Theme Park Rides We’d Build for Franchises That Don’t Have One Yet

There is a very specific kind of daydream that happens when you love something enough. You do not just want to watch it or read it or play it. You want to walk through it. You want a queue line packed with meticulously detailed props, a pre-show that actually builds tension, and a ride vehicle that drops you directly into the middle of the story you already know by heart. Some franchises have already gotten that treatment. Wizarding World. Avatar. Jurassic Park. Others, somehow, despite genuinely massive fandoms, are still sitting on the sidelines.

So we did what any self-respecting group of fans would do: we designed the rides ourselves, and split our picks between the two parks where we think they would actually belong. Universal has always leaned into horror, edge, and genre thrills, from Halloween Horror Nights to its growing stable of DreamWorks and third-party IP. Disney, by contrast, owns a deep bench of wholesome, wonder-driven properties that simply have not gotten their moment yet, and the specific Imagineering magic to make them feel truly transportive. Here is where we would build each one.

Universal Parks

Universal’s brand has always embraced genre thrills, horror, and IP with a bit more edge than its neighbor down the road, which makes it the natural home for these five.

The Boys: Vought Tower Ascent

Type: Motion simulator dark ride with a satirical pre-show

The queue winds through a genuinely unsettling corporate lobby, complete with Vought propaganda posters, a gift shop already selling Compound V energy drinks, and a pre-show hosted by an animatronic Homelander delivering a PR speech that curdles in real time as his smile stretches a little too wide. Guests are then “recruited” into a Vought orientation program, boarding a hover-tram that promises a routine tour of the Seven’s headquarters.

It goes wrong immediately. The ride vehicle is caught in the crossfire of a full Supe battle across Vought Tower, ducking Translucent’s invisibility cloaking, dodging A-Train at full speed, and getting genuinely too close to Homelander’s laser vision for comfort. The finale drops riders through a shattered floor as Butcher and the Boys stage a chaotic rescue, ending with a soft landing in the Boys’ van as it peels away from the wreckage. It is exactly the kind of R-rated, satirical energy Universal has never been afraid to lean into.

Supernatural: Route 66 to Hell

Type: Dark ride with practical sets and screen-based effects

Riders board a fleet of replica ’67 Chevy Impalas and pull out of a gas station queue straight onto a stretch of fictional interstate that immediately starts feeling wrong: the road signs flicker, the gas station attendant’s shadow does not match his body, and a radio station keeps cutting to static right before an EVP whisper comes through. The ride takes guests through a genuinely spooky but navigable haunted house structure, from a possessed roadside motel to a cornfield full of crop-circle omens to a final confrontation in a devil’s trap-lined church basement, all narrated by a Bobby Singer animatronic feeding riders exactly enough hunter lore to keep things moving.

Given Universal’s existing relationship with Halloween Horror Nights, this is a franchise practically built for a seasonal-to-permanent pipeline, complete with rock salt shotgun shell keychains waiting in the gift shop.

Resident Evil: Raccoon City Evac

Type: Trackless dark ride with light gun interactivity

Guests are recruited as part of an evacuation team sent into a quarantined Raccoon City, boarding an armored transport vehicle equipped with light guns for the truly brave. The trackless ride system allows the vehicle to genuinely dodge, reverse, and reroute based on rider performance, weaving through the wreckage of the Spencer Mansion, a T-Virus-flooded Umbrella lab, and the collapsing Raccoon City Police Department precinct, all while Lickers drop from the ceiling and a distant Nemesis periodically stomps into view demanding riders by name.

Resident Evil has already made appearances at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights houses for years. A permanent, interactive attraction feels like the obvious next step.

Voltron: Legendary Defender: Form Voltron

Type: Motion simulator with a cooperative, multi-rider format

Since DreamWorks Animation, the studio behind Voltron: Legendary Defender, is part of the NBCUniversal family, this one belongs at Universal alongside the existing DreamWorks Theatre. This ride leans into its cooperative premise directly: five riders per vehicle, each seated in a distinct “lion” cockpit, working together through the pre-show to combine into Voltron before the main simulator sequence begins. The ride itself is a full-motion space battle against a wave of Galra fighters, with each rider’s seat responding to their specific lion’s role in the fight, ending with a triumphant flight through a recreated Castle of Lions hangar.

