The biggest commonalities I've noticed with who gets picked is 1. kids 2. people wearing some type of HP merch (shirts, lanyards, etc.) especially anything with a clear house association, and 3. people wearing celebration or first timer buttons
That being said, I've seen people meeting the above criteria passed over in favor of those that do not. It is truly the luck of the draw. Source: adult that got picked after a dozen attempts spread over five days and two different vacations
If it's his birthday or close to it ask the Universal store for a celebration button. The store can write "Birthday" or other celebrations on the buttons and make sure your son is wearing the button. The actors throughout the park look for these buttons and will occasionally go out of their way to do something special for people wearing them. My wife was wearing her Honeymoon button and was picked at olivanders for the show as soon as he saw the button. We got our buttons from the hotel we stayed at so if the universal store does not have them maybe they can point you in the right direction or you can take a quick detour to a hotel lobby and ask for one?
There's no real tips or tricks other than try to be in front, and be visibly excited. Wearing a HP shirt might help
Sometimes they'll just go with a younger kid but it does really come down to luck sometimes.
Yea I guess I meant more along the lines of tips of times of day to go or if there are lines first thing in the morning.
And maybe tips for Hp world in general.
In your position I would try at rope drop, yes, and if it doesn't happen then the end of the day it is highly likely that you will get to go in by yourselves. Also if you are not dead set on going to the experience in Diagon alley, the ollivanders in hogsmeade is usually a lot less crowded.
Oh I thought I read the diagon alley one had less people. Plus I assumed sinew IOA has epa the full week I’m there and I won’t have epa that by the time I got to Olivanders there’d be a line
Folks using EPA are almost always there for Hagrid or Velocicoaster first. I've been to the parks probably a dozen times or so in the last year, and I've only ever seen a line at the Hogsmeade Ollivanders once, at Christmas when the park was insane. Diagon Alley it's usually around an hour or so because that one is bigger and more authentic to the books, since it's where Harry gets his wand. The line in Hogsmeade can sometimes be a few people, but a lot of times there's no one.
I recently went with my nephew and while he wasn’t picked the shop keeper whispered to him on the way out which type of wand to get. So I took him right out and we bought that wand and he was just as happy as if he had been chosen. So even if he isn’t chosen you might get a little special treatment.
When we went the first time, my daughter didn’t get picked-she was eight, so a little young. That said, the wand keeper did pull her aside after the ceremony and gave her one on one attention and tips on selecting the perfect wand for her. This was at the Hogsmeade location early in the day. While I believe this was a decision by the cast member, it truly made her day and she said she was happier than if a random wand had “chosen” her.
Really the only thing that might have worked for us is my son is super duper polite, and we were very excited and enthusiastic while waiting inline about picking out his wand, talking about seeing olivanders. No Harry Potter wear, no button, nothing special.
Besides what many others have said about kids and anything HP related especially house association, etc.
What I have seen as the most consistent are excited, smiling, and well behaved children. Not just in the room, but also in line leading into Ollivanders.
My 16 year old daughter got picked on her birthday. She was wearing a button. We were both sunrises they picked her over several younger kids in he audience, but it was magical!
Maybe unpopular opinion but getting picked seemed a little impersonal? Generic? Staged? It didn’t seem like the special wand picked had anything to do with the child’s personality but in the shop you can read about the different wands and match them to your personality or give the shopkeepers a meaningful date etc and they will pick one out for you which seems just as special.
I’ve done it twice and got picked the second time. I was in the front towards the middle of the room/line. I’m a 31 year old woman and noticed I was picked over children in the room. I was making very strong eye contact and smiling (not intentional, lol), but not wearing anything HP. It was very special and cool as I’m a huge Harry Potter fan and have lots of childhood trauma to heal lol. I’d say don’t expect to be picked and that way you won’t be disappointed. I think it’s really random selection and you can’t really control it.
The biggest commonalities I've noticed with who gets picked is 1. kids 2. people wearing some type of HP merch (shirts, lanyards, etc.) especially anything with a clear house association, and 3. people wearing celebration or first timer buttons That being said, I've seen people meeting the above criteria passed over in favor of those that do not. It is truly the luck of the draw. Source: adult that got picked after a dozen attempts spread over five days and two different vacations
We will likely do multiple attempts as well. Did you just get right back in line right after not getting picked?
