Middle Earth coming to UOR?

[Accio Butterbeer]

i really really do not want them to get rid of toon lagoon. Dudley do right and Popeye are amazing top notch water rides and are so greatly themed.

 

[Disneyhead]

From Screamscape yesterday (1/20):

"Rumor has it that members of NBC/Universal’s top brass were seen touringIslands of Adventure with members of Warner Bros and Comcast top brass this week, with a heavy focus on looking over every inch of Toon Lagoon, as well as showing off the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Early Middle-Earth talks maybe?"

 

[Brian G.]

So much back and forth with this rumor.

 

[SJN1279]

i really really do not want them to get rid of toon lagoon. Dudley do right and Popeye are amazing top notch water rides and are so greatly themed.

I agree, it is probably the most colorful and fun section of IOA. I also was a huge Popeye fan growing up and would hate to see it go.

 

[Disneyhead]

I have actually heard at least 3 different rumors concerning this topic. Everything from "Universal has never considered it" to "The talks are still ongoing but stalled until after the Tolkien's Law suit with Jackson is settled.". There is one that Universal pitched it and the Tolkien family shot it down immediately.

The most recent one is that they have given up on "LotR" and a going after just "The Hobbit". If that is true we can give up hope for "Walking: The Ride" and can look forward to "Running: The Ride".

 

[Accio Butterbeer]

I have actually heard at least 3 different rumors concerning this topic. Everything from "Universal has never considered it" to "The talks are still ongoing but stalled until after the Tolkien's Law suit with Jackson is settled.". There is one that Universal pitched it and the Tolkien family shot it down immediately.

The most recent one is that they have given up on "LotR" and a going after just "The Hobbit". If that is true we can give up hope for "Walking: The Ride" and can look forward to "Running: The Ride".

I did like the hobbit movie but in my opinion if they are just going after the hobbit and not LOTR i wouldnt bother. And again if they do decide to make a hobbit or LOTR land PLEASSEE do not get rid of toon lagoon!

 

[insanepizzaguy]

Some people are saying Hobbiton would be great if they brought it into whatever LOTR section that might come but I just can't think of any attractions for Hobbiton. It's just grassy hills with some Hobbits living there, it could be cool if they did a fireworks show like in the beginning of the first movie but I would still rather have it be Mordor.

 

[Hatetofly]

As far as the exec walk is concerned I was told they walked the park to see current projects as well as the overall status of the park itself. Comcast put a huge bump into their capital projects as well as park wide refurbishments. Popeye and Dudley are going down soon and said to have expanded budgets this year, which could explain them being seen in Toon Lagoon. Not saying they didn't run blue sky projects past them during the walk but again I was told it was a status of the parks walk and to expect numerous walks almost quarterly from from execs from all involved companies over the next 2-3 years. Their is a lot of money on the table and everyone is keeping very close tabs on it.

 

[Disneyhead]

As far as the exec walk is concerned I was told they walked the park to see current projects as well as the overall status of the park itself. Comcast put a huge bump into their capital projects as well as park wide refurbishments. Popeye and Dudley are going down soon and said to have expanded budgets this year, which could explain them being seen in Toon Lagoon. Not saying they didn't run blue sky projects past them during the walk but again I was told it was a status of the parks walk and to expect numerous walks almost quarterly from from execs from all involved companies over the next 2-3 years. Their is a lot of money on the table and everyone is keeping very close tabs on it.

That makes sense.

 

[lazyboy97o]

As far as the exec walk is concerned I was told they walked the park to see current projects as well as the overall status of the park itself. Comcast put a huge bump into their capital projects as well as park wide refurbishments. Popeye and Dudley are going down soon and said to have expanded budgets this year, which could explain them being seen in Toon Lagoon. Not saying they didn't run blue sky projects past them during the walk but again I was told it was a status of the parks walk and to expect numerous walks almost quarterly from from execs from all involved companies over the next 2-3 years. Their is a lot of money on the table and everyone is keeping very close tabs on it.

Any chance of Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls being more fleshed out in line with its original design intentions?

 

[knokout1]

I wouldn't be surprised to see it get some little updates to improve the quality. A few months ago I would have been, but after seeing all the little things they've been doing to everything all around the parks, nothing will surprise me anymore. Well, almost nothing .

 

[SweeneysGalMegz]

From Screamscape yesterday (1/20):

"Rumor has it that members of NBC/Universal’s top brass were seen touringIslands of Adventure with members of Warner Bros and Comcast top brass this week, with a heavy focus on looking over every inch of Toon Lagoon, as well as showing off the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Early Middle-Earth talks maybe?"

I'm almost beginning to hope this isn't a project in the works, simply so that I have less stress about TL leaving for the moment. Happy to see the post by HTF a few posts down. :thumbs:

 

[DragonSlayer]

If someone would kindly just fly a big banner out of UC Towers saying "We're doing it!" I would be much obliged and start celebrating The back and forth makes me sad! I wonder though with the "Hobbit only" part, if there would be any realistic chance of that being the case given there is so much overlap anyway - you could still legitimately include Rivendell (PLEASE) ect, but also just as easily only have Mirkwood ect (i.e. Hobbit-exclusive places).

Dale would make quite a nice theme-parkey town main-street shopping / food area though...

 

[Accio Butterbeer]

I'm almost beginning to hope this isn't a project in the works, simply so that I have less stress about TL leaving for the moment. Happy to see the post by HTF a few posts down. :thumbs:

HTF was saying in the earlier posts they were there because dudley and popeye have expanded budgets...but im with you on this one leave Toon Lagoon alone!!!

 

[TheMackMachine]

As far as the exec walk is concerned I was told they walked the park to see current projects as well as the overall status of the park itself. Comcast put a huge bump into their capital projects as well as park wide refurbishments. Popeye and Dudley are going down soon and said to have expanded budgets this year, which could explain them being seen in Toon Lagoon. Not saying they didn't run blue sky projects past them during the walk but again I was told it was a status of the parks walk and to expect numerous walks almost quarterly from from execs from all involved companies over the next 2-3 years. Their is a lot of money on the table and everyone is keeping very close tabs on it.

Yeah this tells me they won't be going anytime soon. Toon Lagoon lives!

 

[kenban]

Here is Hate's article:

http://orlandounited.com/2013/01/14/words-of-hatetofly-one-does-not-simply-build-mordor/

Enjoy!

Can anyone expand upon the ownership of Major Blvd.? I have read several claims that Universal purchased some or all of the land and I can't seem to actually find any information that actually seems credible. I would have thought that if Universal owned this even if they have to wait out a bunch of leases that you would find more information about it.

 

[maxairmike]

If the Major Blvd. purchases are true, does anyone have any idea how long the Property Appraiser site generally takes to update that stuff? The new map and property lookup system seems pretty nice, so I'd imagine they can/should update stuff fairly quickly, but it is a government thing...

 

[John321]

OrlandoInformer posted this on Facebook at the T2 gift shop.

https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/orlandoinformer.page

 

[Disneyhead]

OrlandoInformer posted this on Facebook at the T2 gift shop.

https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/orlandoinformer.page

Means nothing, they used to have Sting (Frodo's sword) at IOA's sword store:

 

[Shadow Carelli]

They also had Link's Sword and shield at the IOA sword store too.