Harry Potter Ride Wait Times Hit 4 Hours in Epic Universe – Is It Worth the Chaos?

The newest theme park in Orlando, Universal’s Epic Universe, is home to some pretty high wait times. It’s the hottest new park with some of the most sought-after rides, so we were right to expect some pretty intense crowds throughout the summer.

We’ve seen 300 minutes for Battle at the Ministry before!

One of the attractions that reports the highest wait times nearly every day is Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, the one-of-a-kind ride in the Ministry of Magic that often gets wait times of 100 minutes, 150 minutes, and sometimes even more. It’s easily one of the hottest rides in the park, but there’s something about it that often makes those wait times even longer, like FOUR HOURS. If you want to avoid that, here are our top tips for avoiding a long ride at the attraction on your park day!

Ride it When It’s SUNNY

Just a few days ago, Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry hit a FOUR-HOUR wait, which is higher than we’ve seen in quite some time. Why the increase? Well, in this case, it was storming in the park and had been for a few hours. Universal got a lot of things right when making this new park, BUT they did not account for the fact that it rains A LOT in Orlando. So, yes, even though it’s an indoor attraction, you’ll feel the impacts of a rainy day at Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry. In fact, 7 out of 11 rides cannot run in heavy rain or lightning.

Based on what we’ve seen this summer, when it’s been storming for over an hour, often people will run to the indoor rides. It causes an already long line to ramp up quickly. So, as tempting as it is, we don’t recommend running to ride this attraction when all others are closed. If you want a shorter wait while it storms, head to the single rider line at Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, or Monsters Unchained (which often has a consistently low wait in the park) instead.

Riding Later in The Day is a Risk That May Pay Off

Waiting to ride your most sought-after attraction until the very end of the park day is a RISK, especially with a ride as technologically advanced as this one. (It can break down at any moment!) However, based on our data, if the ride has run smoothly all day, with only a few issues in the morning and early afternoon, the wait time will be its lowest in the last 2–3 hours of the park day.

Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry

Again, this is VERY risky, as we’ve also seen days where the ride goes down for the last two hours, so we only recommend this method if you’ve ridden the ride before and just want to ride it again on your current trip, or you’ve got another day you’ll be in the park. Basically, if you’ll be heartbroken if you don’t get to ride it and your day will be ruined, it’s a better idea to ride it when it’s open, no matter how long the wait is, so you can get your turn.

Do NOT Rope Drop

Something else we’ve seen time and time again is that some of the highest wait times for this attraction happen RIGHT at the beginning of the day — yes, right at rope drop!

One of the worst times you can ride if you want to avoid long lines is at the beginning of the day. Instead, we recommend checking a few other rides off your list (especially Mario Kart if you’re not riding as a single rider — the wait times for that one are often longer than Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry), then returning to the land later in the day. And don’t forget the shows! Le Cirque de Arcanus in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Ministry of Magic and The Untrainable Dragon in Isle of Berk are also great ways to spend your morning.

Looking for more recent Epic Universe news? Check out our posts below!

More Recent Epic Universe News!

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