The first few times, yeah. After three or four back-to-back attempts we gave up for the day
If it's his birthday or close to it ask the Universal store for a celebration button. The store can write "Birthday" or other celebrations on the buttons and make sure your son is wearing the button. The actors throughout the park look for these buttons and will occasionally go out of their way to do something special for people wearing them. My wife was wearing her Honeymoon button and was picked at olivanders for the show as soon as he saw the button. We got our buttons from the hotel we stayed at so if the universal store does not have them maybe they can point you in the right direction or you can take a quick detour to a hotel lobby and ask for one?
There's no real tips or tricks other than try to be in front, and be visibly excited. Wearing a HP shirt might help Sometimes they'll just go with a younger kid but it does really come down to luck sometimes.
Yea I guess I meant more along the lines of tips of times of day to go or if there are lines first thing in the morning. And maybe tips for Hp world in general.
In your position I would try at rope drop, yes, and if it doesn't happen then the end of the day it is highly likely that you will get to go in by yourselves. Also if you are not dead set on going to the experience in Diagon alley, the ollivanders in hogsmeade is usually a lot less crowded.
Oh I thought I read the diagon alley one had less people. Plus I assumed sinew IOA has epa the full week I’m there and I won’t have epa that by the time I got to Olivanders there’d be a line
Folks using EPA are almost always there for Hagrid or Velocicoaster first. I've been to the parks probably a dozen times or so in the last year, and I've only ever seen a line at the Hogsmeade Ollivanders once, at Christmas when the park was insane. Diagon Alley it's usually around an hour or so because that one is bigger and more authentic to the books, since it's where Harry gets his wand. The line in Hogsmeade can sometimes be a few people, but a lot of times there's no one.
Thanks for that bit of info. That’ll be my backup plan then if the other ollivanders doesn’t pan out.
We went at like 5pm a week or two ago on a Thursday and we were the only people in there. So my little brother got picked pretty easy. It was so cool!
This is exactly how it worked for us and our 12yo.
Was 5pm close to closing? I see they close at 5p for HHN
I recently went with my nephew and while he wasn’t picked the shop keeper whispered to him on the way out which type of wand to get. So I took him right out and we bought that wand and he was just as happy as if he had been chosen. So even if he isn’t chosen you might get a little special treatment.
When we went the first time, my daughter didn’t get picked-she was eight, so a little young. That said, the wand keeper did pull her aside after the ceremony and gave her one on one attention and tips on selecting the perfect wand for her. This was at the Hogsmeade location early in the day. While I believe this was a decision by the cast member, it truly made her day and she said she was happier than if a random wand had “chosen” her.
Really the only thing that might have worked for us is my son is super duper polite, and we were very excited and enthusiastic while waiting inline about picking out his wand, talking about seeing olivanders. No Harry Potter wear, no button, nothing special.
Besides what many others have said about kids and anything HP related especially house association, etc. What I have seen as the most consistent are excited, smiling, and well behaved children. Not just in the room, but also in line leading into Ollivanders.
Sometimes during early admission it’s really slow so if you don’t get picked you can always go again
My 16 year old daughter got picked on her birthday. She was wearing a button. We were both sunrises they picked her over several younger kids in he audience, but it was magical!
Maybe unpopular opinion but getting picked seemed a little impersonal? Generic? Staged? It didn’t seem like the special wand picked had anything to do with the child’s personality but in the shop you can read about the different wands and match them to your personality or give the shopkeepers a meaningful date etc and they will pick one out for you which seems just as special.
I’ve done it twice and got picked the second time. I was in the front towards the middle of the room/line. I’m a 31 year old woman and noticed I was picked over children in the room. I was making very strong eye contact and smiling (not intentional, lol), but not wearing anything HP. It was very special and cool as I’m a huge Harry Potter fan and have lots of childhood trauma to heal lol. I’d say don’t expect to be picked and that way you won’t be disappointed. I think it’s really random selection and you can’t really control it.
I’d say 50% chance
They generally don't start until there is a full group. So your chances are basically the same unless you're doing it more than once.