Via Orlando Sentinel

Diagon Alley is open for business, with long lines, plenty of Harry Potter-themed shops and a 3D ride that thrilled visitors — despite a 45-minute outage in early afternoon.

The posted wait time for Harry Potter and the Escape From Gringotts thrill ride, the centerpiece of the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Diagon Alley, topped out at 450 minutes before the ride was shut down. It was restarted about 45 minutes later.

The ride had technical problems during previews and operated sporadically. It was not running during the recent “soft openings” for the general public. But Mark Woodbury, president of Universal Creative, said he was “beyond confident” that the ride would operate today.

Hundreds of Universal Studios visitors began streaming into Diagon Alley at 8 a.m. after fireworks and a brief statement by Universal President Bill Davis.

“You’re going to love the entire land,” Davis said.

By late morning, park visitors waited a few hours to get into Diagon Alley. Then, they faced a wait of six hours for a ride on Escape from Gringotts. The line snaked outside the bank building and into the Carkitt Market area of the attraction.

The ride operated almost flawlessly for one early group, except for a minor glitch with a frozen screen at the end. Gringotts hurls riders deep into the vaults of the wizards’ bank, where they encounter villains Bellatrix and Lord Voldemort.

“It was just like a whole new experience,” Lauren Gay of Tampa said of the Gringotts ride.

An avid theme-park visitor, Gay, 33, described it as “nothing like anything we’ve ridden.”

More here.

Via CNN

A tree branch that fell on the tracks derailed a roller coaster car at a Six Flags amusement park Monday evening, leaving it dangling precariously.

Four people were injured on the Ninja ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said. Two of the four were taken to a hospital as a precautionary measure.

The front part of the roller coaster detached from the track and hanged at about a 45-degree angle, pointing to the ground.

The car was about 20 feet in the air, Los Angeles Fire Department supervisor Ed Pittmann told CNN affiliate KTLA.

Rescue workers climbed atop the track and used a thick rope to tie the front of the car to the track above.

By late Monday night, all 22 passengers had been rescued.

MORE on CNN.com

VIA Newsworks

A New Jersey theme park has finally opened what it calls the world’s tallest and fastest drop ride.

The Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom ride began operating Friday at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson.

Riders are hoisted 415 feet in the air and dropped back to the ground at 90 mph. Adding to the thrill: The park’s Kingda Ka roller coaster trains hurl toward riders on Zumanjaro at speeds of up to 128 mph.

The ride initially was scheduled to open Memorial Day weekend. But those plans changed when construction work was delayed by a combination of high winds, snow and cold.

Park officials then planned to open the ride Wednesday. But that was postponed because state inspectors were still reviewing paperwork and had not granted an operating permit.