Memorable moment: Butterbeer at Universal, Orlando
Dateline: 4 April, 2014.
When you have read and loved a series of books to the point where you’re beating a path to the booksellers on the day of each volume’s release, and are prepared to fight off other family members in order to read it first (like I did with the Harry Potter books), it is always dangerous to step into something ‘real’ which replicates aspects of those books. Will what you see and experience live up to the world you have created in your reading imagination? Or will you spend the whole time shrieking, “No, no, NO! That’s NOT what The Three Broomsticks looks like”?
For this reason, I approached The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Islands of Adventure, Orlando with a degree of skepticism. Would I be disappointed?
The first thing I saw as we walked through the gates of the village of Hogsmeade was the cart selling the infamous butterbeer. Butterbeer is mentioned often throughout the seven Harry Potter books and all Harry Potter-philes know that it is the drink of choice for wizards visiting Hogsmeade’s Hog’s Head pub or The Three Broomsticks Inn. But as to what it tastes like…that is left up to the reader’s imagination.
So, how could I not try it?
Incredibly sweet, with an indescribably foamy, fluffy substance on top, it was exactly as I had imagined…
Totally disgusting.
Swing back here on Tuesday of next week, when I’ll be posting my more detailed thoughts about The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal, Orlando.
