West Coast wizards finally have a Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour.
It’s Butterbeer season in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. To celebrate, Universal Studios Hollywood has opened its first-ever Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour in Hogsmeade.
The Universal Orlando version is located in Diagon Alley, and serves hand-packed ice cream as well as soft serve. Now, the West Coast Wizarding World has accio-ed itself some ice cream, and there are 10 different flavors on the menu, including Butterbeer. And I tried all of them so you don’t have to.
These treats will be the perfect snack to grab during the summer after eating lunch at the Three Broomsticks.
Most flavors are swirled into a traditional vanilla soft serve, but you can also order plain vanilla on its own. Each of the ice cream flavors is served in either a regular cup ($7), souvenir cup ($11), or waffle cone ($8). One of the most popular choices is Butterbeer, but there’s also Banana, Chocolate, Mint, Toffee Apple, Orange, Toffee Nut, Granny Smith Apple, and Pistachio.
The weather is still a bit chilly in LA, but these treats will be the perfect snack to grab during the summer after eating lunch at the Three Broomsticks or going on the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey attraction. I wish there was a way to combine flavors, but right now, the only combo is Toffee Apple — which has the Granny Smith Apple on top and Toffee Nut on the bottom. Not being able to mix makes deciding on a flavor a little more difficult.
So if you’re unsure which ice cream to try first, here’s a ranking of all 10 soft serve flavors at the new Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour in the Wizarding World.
The vanilla soft serve is delicious, but it’s the base of every other flavor. If you’re going to spend $7 on ice cream from Hogsmeade, you’ll probably want to get something a little more exciting.
Vanilla is always a safe bet, though, especially if you’re a picky eater. This is just a basic vanilla soft serve — and you can’t go wrong with that.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
If you aren’t a fan of banana-flavored Laffy Taffy candy, steer clear of this flavor, because this is a dupe ice cream version.
I loved the banana Laffy Taffys as a kid, so this was a real throwback. It is a bit artificial tasting, so that might be too much for an entire cup, but banana candy fans should definitely try this at least once.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Since the flavoring is swirled into the vanilla soft serve, it can be subtle at times. I found the toffee nut to be almost too subtle, where I couldn’t really taste the caramelized sugar flavor at all.
I was hoping for something a little more nutty, but overall, it was just underwhelming.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
The toffee apple has the Granny Smith apple flavor on top with the toffee nut on the bottom. These two flavors work really well together, and remind me of those apple lollipops with caramel on the outside. I could actually taste more of the toffee nut when it was mixed with the sour apple, so this combo really helped me to like that flavor more.
It also made me wish that I could combine more flavors together, like mint and chocolate or even banana and chocolate. However, this is the only flavor combination you can order as one. If you want to get creative, you’ll need to get two cups — which is around $14.
Rating: 3 out of 5
The mint is a refreshing choice, especially if you’re a fan. It was very subtle at first, which was nice, but over time, it did get stronger.
Universal Studios gives you a fairly large portion of ice cream, so it’s a lot of mint for casual lovers. It would be great if they could introduce some toppings, because I feel like this would be higher on my list if I could enjoy it with some chocolate chips or sprinkles for a crunch.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Similar to the banana, the Granny Smith apple soft serve tastes like candy more than actual fruit, but I didn’t mind it at all. I actually enjoyed the sour and sweet mix, and it reminded me of a jelly bean.
Tasting this in Hogsmeade with the Harry Potter soundtrack playing in the background really brought me back to eating a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans when the first film came out, so it was truly nostalgic.
Rating: 3 out of 5
While most flavors lean more on the subtle side, the pistachio is full-on pistachio. It’s so strong that I was impressed and really loved it at first.
With such a huge portion, though, I got kind of tired of it after a while. It leans more on artificial pistachio, so it’s a lot to take in. I would suggest trying this with a waffle cone to cut down on the heaviness of the pistachio.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
This is most likely going to be the most popular flavor, because when you’re in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, you have to try something Butterbeer. But is it the best Butterbeer treat? No. The OG drink is the menu item you should order if you’re only getting one thing, but this soft serve does not disappoint. It’s just a more subtle Butterbeer option.
The vanilla ice cream really is the main character here, with the butterscotch taking a backseat. Though it’s not Butterbeer-forward, it’s light, sweet, and something I would definitely order again.
Rating: 4 out of 5
All of the fruity flavors are artificial, but I found the orange to be the most natural versus tasting like candy. I also think the orange did the best at working with the vanilla than against it to create a creamsicle-like flavor.
If you also love an orange and cream mix, you’ll want to try this soft serve on a hot day. It’s delicious.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Chocolate and vanilla were the two flavors I was least excited to try, and while vanilla was just as underwhelming as I expected, the chocolate really surprised me. It didn’t taste as artificial as some of the other ones, wasn’t too subtle, and really worked well with the vanilla soft serve. It reminded me of those ice cream cups you used to get as a kid, with vanilla and swirls of fudge.
This really was a treat, and I can’t wait to order it the next time I go to Universal Studios.
Rating: 5 out of 5
