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The Experience: A fire-breathing dragon holding court over the bank

The Trick: sculpting and some pyrotechnics

The most visually impressive part of Diagon Alley was actually one of the easiest aspects to design, at least once the plans were in place. The next time you’re in the area, pay attention to the Ukrainian Ironbelly that rests atop Gringotts Bank. The bank is the focal point of the new themed land, and its dragon is the wienie that draws attention.

When you pay attention, however, you’ll realize that the dragon doesn’t do much. It simply “stands” on top of the bank’s domed ceiling, occasionally breathing fire to intimidate guests. While the dragon fire draws all the scrutiny, the dragon just stands there. It’s not an audio-animatronic like the tellers inside the bank. Instead, it’s a lifelike sculpture that Universal engineers have left hollow inside. They’ve done this so that they can add the combustion element to produce fire from within the sculpture.

I’m not saying that the process was easy. To the contrary, building a complex, detailed statue on top of another new structure requires all sorts of strategy sessions and construction tricks. Adding a fiery element creates another degree of difficulty to the process. Also, Universal had to do several safety checks to ensure that the fire that the dragon produces is never a danger to onlookers on the street level, the ones naturally gazing up in curiosity. It’s just not as difficult as your instincts would cause you to believe. The dragon security system is proof that the best tricks are oftentimes the most straightforward.

The Experience: A descent into the depths of Gringotts in search of a Horcrux

The Trick: a mash-up of the two most popular kinds of theme park attractions

In the years and months leading up to the debut of Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, Universal marketers were unusually dodgy about the type of attraction they were making. Once guests experienced the ride for the first time, everyone understood why. It’s not quite a roller coaster, but it’s more than a dark ride. Yes, this attraction is the world’s most recognizable theme park mash-up.

The same design team that developed Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is responsible for its spiritual successor, too. They understood that a carbon copy of the first Potter ride wouldn’t sell the new themed land. Instead, it would feel derivative bordering on shamelessly lazy. They had a plan, though.

Universal’s team of (technology) wizards employed many of the ideas from Forbidden Journey in plotting Escape from Gringotts. These ride elements provided a foundation for the new attraction. Even the 3D aspects carried over. To differentiate it from its predecessor, however, the vault exploration would need a special touch, and we now know that this improvement is a roller coaster style.

Image: UniversalUnlike Forbidden Journey, Escape from Gringotts runs on coaster tracks. It’s not a giant amount of track by any stretch. In fact, the entirety of the ride is only 2,000 feet of track. For a regular coaster, that would be tantamount to a 60-second trip down the tracks. The bank battle is a four-minute ride. What’s the explanation for the dramatic difference in time?

Forbidden Journey is a true dark ride, one that pulls guests along a set path at a predetermined pace. Escape from Gringotts contains many of those same characteristics, but this fact gets hidden by the roller coaster aspect and something we’ll discuss in the next section.

By putting Escape from Gringotts on coaster tracks, it can provide highlight moments that are impossible on a dark ride. During the journey through the bank vault, guests experience several twists and turns and a 50-degree drop at one point. The roller coaster aspect enriches the storytelling possibilities, as it enables quick, dramatic movements. For all the brilliant aspects of dark rides, the pacing is one thing that limits the experience. In creating a mash-up of a dark ride and a roller coaster, the designers of Escape from Gringotts could take the strongest aspects of each ride style. This sort of hybrid attraction should grow more popular in coming years due to its unique utility.

 
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