Thoughts from my most Recent Visit To Universal Orlando and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Thoughts from my most Recent Visit To Universal Orlando and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Hello Readers,

I know it has been a while, but I have been busy going to Universal Orlando Resort at every opportunity that i have at my disposal. While I regrettably have not been able to return to Universal Epic Universe as of yet, I am hoping to return to this marvelous new park sometime in the next two months in either September or October, but no plan has yet been made for myself or my partner to return, due to the price but i digress. 

Today I wish to discuss some ideas I had for the Wizarding world of Harry Potter, and ways Universal Creative can boost immersion in both Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade in the future.

Wand Holsters

Starting off I wish to discuss a marvelous product Universal Created, while in my opinion they are not yet perfected, I foresee, this product getting better over the next couple of years. This product of course being the Wand Holsters currently only sold at Universal Epic Universe. This product has a ways to go before it is perfected but I would like to make a few suggestions to the Product creation team for these holsters(if I may). 

First of all the Wand Holsters must become wearable on attractions regardless of which park the guest is attending. A clip or locking mechanism, with a simple snap would be all that is needed for guests to do so, as well as an extension of the holster to contain more of the wand, with cushioning to keep it in place. Currently guests can wear their holstered wand on Ministry of Magic(As far as I know), however, Forbidden Journey, Escape from Gringotts and on Hagrid's Motorbike, it is required that these be stowed in lockers.  It is my opinion that when designing the rides interactive wand purchases weren’t taken into consideration, and while one could argue that Universal should just add wand holders to the carts of these attractions, I would disagree, given the way Wand Holsters are a high demand product in the parks.

Secondly on Wand Holsters currently there are two varieties, the first variety, is a suspender/harness the other a utility belt. The first criticism is that the utility belt and harness do not come in different colors, the harness only comes in black and utility belt only comes in brown. I believe that a mix and match or even alternate colors could go a long way in making these fly off the shelves. Perhaps even adding colors like blue, green, and white could also improve sales of these holsters, and perhaps even personalization, such as the symbolism on the phone bag, could all be useful in making Wand holsters more personalized to the witch or wizard who wears them. As well as adding new colors and personalization it may be a thought, to consider a sling/crossbody, or a wrist or leg strap variety for those who are more interested in a more dark arts variety of wand concealment.  

Third, I am shocked that the holsters haven’t made their way from Epic to UOF or IOA yet. For one, Madame Malkins is lacking in shoppers, and variety as of late(they stopped selling novelty hats) I think a way to breathe new life into this shop may be to add the holsters here, and perhaps if made out of different materials at varying prices they could even embroider the holsters to the specific guest who ordered it. Perhaps they could also sell these items in Borgin and Burke, and the Owl Post in Hogsmeade, providing more variety to the product by location.

NEW WINDOWS

While still a subject to consider, ever since the Generation 2 wands were released I have noticed that the demand and usage of wands has increased, in the parks. Lines of five or more guests now linger to cast spells one after the other while doing adventures, while others, who don’t even know about the new adventures using Generation 1 are still using windows and attempting experiences like the Training Dummy in Hogsmeade or the Dementor in the Alley in Knockturn Alley. My suggestion to combat this is for Universal to add more wand experiences, and places to cast, and I have a few Ideas as to where this could happen. 

Of course we will start in Knockturn Alley(my personal favorite place to cast). Currently there are a few windows with nothing happening. The first being Shyverretch’s Venoms and Poisons, this window, is beautiful, and has a variety of flasks in the window, perhaps in the future, this shop’s window could have a spell such as Serpensortia, or perhaps a special dark arts spell given its location. The next shop is Noggin and Bonce, which if memory served used to have shrunken heads in the window(could just be a mandela effect) but this shop could easily have a window where guests cast different charms such as Cantis,Silencio,  or even Imperio to have a fun and wild fun at the shop window. Next to Noggin and Bonce is another false Alley, next to the exit sign. This could create the opportunity for a second, dementor encounter for guests, given the similarities to the first.

Another honorable mention in my opinion is the tattoo shop(Markus Scarr’s Indelible Tatoos) which could offer a cool new wand experience(only reason I don’t think it will work is the distance from the dementor encounter. 

