Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts

[Ajstriker26]

I don't want to give anyone false hope, but as I pointed out earlier I saw two pretty big dudes three trains apart get moved from the front row to the back row. The first time the entire front row switched with the back row. The other time it was just the larger rider who got out and and switched with a single rider in the third row. I haven't seen anyone else discuss it, but there appears to be a modified seat in the third row unless what I saw was a twisted game of Chinese fire drill. And, I'd be no good at "guess your weight" carnival games, but the two guys probably weighed a little more than 260.

The back row is suggested for taller guests due to the tiered seating for the teeter totter effect. There's a bit more leg room in the back to make it less uncomfortable for most. To my knowledge, they do not have any seats that have a different style lapbar for larger dimensions.

 

[retroeric]

I wish they would add a final goodbye for Blordak as you approach unload. The poor goblin helps save your life and then is never heard from again! ;-)

Ha, true!

 

[UNIrd]

I rode the ride once this morning after about a 90 minute wait and it is just epic. One of the best rides I've ever been on in my life. The whole experience from beginning to end is just one of the best things Universal has ever done.

 

[rinacee]

Was there yesterday and waited just under an hour in the single rider's line at about 1:30 or 2. Regular line was 180 minutes. Heard from TMs that opening day they were receiving death threats from guests who were fed up with the wait times. Jesus.

 

[Tobias]

Since I have no idea when I'll be able to make it down to Universal, I caved in and watched the various POV's like I did with Forbidden Journey.

My initial reactions from watching plenty of POV's? While I personally don't think I'll be ranking Forbidden Journey in the same top tier of advanced attractions such as The Indiana Jones Aventure, Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Spiderman...however Escape from Gringotts has a very good chance of being placed firmly in the top tier.

Seriously, EfG looks fantastic to me. From the sets and screens blending very nicely together, to the various crazy track and car movements which look to screw with everyone in the best way possible. Not to mention the story is a lot easier to follow and it has a honest-to-god climax. I really look forward to experiencing this someday, as it looks like Universal has a real winner in their hands.

*Now as for my comment of probably not ranking FJ in the top tier of advanced attractions, I'll explain why. In my personal ranking, I'm looking at the overall experience. While it looks like FJ does theming and technology very well, my initial issues can be summed up thusly. - Disjointed flow and a story that's even confusing for someone like me who knows the IP. - Lack of a climax (It feels like it just peters out and meanders to the end, which for a thrilling advanced darkride is a huge no-no for me.) - Blurry dome screens (Don't know if this has been fixed, but that's been painfully obvious, made even more so due to the HD upgrade Spiderman got.)

 

[retroeric]

The FJ blurry screens were "improved" about a year ago, but now it looks even worse in my opinion. Yes it's much sharper and clearer, but it looks super fake CGI now. Can't quite explain it, but the frame rate is almost too quick. My guess is they tried to make the video look extremely realistic by using a super high frame rate, but instead it came out almost cartoon-ish. I would've preferred just a normal "film look".

Also for some unknown reason they took away the castle brick video in those transition scenes where your car is flying all around and they replaced it with some weird psychedelic looking graphics which look terrible and are not on par with the rest of the attraction, especially the physical sets.

These shortcomings cheapen the attraction for me. And I still can't get passed those darned dome screens where you feel like you're looking at a big screen t.v. instead of feeling like you're there, like Gringott's for example.

 

[Eckert]

According to twitter, Gringotts is running both stations.

 

[yankees13]

Wow opening at 7? I can only hope it dies down a bit by mid August when I go.

 

[UNIrd]

I can confirm that Gringotts was running both stations this morning.

 

[Obi Ubamba]

How intense is the drop and launch?

 

[WolfmanJ]

How intense is the drop and launch?

I haven't ridden it yet so I really don't know from experience, but from what I'm reading is that it really all depends on where you sit. I think the back row of the second car would give you a more intense experience than the front row of the first car.

 

[NashvilleTrio]

I rode in the second car, last row and the tilt/drop is fun, but won't cause you to break in to a sweat of fear. The last ride to make me feel like it was bordering the too intense threshold was Top Thrill Dragster's launch.

As for the the launch at the end of the ride, it doesn't pin you to your seat and doesn't seem like you actually change too much in elevation. The spin that happens increases the intensity, but it isn't over the top.

 

[bcoots]

I'm in line at cart goggle pickup in single rider. Does anyone know how much further the load platform is?

 

[Milla4Prez66]

How intense is the drop and launch?

