Six Ideas for a Lord of the Rings Theme Park at Universal

A couple months ago the site Theme Park University reported Universal was quietly working on a Middle-earth theme park. Today, I'm going to throw out some ideas for attractions that would be fun to see in a Lord of the Rings theme park! Please let me know in the comments what ideas you have and what you think of mine!
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#tolkien #lordoftherings #themepark

[@phillysfinestgaming9840]

Dude, the technology and Virtual Reality styled rides of Harry Potter World is wild. Mind blowing experience. LOTR world has so much potential. I would die for a trip through Middle Earth

[@_.Leo_.]

Rip

[@spcrows313]

Love the ideas! 100% on Gandalf's fireworks and the Tower of Barad-dur and the barrel riding! It would be an amazing park!

[@SeyhawksNow]

Drinks at the prancing pony come in 3 sizes: Pints. Pints. And Pints

[@NerdoftheRings]

😂😂😂

[@xxxx85]

It comes in pints??

[@jnca5065]

A ride where Samwise Gamgee slowly and dramatically carries you into Mt. Doom as it rains fire from above 😭😭😭

[@dedbaka]

Sounds dangerous, lol. 😂

[@WickerSticksSinema]

Ok - a ride / or maze for Halloween based on “ Shelobs lair “ or “ The miles of Moria “ - Smaug / hobbit themed roller coaster - tower of baradur, drop ride - bilbo barrel ride

[@sararojas2884]

Flight of Samug coaster or Lothlorien tree top zip line. Lake town walk though? Green Dragon is a must!!

[@michaelw6222]

Great idea about the zip line! I love it. A spooky version would be zip line over Mirkwood. Watch out for the spiders!

[@johnvarallo]

LORT theme park? Yes please! I like your ideas. I also think there should be a Rivendel . What about a Roller coaster of Gobbling cave? Rohan Carrousel And don't forget the Second breakfast cafe!

[@NerdoftheRings]

Rivendell is a good one too! And I love the idea of a Rohan carrousel! 😄

[@CaptainBlagbird]

Make it a hotel for guests that want to stay to days: Bed & Breakfast & Second Breakfast

[@harghama1235]

Free fall from the top of Minas tirith would be cool

[@papasmurf5042]

I had to come up with a ride for my English project and I ended up having Glorfindels Stables as one of the locations.

[@whoareyou7]

If they do build shire, which definitely they will, make it into the park's hotel. Imagine having a chance to live in a hobbit hole. And they too can have brilliant fireworks there at night, alongside with nice foods and drinks, just like what we've seen with Bilbo's long expected party. That's also what Disney does, and people love it. *Guys I'm a super newbie to LOTR; please reply without spoilers thanks! Lol. And if you have any advice, feel free to share!*

[@SeyhawksNow]

Fireworks show done by Gandalf. Spinning teacup ride for Afternoon Tea with Bilbo. Gentle riverboat cruise around Rivendell. Splash Mountain style Lonely Mountain

[@NerdoftheRings]

Oooo! Fireworks by Gandalf! I really like that!

[@MCat360]

I love the idea of Gandalf’s fireworks show and a ride based on the Mines of Moria that involves orcs and the Balrog would also be amazing! I’d also love a ride that involves Smaug of course. The Tower of Isengard would be a must as well as the land of Mordor. Gotta have some Ents. The Prancing Pony is a must! How about an outside food court area that resembles the look of Hobbiton during Bilbo’s birthday party? And a peaceful serene hotel that resembles Rivendell.

[@NerdoftheRings]

Working in Rivendell and Bilbo's birthday would be really fun! I'm totally ready for this theme park to be a real thing! lol.

[@MCat360]

Nerd of the Rings Me too! I’m not going to get my hopes up, but, okay maybe I’m going to get my hopes up a little bit :)

[@kaitodomotochaithunderpsyc5635]

What about lake town? That being a shopping mall for Hobbit and LOTR merchandise. And remember there was a special club for Disney at club 33? What if we made an Aragorn's throne room at Minas Tirith where you sit in a big banquet hall next to Aragorn's throne and have legendary dishes from all corners of middle earth!

[@JayRaphaelJiaoInot]

I love your ideas on the guests being in a battlefield,its so dark and most especially when you said that we will be seeing Sauron's eye tower crash then end it with a firework show. You totally nailed it!!!

