Naturally, one of the things that was a big deal for us at this particular park? The food. Rowling goes into great detail about many of the foods mentioned in the Harry Potter series, and it was a treat to be able to experience some of these foods for ourselves.
We had lunch at the Three Broomsticks, a location that Harry and his friends frequent in the series. The restaurant is all about British fare, and has offerings such as fish and chips, cornish pasties, and shepard's pie. A neat little touch was the shadows projected on the walls of the restaurant of house elves doing chores or owls delivering mail. Hubby decided to get a turkey leg with potato wedges and I got ribs with corn on the cob and fried potatoes & onions. For our drinks, we both got butterbeer, likely the one item that every Harry Potter fan coming to the park tries as soon as insanely possible. To give you an idea just how popular the drink is, there are two carts in the village that sell butterbeer, one at the front and one at the back. Both had RIDICULOUSLY long lines by the time we left.
My ribs were very tasty; the meat practically fell off the bone and just melts in your mouth. The BBQ sauce was very tasty with just the right amount of kick. The corn was sweet and smokey, and the potatoes were very tasty with just the right amount of crunch. The butterbeer was DIVINE. I have no clue what's in the cream that tops the drink, but it's so thick that it acts as an insulator. The butterbeer tastes like butterscotch shortbread, and the flavor stays with each sip. I was afraid that it would get too sweet as I kept drinking it, but the flavor remained consistent as I drank it. The last sip was just as tasty as the first. I got mine in a souvenir mug, but hubby got his in a normal cup.
After lunch, we explored the rest of the village and went into Honeydukes, the candy shop featured in the series. I was hoping that I would be able to get some ice mice (I've bought them once before years ago), but they were completely sold out by the time we got in. I did, however, get a chocolate frog, which they package like the ones you see in the movies, complete with a wizard card (which is WAY cooler than the ones that I've been collecting from the chocolate frogs you can buy outside of the Wizarding World). I didn't open it until we got home, and I was a bit shocked to see that the frog is actually frog-sized! Hubby found a bottle of sherbert lemons, but as it was quite a large bottle, we decided against purchasing it. Honeydukes also had Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Ton-Tongue caramel, Fizzing Whizbees, and U-No-Poo (basically chocolate M&M's).
I've been reading that Universal is already making plans to expand the Wizarding World, which means that a second visit in a few years time will be a whole new experience. Can't wait! Hope you've all enjoyed this series of posts and happy cooking all!