NEW WANDS: My Review of the Second Generation Wands at Universal Orlando Resort.

 NEW WANDS: my review of the Second Generation Wands at Universal Orlando Resort.

Hello Readers.

On this blog its rare we cross from Disney to Universal when it comes to criticism and theme park review, over the past weekend however I had the excitement of buying my partner and I one of the Second Generation Wands from Universal Orlando and Today wish to discuss my thoughts on the New Experience at Universal.

The Wands themselves.

The Wand itself unlike the original wand, has a different feel. The first generation interactive wands are made of resin and go for $65 the new generation wands cost $85. Now all of the new experiences according to my Partner can be done with either the new or old generation wand, however, we will get into the experiences a bit later.

The first generation comes in a larger variety with the second generation only coming out with 4 models at this time, but we suspect there will be even more coming out come the opening of Epic Universe in May. 

It is my opinion the new generation wand feels more plastic, instead of resin and is more toy, but that is because of the battery pack that adds both vibration(haptics) and lighting effects to the wand that can be done within the park, as well as connecting to your Universal Orlando App to do missions throughout the park.

My partner loved the wand, however I feel that these wands felt cheaper, and lighter compared to the old wands, the difference being plastic vs resin. 

The Experience

As mentioned the new wands connect to the UO mobile app and alow guests to do adventures similar to Batuu bounty hunters and the Data Pad in star wars galaxy’s edge. In my opinion this is a great use of connecting Merchandise with Special effects and mobile devices, as compared to disney. In fact in a previous article I discussed Disney doing something similar to compete with Universal, by use of Interactive Tools in Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, and Universal defied expectations with this beating Disney to the punch. 

One of the only problems I had with the experience, was the crowds, and tourists who would casually walk right in front of guests or stand  on the spot where guests were playing with their wands. It is my opinion Universal needs to do a better job at crowd control in regards to this new experience, by either roping off the areas where these experiences are happening. 

The second problem with this experience is the distance by which people stand with these wands. Majority of guests know that they need to stand behind or on the marker on the floor to cast their spells, however some guests stand in front of or too close to the marker and the sensor doesn’t always pick these guests' wands up. I believe all windows require a team member monitor who knows how to tell guests and explain to guests how to get these wands to work , and where they should be standing.

While we were there we also had  a problem with a Sensor in the owlry in Hogsmeade, we were informed by a Team member that the window wasn’t working and someone was coming to fix it, but soon after the Team Member had disappeared and a line appeared at this window, which told us that it was fixed. Contrary to our beliefs, the window wasn’t fixed, at the Owlry, but there wasn’t a B-Mode or a way Such as a blinds or Curtain to tell guests that the Window was out of order.

While waiting in line to do our adventure as well, I also over heard a guest behind us discussing with  their party that they should have a sign or emblem that tells guests if both Generation 1 and/or 2 worked on the new windows as they, like myself, were uncertain of this and despite my Partner claiming otherwise that the wands worked in both, this is still unconfirmed by what I witnessed with guests playing with this experience. 

Also some of these experiences have two wand icons on the ground; some people claim it requires two guests to perform it, while others claim that one is an on the other is an off for the spells being cast. 

The final and most annoying aspect of these new adventures is the reliance on the books in the park. Some of these books and screens have already become sun-damaged or dimmed, and it isn’t always clear what they are saying or what the instructions are, as they aren’t always readable. My partner and I on a few occasions encountered books that were hidden too well or the screen just seamed blanked out or too dim to be used. These books need to be monitored by a Team member, who can as mentioned prior shut the window.

Glitches Maintenance:

My suggestion to Universal is to have Team Members present at every one of these wand places, as either Citizens of Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley, who are trainers to show guests how to cast the spell and to monitor these books and windows at all times. These team members should also be able to update the app, with data if their window goes out that either practically or digitally shuts the window with a B-Mode of Curtains to prevent guests when the window is down from using the window aswell as updating the Adventures in app to inform guests participating that the window is currently closed, and perhaps uses AI to move the mission from the shut down mission to a secondary site to complete their adventure while the window is down. 

Overall opinion

In my overall opinion this is a great asset to the park and I can’t wait to see how far this experience goes in the future with Epic Universe opening in May.

 thank you for Reading, and if you experienced this tell me what you think in the comments section below.