Inside Universal's New Harry Potter Ride: Battle at the Ministry of Magic Details Revealed

Nov 19, 2024 in "Universal Orlando Resort"

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The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic Ride Scenes

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Posted: Tuesday November 19, 2024 11:00am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Universal Orlando Resort has revealed details about Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, a new attraction set to open May 22, 2025, in Universal Epic Universe.

The ride, located within The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, takes guests on an immersive adventure through the British Ministry of Magic, complete with what Universal says is groundbreaking ride technology and richly detailed environments.

The Ride Experience

Setting: The British Ministry of Magic, recreated as a full-scale environment inspired by the Harry Potter films.
Storyline: Guests will witness the trial of Dolores Umbridge, known for her infamously strict and controversial role in the wizarding world. The experience culminates in a thrilling chase as Umbridge tries to evade justice.
Ride Vehicles: The attraction uses magical, omnidirectional lifts that seat up to 14 people. These vehicles move in multiple directions, including up, down, forward, and sideways, offering dynamic movement through the Ministry’s various departments.

Here is a closer look at some of the immersive details and environments guests will find in Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry:

Métro-Floo Corridor

Guests will journey from wizarding Paris – the setting of the other experiences inspired by the Fantastic Beasts films in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic – to the Ministry via the Métro-Floo – a unique mode of transportation inspired by the iconic Floo Network from the films. As they emerge from the fireplace-like structures they’ve seen in the films, guests will immediately find themselves in the lobby of the Ministry of Magic.

The Ministry of Magic Atrium

Atrium

Atrium Offices

Fountain of Magical Brethren

The grand atrium of the Ministry of Magic comes to life in all its grandeur in the queue for the attraction. Here, guests will find a restored Fountain of Magical Brethren statue, the enchanted weather ceiling, an endless array of Ministry offices from floor to ceiling and many more intricate details for guests to discover while inside. Guests will also discover that their visit falls on the same day that Dolores Umbridge will stand trial for her crimes against the wizarding world.

Ministry Reception

Guests will pass by the Ministry Reception, where wizards typically ask for information before going about their wizarding business. However, guests won’t find anyone working the reception booths today as the entire Ministry is busy preparing for the trial.

Ministry Reception

Dolores Umbridge’s Office

A glittering chandelier illuminates Dolores Umbridge’s former office, which is revealed to be just as over-the-top as the woman herself with its pink hues and ornate gold carvings throughout. Here, guests will meet Higgledy, Umbridge’s former house-elf, for the first time as she enthusiastically cleans out the office ahead of the trial.

Dolores Umbridge's Office

Daily Prophet, Memos and Other Wizarding Details

Guests should keep an eye out for a variety of details from the films while they venture through the Ministry, like the latest edition of the Daily Prophet, flocks of interdepartmental memos and even the belongings of some of their favorite characters from the films.

Daily Prophet

Magical Ministry Lift

Guests will board a magical, omnidirectional lift that seats up to 14 guests to travel even deeper through the British Ministry for the long-awaited trial of Dolores Umbridge. Adorned with vibrant red and gold accents, these lifts are unlike any ride vehicle ever created and will propel guests up, down, forward, backward, sideways and more throughout the Ministry – just like guests have seen in the films.

Additional Ministry Areas

Magical Archives

Once aboard the ride, guests will find themselves on a thrilling chase to catch Umbridge as she attempts to escape her trial – all while dodging attacks from the Death Eaters, rampaging creatures and more along the way. Additional areas guests will soar through in the British Ministry include the Magical Archives –a cavernous library filled with towering cabinets that hold centuries of Ministry archives and wizarding documents; the Department of Magical Creatures – where creatures have escaped and are running amuck; and the Time Room – which is overflowing with a variety of Time-Turners and unique timekeeping devices.

Department of Magical Creatures

Discuss on the Forums

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ToTBellHop58 minutes ago

It’s popular because of the characters. Thats why they took a medieval land and rethemed it to a medieval-looking Wizarding town and castle set in the 1990s and came up with a nonsensical story to transport us from 1920s Paris to 1990s MoM. Where’s the drama or suspense in a 1920s Quidditch World Cup? They barely show Quidditch in the films because the games are long and mostly boring unless Dementors attack. They don’t even show an actual game in the Quidditch World Cup sequence in Goblet of Fire. 1920s isn’t much better. Can’t have Grindlewald attack because that didn’t happen. Also, no one cares about Grindlewald. That’s why they abandoned Fantastic Beasts. I’m not sure what they’ll do. It’s clear setting the land in Paris was a mistake which led to a major pivot on the headliner ride, Harry Potter lore and Wizarding rules be damned.

