Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20160516005939/@comment-24674051-20160520165026

Eskaver wrote: World-crossing really isn't the problem. Silver Slippers were rare, the hat was a rare and limited thing, the creatures were limited as well. The issue was when magic beans went from rare to "Oh, look I found another magic bean." Sure the Dark One isn't omniscient, but come on. The other portals seem to be controlled randomly or by the Merlin wand which I say is okay, but Rumple knew of the Apprentice and even if he didn't want one way travel, the wand works in both lands. There's no way the Apprentice is stronger than the Dark One. Agreed regarding the ability to travel between magical realms (and I assume that the LUS is a magical realm). Rumple easily travelled from the LWC to the EF, which we saw in season 2. Zelena was able to easily travel between Oz and the EF, as was Mulan and Ruby. Traveling to between a magical and non-magical realm is limted, as the White Rabbit (and I assume Mermaids) are unable to cross into the Non-magical realm. Jefferson also stated that his hat had that same limitation. So Travel to the LWM generally requires either a Bean, the Apprentices wand,or getting to Storybrooke via other routes, then crossing the town line.

And to digress just a moment, we need to remember that Rumple was not wanting to JUST get to the LWM. He wanted to get there and be in a position to have his magic available. The bean did not provide that, and Rumple did not have the wand. and while the Apprentice is not as powerful as Rumple, he was (imo) powerful enough to prevent him from getting the wand.

I would suggest that futher discussion on realm travelling deserves it's own thread.