Moving onto Diagon Alley, I would like to focus on the Carkett Market the side opposing the stage area (next to the currently closed Globus Mundi shop). There is currently a window with a clock that is moving a great place to cast aresto momentum, and a shop with a fireworks display, which as we know is a great place to cast Incendio. I don’t know what it is but this central building needs more wand experiences,given the crowding of Diagon Alley.

Other places include, The Sugar Plums Sweet Chop window and the Jellied Eel Shop Window, which could both easily have wand experiences.

Finally on the Diagon Alley side, the window at the Magical Menagerie, with the giant python needs a spell.

Next off to Hogsmeade, which is a lot smaller than Diagon Alley by comparison, I only found two places where casting could be fun. One is on the locker side of Dervish and Banges where hogwarts memorabilia is seen. I think given the area’s shade normally during the day it would be a great place to put a Reparo charm here in the window.

The final wand location I could think of of course is upon the model hogwarts express at the entrance to Hogsmeade, which currently has no function, outside of being a photo opportunity. Perhaps making the wheels turn, the train whistle and even for steam to pipe out could all be opportunities creative could add to introduce new spells to the area.

Wand Instruction

Now this may be controversial, but I believe there are still major issues with Wand Instruction and how to use it. Some guests(tourists for the most part) still think that you just wave the wand at the window. They don’t attempt to draw the shape and many of them limp wristedly just flail and twirl the wand, until they hope something happens. It is therefore left to guests who understand how to use the wands and Universal Team Members(some of whom had never used a wand before as per my interaction with a Team Member at the training dummy yesterday in the park). Many of those using wands aren’t children, but many of them indeed are, and these adults convince themselves their wand is broken when they wave it and nothing happens. In many cases this could be a language barrier, however, the fault is on the instructions given to guests upon purchase which for the most part is none.  I recommend that a new area or experience be created upon purchasing a wand where guests are shown how to cast and use their wands properly, upon purchase. If the guest purchasing can prove they know how to cast then they can go out and cast. This would be an experience similar to Olivanders, but with a Hogwarts Professor(not seen in the films) or former Hogwarts Professor or Student of Hogwarts, who can teach this on the Hogsmeade side, and on the Diagon Alley Side, a shop keeper. This experience should be set up like a shooting range, with several spells to cast and learn how to use their wands before they are released into the land. 

This solution would increase wand experience areas, and improve time spent casting by all guests and the amount of Team Members needed to Monitor the Wand casting around the lands. Universal could even pitch it as wand lessons, and direct guests to the area from Olivanders or Gregorovitches(which interestingly was closed when I was there yesterday).

The Sensors??

Now I know this may be considered nitpicky but upon my visit yesterday there were two or three occasions when I heard a guest say or ask where the sensor was when using the wand. Now I know that guests saying that is probably common, but in my opinion it breaks immersion and magic of even casting with a wand in the Wizarding World. Either Universal Creative needs to make smaller more unnoticeable yet still as powerful sensors to where guests could no longer see them, or Team Members need to stop pointing them out to guests. As a person who wants to feel immersed, I don’t want to be asked as a guest where the sensor for the wand is, I want to get lost in role play, in experiencing magic, as Universal Creative(I hope) intended for guests to feel. Not be told how it works and for my immersion in the land to be broken momentarily because of  ignorance. It ruins the magic for the children, which when it comes to Wands should be the goal. For guests to LARP and feel like they casted a spell, not for them to know it’s technology not magic. 

WARNING:GEN 2 Wand Issue I detected.

Yesterday on two Occasions I noticed that wands that weren’t casting were vibrating with haptics when other guests were casting. One occurred when I was at the Training Dummy the other occurred with another guest. The other occurred when I passed by Zonko’s in Hogsmeade, with my own wand holstered. This is very odd to happen,and I can’t even explain how it happened while my wand was holstered and I was just passing by the Zonko’s fireworks window. This should be solved ASAP in my opinion especially with Adventures and other fun things happening within the Wizarding World, as this issue can give points to other people for someone else’s casting. 

Conclusions

Anyways readers, this could be the last article I write in a while. Have you experienced anything like this? Where do you suggest more wand windows be placed? Let me know in the comments.