Hi Thrill Seekers,
Today the theme park community is a wash with rumour which in 
turn is fuelling excitement…
As reported on a number of sites, it is said, depending on which you read, that either Universal Studios has purchased or is in the process of securing the rights to Tolkien’s works based around the fantasy World of Middle Earth, you may have heard of his books… The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit 😉
Now the Tolkien estate in previous years has been very negative towards the idea of a Lord of the Rings style theme park and was even critical of the films directed by Peter Jackson. However insiders are stating that they may well have been impressed by how true to the books Universal stuck with the Harry Potter series.
Remember this is just rumour and has nothing concrete supporting it, personally I’m thinking does it make sense for Universal to open another Fantasy “land” so similar to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, would the similarities cause cross over problems?
Its pretty much confirmed without actually being confirmed that Universal Orlando are looking to extend the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in to Universal Studios, where would a Middle Earth “land” sit?
The reasons it might happen are obvious, Tolkien’s books are legendary and have and will continue to live on. There is definitely money to be made by Universal with such a product which they would of course feature in all their major parks, starting with Orlando.
It would be interesting to see what rides the Universal creative team could come up with here’s our guesses…
Gandalf’s Drop
A roller coaster culminating in a massive drop, similar to SheiKra, representing Gandalf’s fight and fall in Lord of the Rings.
Dam Breaker
You know the big battle scene, where the dam is broken that helps wash away the armies, a water ride based on this would be great. Imagine all the great imagery you could include!
Twin Towers
2 “towers” facing each other one starts at the top, the other at the bottom, you are then shot up or down depending on your ride, similar to Dr Doom at Islands of Adventure however at certain parts the ride stops so you are looking at the tower opposite… you’ll see some cracking facial expressions 🙂
What would you like to see?
regards
Jamie
