If you’re heading to Epic Universe, Universal Orlando’s newest park, and planning to do whatever it takes to ride Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry but ALSO don’t want to wait hours and hours, there are a few times during the day that you will NOT want to get in line.

Thankfully, we watch Epic Universe wait times every day — yes, even when we’re not in the parks — so we keep up with all the latest data. I can personally say that even when I’m not physically there, I study these wait times so you can feel confident knowing that you’ll be prepared for your upcoming vacation. If you want to avoid those wildly long wait times, here’s the WORST time to ride this popular attraction!

Based on the wait times data that we log every single day, the biggest rule of them all is that Battle at the Ministry is NOT the ride to rope drop. As it turns out, everyone goes to rope drop this attraction, so some of the highest wait times are right in the morning. Basically, if you aren’t staying at a Universal Orlando hotel and can’t get early entry into the park, we recommend waiting until later in the day.

Alright, so the morning is out, how about the middle of the day? While our data shows that the middle of the day is better than the morning, it’s not the best time to ride. This attraction doesn’t seem to see a dip in wait time during the typical lunch time, so if you’re still willing to wait 1.5-2 hours, then midday could be good, but if you want the lowest wait time, there’s only one choice.

You guessed it — the best time to ride Battle at the Ministry is the very END of the day! We mean, the last 1-3 hours of the park day, where it often drops to 60-70 minutes or lower. However, this is very risky, because since this ride has so much new technology, it can sometimes be finicky and go down pretty often. If it goes down at the end of the day, there’s a chance it may not come back up, leaving you without the chance to ride at all.

We only recommend waiting until the end of the day if one of these applies to you:

• You CANNOT STAND waiting in long lines, and doing so ruins your day
• You’ve ridden the attraction before on a previous trip or day
• Missing the attraction wouldn’t make or break your trip

You should also keep in mind that sometimes they close the line early. We’ve seen it close 1-2 hours before the park day ends, so keep an eye on it and check if the wait time says “at capacity” or “closed for the day.”

Keep in mind, too, that while this ride is one of the few that stays open when bad weather hits, the wait time is BOUND to soar when a storm rolls in, so avoid it if you can! Most rides are closed when bad weather strikes, but this might be a great time to grab food instead of running to one of the open rides.

If you NEED to ride and don’t care who you do it with, you can also try the Single Rider Line! In this line, your group will be split up at the loading station, but you can wait in line together, which can help you experience the attraction with shorter waits.

Be sure to stay tuned to DFB for all the latest Universal Orlando news!

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What’s your favorite ride in Epic Universe? Tell us in the comments!

The post CONFIRMED: This Is the WORST Time to Ride the Harry Potter Ride at Epic Universe first appeared on the disney food blog.