Amusement Park News

Coming soon to Universal Orlando's Epic Universe is a brand-new Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry ride. Epic Universe will open in late May 2025, as will this major new ride. There are five themed lands in all at Epic Universe, including over 50 attractions. These lands include Harry Potter, Super Nintendo World, The Isle of Berk: How to Train Your Dragon, Dark Universe, and Celestial Park.

The new ride should fit perfectly into Orlando's Harry Potter Wizarding World land, which itself is inspired by 1920s Paris, the setting of the Fantastic Beasts film series. The land's overall design is also influenced by the British Ministry of Magic drawn from the Harry Potter film series.

The new Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry ride will be an immersive one, from its story to its tech. A press release describes the ride as including a variety of fully realized environments at the Ministry of Magic, such as Dolores Umbridge's office, the reception booths, the ministry's filing system, its grand atrium, the Auror office, and the Department of Magical Creatures, as well as the magical archives library. Guests will also experience the awe-inspiring, mammoth Magical Archives, the Department of Magical Creatures, and the Time Room, filled with “time turners.”



For those unfamiliar with the Ministry of Magic, the ride will feature many iconic images that are a part of the setting, from magical artifacts to gilded carvings and sculptures. The ride will start with guests traveling via the Floo Network that appeared in the Harry Potter films, otherwise known as the Métro-Floo, to attend the trial of Dolores Umbridge.

Once there, riders will board ride vehicles that are designed to resemble an elevator traveling through the Ministry of Magic. The elevator ride cars serve as the entrance point to an indoor dark ride studded with high-tech elements. Each magical elevator car seats up to 14 riders, and can move up and down, left, and right, forward, and back, as riders travel into the Ministry ever deeper to reach the site of the trial. The cars feature vibrant red and gold accents, and the seats resemble elegant, old fashioned red plush movie palace seats. The multi-directional cars' extreme movement mobility allows clear views of Umbridge's trial, her escape, and then take riders on an exciting chase after Umbridge, along with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Higgledy, a house-elf, occupied with cleaning out the evil woman's office.

Along the way, as riders pass through the Ministry's varied departments, they'll meet fantastic beasts and discover previously unknown mysteries, as well as having to avoid attacks from ominous creatures including the Death Eaters. Entering the Ministry's many departments, each a mix of art deco and pure magic, guests will experience all the thrills of the experience along with the iconic Harry Potter characters. Riders will duck various attacks and avoid magical creatures gone amok.


According to Warner Brothers Discovery's global themed entertainment vice president Peter van Roden, “The scale and detail of this ride is truly epic.” He asserts that the ride will be conceptually a top ride worldwide.

In Universal Orlando's press release, a park spokesperson describes the new ride as Universal's “most impressive…to date… blending massive incredibly detailed environments, powerful storytelling, unprecedented ride technology and so much more to take guests on an action-packed adventure to witness the trial of the infamous Dolores Umbridge.”

The press release cites the ride's impressive scale and its astonishing details that “will amaze guests as they are immersed in yet another iconic location from the beloved Warner Bros. Pictures Harry Potter films," per Universal.

The astonishing and impressive scope of the ride makes the fact that it is the only ride in the Harry Potter portion of the new park completely understandable. The enormous, built-to-scale ride includes startling elements such as an “enchanted weather ceiling” in the ride's atrium; and it features an immersive queue that introduces park guests to the fact that their visit is occurring on the same day as the Umbridge trial, and explains her crimes, which include assisting in the evil Lord Voldemort's return to power.



While waiting in line to enter the ride proper, guests will find a variety of intriguing Easter eggs from the films, heightening the experiential nature of the ride. These include copies of the land's newspaper and interdepartmental memos that literally fly to reach their readers.

As noted, while the wildly inventive and impressively detailed Battle at the Ministry is the only ride in the Wizarding World, the land of Harry will feature other adventures for guests. These include Le Cirque Arcanus, a live performance show, along with themed dining and shopping, and interactive wand experiences in a variety of areas in the land.

Along with introducing the lands of the Epic Universe, Universal is also rolling out the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Exclusive Vacation Package. The vacation includes a seven night hotel-stay, a 5-day theme park ticket to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, and Epic Universe, the latter for a single day. This package also includes Wizarding World bonuses such as an ice cream flight at Florean Fortescue's, a Honeydukes cooler tote, a Shutterbutton's Photography Studio session, and breakfast at three themed venues: the Leaky Cauldron, the Three Broomsticks and Café L'air De La Sirené.