Trivia / Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts

• Demand Overload: Upon first opening, the attraction reached wait times of over 300 minutes.
• The Other Darrin: Neither Daniel Radcliffe or Emma Watson were interested in reprising their roles, so in this ride as well as in the nearby Hogwarts Express attraction, they're replaced with two unknown actors. While Harry's actor is passable, Hermione's replacement is painfully obvious.
• Role Reprise: Several actors from the films return as their respective characters in this ride; including Domhnall Gleeson as Bill Weasley, Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix, Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort, and Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley.
• Troubled Production: The ride was in fact far from being fully operational when it was prematurely opened, and as a result it spent many months suffering technical issues and breakdowns.
• What Could Have Been:
  • In early planning, Diagon Alley was meant to replace The Lost Continent at Islands of Adventure, and this coaster in particular would've replaced Poseidon's Fury. Due to the literally overwhelming success of Hogsmeade, it was decided to move plans for the new area over to the sister park.
  • Early on, Rowling insisted that the ride stay as compliant with the canonical events of the Deathly Hallows book as much as possible. This resulted in the first version of the ride, which focused on Bill Weasley's journey exclusively and kept the famous trio as background cameos near the end. This version was worked on for a long while, until Universal got cold feet and felt it didn't make for an entertaining enough ride.

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