diff --git a/packages/kbn-journeys/journey/journey_ftr_harness.ts b/packages/kbn-journeys/journey/journey_ftr_harness.ts
index 672b14f0e1a85..952017492e072 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-journeys/journey/journey_ftr_harness.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-journeys/journey/journey_ftr_harness.ts
@@ -120,12 +120,19 @@ export class JourneyFtrHarness {
     await Promise.all([
       this.setupApm(),
       this.setupBrowserAndPage(),
-      asyncForEach(this.journeyConfig.getEsArchives(), async (esArchive) => {
-        await this.esArchiver.load(esArchive);
-      }),
-      asyncForEach(this.journeyConfig.getKbnArchives(), async (kbnArchive) => {
-        await this.kibanaServer.importExport.load(kbnArchive);
-      }),
+      (async () => {
+        await Promise.all([
+          asyncForEach(this.journeyConfig.getEsArchives(), async (esArchive) => {
+            await this.esArchiver.load(esArchive);
+          }),
+          asyncForEach(this.journeyConfig.getKbnArchives(), async (kbnArchive) => {
+            await this.kibanaServer.importExport.load(kbnArchive);
+          }),
+        ]);
+
+        // wait after loading the data, before doing any querying in tests
+        await setTimeout(10_000);
+      })(),
     ]);
   }