Rumor: Universal Studios Orlando Nintendo Land Plans Expanding

We’ve known for a while now that Universal Studios was planning Nintendo lands for it’s Orlando, California, and Japanese theme parks, but the plans for the park appear to be bigger than anyone had expected. Local Florida News channels are reporting that Universal has just applied for a construction permit for the new park that covers 8.8 acres. To give a comparison, that is 3x the size of the Diagon Alley portion of Harry Potter’s Wizarding World.

According to the reports, the plan currently to house three major attractions at the park, with some sources suggesting that they will be based around Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, and Luigi’s Castle. If the park is successful, it will potentially spawn a spin-off park in Islands of Adventure that could feature attractions based around games like Zelda and Pokemon.

If this is true, there are some big problems with it. First off, who thought that Donkey Kong would be a better game to base a ride off of for the initial launch than Pokemon? Also, if you are already going to have Mario Kart, why not switch things up and go for a IP like Metroid or Zelda for the third launch attraction. Secondly, this whole set up is a repeat of one of the main issues I have with The Wizarding World. By placing half of the attractions in Universal Studios proper and the other half in Islands of Adventure, you are just exploiting visitors. But then again, they don’t have a problem charging $10 for a chocolate frog at Honeydukes, so it really shouldn’t be a surprise.

Source: WFTV