HARRY POTTER PUMPKIN JUICE

During my family's various visits to Universal Orlando Resort my kids and I have indulged in a number of themed non-alcoholic drinks like Butter Beer, Fishy Green Ale, Tongue Tying Lemon Squash and Pumpkin Juice within the Wizarding World of Harry Potter meant to add to the magical ambiance of the place. Next to Butter Beer made famous from references in the J.K. Rowling books and movies, Pumpkin Juice is probably the most common beverage you'll come across at vendor carts and shops within the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort. I have to admit at first the thought of drinking Pumpkin Juice made me go ugh!

Eventually though curiosity got the best of us and the whole family gave Pumpkin Juice a try. Guess what? We loved it! See it is worth while to try new things! I particularly found Pumpkin Juice to be delicious and took a liking to the stuff.

Pumpkin Juice combines the taste of apple cider with pumpkin pie. Hints of spices and brown sugar compliment the main two flavors so that it is like enjoying Thanksgiving Day desert in liquid form. And the only place I've come across this beverage has been at Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade at Universal Orlando Resort.

That was until a recent shopping trip with my family to ALDI. This discount retailer is always rotating different varieties of products on its shelves and it is always fun to hunt around the aisles to see what new things you can discover. On this visit, we discovered Sparkling Spiced Pumpkin Cider in a bottle that had a Harry Potterish vibe to it. I wondered how this would compare to the Pumpkin Juice from Universal Orlando Resort and picked up a bottle to bring home with us.

Wow! the Sparkling Spiced Pumpkin Cider tastes really close to the Pumpkin Juice you'll find at Universal Orlando Resort's Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  The version we discovered at ALDI has a similar mixture of apple cider and pumpkin flavoring as Pumpkin Juice but is slightly different in a couple of ways.  The ALDI Pumpkin Cider has a fizzy quality that isn't in Pumpkin Juice and has a hint of gingerbread taste to it that compliments the pumpkin and apple ingredients compared to the more pie style flavoring with brown sugar undertones of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter variety.

Both drinks are very similar, yet also have unique differences. The glass container of the ALDI Pumpkin Cider is really nice compared to the plastic bottles Pumpkin Juice is serve in. You also get more beverage for your dollar at ALDI compared to the inflated amusement park prices of Universal Orlando Resort. I liked the sparkling cider aspect of the ALDI beverage but my kids prefer the more juice like quality of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter beverage. On the other hand, the gingerbread taste of the Pumpkin Cider was a bit more than I cared for giving Pumpkin Juice an edge in my preference too.

Still we all liked this alternate version of Pumpkin Juice enough to go back to pick up additional bottles from ALDI.  Just as things magically disappear in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, products have a tendency to quickly vanish from the shelves at ALDI. All the Sparkling Spiced Pumpkin Cider was gone when we returned to get some more.  We'll definitely be keeping an eye out to see if it returns to ALDI again.

Whether you've enjoyed Pumpkin Juice at Universal Orlando Resort and would like something similar to enjoy at home or have never had it before but are looking for treats to make a Harry Potter themed family movie night more fun, you'll want to keep an eye out at your local ALDI stores to see if Sparkling Spiced Pumpkin Cider appears there. This would also make a great drink for a Halloween or Harry Potter themed party especially for kids since it is non-alcoholic. We would absolutely buy it again ourselves.

To search for ALDI stores near you, apparate over to aldi.us

Harry Potter HOGWARTS BATTLE Game

**A Geek Daddy received the featured product for free to review**

Grab some butter beer and magical wands as you venture to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter when playing USAopoly's cooperative deck-building card game HOGWARTS BATTLE.  We had a fun Harry Potter themed Family Game Night that my kids really got into dueling the villainous forces of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.  In this card game, four players each take on the role of a Hogwarts student (Harry, Ron, Hermione, or Neville) to defend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from the sinister Death Eaters.  During each player's turn he or she needs to gain influence to utilize powerful spells, recruit allies to render assistance, and uncover magical items for a chance to be victorious in winning HOGWARTS BATTLE.

