Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts

[MillenniumDragons]

I went today and I don't know how everybody here is getting waits under 2 hours. Got to Gringotts at 9AM with a Posted 120 Minutes. And about 30 minutes later they said the ride would be down for an additional hour, which it was. Then in the Bank Hall it went down again for another 30 minutes on top of that. By the time I got off it was around 1:30 PM. So to those planning on going, add another 2 hours on whatever the posted wait time says. I don't mean to be big downer or anything, but the ride doesn't really deserve the hype it's getting. Yes I enjoyed it, though I felt it was kinda short. They focused too much on the talking encounters with Harry and Voldermort instead of actual coaster parts. I was expecting an awesome ride at the beginning with the tilt, but it never surpassed that moment. Definitely NOT worth anything above an hour wait time. Tilting and spinning coasters, have been around for a while. The Mummy is just more fun. and has a shorter line.

 

[Frogki]

The wait time you got probably contributed to your poor experience but it has been said over and over throughout this thread that this ride is NOT as thrilling or as intense as the mummy, and that was the goal from the beginning. And I'm sorry but you cannot just slap this on as a thing that's been done before, the fact that you're referring to it as a coaster when a majority of the scenes are based on the Spider-Man ride profile says it all. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the ride as much a others have been. Personally, I had lowered my expectations before getting on because so many had said that it was very low on the thrill level and I was honestly blown away by it. And I might add that many on these boards have recommended waiting until later in the afternoon to ride to avoid a really horrible wait time. It gets the worst crowds at the beginning of the day, that's been obvious for a while now...
I feel like it deserves all it's hype, but I didn't have to wait all morning. I waited for about an hour, an felt that it was worth every bit of it - especially considering how many issues it has had. And just to reiterate, the Mummy may be a better coaster but it is nowhere near the level of theming, detail, or quality of this ride in terms of overall story. But I respect your opinion, and I will definitely say that if you are looking for a great roller coaster, you should hit Revenge of the Mummy any day over this. Escape from Gringotts is a multimedia attraction with combinations of coaster elements AND simulator style show scenes. Emphasis on a mixture of elements.
But, I certainly hope you enjoyed Diagon Alley, the theming is so intense...

 

[UNIrd]

I feel like it deserves all it's hype, but I didn't have to wait all morning. I waited for about an hour, an felt that it was worth every bit of it

Yeah there's a big difference in waiting 1 hour for something and waiting 4 hours for something. "Worth it" will be extremely relative.

It's really unfortunate that this ride is still running so terribly over a month after opening.

 

[Frogki]

I really don't remember, could someone refresh my memory on how long it took to get FJ running smoothly? Pretty sure it wasn't that long. I'm hoping that some of the bugs will be worked out in off-season...

 

[sjago13]

I went today and I don't know how everybody here is getting waits under 2 hours. Got to Gringotts at 9AM with a Posted 120 Minutes. And about 30 minutes later they said the ride would be down for an additional hour, which it was. Then in the Bank Hall it went down again for another 30 minutes on top of that. By the time I got off it was around 1:30 PM. So to those planning on going, add another 2 hours on whatever the posted wait time says. I don't mean to be big downer or anything, but the ride doesn't really deserve the hype it's getting. Yes I enjoyed it, though I felt it was kinda short. They focused too much on the talking encounters with Harry and Voldermort instead of actual coaster parts. I was expecting an awesome ride at the beginning with the tilt, but it never surpassed that moment. Definitely NOT worth anything above an hour wait time. Tilting and spinning coasters, have been around for a while. The Mummy is just more fun. and has a shorter line.

You ride the ride after 2pm when the line dies down significantly. Rushing at opening is the complete opposite of what you wanna do.

 

[anihilnation]

I went today and I don't know how everybody here is getting waits under 2 hours. Got to Gringotts at 9AM with a Posted 120 Minutes. And about 30 minutes later they said the ride would be down for an additional hour, which it was. Then in the Bank Hall it went down again for another 30 minutes on top of that. By the time I got off it was around 1:30 PM. So to those planning on going, add another 2 hours on whatever the posted wait time says. I don't mean to be big downer or anything, but the ride doesn't really deserve the hype it's getting. Yes I enjoyed it, though I felt it was kinda short. They focused too much on the talking encounters with Harry and Voldermort instead of actual coaster parts. I was expecting an awesome ride at the beginning with the tilt, but it never surpassed that moment. Definitely NOT worth anything above an hour wait time. Tilting and spinning coasters, have been around for a while. The Mummy is just more fun. and has a shorter line.

I have a wait time app on my phone (not the official one though) and I like to check it even when I am not at the park, anyway, yesterday morning around 9am it said that Gringotts was closed, so I guess they had a lot of technical difficulties.

Yes, if you were expecting a real coaster I can imagine you were disappointed, I am glad I knew that it wiould not be thrilling at all and I kind of kept my expectations low, so though I waited over 3 hours for it, I actually loved it. My 10 year old did not though, she is strictly thrills lol.

