Winterfest Wonder Wand - the coolest new thing for Winterfest that no one is talking about

[BoddaH1994]

I’m shocked that this hasn’t been made into a big deal. 
 

Kings Island is now selling an interactive “Wonder Wand” for Winterfest. This wand is almost like a mix of Magic Band + and the Harry Potter wands. 
 

When purchasing the wand for $29.99 (season pass discounts do apply), you are equipped with a map of various locations through the the park where the wand will interact.

There are three types of interactions:

1. Unique Locations

2. Glow Zones

3. Show interactions

The map also lists five “Snowman locations” as “coming soon.” No word on what these will be yet.

Unique Locations

These interact directly with the wand, similar to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter wands at Universal Studios.

Some of these locations include:

1. Antique Autos - The light up plastic statues flicker on and off. It seems like it was supposed to play music but doesn’t.

2. Snoopy’s Dog House - Woodstock lights up and Christmas lights turn on and off while playing music.

3. Mystic Timbers - Truck lights up playing Jingle Bells on the horn. 

Glow Zones:

This was similar to Magic Band +. The wand will light up in the colors of the area. For example, in the Ice Princess area (the old Vortex path), the wand lights up blue and white. Similarly, it turns red and white in Candy Cane Lane. Part of the pattern is the variation of the light colors as well as periodically shooting bubbles. 
   

 

Show Interactions

Another similarity to Magic Band + is that the wand will interact with certain shows. For both the Tree Lighting Ceremony and Cool Yule Christmas, the wand will periodically sync up with and match the lighting design language. 

This effect was particularly well-exhibited during the Tree Lighting countdown.

Additionally, I was told that it specifically interacts with the Jack Frost float in the Winterfest Wonderland Parade. While true, I believe that the point of having it interact with that particular float was because it is in approximately in the middle of the parade. For about 80% of the viewing time, the wand was synced with the lights in the floats. This includes pretty precise syncing as the floats changed color.

 

 

 

The wands are available for $29.99 at the hut under the Eiffel Tower and at the night vending carts. With this, you can enjoy Winterfest in a whole new way! Check it out for yourself!

[BeeastFarmer]

I saw this was being talked about at Kings Dominion, but haven't heard about it at KI.  Sounds really cool!  Thanks for getting the word out!

[beastfan11]

Why on earth wouldn’t this be promoted to death? Seems pretty cool. My wife and I have ironically been looking at new Magic Band +’s this week for our trip in January. Happy to see a little slice of that make its way to KI. 
 

But seriously, why hadn’t this been promoted at all? 

[disco2000]

Apparently they were doing a test of the Media director applicants to see who would post about the Wonder Wand first and that is who will get the job - congrats @BoddaH1994 

[Tr0y]

Ryan apply for the job? Lol

[BoddaH1994]

1 hour ago, disco2000 said:

Apparently they were doing a test of the Media director applicants to see who would post about the Wonder Wand first and that is who will get the job - congrats @BoddaH1994 

I know you’re joking.

But given the current… climate… of our favorite place, along with their apparent decision making process, I should probably respond.

”Although I am flatter at the opportunity to return sanity, effort, and results into the department, I must decline the offer. Thank you for your consideration.”

It’s cool, though.  I’m sure there will be some sort of content on this now that comms has been made aware of the product. 

[disco2000]

2 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

I know you’re joking.

But giving the current… climate… of our favorite place, along with their apparent decision making process, I should probably respond.

”Although I am flatter at the opportunity to return sanity, effort, and results into the department, I must decline the offer. Thank you for your consideration.”

It’s cool, though.  I’m sure there will be some sort of content on this now that comms has been made aware of the product. 

Yep LOL.

Probably something will be posted within the hour 

[tuxedoman52]

Maybe they were trying to work out any bugs/kinks before advertising it to the public?

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

[standbyme]

3 hours ago, beastfan11 said:

My wife and I have ironically been looking at new Magic Band +’s this week for our trip in January. 

We purchased the Magic Band+’s for our trip in January earlier this year…unless they have perfected them since then they weren’t worth the extra money…you had to struggle BIG TIME to get them to work with the statues…and even when you got it to work the effect really wasn’t that much. We were disappointed after spending the extra money.

[disco2000]

29 minutes ago, tuxedoman52 said:

Maybe they were trying to work out any bugs/kinks before advertising it to the public?

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk
 

That is what I am leaning towards.  It appears to be glitchy at the moment looking at various social media posts.

[beastfan11]

39 minutes ago, standbyme said:

We purchased the Magic Band+’s for our trip in January earlier this year…unless they have perfected them since then they weren’t worth the extra money…you had to struggle BIG TIME to get them to work with the statues…and even when you got it to work the effect really wasn’t that much. We were disappointed after spending the extra money.

