Universal Epic Universe’s immersive design around the park is impressive, but the queue line for the Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry ride might just take the cake. It took me about 1,300 steps to get from ride entrance, to ride boarding area–which is about half a mile–and the entirety of the on-foot journey surrounds you with intricate designs, thoughtful details, and massive set pieces.
The entrance to Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry is located inside The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic in Universal Epic Universe. Basically, it's meant to look like 1920's wizarding Paris. After heading through the Métro-Floo (a massive transport network for wizards) and a tunnel that lights up as you step through, emulating a magical portal, you emerge into a replica of the British Ministry of Magic. I wouldn’t say I’ve ever dreamt of fictional government buildings, but the massive scale of just this room and the incredible detail in everything is wild. The to-scale offices that line the walls even have working ceiling fans.
Walking through this huge room with impossibly tall ceilings and statues leads you to more… and more, and more. Beautiful corridors, moving wanted posters, talking paintings, and even an impressive animatronic of the house-elf, Higgledy, are all worthwhile enough just to peek at, even if there were no ride at the end of the “tunnel.” Throughout, the queue introduces the “plot” of this ride: the trial of universally disliked Dolores Umbridge. Another theme choice I would have never imagined would be used for a family-fun attraction: a trial.
It took my group, on a private media tour, about twenty minutes to very leisurely trek through it all, but even then we weren’t all entirely satisfied–there were a lot of details to take in, and likely plenty of nods I completely missed. You can see way more pictures of the line below, some provided by Universal and others taken by me.
To specify further, though we did wind back and forth occasionally, we skipped a lot of the zig-zagging likely needed if the queue was full. Regardless, I just couldn’t believe just how long it went on—I suppose Universal anticipates this ride having full, long lines, and at least they’ve provided the expected crowd with spectacularly decorated, mercifully air-conditioned waiting rooms that even have water fountains installed on occasion.
As far as production value goes, the Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry ride and line are up there in Epic Universe compared to other rides, but Dark Universe’s Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment makes for tough competition as far as presentation goes. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see most of the line areas for Monster’s Unchained, but you'll get to see everything you'd like yourself once Universal Epic Universe opens fully on May 22 in Orlando, Florida. For more on Epic Universe, check back soon for a full list of the coolest things we saw at the park.
Casey DeFreitas is a deputy editor of guides at IGN and is the team's resident Floridian. Catch her on different socials @ShinyCaseyD