There are 7 individual games each associated with one of the books from the Harry Potter fantasy novels packaged together within HOGWARTS BATTLE which increase in difficulty as players progress through them.  The first two are meant to serve as an orientation for the rules and a chance to learn to play the game.  Once players are comfortable with playing they can really dive into the action of the next five games culminating with a final showdown versus the Dark Lord and his cronies in Game 7.  Players can play through all seven games consecutively all at once or they can just focus on individual games in shorter increments depending on their skill level and available time.  For our family game night, we spent an hour and a half on Games 1 & 2 of HOGWARTS BATTLE mastering how to play and had a lot of fun.

The game revolves around a master board that contains cards identifying locations (that the heroes and villains battle for control of), villains (that each have special abilities) and dark arts (which have a variety of detrimental effects brought about each turn). If players defeat all the villains before the evil doers gain control of all the locations (which number varies in each of the seven games) the forces of good prevail to win the game; but if the bad guys gain control of the locations first the game is lost!

The game board also includes six face up HOGWARTS cards which players can acquire to enhance their personal decks by earning influence tokens to select cards.  Only six of these cards are showing and available to select at any time but a new card is pulled from a deck on the game board to replace selected ones ensuring all the spots are filled throughout the game.  These cards allow players to utilize magical items like the Sorting Hat, have an ally like Hagrid come to their aid, or utilize a spell to conjure up a special benefit.

Each player then sets in front of them a layout that includes cards that identify his or her selected hero (Harry, Ron, Hermione, or Neville) and serve as a reminder about how to progress through your individual turn.  There is also an individual players board that tracks your characters health and the tokens that have been earned.which can be used to attack villains or purchase HOGWARTS cards.  Additionally each player has their own personal deck of cards with spells, magical items and allies unique to each character.  For example Harry has a Hedwig ally card, Hermione has a Time-Turner magical amulet, Ron has Every Flavor Jelly Beans to get out of a jam, and Neville has his frog Trevor.  Each of the characters has a variety of these special allies and items available just to them in their personal decks but all of their spells are pretty much the same which make those available through the HOGWARTS deck even more valuable to obtain.

Your hero's deck consists of ten cards which are shuffled so you start out with five random cards in your playable hand.  All your up-facing cards need to be utilized during the turn and placed in a discard pile.  Each new turn you draw five new cards from your down deck plus HOGWARTS cards gained are also incorporated into each player's personal set of cards as the game goes on.  When a player runs out of cards to draw from they reshuffle the discard pile and place them down in the starting spot to pull as allowed.

While these rules at first may seem difficult and complex, once you start playing HOGWARTS BATTLE they are very easy to get a grasp on and the game very quickly becomes a very exciting and entertaining experience.  With every turn you'll enjoy the challenge overcoming adversaries and obstacles while defending locations from the Harry Potter books and movies including Diagon Alley, the Chamber of Secrets, and the Hogwart's Quidditch Pitch.  HOGWARTS BATTLE can be played solo but I'd recommend playing it with the full four players to enjoy the comradery of tackling the threat of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters along with a group of your friends.



What's really nice about HOGWARTS BATTLE is that instead of competing against each other players act as a team to win the game.  Players have to think strategically and communicate with one another.  Utilizing character's individual strengths and gaining HOGWARTS cards ally characters, spells, and magical items draws all the players into the game and gets everyone participating.  It really is great for a family game night or to play among a group of friends.

The HOGWARTS BATTLE cooperative deck-building card game from USAopoly has earned A Geek Daddy nod of approval for being an out-of-the-ordinary game playing experience that is really fun to engage in plus is filled with many of the elements that have made the Harry Potter franchise popular with kids and adults alike.  For more information about the game, please visit the USAopoly website.  Harry Potter HOGWARTS BATTLE is available to purchase from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Entertainment Earth, GameStop and the Warner Brothers Shop.