New Harry Potter wands at Universal Orlando with ‘second-generation’ special effects
New wands in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando unlock special effects for guests casting spells in the parks.
Updated March 5, 2025 with Duelling Club photos; original version published Feb. 28, 2025.
Available for purchase starting March 1, 2025, the new wands light up and vibrate with haptics, both of which are new features not available with current wands. The wands’ upgraded tech will work at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, opening May 22 at the new Universal Epic Universe theme park.
In tandem with the new product roll-out, Universal guests can interact with five new special effects using their wand within Orlando’s existing Wizarding World of Harry Potter areas — Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley — bringing the total number of interactive stations to 30.
New effects at both Universal Orlando parks
Here are the five new effects with descriptions from Universal:
At Universal Islands of Adventure
- The Duelling Club Tent – In Hogsmeade, guests can cast a spell to bring an abandoned dueling dummy to life and test their dueling spells ability.
- The Owl Post – In Hogsmeade, mischievous pixies dart across the window and hide behind packages as guests cast a spell to try and freeze them.
At Universal Studios Florida
- Knockturn Alley Staircase – In Diagon Alley, guests must defend themselves by conjuring their patronus after a dementor emerges within the dimly lit staircase.
- Ariadne’s Spinners – In Diagon Alley, guests will need to cast a spell to repel spiders of all sizes before they take over the newspaper-covered glass windows.
- Knockturn Alley Sky – In Diagon Alley, guests can cast a spell into the nighttime sky to control a storm or counter-spell to calm the sky.
New wand designs for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Four designs are available for the “second-generation” wands.
Personalized ‘Harry Potter’ wand challenges with the Universal app
Also new, guests are able to create a profile within the Universal Orlando app, embark upon specific quests, take on timed challenges, and track the progress of their journey. In this way, the new wands lend themselves to live-action role-playing, or LARPing, as the theme park lands become more like a playground for Harry Potter superfans.
Guests have always been able to purchase wands and instigate special effects within Universal’s Harry Potter worlds, but until now such spells have always been individual vignettes rather than part of a connected narrative journey.
At Epic Universe, such quests will include searching for the Niffler magical creature and the Philosopher’s Stone.
Additionally, Universal enhanced several existing wand interactivity stations with new tech.
Photos of new wand effects
Here’s a look at some of the new and upgraded effects in action. First, here are some publicity photos from Universal:
Next, here are photos we captured in Islands of Adventure of the new wands and the Duelling Club tent.
A new sign near the Duelling Club tent heralds one of Dolores Umbridge’s Educational Decrees, as enacted by during her time as high inquisitor of Hogwarts in “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” (and graffiti’d here by students).
Outside of merchandise, this may be the first acknowledgement of Umbridge in a Wizarding World theme park area. (Of course, that will all change soon, as Umbridge is the primary antagonist of Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, opening May 22 at Epic Universe.)
Power-Up Bands
As an alternative (or in addition) to the new Harry Potter wands, Epic Universe guests can purchase a Power-Up Band to play games and complete tasks within Super Nintendo World. The Power-Up Bands are already in use at existing versions of Super Nintendo World in Universal Studios Japan and Universal Studios Hollywood.
Meanwhile at Walt Disney World’s Epcot, guests can use a free app, no extra merchandise purchase required, to similarly prompt in-park special effects as part of the DuckTales World Showcase Adventure game.
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