Appreciate the heads up!

[IndyGuy4KI]

I made a video with Ryan's videos and photo. 

 

[BoddaH1994]

51 minutes ago, tuxedoman52 said:

Maybe they were trying to work out any bugs/kinks before advertising it to the public?

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk
 

Maybe. They also have the five snowmen on the map that are, “coming soon.” 
 

Then again, they could have just listed the light up areas and interactive points rather than advertising that you are only getting 2/3 of the experience, then added the snowmen to the map later. 

This sort of thing would have been a huge visual for their media day. It could and should have been the angle they took for this year. Instead you got two million alleged additional lights. You can see lights at the zoo. They don’t have anything like this. Just remember, much like pixel mapping, if this goes well it’ll be everywhere next year. Then it’s not special anymore. This was their opportunity. That ship has sailed. 

[BoddaH1994]

54 minutes ago, standbyme said:

We purchased the Magic Band+’s for our trip in January earlier this year…unless they have perfected them since then they weren’t worth the extra money…you had to struggle BIG TIME to get them to work with the statues…and even when you got it to work the effect really wasn’t that much. We were disappointed after spending the extra money.

This is going to be painful to say. 
 

My experience has been that this works better and does more than Magic Band+. You pull a trigger to active spots (the equivalent of the statues) but it has that extra element of shooting the bubbles. It also worked pretty darn well with the shows.

Obviously there is the whole element of RFID with Gene+ and admission that this doesn’t touch, but I’m comparing this to the “+” element of Magic Bands.

I don’t think this is for everyone, especially at $29.99, but I do think that it’s neat and interesting. If a ton of people had them at the parade or tree lighting ceremony it would be a really cool effect.

[Taylor.B03]

I'm just waiting for that one flipper zero owner to make a video "How to get the winterfest wand displays for FREE *2023!!!* *WORKING!!!* *GONE WRONG!!!* *3AM CHALLENGE!!!*"

[BoddaH1994]

I'm going to go ahead and post this here for Chad's copy and paste convenience:

 

https://themeparksbydon.com/new-wonder-wand-kings-islands-winterfests-hidden-gem/

[brenthodge]

On 11/26/2023 at 9:43 PM, BoddaH1994 said:

I'm going to go ahead and post this here for Chad's copy and paste convenience:

 

https://themeparksbydon.com/new-wonder-wand-kings-islands-winterfests-hidden-gem/

Wow. If only the park said ….. anything?!!

[BoddaH1994]

Had there not been this thread, or Don’s latest blog, would have this social post existed? My guess is no. Glad we all let them know about the product they sell. 

[Tr0y]

16 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Had there not been this thread, or Don’s latest blog, would have this social post existed? My guess is no. Glad we all let them know about the product they sell. 

Ask Elizabeth, she made the video.

[mikejenkins1]

On 11/26/2023 at 2:08 AM, BoddaH1994 said:

I’m shocked that this hasn’t been made into a big deal. 
 

Kings Island is now selling an interactive “Wonder Wand” for Winterfest. This wand is almost like a mix of Magic Band + and the Harry Potter wands. 
 

When purchasing the wand for $29.99 (season pass discounts do apply), you are equipped with a map of various locations through the the park where the wand will interact.

There are three types of interactions:

1. Unique Locations

2. Glow Zones

3. Show interactions

The map also lists five “Snowman locations” as “coming soon.” No word on what these will be yet.

Unique Locations

These interact directly with the wand, similar to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter wands at Universal Studios.

Some of these locations include:

1. Antique Autos - The light up plastic statues flicker on and off. It seems like it was supposed to play music but doesn’t.

2. Snoopy’s Dog House - Woodstock lights up and Christmas lights turn on and off while playing music.

3. Mystic Timbers - Truck lights up playing Jingle Bells on the horn. 

Glow Zones:

This was similar to Magic Band +. The wand will light up in the colors of the area. For example, in the Ice Princess area (the old Vortex path), the wand lights up blue and white. Similarly, it turns red and white in Candy Cane Lane. Part of the pattern is the variation of the light colors as well as periodically shooting bubbles. 
  IMG_8744.movUnavailable  

 

Show Interactions

Another similarity to Magic Band + is that the wand will interact with certain shows. For both the Tree Lighting Ceremony and Cool Yule Christmas, the wand will periodically sync up with and match the lighting design language. 

This effect was particularly well-exhibited during the Tree Lighting countdown.

