It Does Not Do to Dwell on Dreams and Forget to Live

The Harry Potter New York Store which for any Harry Potter fan, is a Mecca if you’re not able to go to London (bucket list!!) or any of the Universal theme parks (Florida’s is better). Remarkably, we didn’t buy much here which left me kinda sad because I really wanted to find something. They had A LOT but I think I was being super picky at this point. It was only day one of our big trip to New York City and I didn’t want to spend all my money in one place. I did covet the Lucius Malfoy cane/wand combo & seriously considered it but then I sold my nephew on it so now I have visiting rights which costs me $0!

One thing about this store that I liked over the stores at Universal were the unique wands they had. I wouldn’t mind a few of them myself. Michaela chose the Ravenclaw Diadem wand as her souvenir.

The Ravenclaw Diadem Wand!

While we were at the store, we participated in one of their virtual reality games – Wizards Take Flight. You pilot a Quiddich broom and follow Hagrid to Hogwarts casting spells on Death Eaters. This was cool but the Death Eaters were hard for me to distinguish from other participants and I ended up casting spells on pretty much anyone who flew in front of me. 😂

We ended the excursion with a $12 cup of Butterbeer. You get a souvenir mug – kinda cute but much smaller than the ones at Universal, but at NYC prices! You don’t have three choices of Butterbeer like you do at Universal. All they had was the cream soda kind. They are missing out by not offering the frozen or hot Butterbeer – both are far superior, IMHO. But you can’t NOT have it! So we were sure to drink ours with a view.

Drinking Butter Beer with a view!

Is it worth going? If you’re a Harry Potter fan, do you have to ask? Like I mentioned in the Friends Experience post, this store is nearby and easy to walk to. So, we combined both experiences. I would recommend this strategy for no matter what you do in New York City. With as big as this place is and it’s MASSIVE, you want to make sure to limit how far you have to go between stops or at least make sure that you are within close walking distance to the subway which can get you anywhere you need to go. Seriously, the subway system in New York is mind boggling and intimidating but it’s efficient. As for the offerings for fans of Harry Potter, of course this place is a must. There are souvenirs galore and many things that are unique to the store itself that you can’t find online or at any of the stores at the Universal Parks (i.e. the exclusive wands. I cannot stress this enough. Those wands are COOL). And there are many things that you can get personalized that you can’t do anywhere else (that I have seen anyway). But you’ll pay a premium. It’s not cheap. But if you’re a collector of all things from the World of Harry Potter, then you don’t want to miss this store, the experiences and the fun little photo ops they have. Until I can get us to London, this store and Universal Studios will have to do!