Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts

[Milla4Prez66]

Yeah these discussions shift from " When will it open!?!" to " It's not open to my liking!!"

Give it a rest, discuss the ride and its amazing properties. The fact people are complaining about waits, capacity, and other mundane details is just silly. It hasn't even been open a week and people are nit picking... Let UO sort out their toothpicks...

I was mostly voicing some frustrations of the ride breaking down 10+ times while I was in line only to have it break down again when I got on board. I know Universal will fix it and I know it is and will be awesome, I saw it. It's a bit overhyped, but my expectations were too high anyways. But my point is, in a perfect world this ride would NOT be open to the public. But it's not a perfect world and Universal HAD to open it. That's not their fault, I know they are working hard to get the ride fixed but it is a mess for the time being. No getting around it. I just never took most of the Gringotts problems reports seriously when I read them until experiencing it today. But they have the potential for an amazing attraction here, it just kind of sucks to see it open with so many problems when Diagon Alley and Hogwarts Express are both so flawless.

 

[knokout1]

Soooo..is a week a safe bet to say some of these kinks will be worked out?

 

[Teebin]

Guys, it's like a broadway show that is delayed. We wondered when, now it has, and it is problematic to say the tiniest little least. So now that the show has opened, we are all reviewing it as we like to do. And like a broadway show, when the star is sober and hitting his mark he is really grand, but when he's had a few, the show suffers and consequently fails.

I could give a flying fark that it just opened and will condemn it all I want. :wave:

 

[sjago13]

I was mostly voicing some frustrations of the ride breaking down 10+ times while I was in line only to have it break down again when I got on board. I know Universal will fix it and I know it is and will be awesome, I saw it. It's a bit overhyped, but my expectations were too high anyways. But my point is, in a perfect world this ride would NOT be open to the public. But it's not a perfect world and Universal HAD to open it. That's not their fault, I know they are working hard to get the ride fixed but it is a mess for the time being. No getting around it. I just never took most of the Gringotts problems reports seriously when I read them until experiencing it today. But they have the potential for an amazing attraction here, it just kind of sucks to see it open with so many problems when Diagon Alley and Hogwarts Express are both so flawless.

What where your expectations and where did it fall short for you?

 

[Milla4Prez66]

What where your expectations and where did it fall short for you?

I seriously was ready to be utterly blown away and instantly ready to call it the best ride at the resort. When the ride was over I felt slightly let down because it wasn't that, but I knew I came in with some crazy high expectations.

I just was reminded of when I heard Seth Kubersky say FJ was better after riding it. I instantly thought he was just maybe being a bit of a FJ homer or something, but after riding Gringotts I kind of want to say he was actually right. I want to ride it a few more times before really placing it anywhere with any other rides (especially without the wait). Also, a random spoiler-free thought, I think the ending was kind of rushed. I was expecting a few more scenes before that finale where you shoot through that KUKA screen. It was still a blast though.

 

[sjago13]

IDK... I wish it was longer but you can say that for most any great ride. Personally I would rank the top 3 rides at the resort 1. Gringotts 2.Spiderman 3.FJ I feel if you like spiderman or transformers over FJ you will like gringotts better. I just felt fully immersed in that, that's my only knock about FJ. The physical sets of FJ are my favorite part but going between parts is kind of jarring and also when u flop from one side of the track to the other you can usually find gaps in the themeing. I just loved the motion of the ride vehicles in gringotts and felt fully immersed from start to finish.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I've known no-creative types who rode Gringotts in May. They might not be rank and file, but still.

 

[IAmFloridaBorn]

Gringotts..where do I start.

Okay got there at 6:50.
Parked got to the (NON Hotel guests line) at about 7:15.

Started single file line then woman came and said spread out at gate .
They escorted the crowd behind a yellow line ( i thought this was a terrible very stupid idea by universal)
During that time, saw a few kids and adults get trampled. I went from being near front to being in the middle/back.
Luckily I had a short friend who manages to stay in the front.
Chose not to do return time ticket since she was in the front.
We walked right into Diagon Alley after about 7 minutes of waiting.
Walked straight to Gringotts as I had already seen Diagon.
Got to the entrance, posted wait time was 240 minutes.
Walked to get in line and turned around because we thought it would take forever.
Walked to Leaky Cauldron but found the breakfast severely overpriced.
Went back to Gringotts, 210 minute posted wait so we got in line.
Through out the length of queue the wait time built up to 300 as I saw.
It was about 8:20-30 ish when I got in line. Didn't get off of the ride until 1:13 PM.
Wouldn't dare wait more than 40 minutes for this short ride. So I'll likely wont ride it for years to come.
That being said, it's the best ride I've ever been on!
The 3D on this ride is actually pretty awesome.
Its not a roller coaster (Needs its own classification) but it is the most thrilling ride at Universal just far too short!
Love the new technology. This ride is a must do at least once.

Only thing was difficult for me to follow the story because it all was a blur and I'm not a dedicated Harry fan.

Very very friendly enjoyable ride. Universal needs more of these innovative attractions! Hopefully so!

To Add , Gringotts changed my favorites at the UOR resort. Top 5 now:

1. Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit
2. Escape from Gringotts (If more roller coaster ish it would be my favorite)
3. Mummy
4. Popeye
5. Men In Black

(I like Forbidden Journey but the Robot Arm twirls a bit too much to enjoy it.)

 

[Milla4Prez66]

Gringotts..where do I start.

Okay got there at 6:50.
Parked got to the (NON Hotel guests line) at about 7:15.

Started single file line then woman came and said spread out at gate .
They escorted the crowd behind a yellow line ( i thought this was a terrible very stupid idea by universal)
During that time, saw a few kids and adults get trampled. I went from being near front to being in the middle/back.
Luckily I had a short friend who manages to stay in the front.
Chose not to do return time ticket since she was in the front.
We walked right into Diagon Alley after about 7 minutes of waiting.
Walked straight to Gringotts as I had already seen Diagon.
Got to the entrance, posted wait time was 240 minutes.
Walked to get in line and turned around because we thought it would take forever.
Walked to Leaky Cauldron but found the breakfast severely overpriced.
Went back to Gringotts, 210 minute posted wait so we got in line.
Through out the length of queue the wait time built up to 300 as I saw.
It was about 8:20-30 ish when I got in line. Didn't get off of the ride until 1:13 PM.
Wouldn't dare wait more than 40 minutes for this short ride. So I'll likely wont ride it for years to come.
That being said, it's the best ride I've ever been on!
The 3D on this ride is actually pretty awesome.
Its not a roller coaster (Needs its own classification) but it is the most thrilling ride at Universal just far too short!
Love the new technology. This ride is a must do at least once.

Only thing was difficult for me to follow the story because it all was a blur and I'm not a dedicated Harry fan.

Very very friendly enjoyable ride. Universal needs more of these innovative attractions! Hopefully so!

I agree with you about it being a bit of a blur and it happens and ends so quickly and it felt rushed and confusing to someone who isn't a Potter fan. I wouldn't consider it to be Universal's most thrilling ride, especially since Universal was trying to keep it as tame as possible. The best way to describe it is Transformers with a hint of Mummy thrown in with some new effects. I don't think it goes faster than 30 mph, but I don't think they've given an official speed either. It was certainly a good ride, just one of those things were it was fast and confusing a bit and you throw that in with a 5 hour wait full of talk of the ride having problems and it just made it a muddy experience. I'm just dying to ride this when the parks slow down. I think I can single rider my way on without much of a wait in slow seasons.

 

[IAmFloridaBorn]

Oh and if you have long legs don't ride the ride. I'm 6'ft even, ride hurt my legs and knees like hell. That turned me off about it but when you become fully immersed in the journey you forget about it. While loading , if you are tall, you will feel it. I assure you.

- - - Updated - - -

I agree with you about it being a bit of a blur and it happens and ends so quickly and it felt rushed and confusing to someone who isn't a Potter fan. I wouldn't consider it to be Universal's most thrilling ride, especially since Universal was trying to keep it as tame as possible. The best way to describe it is Transformers with a hint of Mummy thrown in with some new effects. I don't think it goes faster than 30 mph, but I don't think they've given an official speed either. It was certainly a good ride, just one of those things were it was fast and confusing a bit and you throw that in with a 5 hour wait full of talk of the ride having problems and it just made it a muddy experience. I'm just dying to ride this when the parks slow down. I think I can single rider my way on without much of a wait in slow seasons.

Most thrilling indoor-ride I should say. I like the Mummy but Gringotts scenes ans sets are far superior.
I like transformers although I feel the ride does too much where Spiderman is more tamed. But then again the fight between the autobots is fast paced so thats a personal problem for myself.

 

[Milla4Prez66]

Oh and if you have long legs don't ride the ride. I'm 6'ft even, ride hurt my legs and knees like hell. That turned me off about it but when you become fully immersed in the journey you forget about it. While loading , if you are tall, you will feel it. I assure you.

- - - Updated - - -



Most thrilling indoor-ride I should say. I like the Mummy but Gringotts scenes ans sets are far superior.
I like transformers although I feel the ride does too much where Spiderman is more tamed. But then again the fight between the autobots is fast paced so thats a personal problem for myself.

Gringotts is a better experience than Mummy all around (minus the lines and breakdowns of course), but Mummy has more of a thrill factor. Gringotts is pretty tame, which isn't bad and we knew it would be. The coaster portions are slower and smoother than Mummy and the spinning is probably tamer than the spinning you'd get on Cat in the Hat back when it actually spun like a boss. You can tell they wanted to make it more of a family ride than FJ was. But the fact bigger people are having issues and in some cases can't even ride bothers me.

 

[IAmFloridaBorn]

Gringotts is a better experience than Mummy all around (minus the lines and breakdowns of course), but Mummy has more of a thrill factor. Gringotts is pretty tame, which isn't bad and we knew it would be. The coaster portions are slower and smoother than Mummy and the spinning is probably tamer than the spinning you'd get on Cat in the Hat back when it actually spun like a boss. You can tell they wanted to make it more of a family ride than FJ was. But the fact bigger people are having issues and in some cases can't even ride bothers me.

