Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts at Universal Studios is a fantastic combination roller coaster and dark ride. However, can it actually lay claim to being a tilt coaster? Tilt coasters have gotten a lot of press recently with the debut of Siren’s Curse at Cedar Point, but could the first one in the United States have been in Florida since 2014. The post below from @jpland21 is a great demonstration of what’s happening on the coaster and the tilt mechanism at the beginning of the the ride is clearly evident.
The tilt on the ride isn’t huge, it’s just 40 degrees, but it kickstarts the ride. It’s not a vertical tilt like Siren’s Curse, but it’s still tilt track. It does use a different mechanism though being made by Intamin instead of Vekoma.
Universal typically doesn’t focus on the “how” with their attractions, but instead focus on the ride experience. In this case the tilt is not the focus of the attractions, but rather something happening in the dark with riders relatively unaware of it while looking at a video sequence. The tilt is a means to an end in telling a story and not the story itself. There have been some high profile news stories about safety stops on tilt mechanism of the current coasters, but these issues will likely be worked out and we’ll probably see more of these coasters built soon. It’s fun to think that what is probably the first tilt coaster in the United States is at Universal Studios in Florida with almost no one realizing it. Those goblins at Gringotts are pretty tricky!
