If it’s not the Wish Realm then explain how everything that we have seen downy point to it being so.
so there’s no way they would be there as the aging would be really off.
Because the writers want it to be so. That’s really it. The writers have certain things they want to do–Belle dying, Robyn being 25 in order to have a relationship with Alice, Henry growing up, Regina, Emma and Hook looking the exact same as when Henry left home, ect–but they don’t want to puzzle it all out and make it comprehensible. They just wish it to be that way, so it is. Hence Regina’s telltale line in 7×10 about timelines.
Like so many questions on this show, it’s best answered with “PLOT”
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"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"