The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

The fall my daughter turned 11, we took a family trip to Universal Orlando Resort, home to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Eleven is a magical age for a young witch or wizard. It’s the birthday when they receive their letter inviting them to attend school at Hogwarts, thus allowing them to spend their teen years living away from their parents. This is smart thinking by the wizarding community because if I had magical powers right now you can bet every time my teenaged children rolled their eyes they would spend a good hour trying to pry their mouths open and escape their rooms.

Every school supply list I’ve encountered as a parent has had a couple of questionable requests, however, the Hogwarts list includes such items as an owl and a book that will attack your child. Also on the list is a wand. To put this in American public school terms, if my 5th grader got this list it would include the family dog, a chemistry book with Bunsen burner attached, and a chef’s knife. All very useful, but perhaps not the best choices for a classroom full of loosely supervised tween children. Ollivander’s Wand Shop is the place to get a wand, so once we arrived, our first stop was Diagon Alley for the Wand Selection Ceremony. One lucky audience member from each ceremony tests out a variety of wands (with varying success) until they find the perfect match. With any luck, the wand master would choose my 11-year-old.

We entered the short queue and chatted with the attendant, before being led down a dark hallway to the wand ceremony room. I surveyed the group entering with us. Not a single child. The odds were with us! My excitement grew knowing what awaited our youngest. We filed into the room and stood where directed, my baby girl in front of me, as we pressed back against the rows and rows of wand boxes. Our little semi-circle grew quiet as the wand master spoke.

“Welcome to Ollivander’s, home of the finest wands. Each wand is handmade with a unique combination of elements. No two wands are alike.” He strolled around, looked at the wands already purchased, greeting each of us. Then he stopped in front of my youngest.

“Ah,” he said, looking down at her sweet face. “I see you’ve come in search of a wand.”

But he wasn’t looking at her.

His eyes met mine. He was choosing me? This was not the plan. All those imagined pictures swirled around my head. The ones of her standing in front of the counter, wand in hand, light enveloping her smiling face as the music swelled. The shop hushed. I placed my hands on my little daughter’s shoulders and pressed her forward into his path… and then over to her dad. I had a wand to claim.

Our Hogsmeade dinner was a delight! While I had low expectations for a British-themed dinner that did not include fish and chips, we all thoroughly enjoyed the meal. Our cocktails included Polyjuice Potion and a Firewhiskey Old Fashioned. Dinner was cheese, crudites, and Scotch eggs served alongside beef pasties. It was too hard to choose just one dessert, so we had cauldron cakes, pumpkin pasties, and butterscotch ice cream with a chocolate, peanut butter, and pretzel mix in. While hot butterbeer was originally on the menu, we were too stuffed to make it. I’m seeing a cold February movie night with popcorn and a mug of hot butterbeer in our future!

Menu:

Polyjuice Potion

Firewhiskey Old Fashioned

Scotch Eggs with Pub Mustard

Cheese Platter with Stilton, Brie, Cheddar, and Smoked Gouda

Crudites

Beef Pasties

Pumpkin Pasties

Cauldron Cakes

Butterscotch Ice Cream with Peanut Butter, Chocolate, and Pretzels

Recipes:

Butterscotch Ice Cream (The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz)