The real drop in Harry Potter and the Escape From Gringotts

It's maybe a 30 foot drop and doesn't go that fast and it's not that steep. So you'll have no trouble riding it

There's a little hang time before the drop, but the drop is not very intense. The front car drop is shorter than the back car. The cars don't separate until they reach the first screen. Think of Gringott's as primarily a dark ride. And you'll love Cabana Bay. It's a moderate with value prices. The pools are beautiful, especially in the evening. And the Lazy River is cool. It was genius that they didn't supply rafts and you need to buy them, since it rarely gets crowded, allowing you to enjoy the river. The buses are excellent. We never waited for one at Cabana or the parking garage. There was always one waiting or just pulling up during our five night stay there. The walking path is still far from completion though. They were still working on the highway bridge when we were there and they had just built the walkway bridge over the Royal Pacific waterway when we stayed at the Royal Pacific last week....Diagon Alley is FANTASTIC. Words can't adequately describe it. You need to experience it.

Thanks for the info. Hopefully I'll be able to talk everyone in my group into riding it at least once! Rob, are you going to be at universal coming up? I know we where there during the same time the past two years. I'll be there Tuesday Sept 23 until Wednesday Oct 1. If you there, have a great time!

Bob: We just got back. we were there from Sept. 6th to the 20th....Diagon Alley is so fantastic that we spent about 40 hours in it. And we're not even Harry Potter fans. So much to see and explore. It's like you're transported to another world since you lose sight of the rest of the theme park existing. Hogwart's Express is the Wow factor. And passage on it makes it seem that Diagon & Hogsmeade are one theme park. I bought my GF a interactive wand and she had so much fun with it, she was constantly smiling like a little kid. Diagon & Hogwart's Express are both grand slam home runs. You have to experience it to understand it. Words can't do it justice. It's a whole new ball game when it comes to theme parks. Nothing like it anywhere. I don't know how Universal will be able to one up this.

One note about Gringott's. It gets better with repeat rides. After the first ride, I would have rated it 4 1/2 stars. But with subsequent rides my rating went up to 5 stars. There is so much happening , and the huge sets blend in so well with the screens, that it takes multiple rides to take everything in. I would rate it equal to Spider Man, Mummy & Transformers, but a notch below Forbidden Journey. The fact they made it a "family" ride probably hampered them a bit. But the technology is fantastic and, unlike any attraction I've rode before, where you sit makes a major difference in the ride experience. Since the cars separate,they are in different positions in front of the screen which makes for wildly different views of the scenes. Also the amount of motion and the drop varies according to the seat. We rode it 11 times during our visit. My favorite seat was second car, first row far left. Our longest wait was 60 minutes and most standby waits were 20 to 30 minutes. We also did single rider a number of times and those were just about walk ons. The queue is fabulous. Lots of authentic AA's, the excellent Weasley scene and the elevator are an attraction unto itself. If the queue was an attraction, it would be worthy of an E ticket.