Haha dont remind me of the sickening Cat in the Hat spins! (Much easier to do now)
But I agree. I actually don't really care to ride anything in Hogsmede. All too aggressive. (Yes even Hippogroff! JK haha)
And to Piggy back on what you said, I saw a rather well fed guy get turned away. The cart is extremely small.
The smoothness put Gringotts for a good word from me.

 

[Milla4Prez66]

Haha dont remind me of the sickening Cat in the Hat spins! (Much easier to do now)
But I agree. I actually don't really care to ride anything in Hogsmede. All too aggressive. (Yes even Hippogroff! JK haha)
And to Piggy back on what you said, I saw a rather well fed guy get turned away. The cart is extremely small.
The smoothness put Gringotts for a good word from me.

I saw two and it bothered me. Universal needs to go back and re-do the restraints to give a little more room for bigger people. I know parks are more concerned with keeping people in their seats since the Six Flags Texas incident, but if you can go this entire ride without worrying about 3D glasses falling off I think they can loosen up the restraints to give bigger people some room. I'm sure they are getting complaints from angry guests who wait for hours only to be told at the end they can't ride.

 

[IAmFloridaBorn]

I saw two and it bothered me. Universal needs to go back and re-do the restraints to give a little more room for bigger people. I know parks are more concerned with keeping people in their seats since the Six Flags Texas incident, but if you can go this entire ride without worrying about 3D glasses falling off I think they can loosen up the restraints to give bigger people some room. I'm sure they are getting complaints from angry guests who wait for hours only to be told at the end they can't ride.

There is a ride tester at the front. I tested it during softs and the light turned red. But on the ride I barely made it on. I had to cross my ankles to give myself more space and relly crunch my stomach. It sucked. But I was happy the damn thing locked.

 

[Frogki]

Would you guys say the restraints are even more restrictive than Mummy?

 

[IzzyB]

I think a few people here need to listen to a couple of older podcasts to see where OI got a lot of info.while your doing that check the dates. Also this Gringotts derailment thing is horse ****. If everyone really knew what happened they'd all face palm to how far this has been blown out of proportion. They decided LATE in the game a few changes needed to be made. Those changes while inconvenient and annoying now will pay off big time for everyone once all the bugs are worked out. It sucks I know as everyone is dying to ride but remember this is a business and they made the call to open it at less than full capacity. Take your emotions and personal feelings aside and remember its a business. They made the right move plain and simple.

I agree, they made the right decision and really had no other option. But I do think it is going to hurt them more and more the longer this thing is not meeting capacity. If they fix this soon, then no biggie. People won't remember this and most guests won't have experienced the headache. But if this lasts into August, they are going to start to feel the pain of it long run as guests will hesitate to return to the park after a bad experience.

I do think they need to seriously look at their timelines when it comes to high tech rides. Transformers was easy to fast track because it was a clone. But brand new rides really need longer timelines built up front. They cut this one way too close and need more wiggle room in the future. That is the lesson they can learn from this project.

 

[IAmFloridaBorn]

Would you guys say the restraints are even more restrictive than Mummy?

Most Certainly. at least 2-4 more inches on Mummy

 

[Milla4Prez66]

There is a ride tester at the front. I tested it during softs and the light turned red. But on the ride I barely made it on. I had to cross my ankles to give myself more space and relly crunch my stomach. It sucked. But I was happy the damn thing locked.

I know, but it's easy to miss in the chaos of getting in line.

 

[retroeric]

FJ is overrated. Yes it has physical sets, and yes the kuka is great, but the film portion kills it for me (and let's face it, that's half the ride). I feel like I'm spending half the ride watching a big screen TV where I can see the edges of the screen. And it got even worse what a year or so ago when they, for some inexplicable reason, changed the brick scenes to that weird psychedelic crap, which looks like a 90s desktop screen saver. The beautiful physical sets that make up the other half of the ride get dragged down by these terrible video segments.

Gringotts isn't like that because 100% of the film is on large screens that blend beautifully with the physical sets. You don't see edges of screens, and thus it creates 100% immersion.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I agree with you about it being a bit of a blur and it happens and ends so quickly and it felt rushed and confusing to someone who isn't a Potter fan. I wouldn't consider it to be Universal's most thrilling ride, especially since Universal was trying to keep it as tame as possible. The best way to describe it is Transformers with a hint of Mummy thrown in with some new effects. I don't think it goes faster than 30 mph, but I don't think they've given an official speed either. It was certainly a good ride, just one of those things were it was fast and confusing a bit and you throw that in with a 5 hour wait full of talk of the ride having problems and it just made it a muddy experience. I'm just dying to ride this when the parks slow down. I think I can single rider my way on without much of a wait in slow seasons.

wait a minute, weren't you saying in the KK thread that fast paced 3D screen rides were always the best? :huh: