Universal Middle Earth Land

[Sam4D23]

According to Hypable Universal and the Tolkien family are in talks to create a Hobbit, LTR , and Middle Earth land at Universal Orlando. While I know this could be un-true it does seem like Universal to do, especially with their 1 billion dollar budget. If this goes through Disney will be crushed, Disney needs to make a comeback because Avatar and Carsland will not be enough. While I personally would love a Tolkien world land I would rather it be done by Disney. Any thoughts?

[Micoofy Duck]

Um.. they have STAR WARS. they can build a whole new theme park all about Star Wars. Or their own billion dollar Star Wars land. Star Wars versus Middle Earth... kinda funny but even playing fields.

As for Harry Potter, it really is small and the expansion is coming but it's not enough to take down Disney.

[Virtual Toad]

Um.. they have STAR WARS. they can build a whole new theme park all about Star Wars. Or their own billion dollar Star Wars land. Star Wars versus Middle Earth... kinda funny but even playing fields.

As for Harry Potter, it really is small and the expansion is coming but it's not enough to take down Disney.

Sure, Disney has Star Wars. But are they nimble and agile enough to do anything worthwhile with it in the parks?

You can own all the intellectual property you want, but if you can't do anything with it in a timely manner, what's the use?

The possibilities for a FULLY REALIZED Star Wars land are limitless and tantalizing. But I seriously doubt today's Team DisCo has the talent or corporate ability to pull it off (let alone maintain it). IMHO.

[Sam4D23]

True but you must remember Disney has said it will be a while till Star Wars while , Uni is working to get it out around the same time as Potter

[Bronco21]

WDW is already dooming itself with horrible maintance. USO doesn't need to do much more to show up disney.

[KingEric]

This is not a done deal. There will be more on this in next weeks ParkHopper

[Micoofy Duck]

The dramatics here are endless. So what if Universal builds a middle earth, that's IF. And so what if Harry Potter gets a new area. It's not the death of Disney or the beginning of the end for Disney. It's competition and it needs to be out there. I don't have a problem with that. I have a problem with people seeing this as something to bring Disney down or whatever doom you guys play out in your heads.

We all will still visit the maybe middle earth land and the harry potter area and then come back to Disney. That's just what is going to happen. Disney is always adding, building, changing. If a park does something grand like harry potter 2.0 and middle earth, then Disney does Avatar and Carsland. It's only a certain SMALL amount of people here who believe that AVatar and Carsland are not enough. NOTHING HAS BEEN BUILT TO COMPLETION YET for anyone to judge!

It's just funny and crazy at the same time just because of a rumor that sets minds in a downward spiral. I guess this is my dramatic reaction. LOL!

[Sam4D23]

^
I would agree, while I see the competition as something for Disney to challenge the company has so far taken any large effort in coming back. I am excited to see Disney's work on Avatar and Carsland and hope they are a hit, yet I still want Disney to make a WOW land that send USO make to the drawing boards.

[Baloo]

Where would they even build something like this in universal Orlando. A themed land for the Lotr trilogy for it to work properly would need to be in my opinion at least as big as Carsland.

lots of rockwork and tall landscaping would need to be integrated to really capture some of the best scenes of the book unless they just concentrate on the underground caverns.

universal Orlando screwed up when they sold off their expansion land and now I do not see much room for growth unless we hear about the removal of another large land.

The only ones I would see that would be large enough would be super hero Island which could give them a reason to cancelled their rights for Marvel character use and stop paying Disney. Or Jurassic park which seems like the better choice for removal.
Removing Jurassic park also gives them the possibility to expand into the huge empty lot that is sandwich between Hollywood way, adventure way and turkey lake road.



Looking at it even further the whole toon lagoon area could be removed as well. Do they really need three water drenching rides in that corner of the park?

the removal of toon lagoon could also allow them the possibility of expanding outside the parks boundaries if they own that land or can buy it

[DuffylovrDisney]

o.o
I think this is a good idea. Some competition could give Disney the push it needs to expand. I am very excited to see how this turns out. ^.^

[WRDup]

Universal seems to be playing very aggressively. Disney (specifically WDW) has, in my view, been very passive for as long as I can remember. The last big thing to come to WDW was Everest... and the biggest, best animatronic isn't even maintained to work properly. *yawn*

If Universal keeps it up they will be earning my business.

[Kidgenie]

If Universal does this Disney will be "crush"? Come now, that's a bit much don't you think?

Competition is good and it will be interesting how much Universal can push. Unfortunately, Disney knows that it has a fan base that it can do just about nothing and keep them coming. The fact that Disney's answer to everything they budget cut is that they "constantly evaluate their offerings and periodically make adjustments" is evidence of their indifference to Guest Service, Public relations, and what Universal is doing, an indifference they will keep so long as they continue to drive home the crowds.

No, Disney will not be crush and I don't seem them reacting. Instead, as is now typical, they will wait to see what Universal actually does with LTR, and them have some temperate and moderated response such as an upgrade to a next gen technology, or a Test trach enhancement to some other e-tickets. Do not look for them to play tick for tack with Universal.

But their actions of the past 10-15 years, they are clearly content being the biggest and leaving being the best to the debate of the on-line forums. As long as they remain #1 in annual attendance but multiples of millions, they are go to continue to be as they are now.

Sucks, but that is reality.

[KingEric]

This is now being discussed in the Universal Forum

http://micechat.com/forums/universal...dle-earth.html

[redrhino54]

Think about it, though. If done right, what an awesome park it would be ! What kind of rides and attractions would YOU put in it?

[disneytom]

In the press Disney would begin to be considered an "also ran". If anything, this will expedite plans to open a Star Wars park in Florida or greatly expand DHS. It's like a tennis match, who can out do whom with capital expansion.