Harry Potter wands - have they changed ever?

Cltmom4

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jan 14, 2020
We are trying decide whether or not to buy used wands for Harry Potter. The wands are 4+ years old, so I have 2 questions:

1. Have there been any changes to the wand technology that would make these not work, or perform any differently than a new wand?

2. If they turn out to be broken, will they repair them there? And if so, how much does that normally cost?

A 3rd, unrelated question - we have 4 kids - would we want 4 wands, or is it the kind of thing that only one person can be doing at a time anyway?

Thanks!


Thanks!
 
The original wands were non interactive ( 7 years ago). I don’t know if the interactive wands have evolved. They will repair them for free. The how many wands is a personal question. While only one uses it at a time at each spot, would all the kids be fine sharing when they are not at the park? Ours are on a display stand at home.
 
The interactive wand we bought on Diagon Alley's opening day still works. There's no battery in the wand (it's mostly just the tip). The Interactive wands arrived when Diagon Alley opened back in July 2014. The non-interactive wands that they sold (And you can still get) do not work.
 
Re question 3 - while an effect can only be triggered by one wand at a time, there are multiple wand stations with different effects spread all around both HP areas. 4 kids with 4 wands can still play simultaneously.
 


Re question 3 - while an effect can only be triggered by one wand at a time, there are multiple wand stations with different effects spread all around both HP areas. 4 kids with 4 wands can still play simultaneously.

Thank you! That's exactly what I was wondering.
 
Just make sure the wands have the black (plastic?) ball tip. If they don’t they are not interactive. Non-interactive wands just taper to a point like a “real” one would.
 


Not to put any negative spin on this. But the wand was the single most useless item purchased during our holiday. I do have 4 children as well, but only bought one, they would take turn with casting a spell each, and they were fine with that. The line at the spell locations was always very long so you would get to see the "magic" over and over again and by the time it was your turn you would have someone breathing on your neck looking forward for you to finish. Casting spells it's not as easy and some don't work or take time, so it can be quite stressful. I much preferred to do the free magic windows at DW. BTW our wand it's still in a bag and no one has played with it since!!!
 
Just make sure the wands have the black (plastic?) ball tip. If they don’t they are not interactive. Non-interactive wands just taper to a point like a “real” one would.

Also, if you have an old wand with the tip that is scratched, take it to Ollivanders and they will fix it for free.
 
Not to put any negative spin on this. But the wand was the single most useless item purchased during our holiday. I do have 4 children as well, but only bought one, they would take turn with casting a spell each, and they were fine with that. The line at the spell locations was always very long so you would get to see the "magic" over and over again and by the time it was your turn you would have someone breathing on your neck looking forward for you to finish. Casting spells it's not as easy and some don't work or take time, so it can be quite stressful. I much preferred to do the free magic windows at DW. BTW our wand it's still in a bag and no one has played with it since!!!
Think it just depends on how big of a HP fan you are. Outside of the parks there isn't really much use to them besides a display piece if you want. So if not planning to do that and kids won't play with it in general then it will likely just sit around in a bag versus a mug, push toy, shirt, etc.
 
1 - Other than them not having interactive wands in the beginning no.
2 - They will "fix" your wand free of charge.
3 - One person at a time. I would suggest spending EE doing the incantations, or later in the evening. Also, I do not know how many adults are coming, but if you have two for example, you could easily have a couple of kids be with one adult, then two with another in the relatively same area in order to do the spells as well. As mentioned previously, people tend to line up. It's one person at a time as you have to be in a certain position as the wand is the source of triggering the effect which is reflected by light.
 
We are trying decide whether or not to buy used wands for Harry Potter. The wands are 4+ years old, so I have 2 questions:

1. Have there been any changes to the wand technology that would make these not work, or perform any differently than a new wand?

2. If they turn out to be broken, will they repair them there? And if so, how much does that normally cost?

A 3rd, unrelated question - we have 4 kids - would we want 4 wands, or is it the kind of thing that only one person can be doing at a time anyway?

Thanks!


Thanks!

Unless ur a huge HP fan and collector of things or ur literally getting the wands really cheap, like $20 or less, I suggest just buying 1 and here's why. Like one of the other posters mentioned, there will be lines at the interactive area's so instead of having strangers standing behind each of u in different lines, u could have ur 4 kids with parents behind them in line waiting on each other with ur kids able to laugh and help each other. I know I'd feel more comfortable knowing it's my brother in line waiting on me rather a stranger but that's just me. Also, if ur buying online, take the proper steps to ensure ur actually buying an authentic HP wand and not some counterfeit. There are some counterfeits out there that are so good u would almost need to hold them side by side the original in order to tell the difference, so just be careful when buying these online. Good luck and enjoy ur trip.
 
would we want 4 wands, or is it the kind of thing that only one person can be doing at a time anyway?

Only one person can do it at a location at a time. But are they used to sharing one toy like that?

. 4 kids with 4 wands can still play simultaneously

if they are old enough to go off by themselves. Or if there are enough adults. And if they have high frustration thresholds.

Casting spells it's not as easy and some don't work or take time,

Exactly. My son and them husband would get so irked at the difficulty that they ended up being able to spot the little thing that reflected the tip and made the spell work, and they would just point it there. They didn’t even do the swish and flick part. It’s not necessary.

I have no idea how any of it is even enjoyable, since you’re watching it happen each time the person in front of you does it. I just stood around waiting for them to be done with their spells. Though I do enjoy people watching at the well in DA, since the spell isn’t obvious to the caster (literally goes over their heads) and it often hits an unsuspecting passerby who hasn’t noticed the large splashes of water they are walking through.
 
I have no idea how any of it is even enjoyable, since you’re watching it happen each time the person in front of you does it. I just stood around waiting for them to be done with their spells. Though I do enjoy people watching at the well in DA, since the spell isn’t obvious to the caster (literally goes over their heads) and it often hits an unsuspecting passerby who hasn’t noticed the large splashes of water they are walking through.

A good way to avoid it is doing it first thing in the morning. I would imagine late at night would be the same as well. Might be different during peak seasons, however whenever I go first thing in the morning I always notice half of them are unoccupied and the other half have just one person casting.

An awkward one, I wouldn't say necessarily fun, more to avoid for anyone who wants to do the interactive experience is the talking heads. They keep singing from one tune to the next and you have to attempt it in between all that. It's intended to originally be a silencer, but I watched someone who attempted to wait and do it for five minutes this weekend before moving on. Previous to that I did see the spell work a couple of weeks ago, but it had to be timed perfectly (was coached by another guest) and when they weren't singing (which defeats the purpose). I wonder if they adjusted it, as I've seen it silence them in the past, but recently, when I did see it done it was different.
 

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