With travel restrictions easing, there’s one special place we’re looking forward to revisiting this summer: the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios. Offering a truly immersive experience, you don’t have to be a Potter head to enjoy its attractions, though it won’t hurt. The Wizarding World offers a recreation of the actual Hogwarts castle, the shops of Hogsmeade, and even an uncanny representation of Diagon Alley.
One thing you don’t want to skip when visiting the theme park is the food. Who can forget Harry’s first trip on the Hogwarts Express, where he was introduced to the wizarding world via the trolley? It was this iconic scene where we as readers “tasted” our first Chocolate Frogs (and collected our first collectible cards), were intrigued/discussed by Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans, and gobbled up a Cauldron Cake.
From pumpkin juice to Butterbeer, to dinner in the Great Hall where food magically appears and disappears, there are plenty of unforgettable Harry Potter food experiences unique to JK Rowling’s fantasy world.
You can expect these treats to pop up in Orlando’s Wizarding World. Indeed, the food in the Wizarding World is not like your typical theme park food. Well thought out, it is indicative of the Harry Potter books and adds to the overall fantasy experience. Snack and drink carts are readily available and themed restaurants, such as the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade and the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley will make you feel like you yourself have been accepted into the wizarding world.
“You want these beverages to be cool, and I don’t mean cold,” stressed the corporate executive chef of Universal Orlando Parks and Resorts, Steven Jayson, in an interview with USAtoday. “You want them to be neat. You want people to see them and be excited and say, ‘I’ve got to try that.’ And then when they get it, they’re excited about what they got, that they love it.”
It comes as no surprise that the Butterbeer offered at the theme park proved to be the ultimate treat in Orlando. Consisting of a cream soda-meets-butterscotch flavor and a sweet whipped topping, Butterbeer originally came in two versions: cold and frozen. “We found out very, very quickly when we opened that Butterbeer was definitely an overnight homerun,” said Jayson. “Hands down, that’s the one thing that we’ve created here at Universal Orlando that stands alone.”