hours is 90 minutes if you're lucky. Those seem to be the exact same waits we've been seeing forever (except week 1).

I know TPI and Seth Kubersky claimed it has improved, but I question their credibility in that regard. The wait times don't seem to be improving at all. I've monitored them daily in TP and with a fake GPS locattion app and the Uni app. IMO, the ride is still a mess mechanically.

In 2 weeks, the wait times will go down due to school, but I won't attribute it to Uni having fixed anything.
 
cheeseheadwi said:
I don't think they've gotten any better since week 2. They're still 180+ minutes during the first 3 hours of park opening. The lowest it ever gets down to during regular hours is 90 minutes if you're lucky. Those seem to be the exact same waits we've been seeing forever (except week 1).

I know TPI and Seth Kubersky claimed it has improved, but I question their credibility in that regard. The wait times don't seem to be improving at all. I've monitored them daily in TP and with a fake GPS locattion app and the Uni app. IMO, the ride is still a mess mechanically.

In 2 weeks, the wait times will go down due to school, but I won't attribute it to Uni having fixed anything.
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I feel like those wait times are artificially inflated to reflect the possibility of delays because when we went yesterday we got in with a posted wait of 120 minutes an the actual wait in line was roughly half of that... There are definitely stil breakdowns (after we finished our ride last night the ride immediately broke down, we were stuck waiting to unload for about 20 minutes)... I feel like it's improving and will probably continue to improve as time goes on...
 
I'm curious - on the next-to-last screen (the enormous Voldy vas Dragon sequence) how many projectors does it take to fill that screen? Thats one of the most massive screens I've seen, and since I've survived Cinerama, thats saying a lot :D
 
OLSinFLA said:
I'm curious - on the next-to-last screen (the enormous Voldy vas Dragon sequence) how many projectors does it take to fill that screen? Thats one of the most massive screens I've seen, and since I've survived Cinerama, thats saying a lot :D
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Someone said they use up to 8 projectors for a scene. So I would assume that would be the one that uses 8. I would also assume 4 per eye. So with 4k projectors you have an effective resolution of 8K assuming no overlap. It's so damn crisp.
 
anihilnation said:
So what is the water effect supposed to be? Jut a quick sprinkle as in Spiderman?

Indeed, amaing queue, though what a tease, you first get in and see the marble hall to your right and you get all giddy, then you are led outside and see that ocean of people lol.
Only thing I dislike is that photo thing, I don't care about having my picture taken and the flash of this camera is so bright that I was seeing a circle for a minute or two lol
Click to expand...

The water effect is pretty much the same exact thing you see in Spider-Man and Transformers.
 
The climax projection is incredibly impressive; the rock that Voldemort and Bellatrix stand on pokes out so far lol. The depth they achieved is ridiculous. But my favorite projection is probably the first Voldemort encounter in the vault. The screen is enormous and I've never seen a more convincing projection. Row 4 and row 1 (to a slightly lesser extent) place you so damn close to the characters - and they appear absolutely real. It's going to be tough to beat.

After 13 rides, I still don't have a clear opinion of Gringotts. I do think it's easily the most technically impressive attraction to date, but I think the actual ride experience has some pacing issues. The basic screen->transition->screen->repeat formula from Spidey/TF is represented here, though Gringotts lacks the constant motion base profile of those rides. This leads to a very stop/start ride flow that creates some unfortunate lulls imo. The Thief's Downfall scene in particular really drags for me (the motion base for the troll attack is so subtle that I almost want to say its a waste) and the freefall scene putters out in its second half. The first Voldemort scene is no better, though I can cut it some slack for being the most convincing projection I've ever seen. Climax also has similar issues.

That said, the lateral movement during transitions is fantastically urgent. I've said this before, but Gringotts has one of my favorite openings in any ride for it's near-instant acceleration to a thrilling speed and music choice. It wastes no time at all getting you right into the action. Even better than Transformers' IMO.

