Heading to Epic tomorrow and trying to plan for ministry of magic, which is our top priority. We don’t have EPA but have heard you can get in during EPA without it, you just can’t ride anything. Can we get in the queue for MoM without EPA? So, if EPA starts at 8 and we’re there at 8, can we get in the MoM line and be first when it opens??
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Here’s a blogpost describing how it works: How Not to Wait 254 Minutes for Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry | TouringPlans.com Blog
Here’s a key quote: “. . . you’ll see Ministry at the top of your plan after you optimize. You’ll note that it has you arriving at 9:04 am even though the ride doesn’t officially open until 10 am. It has opened at 9 am every single time we’ve tested, and our actual wait times are always in the area of 30 minutes when we rope drop . . .”
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We successfully used the strategy in that blogpost. All guests, onsite and offsite, are on equal footing. The TMs will announce repeatedly that BatM does not open till 10 am. Don’t believe them. We were on deck to board the ride vehicle at 9:16.
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So if EPA is 8 and regular opening is 9, does it stand to reason it will start boarding at 8:15?
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I believe this intel from the blogpost is accurate, within 5 minutes or so:
- Security opens at 8:15 am.
- Guests are held between security and the ticket scan/entrance until 8:30 am.
- All portals open at 8:55 am after the opening ceremony
So the walk from the Wizarding World portal through Paris and the Ministry queue starts around 8:55.
It did not work for me today although maybe I was a little too late. We parked at 8:35 got through security at around 8:50 or 8:55 and were on the ministry line in Paris at about 9:00. It’s currently 11:20 and we’re still in line. We’re in the room with the picture of the ministers. They may have just announced that the ride is down. I’m not sure. This has been a really rough start to the day.
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Oh, sorry for your rough start! Nothing you can do about ride downtime. We were lucky.
The ride is definitely down right now. However it didn’t go down until about 30 minutes ago. We had still been waiting about 2.5 hours before it went down. And they just had a further delay message. We’re now at 3 hours on this line.
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Oh my goodness–sending good wishes for you to get to ride! How long will you wait?
Good question. Right now I just want to be given an express pass for getting off the line. But I don’t know if that will ever happen. I can’t see waiting past 1:00 though.
it’s back open though we’re still waiting in a narrow corridor now. And that corridor is crazy cold. We’re at 3.5 hours so far. My decision to not buy express was clearly bad.
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Aw man, that stinks! 
Hope your luck improves.
One hour ago you were still waiting. I fervently hope you’ve now ridden and it was fantastic!!
We got on. It was a good ride but not great. Would probably be better without an almost 4 hour wait. On the positive side Stardust was basically a walk on. Waiting for Frankenstein now.
Thanks for your well wishes.
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OOoh Frankenstein 
Hope the day gets better!