WDWFREAK531 hour ago

Agreed. The Great Dining Hall would need to be almost set up like a dinner show. Maybe they could do each meal to a different show and then change the show up for Halloween and Christmas.

Jon81uk1 hour ago

Quidditch World Cup. That’s going to be the sort of environment that won’t look that different between 1920s and 1990s anyway. All the quidditch stuff is just wooden stands and similar anyway as most wizarding stuff is oldey-timey anyway so looks pretty timeless. Even on Forbidden Journey, other than Harry Potter what actually places you into the 1990s?

ToTBellHop1 hour ago

Where does a broom from 1920s Wizarding Paris fly? They can’t really use the Time Turner and Floo Network trick to send us somewhere we actually want to go again or people will REALLY wonder why they set the land in 1920s Paris to begin with.

Jon81uk4 hours ago

Yes a boat ride or similar omnimover into Newt's suitcase would have been great and better than the show. By making it a gentle ride with different creatures it wouldn't overlap with Hagrids magical creatures too much either. Could even keep the Circus show but just make it an actual circus show without the magic creatures or just remove the Newt stuff from that show. Knightbus would probably turn out somewhere between the Fast and Furious bus and Jimmy Fallon but you are racing through London instead of New York. In fact could they repurpose F&F into being part of London and a Knightbus ride? In a way I'm glad they didn't go down the Hogwarts great hall dining idea because I'm not sure it would be delivered exactly right. Needs to be done as an actual banquet with everyone served at once type thing to make it feel right, just having food served in the room would be a bit off.

BrianLo10 hours ago

I understand the broader point that they conceptually abandoned a broom early on for Forbidden Journey. Though it is a flying quidditch bench, it's not a broom. I really don't think a new broom ride as alluded to in the patent would make for a redundant experience at all to Forbidden Journey. I don't equate ET and Forbidden Journey as redundant; this ride seems more like ET with Tron positioning than FJ as I am imaging it. I'd love a boat ride in Newt's suitcase, but perhaps even more so that is really already the point of the show. Flying over Wizarding Paris in a Tron/FOP posture with progressive sets still sounds impressive and reasonably novel to me. The very last concept they haven't gone for yet would be a Knight Bus experience in the Studios and a proper Hogwarts dining hall for Islands.

TalkToEthan19 hours ago

A Universal broom redundancy would factor more than Disney trains reused among the parks. The only real place for the broom is Potter—-one franchise with in 3 dedicated lands. One broom ride is enough and 2 would be monotonous. ‘Trains’ is a much broader vehicle motif to work with……….. from the slow paced, horizontally traveling, playfully chaotic cartoon (Runaway Rail) to serious and ominous fast moving thrills moving up and around a mountain(Everest). As guests we’re not bored with reusing trains because the contexts are so very different.

lazyboy97o20 hours ago

There isn’t much out there about specifics. It was an idea for roughly the same location as Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey before they secured the rights to Harry Potter. The basic idea of a monsters robocoaster ride was fulfilled with Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment.

ToTBellHop21 hours ago

I think we would feel differently if Disney had two train rides based upon the same films. I’m also not sure Wizarding Paris is the best conduit. I don’t particularly care to fly a broom over the Champs-Élysées.

Disgruntled Walt21 hours ago

Sorry, what is that?

Andrew C21 hours ago

Not really. I am just talking about my personal preference to see something different.

LSLS21 hours ago

At the end of the day, does it really matter if you have two broom rides at the resort? WDW has at least like 5 that are trains and it's never really even crossed my mind cause the rides are for the most part different enough.

lazyboy97o22 hours ago

It would make sense. They had also been working on the Van Helsing robocoaster ride for roughly the same spot.

DKampy23 hours ago

A Boom ride seams as it would be among the logical first thoughts when it came to Harry Potter….. capacity wise I think it could be difficult…. I think a Flight of Passage style ride could work…. But I am sure Disney is the ownership on those patents