[@markdwalton]

Thos is the most fun I've had reading anything on the internet for a while now, even if it's all wishful thinking! Lots of great ideas here, especially in the comments. Would love to see Bree, Rivendell, Lothlorien, Rohan, Fangorn Forest, Minas Tirith, Mirkwood, and/or Laketown as areas to just explore, maybe eat a bit, and have conversations with "in character" actors. I totally agree that seeing Hobbiton crowded with tourists could spoil the experience, but maybe you could get a timed entry as part of smaller groups throughout the day. And what if either Hobbiton was actually populated by little people, OR everything in Hobbiton and Bree were scaled up so YOU felt you were Hobbit-size, with actors on stilts and prosthetics playing Gandalf, Aragorn, etc.? As previously noted, much of The Hobbit movies seem designed to be thrill rides - a rickety rollercoaster in the goblin tunnels, barrels out of Mirkwood like a river raft ride (but with orcs shooting at you - maybe you could aim an infrared "crossbow" back at them and make it like the Buzz Lightyear shooting gallery, only their heads would fly off if you got a bulls eye!), either a coaster and/or simulator Escape from Smaug in the Lonely Mountain, a wild ride on Radagast the Brown's rabbit-drawn sled, a simulated eagle's flight over all of Middle Earth...am I missing any? And having daily/nightly events, the battles at Weathertop, Helm's Deep, The White City, the destruction of Barad- Dur (could make it look like it's falling with laser projection), etc., would be amazing . But I think the real attraction would be "quests" you could take on different days, led by Gandalf, Aragorn, Gollum, Treebeard, Eowyn, etc., depending on which part of the book you'd want to reenact, what quest you wanted to complete.

[@tomwolfe6063]

Goblin Town would be a great Indiana Jones type ride as well. The plunge at sunrise at Helms Deep and through the glittering cave, a ride swirling through the levels at Minas Tirith. A haunted attraction involving the Barrow Wights and the Oath Breakers.

[@Person-wz6iy]

It could be split into two sections, one for LOTR and one for The Hobbit!

[@jeremy_317]

walkthrough theme of the awe of the City of Kings, Minas Tirith. NZ already has an unmatched Shire. Definitely the troll cave "lit" with jewels as lighting, with the trolls in stone at one side of one the entrances into the land as a place for pictures in LOTR-themed gear

[@doughackett815]

Great ideas! I think I would prefer Rivendell to Bree as the recreated village.

[@deanmottershead9208]

It doesn’t sound very child friendly though having a giant tower in the centre of the park with a evil eye watching all before it. Followed by a quick trip down the mines of Moria to see the fallen Dwarf heroes where you basically encounter a flaming demon bearing a whip! Given the amount of reports of the children that found the step mother “too scary” in the Snow White ride Every child ticket comes free with bed wetting trauma guaranteed

[@justingensel157]

You could do Minas Tirith instead maybe?

[@professorbutters]

I think Rivendell would make a very nice centerpiece. It’s tall and peaceful, with lots of water interest, a tour where you can see the sword that was broken. And as an alternative to the Prancing Pony, you could have a feast with Elrond. I like the idea of being led through different sections and/or experiencing Middle Earth. Disneyland used to have Soaring Over California, so you could definitely replicate an aerial view, graciously suggested by Gwahir. The water barrel ride is a must.

[@Martin-hx6vu]

@@professorbutters yeah but there should be tall structure like the castle at harry potter. Rivendell would be a good hotel or restaurant ( like when the hobbits rested there and ate there during their travel ) . Minas tirith or mount of doom would be great for land mark ( ik mount of doom would be un original)

[@Kiki-il6mn]

Agree with all the cool ideas you shared with us. Though ... I would put Bilbos house at the entrance! Barad Dur mmmh. The evil should not represent the park. I thought of Minas Tirith. 😍 but maybe tooo complicated.

[@mattstjean11]

What if bilbos house is the entrance to the land?

[@pietarikivi3732]

I would love THE TUNNEL rollercoaster😂😂 It would be amazing.

