UniversalParksBlog News for May 23rd, 2025
Since 2019, Universal Studios fans have eagerly awaited one single moment in theme park history: The opening of Universal Epic Universe.
On Thursday, May 22nd, that moment finally arrived, as Universal’s newest, most immersive theme park finally opened to the public.
UO
So, the latest UniversalParksBlog News update will take a celebratory, albeit cautious, tone.
WE MADE IT!
Epic
I spent the early days of the pandemic, I published several articles along these lines in hopes of keeping your spirits raised during a grim time.
The thing about Epic Universe was that park officials made no secret of the attractions and themed lands coming to the park.
Epic
As you can tell from my reports, everyone knew well ahead of time what to expect. It’s just that progress slowed to a crawl for the body of two years.
I remember how excited I was in 2022 when Universal finally started making significant progress with its construction.
Photo: Bioreconstruct
The delays came with a hidden benefit, though. Park officials could methodically calculate every aspect of the building process.
In January 2022, Universal Studios executives confidently stated that Epic Universe would open to the public during the summer of 2025.
Image: Bioreconstruct on Twitter
Sure enough, here we stand during Memorial Day Weekend, the unofficial start of the summer tourism season, and Epic Universe is now hosting ghosts.
I’ll acknowledge a few hiccups along the way, starting with the remarkable collapse of the Fantastic Beasts film franchise.
When Universal plotted Epic Universe, it intended a themed land based on the Harry Potter prequel. Well, we technically got that, as demonstrated by Le Cirque Arcanus.
This show-based attraction references a part of the Fantastic Beasts franchise. However, Universal built a Harry Potter-based ride instead as a countermeasure.
Fantastic Beasts simply wasn’t going to draw in any guests as a marketable brand. So, while its presence remains, the theme land gained a different name.
To be fair, The Wizarding World – Ministry of Magic is a catchier title anyway, one with significant brand appeal.
More about Opening Day
Epic
I’m going to take a decidedly positive approach today, as I got most of the negativity out of the way last time. I know that you all want to be happy right now, and you should!
Epic Universe’s opening symbolizes a triumph in the face of tremendous adversity. In a perfect world, this park would have been up and running for more than a year now.
Epic
Early reports called for a spring 2024 debut. Alas, the pandemic absolutely annihilated those plans, forcing a delay of more than a year.
Still, Universal officials used this unexpected delay as a sort of time extension, enabling them to add even more to the park.
Epic
Some of the more ambitious ideas like the character encounter with Toothless, an Audio-Animatronic recreation of the beloved dragon, have become immediate grand slams.
As proof, on opening day, people were waiting an hour or longer for Toothless. Only one attraction could match that level of demand, and it was a turbulent ride.
Epic
I’m referencing Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, whose uptime was predictably shaky at best.
Thus far, Battle at the Ministry, which fans are calling BAM, has suffered several outages, including a 90-minute one on opening day.
Universal
I idly wondered whether Universal had just listed the ride as closed at noon because it had all the tourists it could host for the day.
Those fears proved unfounded as the ride opened again in the 1-2 p.m. range. As I’d previously mentioned, Universal is struggling to keep this ride operational.
Universal
Battle at the Ministry is arguably the most technologically advanced ride in existence today. So, a lot can go wrong here. Universal will eventually get all the kinks worked out, though.
About the Wait Times
Photo: Universal
When the attraction was open, its estimated wait time ranged from – and this is not a joke – 180 to 300 minutes. That’s three to five hours of line time for the E-ticket attraction!
Many fans expressed bemusement over this oddity, noting that guests could have ridden literally everything else in the park in the same timeframe.
Universal
I was curious about how exaggerated this claim was, so I did the math. And it wasn’t. At all.
You could have (theoretically) ridden everything else at the park in 150 minutes or less. That’s one of the curiosities of opening day.
Universal
Universal officials made a conscious decision to limit attendance, thereby avoiding those viral images of the mile-long waits for various attractions we’d seen previously.
Remember when The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened, and guests were backed up to Universal CityWalk? Yeah, that’s what Universal didn’t want.
Photo: touring plans.com
So, Comcast sold fewer but more expensive tickets to control the crowds during the early days. Opening day attendants benefited mightily from this ticket, as you’re about to see.
Here were the park’s average wait times at noon on its opening day:
- Constellation Carousel – 10 minutes
- Curse of the Werewolf – 15 minutes
- Dragon Racer’s Rally – 10 minutes
- Fyre Drill – 5 minutes
- Hiccup’s Wing Gliders – 5 minutes
- Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge – 15 minutes
- Mine-Cart Madness – 15 minutes
- Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment – 10 minutes
- Stardust Racers – 15 minutes
- Yoshi’s Adventure – 5 minutes
Image: Universal
I took that data directly from Universal’s app. So, those were the posted estimates. Later this week, I’ll post a full set of average wait times at Epic Universe thus far.
Final Thoughts on the Start of Epic Universe
Image: Universal
For now, you can understand what I’m discussing, though. Anyone who visited the parks on opening day had an unforgettable experience…with one glaring exception.
The Battle at the Ministry’s uptime issues and crowds were undeniably the thorn on the rose. Still, when the attraction was open, it totally delighted guests. It’s a masterpiece.
Image: Universal
UniversalParksBlog will spend the next few weeks taking you inside Epic Universe to learn all its secrets, but I want to go ahead and give you a taste right now.
Here’s Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, the new alpha attraction at Universal Orlando Resort:
As you can see, it’s a kinetic, motion-intensive ride with plenty of Harry Potter storytelling goodness.
Image: Universal
Should you be visiting the park this summer, I want to emphasize something, though. You may get better bang for your buck by prioritizing everything else at the park.
Image: Universal
Then, once you’ve checked everything else off your list, you can decide whether the wait for this attraction is something you’re interested in doing.
There’s a kind of “all or nothing” aspect to riding BAM right now. But that’s not the big story right now.
Image: Universal
What matters is that Universal Epic Universe has finally opened after years of anticipation! WE MADE IT!!!
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Feature Photo: Universal