IMG_8741.movUnavailable

Additionally, I was told that it specifically interacts with the Jack Frost float in the Winterfest Wonderland Parade. While true, I believe that the point of having it interact with that particular float was because it is in approximately in the middle of the parade. For about 80% of the viewing time, the wand was synced with the lights in the floats. This includes pretty precise syncing as the floats changed color.

IMG_8745.movUnavailable  

 

 

The wands are available for $29.99 at the hut under the Eiffel Tower and at the night vending carts. With this, you can enjoy Winterfest in a whole new way! Check it out for yourself!

The attachments dont work and show as unavailable.... Can that get fixed?

[BoddaH1994]

15 minutes ago, mikejenkins1 said:

The attachments dont work and show as unavailable.... Can that get fixed?

It’s working on my end. Is anyone else having an issue?

Spoiler alert: Tomorrow’s Tower Topics may or may not recycle a lot of this footage anyway. 

[PKIDelirium]

The photos are fine but the attached .mov files say Unavailable.

[brenthodge]

So… a former marketing manager posts something on his own blog about a potentially HUGE guest spending opportunity that the current park marketing people have said nothing about… then magically just a wee bit later, the park posts about it. Yet shows fewer images and video of it in operation than another person in this forum posted several days ago. OMG they are tripping over dollars to squeeze pennies (out of desert add ons for an overpriced buffet) and clearly have little to no clue about what one hand is doing from the other.  

[IndyGuy4KI]

2 hours ago, PKIDelirium said:

The photos are fine but the attached .mov files say Unavailable.

The movie files Ryan posted are in the KIC video.

 

[BoddaH1994]

It’s the coolest thing that’s new for Winterfest this year that the park seemingly doesn’t want you to know about… but we have the scoop! Learn about the all-new interactive Winterfest Wonder Wand in the latest #TowerTopics! Listen or watch: https://linktr.ee/towertopics
 

Edit: Here is the web site of the supplier, for those interested  - https://lightuptoys.com

[Orion-XL200]

17 hours ago, brenthodge said:

So… a former marketing manager posts something on his own blog about a potentially HUGE guest spending opportunity that the current park marketing people have said nothing about… then magically just a wee bit later, the park posts about it. Yet shows fewer images and video of it in operation than another person in this forum posted several days ago. OMG they are tripping over dollars to squeeze pennies (out of desert add ons for an overpriced buffet) and clearly have little to no clue about what one hand is doing from the other.  

It’s adorable as it is predictable. 

[DJSkyFoxx]

Fiancé' and I are pretty stoked to give this a try. Little things like these make events like this just a little extra fun and magical.

Now question for those of you who already gave it a whirl last weekend, how well do these things work if there are multiple wands in an interactive zone? 

And also, do they have any kind of independent functionality outside of the park? Like can you trigger any actions from it at home? Just curious. 

[Terrex]

1 hour ago, DJSkyFoxx said:

Fiancé' and I are pretty stoked to give this a try. Little things like these make events like this just a little extra fun and magical.

Now question for those of you who already gave it a whirl last weekend, how well do these things work if there are multiple wands in an interactive zone? 

And also, do they have any kind of independent functionality outside of the park? Like can you trigger any actions from it at home? 

They work actually very well. (This is why the park soft launched last week) The glow zones are the only areas where multiple wands matter. There seemed to be varying ranges on each day of the event. It actually looks really cool with more people. 

Outside of the park you can use the bubble function and can play tag with the wands. You do this by putting 2 wands in activation mode and pulling the activation trigger to tag the other wand. It's honestly one of the coolest features. 

Also here is the updated map for those interested. https://qr1.be/Q6T7?fbclid=IwAR2FdSqNUirHY270ueAwdu_VfVCvCoam_itj4FizyCyNcAZLXGQXD7TYTm0

Edited December 1, 2023 by Terrex

[BoddaH1994]

4 hours ago, DJSkyFoxx said:

Fiancé' and I are pretty stoked to give this a try. Little things like these make events like this just a little extra fun and magical.

Now question for those of you who already gave it a whirl last weekend, how well do these things work if there are multiple wands in an interactive zone? 

And also, do they have any kind of independent functionality outside of the park? Like can you trigger any actions from it at home? Just curious. 

I didn’t see any problems with other wands being around, but there weren’t many out there. Remember you can “shoot” other wands and they’ll react. 
 

I don’t know of any other functionality outside of the park, but the manufacturer, Light Up Toys, advertises it as sort of a turn-key thing, so if they add it elsewhere, your wand may work there.

[mikejenkins1]

Went last night and now that they actually sell them at the entrance and several other areas, I saw a bunch of people with them last night.....