Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26261153-20150822013142/@comment-24674051-20150825153905

I don't think just any run of the mill protection spell would have worked. I think the fact that Cora was able to erect a large enough protection spell to protect even a portion of the kingdom says loads to how powerful she really was. Which in turn speaks to how much raw power Emma has, since she was able to defeat Cora while still completely untrained.

Also, the protection only prevented being transported, it did not stop time from freezing, and Cora knew that before the curse was cast, meaning that she had some knowledge of how Regina had set the curse.

I agree with the layering aspect. the first part of the curse is what transported the people and created Storybrooke. and that portion appears to have been limited to the FTL, specifically the EF. The second part of the curse is what froze time. However, lands without Magic or Time were not affected by this part. Which would explain Neverland, as it is a land without time.

There is a 3rd layer that handles the Amnesia/Alternate Identity. This part was actually omitted from the curse that Snow cast, except for the modification that Zelena made at the very end.

There was even a layer that blocked the transfer of Magic, which Rumple had already devised a way to counter. If you notice, this layer was also not included in Snow's curse.