Wizards, Witches & Muggles in New York: The Story Behind the Travel Photos
- Nov 9
- 5 min read
A Fond Farewell
Afternoon Tea At The Cauldron NYC
The NYC Traveler has been enjoying New York City! And what's a fun thing to do? Having an afternoon wizard tea at The Cauldron.
Traveling involves not. just getting to a destination and checking into a hotel, but enjoying what a town has to offer. After all, few people travel just for the journey only. Once you get to a location, not many people just turn around and head back home. You do something in between.
But what if your journey is somewhere between only 10 minutes to 2 hours from your house?
Day trips or excursions near or in your own home town, city, county, state or region are excellent ways to enjoy your area like a tourist. In fact, one amusing thing is when the worker at a location asks you, "Where are you from?" It throws them off when you respond that you're local! Apparently, it's a novelty to enjoy your own town. Go figure.
When you live in or near a large city, the amount of activities increase in number. Like many other housebound travelers, the 2020 pandemic allowed people to explore leisure activity options closer to home. As places re-opened, travelers starting planning their fun closer to home. There are many benefits to this: saves money, saves time in going from place to place and it allows you to appreciate your own town.
When businesses started reopening, the locations often had less crowds, as most places started requiring not only tickets but reservations and sometimes, timed entries. Many places still have some sort of reservation system in place, realizing that crowd control was a great benefit.
New York City was no exception. Our local politicians started appealing to residents first to get the city going again, feeling we could kickstart the local tourism industry while visitors regrouped and started replanning. Discounts were offered, two for one campaigns ran and memberships to museums and other local attractions were either extended or had an NYC resident price. But some travelers missed going to theme parks. And some did not want to go to the parks with large crowds just yet.
While we were regrouping about how to get back to our favorite rides and attractions, we discovered activities at home that could give us a taste of a day out in the parks. Of course, we have our own smaller theme and amusement parks here in and near New York. Coney Island in Brooklyn continues to draw crowds, we can drive to Rye Playland in Rye, NY or Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ. Out on Long Island, Adventureland and Splish Splash frequently make nationwide family friendly small theme park lists for things to do with kids.
Then there are our local street fairs and festivals with rides and games that are erected temporarily, such as the Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy each September or Fan Week and Arthur Ashe Kids Day that helps kick off the USTA Open in August. The parks and zoos have seasonal fun times that fortunately helped us through the lean pandemic years: light shows and exhibits at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the New York Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo.
All of these places can get you a theme park feel with certain activities or exhibits and feel like you traveled far for a special experience.
The Cauldron was such an experience. The Cauldron we visited was located on Stone Street in lower Manhattan, a pedestrian alley full of restaurants, bars, taverns and pubs. But sadly, the entire operation has now closed. The Stone Street location closed first, and now, all of them have closed. It seems that despite the experience being so unique, they could not stay solvent or secure enough capital to continue to operate and that's really sad.
So, we updated this blog article to remember what we had, to be sorry that we could not go back and to share with you great experience.
The Cauldron in New York was one of several locations in the USA and the UK. Although not endorsed or sponsored by famous franchises such as Harry Potter, The Lord of the Flies, Star Wars or the Chronicles of Narnia, you certainly get that vibe when you walked in the door.
We chose whether we wanted one of their special experiences (we made a reservation) or to just have food and/or a drink (reservations for a regular meal were strongly recommended).
There were several experiences to choose from:
* Potion Making: make your own drinks, paid in advance
*Wizard Afternoon Tea: tea, sandwiches, scones, paid in advance
These two experiences included the wand rental and other wizardly equipment needed to concoct your potions and teas.
*Regular Dining: a deposit was needed, deducted from bill at the end of the meal
*Drag Bingo: exactly what it sounds like, people were encouraged to dress the part
*Drag Show: there was an admission fee, drinks were sold
These experiences did not include the wand or mixing your own drinks.
For the witches, wizards and warlocks in training, there are special sessions for those under age 21: you had to book during those specific times. All of the other times were geared towards adults.
So, how was our afternoon tea? Well, seriously the video shows it better but this is what we did:
*We enjoyed our brewed potion (cocktail). Since we arrived early, we had the bar experience and then took our drinks upstairs when it was time for our session
*We opened the magic box with the wand (you have to leave a credit card, because the wands tend to disappear). Inside were the teas. The recipes for the potions (brewing the teas) are on the menu or by scanning QR code.
*The tea sandwiches (huge, by the way, not finger sandwiches) were served on the magical carousel.
*Scones and other sweet goodies (also huge) were also served as well as a pretty tea pot and matching cups and saucers.
*You also get to make potion (drink) during the session.
*Try to see what other spells you can cast with the wand. Hint: It doesn't just open the magic box.
We took a lot of food home so that we could continue part of the fun later. It was a lot to eat and drink (we had drinks and tea)!
We'll miss The Cauldron and we hope they can either reopen or someone will open another themed restaurant like it. Meanwhile, there are other tea experiences around New York that we plan to explore (we've already been to a couple). Stay tuned!
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All photos and videos created and copyrighted by Marcia Crayton, unless otherwise noted.
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