I also appreciate the climactic launch/spin combination. It's awesome when a ride ends with a unique maneuver. On the other hand, Spidey/TF/FJ are simulation heavy throughout and merely end with more simulation. Gringotts nails this.

Gringotts also packs some seriously impressive sound design. Just some meaty, bassy, hard hitting stuff. Some of my favorites include:

-the cart SFX at load, and how they're timed to begin before the cart starts moving. Also how they gradually ratchet up while at the post-load holding area.

-the sound when the track tilts

-the first Arresto Momentum

-when the troll grabs the cart

-Bill's Windgardium Leviosa

-when Voldemort breaks through the vault wall

-the tire screeching sound after the launch (this one is pretty funny to me)

(Ignore any of those if the sound is coming from the ride mechanics instead of the speakers lol)

-The main melody that plays when the ride starts and occurs throughout also gets me pumped as hell.

Overall, Gringotts is at least number 3 for me behind Spidey and TF, though i still don't know exactly where to place it. In general, I feel it may have higher highs than those rides, but those lulls make it less consistent throughout.
 
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Per the universal app gringotts posted a 2.5 hour wait at 9 and climed up to 4 hours by 10. Got in line at 2 with a posted 2.5 hour wait and got on in 1hr 55mins. I also think it was down the first 20 mins or so because we barely moved then started hauling ass. Talked to a tm at loading and he said they were currently running 6 trains, the max they have ever run is 7 and the have 11 trains total. The only thing is that we unloaded on the opposite side meaning they were running an odd number of trains. So maybe they were doing 5. Idk but that's what the guy said. Everything but water was working.
 
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I think it is more a product of everyone swamping Diagon at opening thinking they will be in there first not realizing there is already a 2 hour line from early entry. From 1 pm to 5 pm the posted wait was 2.5hrs but it was more likely 2 or slightly under. It stabilizes out to a reasonable wait considering it's summer just after blackouts have been dropped with the ride running under full capacity.
 
When I rode the other day the ride seemed like it was having hiccups. Besides the no water and no fog, the ride began to accelerate ands then stop a few times, so it was sort of like being in a car with someone who does;t know how to shift in first gear... it was really weird. And at the end, right before the unload switch, it really jerked forward and then stopped abruptly.
 
I feel like the ride has good moments and bad moments, because we got a seemingly perfect ride through on our first (and only) ride on it, but as soon as we pulled into the loading station it broke down.
 
sjago13 said:
Per the universal app gringotts posted a 2.5 hour wait at 9 and climed up to 4 hours by 10. Got in line at 2 with a posted 2.5 hour wait and got on in 1hr 55mins. I also think it was down the first 20 mins or so because we barely moved then started hauling ass. Talked to a tm at loading and he said they were currently running 6 trains, the max they have ever run is 7 and the have 11 trains total. The only thing is that we unloaded on the opposite side meaning they were running an odd number of trains. So maybe they were doing 5. Idk but that's what the guy said. Everything but water was working.
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So no water spritz in the Auguamenti scene either?
 
I rode this ride on Wednesday and Saturday and I never saw any water effects. I didn't even know there was any until I came here. However I have to say that the ride is still pretty epic without them. The only major problem I saw was yesterday, the screen with the goblin that tells you where to hide wasn't working correctly. I think only the right projector was working or something because the left eye was just a black screen.
 
My one curiosity with the ride is why they opted for a fog waterfall over just having a real one. I guess they were either worried about maintenence or splash back onto the track.
 
Got to ride today, just offering some info at this point. We decided to try going to IOA as early entry started an hour earlier over there. My wife or I had heard they would start running HE before 8, but we were told 8 at IOA.

They did open the que around 7:45ish, but the first train did not leave until after 8 am. We got to Gringotts around 8:15 (needing to follow the line near FFL to get into DA). The posted time was 90 minutes, but our wait was just over an hour, so not too bad really and the que seems to move well and gives plenty to look at once inside.

My family is three people, so we rode with a single rider, they told me their wait was 15 minutes...if you are keeping track, that would have been at around 9:20 am.
 
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