Ride review | Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry at Epic Universe, unlike any other
Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry — the ride inside the new Wizarding World at Universal Epic Universe — brings a whole new type of theme park ride to the world. It’s similar to rides you’ve most likely been on before, but plussed!
When The Wizarding World of Harry Potter first opened in 2010 at Universal Islands of Adventure, the land made everyone’s jaws drop, and it set a new standard for what theme park lands could be. The Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride also broke new ground with its robotic arms on a track ride system. This led to the creation of Universal Orlando’s second Wizarding World, Diagon Alley, in 2014. This land brought even more details and realism, and the Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringots ride once again wowed guests.
Now The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic at Epic Universe once again tops those that came before it, both in the land and with its new ride, Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry.
The story and queue behind Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry
To set the story, you’re using the Métro-Floo to visit the British Ministry of Magic, as seen in the films, as everyone’s favorite, most-hated villain, Dolores Umbridge, is undergoing trial for her crimes. When we say you’re visiting the Ministry of Magic as seen in the films, that will seem like it’s literally happening, as the main Ministry lobby looks just like its counterpart in the movies. It’s huge, beautiful, and breathtaking.
The rest of the queue isn’t as large, but it’s just as detailed. You’ll pass through a locker room, walk by some talking portraits, and step into Umbridge’s office itself, where you’ll meet Higgledy. She’s Umbridge’s house-elf, or was, since Umbridge has been arrested. This very cool-looking animatronic will not only tell you about Umbridge, but also sing the praises of Hermione Granger. Then you’re off to your elevator to go to Umbridge’s trial.
The ride vehicle
As you know if you’ve seen the “Harry Potter” films, the elevators in the Ministry not only go up and down, but also side to side. As such, your ride vehicle is a large version of an elevator with seats. It looks similar to the Tower of Terror ride vehicle over at Walt Disney World. But that’s where the similarities end. Your elevator will start its journey going sideways. From there you’ll go up and down and side to side very briskly. The drops are not large, but some are fast.
The ride experience onboard Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry
We don’t want to give too many spoilers, but with the help of a Death Eater, Umbridge escapes. She’s headed to the Time Room to find a Time Turner so she can go back to when Voldemort was around, and it’s up to you, with the help of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, to catch her. As you ride along, you’ll see other elevators in front of you and different rooms and departments such as Ministry Archives and the Magical Creatures Department, where an escaped Erumpent (think giant rhino) gets loose and knocks your elevator around.
Before riding, we knew about seeing Higgledy in Dolores’ office, but we didn’t realize she’d also play a large role in the ride. We loved seeing it, as we’re always a fan of characters created just for the theme parks. Hermione and Higgledy play a much larger role in the ride than we expected. We are here for it.
As you ride along, not only are the movements fun and thrilling (and not nauseating) but what you’re seeing is a technological spectacle. You’re completely immersed in the ride. Besides being able to see the mechanics of some of the other elevators next to you at the beginning of the ride, there’s nothing else that you can see that will take you out of the experience. Yes, there are screens, but they’re so well incorporated that you sometimes can’t tell they’re screens. You’ll also see lots of awesome-looking animatronics along the way, some you may even mistake for human actors. The Death Eaters are perfect for this since you can’t see their faces. You’ll also see the first-ever animatronics of Harry, Ron, and Hermione (they’re just screens in Universal’s other rides), plus Umbridge.
The ride also includes some cool callbacks to the films, both in dialog and music. At the start of the ride, Umbridge’s theme is playing and then in the Magical Creatures Department, the “Fantastic Beasts” theme plays and in the Time Room, the Time Turner theme plays.
The original trio isn’t back — but Imelda Staunton is
If we were to nitpick, it would be the voices of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They’re sound-alike performances — original actors Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, respectively, didn’t reprise their roles for the ride — and we could tell. We must say, though, they sound better than the sound-alikes on previous “Potter” rides. They weren’t perfect, but most riders probably won’t be able to tell the difference.
Another voice that sounds a bit weird is the Death Eater working with Umbridge. He sounds more like an oaf than the cool-dude Death Eaters from the films. But those are small nitpicks on a first-class attraction.
You will see actress Imelda Staunton return herself to play Dolores Umbridge, marking the first time she’s reprised the role since the movies ended 14 years ago.
Photo courtesy of Universal
Final thoughts
We need to ride both Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry and Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment to decide which is the best theme park ride at Epic Universe. Don’t skip either.
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