Here is a loooong overdue review of the two sweet shops at Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios in Florida. The best gift to buy while at theme park (in my opinion) is candy and chocolate. I have families and friends who appreciate these type of gifts so much more than mug or t-shirt or anything else. And that also goes for gifts for ourselves… So, when we went to Hogsmeade, we visited Honeydukes right away. This is a very popular sweet shop of wizards and students alike, and of course, muggles like us too.

The inside was bright with vivid colors, candies and chocolate and everything else are displayed everywhere. It was fun to look around and see what they have on their shelves.

 

Popular items like Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans are placed at several different spots throughout the store, so you can get to it wherever you are, as the store can get really crowded with so many candy loving children (and adults).

The way they displayed the candies were very fun and colorful, and to complete the experience, the staffs are all wearing pointy hats. That was a cute touch. And they were friendly and helpful, I liked how they were all smiles as we shopped.

What are their top sellers? Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, of course! Did we buy them? You betcha!

They also have other items that are not pre-packaged, like cupcakes and fudge squares.

I saw a bright ping cupcakes topped with, I assume, Peppermint Chocolate Toads (also sold here in a box) on it, price and flavor of the cupcake unknown… I believe the most popular item from here is the Cauldron Cake. I heard it is a chocolate cake filled with chocolate mousse. Yum!

From Honeydukes, we bought Chocolate Frog ($10.95), Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans ($10.95), and Peppermint Toads ($8.95). The Chocolate Frog had a good amount of weight to it. We were kind of excited to open it up, as it looked very much like the one from the movie. In the inside was one large frog, sitting inside (in a plastic bag so that it didn’t hop away).

It had the card of professor on the bottom, and we got Salzar Slytherin, the founder of Slytherin house at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. On the back of the card was his biography, which was pretty cool.

The photo on the card is 3D so that it kind of looks like he is standing there behind the golden frame. To be honest, I was hoping for Albus Dumbledore card, but hey, this is pretty cool too.

And the frog, which was the source of the weight, was a solid chocolate. All in all, a little over 5 lbs! And it was pretty big. It was really cool looking, but it was very difficult to eat it, as it was thick, solid chocolate… It was made with milk chocolate.

Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans made a nice little gift, and it didn’t contain any of those yucky flavors from the movie. Thank goodness. It only had sweet, fruity, yummy jelly beans.

Peppermint Toads were cute, especially compared to the huge Chocolate Frog. It had a nice amount of little toads in the box, and a good minty flavor. They are made with dark chocolate. The combination of dark chocolate with the peppermint was pretty nice.

But, maybe you are more about a bit of darkness, say, team Slytherin (or team Malfoy?). In such case, you might be interested in exploring Diagon Alley instead of Hogsmead much more. Then again, you are also about sweet candies and chocolate? Not to worry. You can find the same treats in Diagon Alley too. Head over to Sugarplum’s Sweet Shop to find, well, basically the same items you can find at Honeydukes.

The inside is really fun, with high ceiling filled with magical items. They had a strange girl toy moving above everyone, interesting balancing act. Customers are not allowed to explore the upstairs, as the sweets for sale are all on the ground floor.

Here, I saw all the same gifts, from Every Flavour Beans and Chocolate Frogs, and all the other stuffs that are sold at Honeydukes. It is good that you can get all the same treats at both Hogsmead and Diagon Alley. Not everyone will be going to both places for gift shopping. And yes, the prices are the same at both shops.

I also found the Love Potion here, for those hopeless romantics… Luckily, we didn’t need to get one since we already won each other’s hearts.  : )

At the back of the store, they had the refrigerated window showcase with cakes and fudge squares as well. It was less crowded, and also fully stacked with all the customer favorites. If you want to shop without too many people around you, you might want to go straight back to this area. But then again, I am sure it will get completely packed during the super busy season.

And yes, they have Cauldron Cakes here too. While they only had one left at Honeydukes, they had many of them left here. Maybe Honeydukes is more popular or well-known, and that their supply goes quickly. For that reason, there might be a better chance at getting what you want here at Sugarplum’s than Honeydukes.

From here, we bought Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Wand ($2.95). It had a golden tip, where magic should be beaming out of. It was basically a chocolate covered pretzel, so nothing really special, but it is good to be able to hold a wand (of any kind) here at Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

We also bought Butterbeer Fudge ($3.95). They had all kinds of fudges like Cookie Dough and Chocolate Pecan, but why get anything other than Butterbeer Furdge here at Wizarding World of Harry Potter? It was really sweet and tasted like butterscotch candy.

We bought a box of Queen Bee Fizzing Whizzbees ($9.95) as well. I don’t remember seeing this in any of the Harry Potter movies, but then again, I don’t remember every single snacks that they had either. And since my hubby really wanted it, and sounded like a fun snack, so we bought a box.

 

It had lots of little chocolate bees in it, and I could see the popping candy ($) beads in the chocolate. Just a few seconds from putting one in a mouth, it starts to pop and fizz, like having bunch of bees flying inside your mouth. It was such a fun snack!

It is quite small, but you get bunch of them in a box. This one was my favorite little snack out of all the candies and chocolate we tried at both Honeydukes and Sugarplum’s. It was fruity and chocolate-y, really fun to eat.

And they have so many more candies and chocolates at these shops. Make sure to stop by at least one of them, get some sweet goodness and fun gifts for your family and friends, and most of all, to yourselves!

 

Honeydukes & Sugarplum’s Sweet Shop – 1000 Universal Studios Plaza, Orlando, FL 32819