[@morgandurance8113]

THIS WOULD BE THE THEME PARK DREAMS WOULD BE MADE OUT OF

[@NerdoftheRings]

Right?!?! It would be a theme park that you move to be closer to. 😂

[@morgandurance8113]

@@NerdoftheRings if they make it it has to be the theme park to rule them all

[@InvaderLing13]

I would cry if this happened. I don't think I'd ever leave. EVER.

[@papasmurf5042]

I have group project for English and you gave me a great inspiration for a Moria ride, the end goal is to make like a few rides and I as a whole have made like 16 just because I’m so interested. The project so far has only been based off of the first book of Fellowship of the Ring. I owe ya, thanks!

[@BruizerNewser]

Imagine as you walk in the park you here the characters sing misty mountains cold that would be interesting

[@GTKreations]

Kind of in the same vein as the Indiana Jones ride, although it would probably be best to do it with 4D like the Gringotts ride, I would love to be chased by Smaug in Erebor!

[@NerdoftheRings]

That would be a fun one too! They could totally use flames and make you feel the heat! It’s really incredible what they’re able to do with attractions nowadays.

[@alexvazquez2871]

A 3D ride where we follow Frodo and Sam through the depths of Mordor, including orc skirmishes and an entanglement with Shelob.

[@powerofberzerker9487]

Give me a fully armed and filthy dwarven chariot and let me use the crossbow up front.

[@NerdoftheRings]

😂 Sounds good to me!

[@ToastedSynapseGaming]

Ride on top of an animatronic Ent :)

[@NerdoftheRings]

Haha! Yes!! That would be awesome!!

[@JediMasterBubba]

Or possibly slung over the shoulders of an uruk.

[@powerofberzerker9487]

And throw fake rocks at orcs and uruks.

[@adambaker9477]

I think the land could take place in the shire with the main attraction being a retelling of the lotr trilogy from frodo and sams perspective. You could enter the ride through bilbos home since that’s where the story starts.

[@can_you_guess_my_new_username]

"it would probably be a very dangerous ride if I were designing it" lolollll, me too mate

[@brendanschwartz2198]

I think a reenactment of the escape from Moria as a dark ride similar to Spider-Man or transformers would be awesome

[@philipcallado5693]

I think Barad-Dur may be too scary for a landmark, honestly. Minas Tirith might be more feasible.

[@AppliedNuggets]

“Hopefully one day I will” congrats on #4 man

[@gerardkiff2026]

All your ideas are great but totally disagree with the shire ! I’m a huge hobbit fan and I would be devastated if I could not walk through a little bit if the shire. Also, SMAUG would make an amazing ride !

[@landonweaver1040]

I want an Indiana Jones style ride up the mountain of Mordor, but I don’t want any way to walk up the mountain as one does not simply walk into Mordor.

[@juanchoguerrero9143]

I think if we had a theme park based on middle earth we could have the lands of middle earth and aman (Valinor) and the rollercoaster would be all of the great eagles and in the front you would ride Thorondor and Gwaihir

[@Martin-hx6vu]

I can imagine how much space this would take. Harry potter universe is great but smaller. Lord of the ring is pretty huge. In harry potter there you can buy a wizard costume. In lotr you would have costume like troll, orc, goblin and it would be pretty hot in it. It has also alot of big locations: Helms deep, Minas tirith, Rohan, Saruman tower, Mount of doom, Barad ur. Moria, the return from the Investment wouldnt be so Big if so many money is put in (also sorry for my grammar english Isnt my main language)

[@mattstjean11]

I would add lord of the rings park beside epic universe in the extra land that they have

[@tomwolfe6063]

I do know the perfect location. NW Georgia, NE Alabama or East Tennessee Area would give you everything you would need while keeping the season as long as possible.

[@sadenb]

There should be a miniature section on the worlds

[@CouragePope]

Cool ideas I rike this

[@puddlejumper8466]

Great video, but I think there's some misunderstanding in the community about what is potentially going on with LOTR & Universal. If a deal is struck, LOTR will not be its own theme park, but be one land in a theme park (similar to Harry Potter). As much as LOTR fans want to be able to walk though all of their favorite locales, honestly they're probably going to have to settle for just the Shire, Rivendell, and maybe a 3rd location.

[@SquirrelASMR]

5 is awesome

[@tehwatcherintehwater2022]

A Watcher in the Water ride would be ideal!

