Dueling Dragons being removed?

Last night during the live look-in of coasterradio.com, they briefly talked about the Wizarding World and the plans for future expansion. I personally am a HUGE fan of this show, but I know some of you may not be. One of the hosts mentioned how he had heard rumors from someone (their name was not disclosed, but he mentioned that he would ask for permission to tell people who he was) who had told him that now that Dueling Dragons/Dragon Challenge is to never duel again, it obviously takes away a major part of how unique the ride is. While still fun rides, the track by themselves lose some of their uniqueness and fun factor without the "near miss" moments. He goes on to explain that some people are hearing/saying that the park may opt to remove the rides completely since one of the big marketing points of the ride is now gone. This would allow them to use the massive plot of land that the ride sits on to expand the Wizaring World which is already evident. Due to the terrain and water, it would be difficult to place any sort of rides or shops under the rides, so in order to use that land, the rides would need to be removed. Take this with a grain of salt of course since this is all just rumors, but what are your thoughts on the chances that something like this could happen within the next few years?

Mike and EB tend to research deeper into things like these. They usually end up contacting park officials and trying to get the information from them. I'm sure if this is true, they'll be able to figure it out within a year or so.

Personally, it's still a well known ride. The general public will still want to ride it, even without the dueling. I think they'll be keeping it a while longer.

Yea Mike and EB are pretty good about not spreading too much gossip. Mike said he was going to keep an eye on stuff and see if he could find out more, but he did explore both sides of the story.

I think it's still a great ride (I've only ridden it with the dueling) and just because it isn't dueling means it should come out, I just thought it was interesting that something like this would even be speculated upon. As far as I know the expansion of WW is moving into what is left of the Lost Continent.

If it get's taken out, they at least need to put in another thrill ride. None of this kiddie crap or dark ride stuff...I want a fair trade.

Call up Intamin. Mega-Lite/Launcher. Win.

It's prime land for a coaster no doubt. If they did take it out, I wouldn't be happy, so they would have to replace it with a Blitz or something Maverick-esque or the like to even come close to making me happy.

I think it might be a bit of a stretch. It's wildly popular, and I doubt it will lose much popularity despite the dueling being gone. If it does get taken out, I'm sure there will be a mad scramble for somebody else to buy the pair.

Ugh... This is so complicated...

If it no longer duels, take it out. It just sucks too much to see it run without its full effects.

At the same time, it's such an awesome ride that is just so cool to watch when it dueled. I loved watching it duel...

I want it gone, but at the same time I don't want it gone [:(]

Originally posted by AJClarke0912

If it get's taken out, they at least need to put in another thrill ride. None of this kiddie crap or dark ride stuff...I want a fair trade.

Call up Intamin. Mega-Lite/Launcher. Win.

That would still not be a fair trade to the epic awesomeness that was Dueling Dragons. Fire is one of the best steel rides Ive ever been on for various reasons. Its an epic fail they made this choice and one that really makes me never want to go there again. That was reason #1 for me. Now that its gone, well, Ill take my business to Busch Gardens.

If they remove it, lol. I cant see anything fitting any better into that area.

I am going to pass on Universal as well.
That's the best ride there, but it loses so much by discontinuing the duel.

We need dueling blitz coasters!

The question is.... Who will buy it? Will the new owner bring back the duel? Would it be repainted in different colors? What if they decide to sell each track separately? Battlestar Galactica is still dueling, isn't it? What if they just moved Dueling Dragons to Universal Hollywood, and take the chance with it dueling there?

[Coasterkidmwm]

What if you guys are utter morons sometimes?

lol know how hard a relocation would be on that ride? the footer placements would be all over the place. Hope youre ready to invest in a lot of groundwork.

Who said the ride is very popular? When it was dueling and wizarding world was open it was always a walk on. Now that it will never duel again (the program has been deleted) I wouldn't be surprised to see it go sometime in the future...i would guess that's still pretty far away though.

Last I heard they were 'looking into the ride' to see if they could figure out possible dueling in the future. So, now it's for sure not going to duel again?

I am sort of behind on news. I figured it was 'key spots' on the ride that people were injured be it because morons weren't taking care of their lose articles, or throwing stuff on purpose...but yeah...I find it strange they're just throwing away the dueling aspect so quickly. It worked for so long.

Originally posted by Real

lol know how hard a relocation would be on that ride? the footer placements would be all over the place. Hope youre ready to invest in a lot of groundwork.

Would be easier to just the entire chunk where it is situated and crane it all to the new park.