Wizarding World of Harry Potter opens at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure

So, whatever happened to the idea of using your ollivander's wand for a 'magiquest' type of experience throughout the land? With the technology available it seems like it'd be crazy not to do SOMETHING like that.

Those kinds of experiences have to be pretty carefully managed or they end up not being that cool. Kinda like the Kim Possible thing at Epcot. It's not very special if everyone makes stuff happen.

Well that sucks. What do the wands do? Do they do anything at all?

I thought the MagicQuest idea was brilliant. If your Ollivander's bought wand doesn't make magical things happen throughout the land, why buy one in the first place?

I'm definitely going to pay a visit to TWWoHPaUSIoA, but not until the hype, and the crowds, die down. Maybe between Thanksgiving and Christmas, during the extremely slow season, would be ideal.

TWWoHPaUSIoA is fantastic because it completely defeats the purpose of acronyms. Bravo sir.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure for most of the Ollivander's clientele, the biggest thrill would be the wand selection process, not necessarily having the wand trigger bits and bobs throughout the land. That said, I did like the MagiQuest-ish idea... do we know that they haven't implemented it? I know TWWoHPaUSIoA has only been open for a few days so trip reports with the necessary detail/nerdity/enthusiast perspective are a bit scarce, but I'd be a bit surprised if the $30 wands really do nothing (though on the flip side, I'm quite confident that the $250-$300 brooms they're selling don't actually fly, so I suppose I shouldn't assume that the wands have a function beyond being shiny sticks with handles).

There is no MagiQuest thing for the wands...yet. With the crowds like they are, I'm not sure something like that would really be enjoyable, or possible, in an operative way, anyway. I would imagine Universal knows this, and I would not be at all surprised to see something like the MagiQuest thing appear in about a year depending on variables like the crowds and the popularity of the wands (something like MagiQuest screams "repeat visit" to me, so it would make sense to start it once interest in the wands die down).

I was there for grand opening.got to the park at 6 am and was let in to wait in Jurrasic Park (in front of discovery center) We were let in at 9:45 or so and went straight to Forbidden Journey 15 min wait I stopped to take a lot of pictures in Que . The ride was amazing well up to the standards I expect from Unversal .The area was themed very well. The only part I did not think was very well done is theDragon Challenge que the added 3 cabinets of HP stuff, a tent ,and the triwizard cup.But that may be the fact that I have ridden this ride 40-50 times and know this que real well .

Kevin38