Theme parks are places where fans can lose themselves inside fictional worlds that can feel surprisingly real. There are things you can experience inside them that you simply can’t find anywhere else. This makes the fact that they are often quite expensive places to enter something of a problem. Luckily, fans looking to experience Harry Potter’s famous Butterbeer as found at Universal theme parks will no longer need to enter the parks to get it.
Universal Orlando Resort recently announced plans to expand the Universal Studios Store located at the Universal CityWalk. The expansion will include a dedicated area for both Super Nintendo World merchandise, with the land set to open as part of the new Epic Universe theme park next year. It will also include an area dedicated to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and will have not only merch but a counter selling all forms of Butterbeer.
Butterbeer Will Be Available At Universal CityWalk
Butterbeer is available as a cold, frozen, or hot beverage and a vegan Butterbeer has been introduced as well. The beverage has been available in various forms at several different Harry Potter-themed locations, but the version available at Universal Orlando Resort had previously only been for sale in the two Harry Potter-themed lands, meaning you needed to first pay for a theme park ticket before you could pay for the Butterbeer. A third Wizarding World land will also be part of the new Epic Universe park.
As a lover of theme park food, I’m a big fan of this addition. Theme parks have some great stuff, and while it makes sense why certain things are only available in the parks, it can be frustrating when you’d be more than happy to pay for a particular item, but can’t get it because the cost of getting in the parks stands in the way. You could argue that a single Butterbeer costs over $100 when you take the ticket price into account.
Making Theme Park Food Available Without The Ticket Price Is A Great Move
Unique food is one of the ways that parks have increasingly tried to draw guests inside the parks. Universal’s food offerings for Halloween Horror Nights as well as its annual Mardi Gras festival are some big reasons these events are worth checking out. The parks want you to want the food, and buy a ticket because of it.
Having said that, this isn’t the first time that a popular theme park food item has been made available in places where the general public can go. You don’t have to go to Disneyland or Magic Kingdom to get the iconic Dole Whip. Some of the best food at Disneyland is available at Tangeroa Terrace Bar & Grill at the Disneyland Hotel in California and at the Polynesian Resort at Walt Disney World. As in the Butterbeer case, you still need to visit the resorts, but you don’t need a ticket.
At the end of the day, Universal is probably going to sell a lot more Butterbeer in a day when this new option is added and that’s a good thing for the resort and the people who want to enjoy it. The expansion of the Universal Studios Store will open sometime in 2025 but an exact date has not yet been announced.
