Potential addition of rides / themepark to Warner Bros Studio Tour, London.

[Chris Brown]

This rumour should be taken with a large pinch of salt as I dont have anything other than word to back it up but I have reason to believe that the Harry Potter Studio Tour is looking to expand its offering by incorporating rides and / or a themepark section in the near future. Apparently there have been discussions regarding whether the rides should be outdoor or indoor and that the general consensus is that the rides constructed would be heavily story based with a desire for Roller Coasters and Dark rides over any kind of flat ride offerings. The aim is to eventually offer something akin to the Harry Potter worlds at the Universal, albeit a dummed down 'British' version.

Whilst this could be nothing more than a distant pipedream for the company I think it would make reasonable sense. Especially the expanding of the current tour to establish a true Harry Potter style themepark here in the UK.

 

[Matt N]

Exciting!

I wouldn’t be too surprised if that were to be the case, as I know that a Warner Bros Movie World theme park was considered for a site not too far away at some point in the late 90s (the project was later built in Spain in the form of Parque Warner Madrid), and discussions for a Harry Potter theme park in London were apparently started back when the original WWOHP was announced for Orlando, so the idea of a WB theme park to supplement the Studio Tour definitely isn’t something that’s passed them by.

Could be very exciting if it ends up coming to fruition, though; along with the London Resort, the next few years could be exciting for the British industry if all of this potential stuff comes to fruition!

The Studio Tour itself was absolutely amazing when I visited a few years back, so a theme park to top it all off would just be terrific, in my opinion!

 

[FistedColossus]

That would make a lot of sense. It is a hugely popular attraction but unless you're a die hard Harry Potter fan, there's not much there to attract repeat visits.

Also it's a 5 minutes from where I live. Not asking for much so I'd settle for a Ron Weaseley themed RMC tbh.

 

[Jamesss]

This is something I really think they should do.

When I last visited I actually felt like they were making tentative steps in this direction.

In particular, the newer Gringotts section with the dragon effect felt distinctly more themepark-esque than the rest of the tour.

 

[Joelpagett]

I personally think this would be an absolute gold mine. Not only would they be to cash in on return visits, but it would increase dwell time, and increase that on-spend too. If it was indoors too it would be able to open all year, increasing the popularity even further.

It's a big fat thumbs up from me!

 

[CrashCoaster]

I've never been here even though I've had the opportunity, simply because I thought it would feel like the WWOHP at IoA but without any rides. But if this does actually happen, that will undoubtedly change. How large of a theme park are we looking at here? I'm gonna assume something around the size of Ferrari Land?

I'm also wondering how much likely this is to happen than the London Resort. Either way, it will definitely cause some much-needed competition in the South Parks, as if Paulton's hasn't already kick-started that.

EDIT:- I've had a look on Google Earth, is it likely the park will be built on the area that seems like it's under construction?

 

[FistedColossus]

I've never been here even though I've had the opportunity, simply because I thought it would feel like the WWOHP at IoA but without any rides. But if this does actually happen, that will undoubtedly change. How large of a theme park are we looking at here? I'm gonna assume something around the size of Ferrari Land?

I'm also wondering how much likely this is to happen than the London Resort. Either way, it will definitely cause some much-needed competition in the South Parks, as if Paulton's hasn't already kick-started that.

EDIT:- I've had a look on Google Earth, is it likely the park will be built on the area that seems like it's under construction?

Most of that land is used for live filming sets so it always looks like a construction site tbh. Can sometimes hear explosions and see effects going off. Tom Cruise was spotted in the local Indian Restaurant a few years ago.

 

[TheCoasterCruiser]

This is such a no-brainer to me, and has been for some time. - So I'm very happy to hear about this!
Ever since seeing what Universal has been able to do with the IP, and the massive success it has been, I've wondered why the hell nobody were doing something similar in Europe. Take all the HP attractions that Universal has created and put it in a location in Europe (preferably this one) and I bet people would come in hoardes. - There are so many HP-fans in Europe that don't have the opportunity to go to either the US or Asia. Make it ****ing happen!

 

[JoshC.]

Very interesting. I've heard rumblings over the past year or so of them wanting to add attractions to the experience, but not so far as specifically mentioning rides or a more theme park style set up.

I'd be all for it though. I've always felt that one of the bigger prohibiting factors for a theme park set up not being added would be it would take away some drive for Brits wanting to go to America to visit 'the' WWoHP. Perhaps now that it is older and newer things are there to keep the draw across the pond, now is the best time to strike.

 

[Howie]

I swear some bigwig somewhere is scouring forum topics for old Howie posts in search of new business ideas - I said this years ago.
In fact, I said it as soon as me and the wife turned up at the Studio Tour itself back in 2014 and clocked those big, empty, otherwise useless fields next to the approach road.
"Why the f*** haven't they built rides on these big, empty, otherwise useless fields?" I said. "Who's running this sh*t show?"

 

[Tonkso]

I hate to be the negative one for once, as I tend to keep optimistic, but unless we're talking about some indoor dark rides only (which would be awesome), a proper park in this area is never going to happen. It's surrounded by residential areas.

 

[spicy]

This would be perfect and surely Warner Bros have looked at the insane success of Harry Potter at the Universal theme parks and knows how easily that could be replicated here.

With Warner Bros actually being the sole owner of the site, there is definitely a real possibility of this happening and enough money available to make it happen.

Not sure how the licensing issues with Universal would work as I suspect they are paying a huge sum to Warner Bros to use the Potter IP in their parks.

 

[Robbie]

I can't see them building outdoor thrill rides, with all the noise that comes with them, on a working film studio. The site is booked up with productions for years (they're currently making Fantastic Beasts 3 and The Flash there, among others) and they're already pissed off about the planes flying over.