Quote:
Originally Posted by echoscot
How many of you know that Dueling Dragons at Islands of Adventure was a Disney designed ride. It was originally intended for Animal Kingdom but for some reason they ditched the whole mythological creatures idea and sold the concept to Universal.......
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Not true.
The Dragon Tower attraction that was slated to go into Beastly Kingdomme was an inverted coaster, but it was themed to bats helping you escape from the Dragon's Tower, and featured (supposedly) a 60 ft animatronic dragon. Budget constraints forced Disney to lay off several Imagineers who got jobs with Universal Creative, who were working on Islands of Adventure at the time.
Those Imagineers took the idea of a Dragon roller coaster with a castle-like queue and dropped it in IoA. The story shifted to Dueling Dragons because of the desire for a two-track system. The dueling ride design was a custom creation by Boliger and Mabillard (B&M) Coasters.
Disney can't challenge Universal on the concept because Dragons and Castles are general domain. The bats storyline wasn't used, so there is no infringement or "theft."
Disney would NEVER "sell" an idea to Universal. They would rather a concept rot in their own vault than be utilized by a competitor.