Front Seat POV©
Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts is an indoor steel roller coaster designed by Universal Creative and built by Intamin at Universal Studios Florida, a theme park located within the Universal Orlando Resort. Similar to dark rides, the roller coaster utilizes special effects in a controlled-lighting environment and also employs motion-based 3-D projection of both animation and live-action sequences to enhance the experience. The ride, which is themed to the Gringotts Wizarding Bank, became the flagship attraction for the expanded Wizarding World of Harry Potter when it opened on July 8, 2014.
Universal Parks & Resorts, in partnership with Warner Bros., officially announced the addition of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter to Islands of Adventure on May 31, 2007. The area officially opened in the Islands of Adventure theme park on June 18, 2010. The Harry Potter-themed area saw attendance at Islands of Adventure rise by as much as 36% in 2010. According to Jason Garcia of the Orlando Sentinel, this led to resort executives pondering "when to expand Wizarding World and how to keep business balanced between Islands and Universal Studios Florida". In April 2011, Brady MacDonald of the Los Angeles Times speculated that an area expansion would include the addition of Diagon Alley and a Gringotts-themed dark ride in place of the Lost Continent themed area in the park.
On December 6, 2011, Universal park officials confirmed that an expansion would take place and described it as "significant". The announcement was made four days after the park confirmed the removal of Jaws, a ride scheduled to close permanently on January 2, 2012.Demolition of the Jaws ride and the surrounding Amity area began soon after its closure. After the site was leveled, work began on land reclamation as well as the construction of a series of buildings, including a large show building for the Gringotts ride.
Further details about the expansion were announced on May 8, 2013, confirming new feature attractions themed after Diagon Alley and London. On January 23, 2014, the name of the area's flagship attraction was revealed to be Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts. It was later described as a "virtual reality roller coaster" by Entertainment Weekly as additional details were released in May 2014.[24][25] The new ride opened on July 8, 2014, alongside other attractions in the new Diagon Alley section of the park.The building housing the attraction features a 60-foot (18 m) dragon statue perched over the entrance that utilizes special effects to simulate the breathing of fire. Upon opening, the wait times would reach up to seven hours long.
After guests board their cart, the vehicle races along the tracks, just before security alarms go off as a security breach is detected and the bank goes on lockdown. Bellatrix Lestrange appears, after being notified of an impostor infiltration, and decides to torture the guests by cutting off the track and tilting it. This sends the cart speeding toward the vaults as stalagmites can be seen to give an impression of being deep underground. Bill Weasley casts Arresto Momentum to stop the cart just before Harry, Ron, Hermione and Griphook emerge from the Thief's Downfall, which has washed away the Polyjuice Potion's effect off Hermione. Their cart drops them from a high altitude as security trolls climb up, pushing Bill and Blordak off their cart.
A security troll pushes the guests' cart further, past the Thief's Downfall and stops in front of more security trolls. One of them is hit by a mace but hangs on to the guests' cart and sends them falling. Bill casts Arresto Momentum again to stop the cart from falling, followed by Aguamenti to stop the Ukrainian Ironbelly from breathing fire on the guests (the audience gets sprayed with water at this point) and Wingardium Leviosa, sending guests' through the vaults. Meanwhile, Harry, Ron and Hermione are attempting to escape the vaults on the Ukrainian Ironbelly. Blordak urges guests to seek shelter inside one of the vaults.
After entering the vault, the walls come crashing down and Nagini appears in an attempt to attack guests. Bellatrix reappears, this time with Lord Voldemort, who confronts guests, questioning them on their knowledge of Harry Potter's whereabouts. He blames Bellatrix for the vault infiltration, who again decides to torture guests sending them to a lava-filled chamber deep in the vaults. To further torture guests into revealing Harry Potter's whereabouts, Voldemort decides to administer "a little dose of pain to help you remember" and conjures a ball of fire. The Ukrainian Ironbelly crashes in from the opposite side, and Harry casts a counterspell, while the dragon spits fire towards Voldemort, who shields himself and Bellatrix and both later furiously retreat.
5 сен 2024
