Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts: 10 details we love
Discover storytelling details and behind-the-scenes trivia about the Gringotts roller coaster at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando.
Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts opened July 8, 2014 — a decade, to the day, at the time of this writing — within The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley at Universal Studios Florida. This second “Harry Potter world” in Orlando (following Hogsmeade, which opened in 2010) expanded the fantasy’s footprint into both of Universal Orlando’s theme parks and connected the two of them with the Hogwarts Express train (thus also inevitably sparking the discourse of which side is better between them).
As the centerpiece of Diagon Alley, Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts functions as the land’s “E-Ticket” attraction, a roller coaster epitomizing Universal Creative’s technical prowess and storytelling talents. Here are 10 details we love about Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts.
Gringotts’ placemaking within The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts is perfectly fine as a stand-alone attraction, but its effectiveness is amplified by the guests’ sense of place — both within the story and within the reality of a theme park. By the time guests board the Gringotts ride vehicle, they’ve walked the length of Diagon Alley, traversed through a bank lobby, and traveled “deep underground” via “elevator” to the vaults of Gringotts. Some guests may have even preluded that voyage with a train ride on the Hogwarts Express.
This navigation all contributes to the storytelling we’ve already perceived before the roller coaster experience even begins. In the age of big-budget, multimedia theme park attractions accompanied by fully realized lands, Escape from Gringotts serves as a master class in leveraging its sense of place to elevate its ride experience.
Voldemort’s cinematic entrance
For all the hype among fans — and impact among the theme park industry — that Orlando’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade sparked upon its 2010 debut, it was easy at the time to not realize the franchise’s primary villain, Lord Voldemort, was absent from Hogsmeade’s attractions. In developing Diagon Alley as the theme park sequel to Hogsmeade, the artists of Universal Creative spotlighted Voldemort as an antagonist — along with Bellatrix Lestrange — of the area’s featured attraction.
While many theme park moments echo the principles of filmmaking, Voldemort’s entrance in Escape from Gringotts is particularly cinematic. To begin with, his first appearance is withheld until halfway through the ride (after already being withheld from all the other Wizarding World experiences throughout Universal) for maximum impact. Following the explosion of a wall within Gringotts, smoke begins to clear as a snake enters our field of vision. It’s Nagini, instantly recognizable to fans as Voldemort’s pet. Just as riders may begin to put two and two together, from the rubble emerges the bald-headed, black-cloaked figure of Lord Voldemort, reprised in all his glory by Ralph Fiennes for the first and only time to date after the 2011 conclusion of the “Harry Potter” films.
Fiennes and and co-star Helena Bonham Carter (portraying Voldemort’s scene partner, Bellatrix Lestrange) hold nothing back in their performances, seeming thrilled to participate and perhaps knowing this may be the last time they portray these iconic villains.
Domhnall Gleeson, Orlando theme park icon
Domhnall Gleeson reprises his role from the movies as Bill Weasley, Ron’s older brother and an employee at Gringotts. Though a minor character in the films, Bill is our guide through the attraction’s pre-show and ride experience. With his appearance here, Gleeson earns a coveted spot among the select few actors to appear in attractions at both Universal Orlando and Walt Disney World. Down the street at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, you’ll find him on the Dark Side as General Hux in Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
Photo by Attractions Magazine
All hell breaks loose
In “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” — specifically in the scene immediately following the dragon chase depicted in Escape from Gringotts — Harry bemoans, “Hermione, when have any of our plans ever actually worked? We plan, we get there, all hell breaks loose.”
That’s an accurate description of the gleeful chaos riders experience onboard Escape from Gringotts. The coaster utilizes a theme park trope in which anything that can go wrong, will go wrong (in the confines of the story, at least).
Truth be told, if we’re taking the story seriously, we, the riders, survive a harrowing ordeal. All we wanted to do was tour a bank and inquire about setting up an account. Instead, a witch hexed us, trolls attacked us, the most dangerous wizard of all time tortured us, and a student chained our cart to the back of a dragon’s tail (and then cut the chain loose, mid-air, in the dark) and trusted it as a passage to our safety. This bank has some serious security issues!
