Now, I know this has already been discussed last year when Boris was talking about wanting one, but, it seems like it MIGHT... MIGHT... actually be moving ahead... Sort of...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news...ter-theme-park-to-open-in-uk-115875-22952388/
Wonder if it will actually happen... I'm certainly not getting too excited it'll actually have creds and the such yet...
It’s wizard news for all JK Rowling fans... a Harry Potter theme park is to open here in Britain.
Film company Warner Bros have earmarked a site at Leavesden Studios near London where all eight Harry Potter movies have been shot.
And they have hired the same team who worked their magic on the first Potter theme park in Orlando.
Harry Potter author JK Rowling is an enthusiastic supporter of the idea of a UK park, saying: “I would love it if they could do it as well as they have in Florida.”
Warner Bros bought the sprawling 170-acre site outside Watford in a £100million deal last year. At the time they outlined low-key plans for a modest “visitor attraction” at the former Rolls-Royce factory.
Just 6,000 visitors a day – half the number which visit Alton Towers on average – were expected to walk through the Potter film sets, including the Great Hall at Hogwarts and Dumbledore’s study.
Costumes worn by actors Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Emma Watson (Hermione) and Rupert Grint (Ron) would also be on show when the attraction opens in 2012.
Now it is clear that Warner Bros’ plans are much more ambitious. The firm has now registered The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the title used at the Florida park, as a trademark in the UK. And this explicitly covers amusement park rides.
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A range of souvenirs have been covered too from swimwear and snow suits, through to board games, masks, “flying discs” and even Christmas tree ornaments.
It is significant Warner Bros has engaged Thinkwell Design and Production to design the park since it is also working on the Wizarding World at the MGM Movie Resort in South Korea, which is due to open in 2014.
Attendance at Universal Studio’s Islands of Adventure in Orlando have leapt by 20 per cent since the Potter attraction opened there last June.
There is a steam-belching Hogwarts Express train, a Flight of the Hippogriff rollercoaster and reproductions of Hogsmeade village and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The news about Leavesden will delight millions of Potter fans. There was even a political row last summer when London Mayor Boris Johnson ranted: “We must be mad to leave it to the Americans to make money from a British invention.
“Harry Potter isn’t American, he is British. The train for Hogwarts goes from King’s Cross, in London not Grand Central Station, New York.”
A Warner Bros spokeswoman declined to comment on plans for the Leavesden theme park.
She said: “Warner Bros routinely registers trademarks associated with its properties worldwide in order to protect its rights.”
http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news...ter-theme-park-to-open-in-uk-115875-22952388/
Wonder if it will actually happen... I'm certainly not getting too excited it'll actually have creds and the such yet...