Olivanders

[jen5400]

Can someone explain Olivanders to me? I understand it is a show where one child gets picked for a wand. This might be a stupid question sorry if it is but if your child is picked do you buy the wand or is it given to them?

 

[coastgirl]

Hi Jen, I was just coming here to ask a question about Ollivander's, so I'll answer yours first!

The queue outside is boring and can be hot--it's just a line out the door into the street, not like the "themed" queues you get for the rides. It can take a long time. The person on the door lets about 20 people into the shop at a time, and the show itself lasts about 5 minutes I'd say. The wandmaker surveys the crowd and picks someone. There was a ton of talk about how to get picked when the attraction started--I don't know if there is any wisdom to be offered, but thank goodness "pushy" doesn't seem to work as well as "polite and really excited".

The person who is selected would have to buy the wand. It's handled very well, I thought, the wandmaker hands the box off to his "assistant" who will discuss your "wand buying options" or something like that. My son was going to buy a wand anyway, so we knew that money was spent. Here's the video of my ds, who still lists this as one of the best moments in his young life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwBNDkZYuXw


Oh, I see my question was answered below...there's another good thread active "Ollivanders or FJ", have a look at that too. Though I must vehemently disagree with the posters in that thread that it's "skippable"!

 

[aubriee]

Just FYI it's not always a kid that gets picked. I have seen him choose an adult more than once and have seen people here on the DIS post that they or their spouse was picked.

 

[coastgirl]

I'm glad to hear that, I recall they used to pick adults too. I think in many cases the adults would enjoy it as much or more than kids.

 

[snykymom]

Glad to hear that they choose adults sometimes - I'll have to let my college grad know that so she can be suitably excited!

 

[Nancy for Disney]

I had heard that you are more like to be picked if you are very excited. My 17 yr old was picked and he was just standing there.

 

[Kristine316]

My son was picked last September and he was 17 at the time.

I was very surprised they picked my son because there were children and other teenagers in the room, and we were standing in the back.

He really loved it and yes, we bought the wand for him.. not cheap at all, I think it was like $40 or something.

If my son wouldn't have been picked I think I would have been pretty bored with the whole thing. It wasn't really my cup of tea. And the wait to get in can be considerable. We went on a Tuesday morning in September, it was pretty quiet crowd wise and we still waited about 30 minutes. To put that in perspective we waited about 3 times longer to get into Olivanders as we did to ride HPFJ that morning.

 

[RMulieri]

It was cute, but I won't wait for it .We didn't get picked and though it was cute, they cram you in there like sardines and it is all over pretty quickly and unless you are near the front , it is hard to see or hear....I know they say to chat up the TM and be happy and friendly, but some people take it to the extreme..LOL...Well..We were the 2nd people in line and the family in front of us was chatting up a storm with the TM at the door, no biggie to us we were just in awe to be there..When the TM started trying to ask our DD questions or address us, the family in front of us gave us the death glare ,interrupted the TM with things like "look what our son has on ! He lives and breathes everything Harry Potter"..I couldn't help but laugh at how obvious they were trying to be picked..Anyone that the TM went to talk to this family was trying to stop it and turn the attention back to their son..No big surprise that their son got picked...

 

[bumbershoot]

Anyone that the TM went to talk to this family was trying to stop it and turn the attention back to their son..No big surprise that their son got picked...

On the other hand, my son was just standing there being himself, in NO view of the TMs whatsoever. The family in front of us was way more excited than we were (my son gets quiet when he's excited, he's not an obviously excited kid most of the time), and we were all just talking to each other, well back from the TM at the entrance to the building.

It was a HUGE surprise to us when DS was chosen. Now, he does have copper-red hair and was wearing a Gryffindor shirt (cheap one from Old Navy), but again, we weren't in obvious view of the TMs at all.

My son was going to buy a wand anyway, so we knew that money was spent.

Just to add my 2 cents for the people who haven't been...the wand you are offered during the show isn't one of the wands of the characters. It's supposedly based on birth month, though that didn't work *at all* with DS. The one he was offered was one I have heard offered to someone in an entirely different birth month.

DS had already gotten the Harry Potter wand, and didn't want the wand offered after he was chosen for Ollivander's. He did, however, want the experience of buying a wand after Ollivander's. Fortunately for him, DH was willing to buy the wand for himself.

And then DH decided he didn't love that wand AND DS decided he's not Harry Potter after all (note the red hair and the fact that his mom is actually named Molly), so now DH also has Sirius's wand and DS also has Ron's. (of course, that happened on a subsequent trip)

So if your plan is to buy a wand that belonged to a character, that's not what you'll be offered during the Ollivander's show. (but you can buy the wand you want in the proper shop)

 

[ksdave]

Has anybody "in the know" heard if they are moving Olivanders to the new Diagon Alley area in Studios once that area is finished? It would seem to make more sense to the storyline over in that area.

 

[RMulieri]

Has anybody "in the know" heard if they are moving Olivanders to the new Diagon Alley area in Studios once that area is finished? It would seem to make more sense to the storyline over in that area.

My understanding is that they were building a 2nd Ollivanders location in Diagon Alley , but will keep the one in Hogsmeade

 

[damo]

My understanding is that they were building a 2nd Ollivanders location in Diagon Alley , but will keep the one in Hogsmeade

Yup and it will have multiple showrooms instead of just one like in Hogsmeade.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Random question I am tacking on here... Do the wands do anything in the park?? Thinking great wolf wands and the magi quest thing... They activate all kinds of stuff...

 

[RMulieri]

Random question I am tacking on here... Do the wands do anything in the park?? Thinking great wolf wands and the magi quest thing... They activate all kinds of stuff...

At this time ,NO.They possibly will when Diagon Alley expansion opens

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

At this time ,NO.They possibly will when Diagon Alley expansion opens

Thanks, and bummer... That would have been super cool!

 

[MDer2FL]

While the "show" (such as it is) at Olivanders wasn't exactly what I expected (quick and not much to it), I would never tell anyone to skip it! Personally, I went three times because the atmosphere of the place was just so damn cool! The way the wands are stacked floor to ceiling, the way the staircase looks to be falling away from the wall due to the weight of the wands, the lighting and the way you could almost see the dust in the air, and yes, the cramped quarters as everyone crowds in to see.... I absolutely loved it. It was fun to see how the different wizards did the same spiel.

 

[rowan555]

I was glad to see that video - I don't think my daughter would enjoy this - she doesn't like being "Trapped" in a cramped space with a bunch of people - I think this would totally freak her out. She doesn't like Harry Potter, and while I'm sure we'll enjoy the other Potter attractions anyway, I think we'll pass on this one.

 

[hydrotony]

I was at a show this past Wednesday and the wand guy picked 2 children to step up and test a wand each. The last time I went, he picked 2 also. This time, the 2 were sisters and each did one attempted magic incantation, then he switched the wands and all was well but no successful try done. Very quick, I seem to recall that 2 years ago there were 3 failed tries and one successful try. I was with first-timers with 2 children, all HP fans, and they enjoyed it. They really loved the attached wand shop/curio store which they went through multiple times.

 

[ryalluvdiz]

I would say see it once if you have time. My group found it an "ok" experience. We were 6 adults and 6 kids ages 5-12.

 

[xsuki000]

I found my park map to be a very successful makeshift hat to cover me from the shade.