Teen Wolf: Beacon Hills Full Moon Chase

Type: Launch coaster with a werewolf transformation theme

The queue winds through a recreation of the Beacon Hills Preserve, complete with abandoned camp structures and Hale House ruins, before riders board a coaster vehicle themed after the Beacon Hills Police cruisers. The launch sequence is framed as the moment of the Bite: a rapid acceleration paired with a full-body lighting effect designed to simulate the disorientation of a first transformation. The coaster weaves through the forest set with genuine speed and a handful of inversions representing the chaos of a full moon chase, culminating in a supernatural showdown with an animatronic Alpha looming over the final stretch of track. Universal’s appetite for genre-forward coasters makes this a natural fit.

Disney Parks

Disney owns a deep bench of wholesome, wonder-driven properties that have never gotten their own dedicated attraction, and the brand’s specific gift for atmosphere and storytelling over pure adrenaline makes it the right home for these five.

WALL-E: Axiom Escape

Type: Trackless dark ride blending practical sets with screen-based space sequences

WALL-E remains one of Pixar’s most beloved and most criminally underused films at the parks, with no dedicated attraction anywhere despite the film’s rich, ready-made visual world. Guests board a small cleaner-bot-style vehicle and wind through a recreated, trash-covered future Earth before launching up into the Axiom, weaving past sweeping shots of zero-gravity dance sequences between WALL-E and EVE, a chaotic captain’s uprising, and a joyful, plant-triggered return to Earth at the finale. It is quiet, gorgeous, and exactly the kind of emotionally driven, dialogue-light storytelling Disney Imagineering excels at.

Luca: Portorosso Vespa Chase

Type: Family-friendly racing dark ride through an Italian seaside village

Luca gave Pixar one of its most charming, sun-soaked settings, and Portorosso has never gotten a proper attraction. This ride sends guests weaving through the village’s pastel streets aboard Vespa-styled ride vehicles, racing through the film’s climactic triathlon while dodging Ercole’s sabotage attempts, briefly ducking underwater to reveal Luca and Alberto’s sea monster forms, and finishing with a triumphant splash across the finish line. Light, breezy, and a great counterbalance to the park’s bigger thrill rides.

Turning Red: Panda Mania

Type: Motion simulator with a high-energy musical finale

Turning Red’s giant red panda transformation is genuinely tailor-made for a big, chaotic simulator ride. Guests join Mei and her friends racing across Toronto to make it to the 4Town concert in time, all while Mei’s panda form keeps involuntarily bursting out at the worst possible moments. The ride’s finale drops riders into the concert itself, a full-motion, music-driven sequence set to an original 4Town-style song, ending with the whole panda-sized chaos resolving into a warm, mother-daughter reconciliation beat that mirrors the film’s emotional core.

Raya and the Last Dragon: Kumandra River Run

Type: Flume-style water ride with a trackless boat sequence

Raya and the Last Dragon gave Disney one of its richest, most visually distinct worlds in years, drawn from Southeast Asian art and mythology, and it has never received a single dedicated attraction. This ride sends guests down the length of the fractured Kumandra river on a quest alongside Raya and Sisu, drifting through the five distinct lands of Heart, Fang, Spine, Talon, and Tail, each with its own themed set piece, before a climactic splashdown as the Druun are pushed back and Kumandra is reunited. It is a genuine showcase opportunity for a setting Disney has barely touched since the film’s release.

Elemental: Element City Transit

Type: Trackless dark ride with distinct elemental zones

Elemental gave Pixar one of its most visually inventive settings in years, an entire city built around fire, water, land, and air residents living side by side, and the film has never gotten a dedicated attraction. This ride sends guests aboard a “transit vessel” through Element City’s most distinct neighborhoods, ducking through Fire Town’s glowing forges, drifting through Water district canals, and weaving past Air district hot air balloon traffic, tracking Ember and Wade’s budding relationship along the way and ending with the city’s flood-gate climax resolved in a warm, hopeful finale. It is a genuine showcase for a color palette and world design Disney has barely used since the film’s release.

Why These Rides Deserve to Exist

Every franchise on this list has one thing in common: a fandom passionate enough to make a ride like this genuinely profitable, and specific enough visual and emotional language to make for a truly memorable attraction rather than a generic thrill ride with a coat of licensed paint slapped on top. The best theme park rides do not just put you inside a franchise’s aesthetic. They put you inside its emotional logic, whether that is WALL-E’s quiet wonder or The Boys’ specific brand of corporate horror satire.

Theme parks have proven, again and again, that fans will travel across the country and wait in line for hours for the chance to feel like they are actually inside the world they love. These franchises deserve that chance too. Somebody in an Imagineering office, and somebody over at Universal Creative, please, take note.

Which franchise deserves a theme park ride more than any other, and which park should build it? Drop your pitch in the comments.