Harry’s not-so-secret mission
Within the exact point in the “Harry Potter” timeline presented in Escape from Gringotts, we’ve entered the story as Harry, Ron, and Hermione break into Bellatrix’s vault at the bank to retrieve a Horcrux, an object containing a piece of Voldemort’s soul. In the books and movies, the trio’s mission is quite secretive; as a safety precaution, they don’t even confide in their family members what they’re up to. This includes Bill, whose house Harry, Ron, and Hermione bunked at immediately before visiting Gringotts. Seemingly just hours later, anything goes.
“What in the name of Merlin are you doing?” Bill asks Harry during a scene in Escape from Gringotts.
“We’ve got the Horcrux!” Harry answers. “You really need to get out of here!”
Perhaps for the sake of narrative clarity, in the attraction Harry is suddenly not concerned with secrecy as he openly divulges his year-long, highly confidential quest.
John Williams’ and Alexandre Desplat’s music
Though composer John Williams isn’t shown in any behind-the-scenes material for Escape from Gringotts specifically, his music from the first three “Harry Potter” films is prominent throughout the attraction. Consistent throughout the ride’s soundtrack are Williams’ tracks “The Whomping Willow and the Snowball Fight” and “The Face of Voldemort.” Escape from Gringotts concludes with the rousing final notes of “Reunion of Friends.”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” — the movie containing the Gringotts sequences in which the attraction is rooted — was composed by Alexandre Desplat. Part of his “Underworld” track, which pads the Gringotts scenes of the film, can be heard during the troll sequences of the attraction.
Voldemort is petty
There’s a lot to thematically unpack as Voldemort interrogates us in Escape from Gringotts.
“I know you’ve seen Harry Potter,” Voldemort says to us. With a dramatic turn of his whole upper body, he then addresses Lestrange. “They were in your vault, Bellatrix.”
She’s triggered.
So, let’s get this straight: Voldemort knew Harry was in Bellatrix’s vault, intentionally keeps this information from her, and waits to tell her in front of others so that he can shame her and incite more aggression out of her? You are petty, Tom Riddle.
You’re a character in the story
Like the other attractions of Orlando’s Wizarding World, Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts posits the rider as an active participant in the narrative, not just a passive observer of the action. As such, the characters address us directly throughout the ride — even the bad guys.
At one point, Bellatrix demands that we tell her what we’ve seen. She casts various torture spells in our direction, her voice escalating with each one. Apparently, we’re not following her instructions. “Answer meeeeeee!” she wails as our cart backs away.
Film imitates park imitates film
Universal’s “Harry Potter” theme park lands were, of course, inspired by the franchise’s movies and books. However, seeing as the last few films were still in production during the development of Universal’s first Wizarding World area, Hogsmeade, the theme parks may have, in turned, inspired by the movies — which subsequently inspired the parks again.
Alan Gilmore was the art director for the films “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (2004) and “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” (2005). Stuart Craig was the production designer for all eight “Potter” movies. Both Gilmore and Craig worked in these same respective roles for both iterations of Universal’s Wizarding World.
David Yates, director of films five through eight in the “Potter” series, reflected on the Gringotts vault chase sequence from “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” in a 2011 documentary.
Speaking of Craig, Yates said, “Stuart, who designs the movies, was advising the Orlando theme park. I think there was a bit of cross-fertilization there.” After Craig pitched the production design for Gringotts’ coaster-like aesthetics, Yates replied, “Stuart, that sounds great, but this is like a theme park ride!”
Escape from Gringotts opened several years later.
(Incidentally, Craig later served as the production designer for “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” the Parisian setting of which will be brought to life in a third Wizarding World of Harry Potter realm in Orlando — Ministry of Magic — inside Universal’s new park, Epic Universe, opening in 2025.)
The Thief’s Downfall
Modern theme park attractions sometimes utilize clever blends of screen technology with physical sets. The Thief’s Downfall in Escape from Gringotts is among the best such instances of this. As first shown in the background of a screen-based scene in the ride, the Thief’s Downfall is a water curtain designed to remove all magical disguises from potential robbers. As we travel into the next scene, though, the cascading water from the screen seamlessly blends into a physical effect in the form of a thick layer of fog and an empty track.
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