The Magical Menagerie

Hedwig, Errol, Fluffy, Buckbeak, Norbert, Crookshanks, Scabbers, Fang ... The Harry Potter animals are too important to not be included in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Orlando Florida. Abbie and I were going absolutely crazy amid all the magic of Harry Potter when a shop's display caught our attention. We could see a green shop ahead with what looked like frogs, cats, and etc. looking back at us. It was The Magical Menagerie.

This entry belongs to the Bestie Times and the Potterhead labels

A glimpse of The Magical Menagerie's shop front displays

When we entered the shop I knew this was my kind of place. Plush toys lined shelves against all the walls and the ceiling had a bright and colorful display of all kinds of magical curiosities! In place of usually where a chandelier should have been there was what looked like a bird cage, covered in white. From time to time shadows made a birdie (or at least I hope a birdie) appear. Leave it to the designers of these parks to create as many mysterious magical illusions as possible! I loved the ceiling display of the shop so much I began taking a million pictures.

Let me highlight the major favorites from the ceiling display:

What is that? Is it a cat? The cat like thingy sitting on top of a box that said 'Dancing Doxy' was in our faces as soon as we looked above our heads. It moves its head here and there and shuts its eyes from time to time. I thought it was super silly and cute! But is it a cat? I still have to figure out what that was because as far as I knew a Doxy did not look like that (from a past Google search!).

Even more than the cat like thingy though, I had fallen in love with something to my left. The Crumple Horned Snorkack was standing in all its purple glittery glory above my head and I couldn't take my eyes off of it. It was love at first sight!

Sadly, the Snorkack wasn't for sale but a lot of other magical creatures were. Now let me highlight some of the plush toys they were selling:

Fang was pretty good! He looked too clean without his giant drool though!

The glorious, the proud, the classic ... Hippogrif! Insert heart emoticon here. Buckbeak was looking at me. Should I bow? I exchanged looks with Abbie (who had purchased a dragon plush the previous night from Filch's Emporium of Confiscated Goods) and she understood me. What else are besties and sisters for right? She helped me pick one as I mentally pretended I was bowing down in front of them and the one Abbie was choosing was bowing back to allow me to touch it. Oh my God it bowed back, now I can take it home with me! I bought this beautiful creature and it sits in my bookshelf along with Fawkes (bought on a previous trip). They've become pretty good friends. Okay, now they all know I've lost it.

Some shirts displayed in The Magical Menagerie

OH MY GOD THEY WERE SELLING NAGINI PLUSH TOYS THIS YEAR!!! But no, I didn't want to buy Nagini.

Recognize Scabbers, Norbert, the Hungarian Horntail (which Abbie bought!!!), Fluffy, and Pygmy Puffs in the pictures!

The gorgeous selection of owl plush toys! I was sad that they didn't have a Hedwig plush that was fully fluffed and stuffed. Instead it was a plush puppet, hollow inside! It wouldn't have looked too good on my shelf! I wish they'd start making plush toys instead of puppets for Hedwig! I would totally buy it!

When we were done buying Buckbeak for me and loving all the rest of the plush toys, we made our way towards the end of the shop where there was another entrance/exit door. But before we could walk out we met a fabulous sight. A giant snake was looking at us ... And it was moving!

If you stand there and pay attention to the snake you will go crazy: PARSELTONGUE. Ssssahayeyahassaaaa! The snake was speaking to us in Parseltongue! Abbie and I stood there in awe and excitement. This was beyond belief.

Each and every step we took in this place we thought there couldn't be anything else left to surprise us more. And with each step we were proven completely wrong! This place had magic spurting out of ever nook and corner ...