2. Twilight

Half the people reading this probably groaned at the idea of a Twilight-themed park, but it’s a very popular franchise, especially among younger demographics. As fun (or not) as it might be to visit the world in-person of the novel and film series, Stephanie Meyer, its author, already came out against the idea in an interview at Sundance. Her new movie Austenland takes place in a Jane Austen theme park inspired by Pride and Prejudice, so the possibilities of a Twilight theme park naturally came up. Meyer said, 

“I cannot comprehend why you would do that. How could you create that? It would be so boring. Would you have to go to high school for that? Ugh. Sounds awful. I don’t want to go back to high school. What would the ride be? We don’t have rides [in the Twilight books or films]. I guess you could have a mechanical vampire that you could ride piggy back. I think that’d be a liability issue though.”

She makes some solid points. Whereas Hogwarts is a school full of magic and mystery, the characters of Twilight attend a mostly typical high school that just happens to have vampire and werewolf students. It doesn’t sound like a place that would be super exciting to explore, and they’d also have to find somewhere cloudy so that the vampires can sparkle! More importantly than making a good argument, though, Meyer has the power to say no to a Twilight theme park if she doesn’t want one. Twi-hards shouldn’t expect any sort of development anytime soon.

UPDATE: Looks like Meyer might have been wrong, as the town of Forks is being built as part of a new park. You can read more at Theme Park Insider. 

3. Game of Thrones

The biggest thing holding back a theme park based on the A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels and Game of Thrones TV show is undoubtedly the content. A faithful adaption would contain way too much sex, violence, nudity and more things that aren’t age appropriate. Not exactly welcoming to young children, one of the main demographics that theme parks chase after.

As a compromise, there is apparently a “funfair” being built in the city Dubrovnik Riviera. According to a report, it’s to be positioned on the Island of Lokrum, which neighbors the walls of an ancient city. There is to be a monastery plus props, costumes and jewellery from the TV series available to look at. It will even have the original Iron Throne that looms so large in people’s minds when they think of Game of Thrones. All of this is exciting, but it’s neither in a good tourist location or will likely have more typical rides and other attractions that younger attendees would enjoy. It’s unlikely we’ll see a United States theme park for Game of Thrones now, at the height of its popularity, or ever.