Homesick British wizard not cured by visit to “Wizarding World”

Note: in accordance with the International Convention of Wizarding Secrecy, this article is only visible to wizards, squibs, and certain muggles who are already aware of the existence of magic. Most muggles will instead see another article about the price of churros.

ORLANDO, FL — As part of Walt Disney World’s Cultural Exchange program, Scottish-born Hamish McFarlane, 18, is taking a year off from school to work at Epcot’s United Kingdom pavilion. What makes McFarlane special is that his school is Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Hamish McFarlane is a wizard.

The truth, but not the whole truth

“Workin’ here at Epcot,” McFarlane shares, “can be interestin’. Lots o’ folk are wantin’ to know about life in the Highlands, o’ course. I’ve got to be verra careful what to be sharin’, since I dinnae wan’ to be givin’ anythin’ magical away.”

We didn’t understand anything McFarlane said, but nodded and smiled while he was talking. Later, we played our recording of the interview to people with less-thick accents, who helped us understand his answers.

Homesick

It turns out McFarlane is very homesick for his school, and recently ventured to the Universal Orlando theme park to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. (He was also curious about possibility that the Hogwarts “replica” there is the actual school, a scurrilous rumor spread by certain disreputable theme park news sites.)

McFarlane came away disappointed.

“It’s nae but a load o’ muggles thinkin’ they kin do magic,” McFarlane exclaimed. “I’ll be wantin’ to go back to the real thin’, mind ye.”

What do you think about the price of churros? Let us know in the comments below!

Need more Uncle Walt’s in your life? Be sure to LIKE us on Facebook, FOLLOW us on Twitter, and tell everyone you know (plus a few strangers) how wonderful (and humble) we are!

Cover photo, a plate of churros, by Rstoplabe14 [CC BY-SA 3.0] via Wikimedia Commons.