On my last trip to Universal Studios Hollywood, I was surprised at how many PAW Patrol shirts I saw kids wearing (but not as many as the Minions, Jurassic Park or Harry Potter shirts). They even outnumbered most of the franchises at the park like Dreamworks movies and The Simpsons! Because Universal only seems to have the rights to Dora, which isn't popular anymore, maybe they could do an interactive PAW Patrol experience at the park, since that is a Nick show and they have the rights to SpongeBob and Dora, this would work well. The story could be that Ryder and the pups go on vacation to an amusment park, but chaos break out when Sweetie comes and causes trouble by making the experience unenjoyable for the patrons by telling them to do things you aren't supposed to do at an amusment park! The pups ask for the help of the visitors to teach Sweetie theme park safety. I think it would work well as either a puppet show like the Disney Junior show or a 3D movie like the Legoland Bob the Builder movies. And besides this, I think the fourth park should expand upon this with a Nick Jr. area for younger visitors. Some ideas I have:
- A Bubble Guppies splash area
- Blaze and the Monster Machines (or Rusty Rivets, since both involve STEM) Kiddie Coaster
- A Hogwarts-like Shimmer and Shine or Wallykazaam! experience
- A Sunny Day salon similar to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique where children could get makeovers into Nick Jr. characters.
- A Blue's Clues experience (since the show is coming back)
And if they don't renew the rights to Nick, a good substitute would probably be the Universal Kids preschool shows. Some ideas I have based on what they currently air:
- Bring the touring Caillou costume over to Universal. Caillou is their biggest show, and modern kids seem to relate to it more than Barney. Maybe have Caillou do shows throughout the day?
- A Nina's World exhibit or experience about hispanic culture. Or maybe they can do this with Ollie and Moon but with world cultures?
- Super Wings flying planes ride.
- A Wiggles ride. Maybe remake some of the old rides that used to be at Six Flags or do a splash area.
- A Dot. interactive experience that teaches kids about STEM and technology.
- Masha and the Bear's House. This would be similar to the Mickey and Minnie's House attractions at various Disney parks, and Masha and Bear would make occasional visits.
I'm not sure if they still have the rights to these shows because they don't air them anymore, but they are listed anyway:
- The PAW Patrol theme park safety idea could work as a Noddy Toyland Detective ride, since that show is about solving mysteries AND is made by Dreamworks (which Universal owns). I was also thinking that Furchester Hotel would work for this, but then I remembered that in the US, the theme park rights to the Sesame Street characters (Elmo and Cookie Monster appear in the show) are owned by Busch.
- The Land Before Time dark ride: Like Noddy, Universal owns this, and the show did air on Universal Kids for a while. It could be based on the movies rather than the show.
- A Maya the Bee playground where children discover the world through the perspective of a bee.
As for stuff for older kids, I think that there should be rides for the newer Dreamworks stuff like Captian Underpants, Trolls and the Boss Baby, but I haven't thought of any ideas.