Anyway, I like it but I don't consider the ride a coaster, it is just the most amazing dark ride ever

 

[Skubersky]

I went today and I don't know how everybody here is getting waits under 2 hours. Got to Gringotts at 9AM with a Posted 120 Minutes.

The line is longest around official opening time, anyone going in the morning without early entry will wait hours. Around 4pm the other day I waited just over an hour (including a lengthy breakdown)in singles. Standby was posted 120 but guests were getting on in 90. It can be done!

 

[hildyp0824]

I went on Saturday. When we first arrived in Diagon Alley, the posted wait time was 180 minutes. We watched the wait times throughout the morning as they kept slightly decreasing. We got in line at around 2pm and the posted wait time was 120 minutes. Our total wait time including riding was 72 minutes. This was in the regular line. We went back later around 4pm and the posted wait time was 90 minutes but the line was actually a little longer. We again waited around an hour to ride. I LOVED the ride. I don't remember a water affect or the waterfall so I'll have to pay more attention next time.

 

[shiekra38]

The split opinion on Gringott's is crazy..I think those that are disappointed are doing too much comparing to the Mummy..two completely different rides

Mummy: Coaster with dark ride elements
Gringotts: Dark ride with coaster elements

 

[IzzyB]

The split opinion on Gringott's is crazy..I think those that are disappointed are doing too much comparing to the Mummy..two completely different rides

Mummy: Coaster with dark ride elements
Gringotts: Dark ride with coaster elements

I also think the wait time effects how you like the ride. Which is why I said if they were still having technical issues and long waits going later into the summer (after expected grand opening crowds) they were going to have issues. Because if someone experiences long waits to breakdowns (which the waits are already longer than they should be to not having it at full capacity) they are not going to enjoy the ride as much as someone that goes in with a 120 minute wait and only wait 75 minutes. I think that is why Uni started making the wait times higher than they really need to be to make up for breakdowns so that people's expectations are in check.

 

[MillenniumDragons]

The wait time for me seems to be the bias for a lot of attractions. If Gringotts was an hour than I would have loved it. To clarify, I enjoyed the ride, I would never say I hated it, but it's not worth the an 1+ hours for me at least. Diagon Alley honestly blew me away, even when I walked in the 2nd time. When you visit Cedar Point, you look at Hulk or Rip Ride and those turn into kiddie coasters quite honestly.

 

[Frogki]

Understandably, I still compare every ride I go on to Millenium and Top Thrill, the speed on those two were unbelievable.
Glad you enjoyed the ride, but sorry you had such a terrible experience with the wait time, it always sucks dealing with that sort of thing. My group almost skipped it because they'd closed off the single riders line and it was posted at a 120 minute wait, but they could tell I'd been looking forward to riding that so we waited and were surprised by it. I hope that next time you go you don't have to deal with the nonsense... Still really hoping that they can get the technical issues worked out soon, seems like a shame that they're still having such a hard time getting it to work properly.

 

[shiekra38]

The wait time for me seems to be the bias for a lot of attractions. If Gringotts was an hour than I would have loved it. To clarify, I enjoyed the ride, I would never say I hated it, but it's not worth the an 1+ hours for me at least. Diagon Alley honestly blew me away, even when I walked in the 2nd time. When you visit Cedar Point, you look at Hulk or Rip Ride and those turn into kiddie coasters quite honestly.

Theme Park vs Amusement Park though

I think you are completely right in evaluating your experience of Gringotts from a line plus ride perspective...the line is a part of the 'experience' after all..

 

[Legolas813]

what time is the Q normally cut off?

 

[cheeseheadwi]

what time is the Q normally cut off?

I'm not positive, but I believe it has been around 8pm cut-off for a 10pm park closing -- which is a bummer because lines would be really short during that last 2 hours.

I'm interested to see if they continue to close it off that much ahead of park closing once the parks start to close earlier.

 

[d a n n y]

Going to Orlando tomorrow for the first time in 5 years. Extremely pumped obviously. Will be going to Universal tomorrow in the late afternoon, what type of line for this should I be expecting? Would read through this thread but I've been adamant about avoiding any possible spoilers. Also, with early entry, the lines are probably reasonable, correct?

 

[Frogki]

Later in the afternoon you should have a much better wait time than those who go early. I got there around 4 when I went last Tuesday, and it was posted as 120 minutes but it was much closer to an hour, which was totally worth it for the ride for me...
With early entry it depends on how early you get there because there's a line well before the hour early entry starts, so get there as soon as possible.

 

[awhen]

Unfortunately it's still a crap shoot. If it runs well you wait half the posted time. If it runs OK you wait the posted time. If it's having a really grumpy day you wait twice the posted time. I would not try before noon unless you can be up early enough to be first in line for early entry or you see the posted wait time is miraculously less than 90 minutes.

 

[Legolas813]

Posted 75 mins right now.

 

[neoshinok]

Posted 75 mins right now.

I was starting to think the numbers didn't go that low! Great to see. Hopefully it hovers around that mark most of the fall.