[@NerdoftheRings]

I like that idea a lot! Like Jaws, but more epic!

[@tehwatcherintehwater2022]

@@NerdoftheRings The ride could use a ship from the Corsairs of Umbar, and have scenes of Gollum stalking the visitors from his log, before the Watcher pulls down the entrance of Moria.

[@Person-wz6iy]

Gollum’s Riddle Game Show!

[@kcojco]

It would be cool BUT I doubt they would be able to get licensed.

[@NerdoftheRings]

You never know! For a long time I thought we’d never get a Tolkien adaptation outside of the Hobbit and LotR, but now we have the Amazon series coming up. Still, yeah, it’s probably a long shot. Lol. But still fun to think about!

[@JayRaphaelJiaoInot]

If a theme park is possible,I would highly recommend Peter Jackson to be a huge part of leading the Middle Earth production shows within the park.

[@Kulbul2001]

OMG Yes please!! 😍🥺

[@thorondor1593]

I would be happy to employ some eagles to operate number 3.

[@NerdoftheRings]

There we go! One step closer! 😁🦅

[@marionbaggins]

Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes & YES PLEASE MAN!!!

[@jamespickles8952]

I would personally like to see these attractions in New Zealand because all these bloody theme parks and cool places are in America or England and I definitely cannot afford to go to America

[@jonathanl3165]

Universal: we were thinking of making a lotr theme park, do you think you would be interest- Me: shut up and take my money!

[@appa609]

it would have to be huge.

[@user-he2pl7zt4m]

so do i , i like HP world but i adore Middle earth world n ever since i heard about its feasible opening in the near future i have given it a lot of thought as to how to pull it off n what sites to input

[@johncarlopaster8943]

Minas thirit, helms deep, barad ur and orthanc

[@ericgregorious7047]

They should make a Quahog Themepark.....well

[@sabinaarmesto4910]

And also argonath would nice like at entrance

[@princessisabelcastilloflor8912]

What could Minas Morgul be used for?

[@kareljongejan]

What about a rollercoaster through The Lonely Mountain? You could have Smaug and all the gold! I know the title says "Lord Of The Rings", but you said "the works of J.R. Tolkien"...

[@Person-wz6iy]

You forget one of the Rs in the J.R.R.

[@christopherfelipe60]

Gondor should be the castle ….dark ride in the misty mountains with Smaug…

[@thefanboy2008]

If Universal has both Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings in there theme park then Universal is officially better than DisneyWorld!

[@drbelli]

and the park could have a day time mood, and a night time mood, one influenced my light etc, other darkness orcs, etc...

[@NerdoftheRings]

I like this idea! Night filled with orcs might be a little scary for the kiddos, though. Unless they're based on the orcs in the animated ROTK, singing and stuff. lol.

[@TurkeyTerrorizer]

why isn’t this already a thing bro wtf

[@matthewboreham2001]

photo opportunity with a ringwraith how would gollum be accomplished

[@grunterscock]

No. No. No. You do the Shire, but you double the size of everything there, so a regular sized human adult would feel like the size of a hobbit.

[@samanthalaxton5149]

The shire

[@samanthalaxton5149]

Gondor

[@johnsullivanmusic2719]

Ah yes, the tower of Barad Dur. Only 4x the size of the emprie state building. I think Id settle for a USA located recreation hobbiton and maybe a couple areas around the shire as its probably the easiest thing to make. That or just recreate rivendell from the movies and have a bunch of ppl dressed as elves and elf themed shit, that or recreate the halls of the elvenking and you could have the barrel ride.

[@matselva7001]

Nah

[@hammysmyths]

In all honesty, I would be seriously against this. Lord of the Rings, at least for me, has become somewhat of a beacon of righteousness in the entertainment industry. It would be like taking something pure and beautiful and making a mockery of it. Personally, I treasure these films too much to see (what I'd consider) "cash-grab" art made from them. I think these films demand respect and that would include leaving them out of the amusement park industry. I love theme parks and I would love the idea of immersing myself in the story even further but I just think that a LOTR park would be maybe a bit disgraceful. Tacky I suppose. But I'm just one guy with a stinky opinion.

[@gandalflotr2898]

Cash grab are capitalism