Neither are intense at all. The lack of intensity is something that makes me disappointed because I just keep thinking of the potential this had if they didn't tone it done so much. I know they wanted it more family friendly than FJ, but man this could've been way more awesome even without anything crazy.

 

[Dustin]

The FJ blurry screens were "improved" about a year ago, but now it looks even worse in my opinion. Yes it's much sharper and clearer, but it looks super fake CGI now. Can't quite explain it, but the frame rate is almost too quick. My guess is they tried to make the video look extremely realistic by using a super high frame rate, but instead it came out almost cartoon-ish. I would've preferred just a normal "film look".

Also for some unknown reason they took away the castle brick video in those transition scenes where your car is flying all around and they replaced it with some weird psychedelic looking graphics which look terrible and are not on par with the rest of the attraction, especially the physical sets.

These shortcomings cheapen the attraction for me. And I still can't get passed those darned dome screens where you feel like you're looking at a big screen t.v. instead of feeling like you're there, like Gringott's for example.

I agree with you completely on this... I rode forbidden journey last week for my first time in almost 3 years and the ride felt completely different. I couldn't quite put my finger on why the flying part felt / looked different to me, but I think you nailed it completely. Whatever they did, really does change the experience and makes it feel a little less real..

 

[Milla4Prez66]

I'm in line at cart giggle pickup in single rider. Does anyone know how much further the load platform is?

You go through a little hallway with a goblin portrait that explains the ride safety procedures and up stairs to the loading platform.

 

[boomerthom]

The FJ blurry screens were "improved" about a year ago, but now it looks even worse in my opinion. Yes it's much sharper and clearer, but it looks super fake CGI now. Can't quite explain it, but the frame rate is almost too quick. My guess is they tried to make the video look extremely realistic by using a super high frame rate, but instead it came out almost cartoon-ish. I would've preferred just a normal "film look".

All of Universal's ride media that I know of(Spidey, Transformers, Despicable Me, Simpsons, to name a few) displays at 60FPS, which is considered to be a high frame rate (film in theaters is 24FPS and most televisions display at 30). FJ also displays at 60, and I'll assume Gringotts does as well. Do other attractions bother you in the same way, or just FJ? As someone who enjoys video games, I engage with 60FPS images quite often and love the smoothness and clarity of motion that a higher frame rate offers. 30FPS looks choppy to me at this point lol.

 

[bcoots]

Thanks Milla4Prez66 for the info!

 

[NashvilleTrio]

Got two perfect rides in on Gringotts this morning - one in standby and the other in single riders.

We left the Portifino at 5:45a and there were about 25 people ahead of us at the turnstiles. At 6:20a they opened the gates and we ended up being about 125 people in front if us to enter Diagon Alley.

They were loading both sides this morning. After our first ride we got back into single riders and the queue was stopped on the spiral staircase. We were done by 7:25a and then had breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron.

Good luck riding. Have fun.

 

[retroeric]

All of Universal's ride media that I know of(Spidey, Transformers, Despicable Me, Simpsons, to name a few) displays at 60FPS, which is considered to be a high frame rate (film in theaters is 24FPS and most televisions display at 30). FJ also displays at 60, and I'll assume Gringotts does as well. Do other attractions bother you in the same way, or just FJ? As someone who enjoys video games, I engage with 60FPS images quite often and love the smoothness and clarity of motion that a higher frame rate offers. 30FPS looks choppy to me at this point lol.

None of those rides you mentioned involve humans, and most of them are animation based, so they can get away with it. In the case of Transformers (and also Gringotts, presumably also shot with high frame rate), I think they did a much better job filming with green screen than they did with FJ. Now that I think about it, I think faulty green screen work could be an even bigger reason for the amateur look. Not to suggest that Universal isn't aware of this, but there are do's and don'ts in how you film with a green screen if you want it to look realistic, and I don't think Universal did it the right way. For example where they're flying on the Nimbus 2000s, you really don't sense the subject/nimbus 2000 is moving at all but rather sitting on a stationary nimbus 2000, with a moving background later added. The subject and the background look disparate. The whole thing "looks" green screeny, like a low budget sci-fi movie. Work of this caliber isn't supposed to look like they used green screen, even if they did.

So yeah, maybe the reason is part frame rate, part faulty green screen work. And it doesn't help having it all displayed on a small dome screen right in front of you where you get an up close look at these flaws.

If it weren't for these video scenes, I think FJ would be the greatest ride on the face of the earth. But unfortunately, the video portion is like half the ride lol.