Here at Diagon Alley

[Leucky]

What's the difference if you wait 1.5 hours for the gate to open and 30 min to ride, or if you wait 1.75 hours in line and arrive 15 min before gate opens? Just asking?

 

[DisneyFreak06]

What's the difference if you wait 1.5 hours for the gate to open and 30 min to ride, or if you wait 1.75 hours in line and arrive 15 min before gate opens? Just asking?

My answer would be that you have more time in the park to explore and do other things. You are still waiting the same amount of time, but you have more time in the park that you are not waiting to ride.

 

[Lynzer4]

The problem is even if you are first at the gate when they start letting people in there were lots of people running ahead. But at the same time they have employes with a rope holding the group back as you walk all the way to the rear of the park. No matter how much you try people just keep pushing by you. Then as you get to fear factor they have this huge crowd being filtered into the single file queue. Then after that they make you go around DA the long way to Gringotts. It's really hard until you experience it. Time will tell if things improve.

Thanks. I'm ok waiting a while (an hour) to ride but not 4 hours. I think we will aim to be at the gate around 6 (if not a few minutes earlier) and hopefully be in the first bunch let in even if we spend our EE time in line to ride.

 

[xmansmom]

Would getting there any earlier than 1 hr before gates have helped, or was it destined to be that long just from EE guests? -Sean

It was all EE guests but arriving earlier would have helped. A TM told us we should get there at 5:00 and that whatever place you are in line before they open is the spot you'll be in when they do open. We'll try it on Fri.

 

[Oodalally13]

It was all EE guests but arriving earlier would have helped. A TM told us we should get there at 5:00 and that whatever place you are in line before they open is the spot you'll be in when they do open. We'll try it on Fri.

You are a very brave person! If you go through with it and survive, please keep us in the loop. I'm going to be here in December and am starting to get worried. We're laboring under the " no matter what we will have fun and see what we are able to see".

 

[BeccaA]

I wiish they had soft opened the Gringotts ride so many of these problems could have been worked out before Grand Opening! I heard it has been breaking down all day! So it sounds like 5 am is the time to get there for EE. Wow!

 

[zebsterama]

I would encourage people (please please please! ) to continue to post their EE times and experiences over the next little while.

Hopefully things go from a 'ridiculous' level to a more of a respectable 'insane' level --- i.e. instead of 5am, how's about 6am get in line for a 7am EE open .... I pray

 

[Oodalally13]

I wiish they had soft opened the Gringotts ride so many of these problems could have been worked out before Grand Opening! I heard it has been breaking down all day! So it sounds like 5 am is the time to get there for EE. Wow!

I agree! Not sure if they did any sorts other than previews for press, employees, but I would guess it wasn't to the extent of running it non-stop at capacity for the entire first day it was open.

 

[damo]

I wiish they had soft opened the Gringotts ride so many of these problems could have been worked out before Grand Opening! I heard it has been breaking down all day! So it sounds like 5 am is the time to get there for EE. Wow!

Soft opening it wouldn't have stopped the problems. It has been doing this for a while and they've been working furiously to fix it. The reason they didn't have softs was because they've been working like dogs trying to get it ready to open. Lots of sensors on this ride that need to be perfectly synched. Before rides can open to the public, they have to run a certain number of hours. Universal hasn't been slacking.... they've been running this ride for months trying to get it right. It is just a really new ride with lots of stuff going on.

 

[wilkeliza]

Soft opening it wouldn't have stopped the problems. It has been doing this for a while and they've been working furiously to fix it. The reason they didn't have softs was because they've been working like dogs trying to get it ready to open. Lots of sensors on this ride that need to be perfectly synched. Before rides can open to the public, they have to run a certain number of hours. Universal hasn't been slacking.... they've been running this ride for months trying to get it right. It is just a really new ride with lots of stuff going on.

It is no different than how often Seven Dwarfs has been going down. Disney took flak for pushing 7DMT to try and get it perfect but then still didn't get all the testing time they needed (Test Track tested for 2 months with CMs and 7DMT got a week?!) and from what I can figure out Gringotts feels the same way. They made a promise of when they were going to have it going and offered hotel packages with this ride specifically offered as part of it. They had to open it as long as it was safe and hope everything fired right. I am sure if they had 2 months to just run it with TMs it would be running smoothly. But the competition is fierce which is causing things to be opened while they still have a few kinks. The rides are safe just not flawless yet.

Give it a month and everything will be fine. It seems to be the trend now instead of having CMs and TMs be the non-stop guinea pigs paying guests get the luxury now.

 

[xmansmom]

I'm not sure if Gringotts opened at all today but we were told it wouldn't be running until 9:00. In line but are hearing it could take hours to fix it. Anyone have more info?

 

[damo]

I'm not sure if Gringotts opened at all today but we were told it wouldn't be running until 9:00. In line but are hearing it could take hours to fix it. Anyone have more info?

Last night they started running two sides. That would mean the occupancy is doubled from the day before. They may be getting that going again this morning. It may not be broken, just that they are doing work to make sure things can run smoothly.

Follow it on twitter. Lots of good information on there.

 

[Bluer101]

Yesterday when we got stuck it took about 30-60 minutes to get it open again. It is a very complex ride like no other. I don't think it was ready for prime time. It needs some last minute tweaking that can take weeks or months to work out.

When we were evacuated off the ride it's was neat to see how complex it really is. We got to walk out past most of the ride down below.

 

[xmansmom]

Still in line for Gringott's. Got in single rider line at 8:20 but the ride still isn't running. They gave us tickets in case we need to leave to go to the bathroom because the line is closed. No ticket, no re-entry.

 

[xmansmom]

Follow it on twitter.

Thanks! I don't do Ywitter much but I will for this trip.

 

[Oodalally13]

Last night they started running two sides. That would mean the occupancy is doubled from the day before. They may be getting that going again this morning. It may not be broken, just that they are doing work to make sure things can run smoothly.

Follow it on twitter. Lots of good information on there.

What name do you follow? Thanks for the tip!!!

 

[damo]

What name do you follow? Thanks for the tip!!!

Just search Gringotts.

 

[Susan2771]

We showed up this morning at 6:35 a. M and the ride was not working. They kept on telling the crowd they were hoping to get it up and running by 9:00 a.m
At 8:20 the line up was at 360 minutes. We didn't bother.
We returned at 6:00 p.m. And the ride was again not working and the team members weren't sure when it would be back up.

 

[zebsterama]

We showed up this morning at 6:35 a. M and the ride was not working. They kept on telling the crowd they were hoping to get it up and running by 9:00 a.m
At 8:20 the line up was at 360 minutes. We didn't bother.
We returned at 6:00 p.m. And the ride was again not working and the team members weren't sure when it would be back up.

Wow, just wow!

I work in an industry that requires an incredible amount of quality assurance and user acceptance testing before anything hits the market - this is a disgrace.

They've got functional issues and I'm guessing load issues - how they chose to launch this product without proper testing - considering the hype - oh boy that's an ugly one. Somebody is in Big trouble me thinks.

 

[BeccaA]

Wow, just wow!

I work in an industry that requires an incredible amount of quality assurance and user acceptance testing before anything hits the market - this is a disgrace.

They've got functional issues and I'm guessing load issues - how they chose to launch this product without proper testing - considering the hype - oh boy that's an ugly one. Somebody is in Big trouble me thinks.

I agree! I will be beyond upset if i don't get to ride it this weekend with the price paid for tickets and deluxe resort rooms.