Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts

[boomerthom]

I got to Diagon around 9:30AM and Gringotts was 240 minutes. It's 12:15PM now and the wait is only two hours. Is this normal? I thought the wait would at least hold steady.

 

[sjago13]

I got to Diagon around 9:30AM and Gringotts was 240 minutes. It's 12:15PM now and the wait is only two hours. Is this normal? I thought the wait would at least hold steady.

It seems to have consistently died down after lunch time. It's the initial rush and then everyone goes elsewhere. The secret is to do everything else then hit hp later in the day.

 

[boomerthom]

Damn, just rode for the fourth time today and the water and ending fog effects haven't worked at all

Great ride, though! The movement has such urgency to it. Really great stuff.

 

[Skubersky]

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.

After 20+ rides, I vote for row 3. The back car gets the best action on the drop, but there are sightline issues with several screens. Front row is a little too close to the screen for my taste, the screens seem slightly blurry to me there. Row 3 is the sweet spot for me, with decent height on the first drop and a little distance from the screen with no visual blockage.

 

[boomerthom]

After 20+ rides, I vote for row 3. The back car gets the best action on the drop, but there are sightline issues with several screens. Front row is a little too close to the screen for my taste, the screens seem slightly blurry to me there. Row 3 is the sweet spot for me, with decent height on the first drop and a little distance from the screen with no visual blockage.

I need to give row 3 a try. Rode five times today and sat in every row except 3 and 6 I think. I will say that I enjoy the first Voldemort scene more from the second car. It gets a clear view of Bellatrix attacking the cart, and some extra quality time with Voldy. And maybe it's just me, but I feel that the second car has a better viewing angle for the Thief's Downfall scene. The front car felt almost a bit too angled imo.

It's a small thing but I really like the front car's views of the rear car during the transition between the Thief's Downfall and free fall scenes. When the second car spins, it almost looks like it's going to collide with the car in front.

Side note-I can't say enough about the ride's beginning. There's even less downtime than in Transformers. In probably less than three seconds, the cart is booking it at a pretty high speed (for a dark ride, anyway) with the awesome score blaring. Really took me by surprise on my first ride, and I heard several screams from other guests for the same reason. Love it.

That said, I would like to see additional sound effects added while in the holding area past load. I had no trouble hearing the screams of guests going down the drop in front of us. Kind of breaks the illusion.

Going to try and ride more tomorrow.

Edit-I really hope the water and fog effects are fixed. The fog effect during the finale is comparable to Hobgoblin's fireball on Spidey imo; the overall experience hinges on it. Effing sucks when it's down. Oh well.

 

[Hockeyman55]

Hey insiders. Any idea how far along the ride has improved as far as running at capacity?

 

[boomerthom]

Water and fog effects are still down

 

[sjago13]

I wonder if transformers fog is still down and if it's related in any way.

 

[boomerthom]

I wonder if transformers fog is still down and if it's related in any way.

It was down today when I rode around 9:45. I think it's been down for weeks.

 

[sjago13]

Yeah. It's been down since at least early June. Someone said it was a problem with the nozzles. But since hp had it at opening but has since stopped it almost seems like they haven't restocked on the co2. Cause I would assume the gringotts was stocked a while back before transformers ran out and has now run out like transformers. Idk. The fog effects for both rides are vital to the illusion and need to be fixed asap.

 

[Teebin]

Yeah. It's been down since at least early June. Someone said it was a problem with the nozzles. But since hp had it at opening but has since stopped it almost seems like they haven't restocked on the co2. Cause I would assume the gringotts was stocked a while back before transformers ran out and has now run out like transformers. Idk. The fog effects for both rides are vital to the illusion and need to be fixed asap.

It isn't CO2, it is LN2 (liquid nitrogen). Marni told us that the TF issue was because of an LN2 thickening device not functioning. Also, and this is important... LN2 is cheap as dirt as it is literally pulled from thin air and it is the byproduct of ammonia or chlorine manufacture (or something like that).

So there, we are all up to speed now..

 

[boomerthom]

Rode again around 3PM and there was considerably more fog. However, it dissipated too early to conceal anything. It may have been enough if the fog machines kept pumping it out. I can't pinpoint what the issue is. Either the volume of fog is too low, or the fog machines are cutting off too soon. Maybe both?

Ride was running great besides the fog and still-busted water effects. I went for standby this time. Posted wait was 105 min but I made it on in about 75. Covered outdoor queue was moving great; I started next to the prop cart and made it inside in about 35 min. I was expecting much worse. Queue seems to bottleneck inside around the security checkpoint and office hallways.

 

[Teebin]

^ I wonder if there are EE sensor type problems happening on the ride due to the fog...

 

[boomerthom]

^ I wonder if there are EE sensor type problems happening on the ride due to the fog...

That would be absolutely tragic. The only way to get around it that I can think of would be to launch and pull the screen away at the last second before the train collides with it (actually how I originally envisioned the scene when it was leaked) but I can imagine endless issues as a result.

I just can't see it as a sensor issue. Surely they wouldn't go for it when a similar issue has caused well-documented problems in a popular ride (EE) for years? Hard to believe, but smfh if true.

 

[Teebin]

I just can't see it as a sensor issue. Surely they wouldn't go for it when a similar issue has caused well-documented problems in a popular ride (EE) for years? Hard to believe, but smfh if true.

Yeah... the mist on EE was highly pressurized water; the fog on this ride Liquid Nitro. Big diff. I was just yappin my train of thought...

 

[boomerthom]

Yeah... the mist on EE was highly pressurized water; the fog on this ride Liquid Nitro. Big diff. I was just yappin my train of thought...

Ah. My bad, I didn't know.

Just rode once more about 9:15pm and there was more fog than last time. The fog machines' duration is still too short (there was no fog lingering when the screen pulled away) but the burst of fog we got seemed acceptably large/dense. I'm more convinced now that it's an issue of the machines cutting out too early.

No clue why the water effects have been down for two days now. After landing, the free fall scene is almost devoid of interaction without them. Really makes the scene feel drawn out.

 

[April]

Ah. My bad, I didn't know.

Just rode once more about 9:15pm and there was more fog than last time. The fog machines' duration is still too short (there was no fog lingering when the screen pulled away) but the burst of fog we got seemed acceptably large/dense. I'm more convinced now that it's an issue of the machines cutting out too early.

No clue why the water effects have been down for two days now. After landing, the free fall scene is almost devoid of interaction without them. Really makes the scene feel drawn out.

I rode twice last Saturday and the water effects were down both times. Not sure if anyone else had it working on other days since then though.

 

[doc brown]

has anyone heard about power pass holders being let in now

 

[mratigan]

So the the scene with the Freefall and dragon are the only ones with water sprayers and the the dome is the only one with fog?
I know when Big Thunder reopened here in Disneyland they had issues with getting engough fog to build up in the tank for the next train, so some times they had only a bit of fog. I think they have fixed this by putting in a larger tank. Just throwing that out there.

 

[anihilnation]

It isn't CO2, it is LN2 (liquid nitrogen). Marni told us that the TF issue was because of an LN2 thickening device not functioning. Also, and this is important... LN2 is cheap as dirt as it is literally pulled from thin air and it is the byproduct of ammonia or chlorine manufacture (or something like that).

So there, we are all up to speed now..

Quite interesting really http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_separation

The byproduct of chlorine manufacture is something different though, that is hydrogen.