Universal getting rights to Lord of the Rings theme park?

Could Hobbit fans soon be able to don a pair of over-sized hairy feet and trudge around the Shire? Universal Studios and Warner Bros are rumoured to be planning a Middle Earth theme park, according to reports.

It's being claimed that Universal has even got to the stage of presenting an idea for a Hobbit/Lord of the Rings-based park to the guardians of the Tolkien estate.

ThemeParkInsider: By all accounts, Universal Creative and LOTR/Hobbit director Peter Jackson have a strong working relationship, dating to Jackson's work on the King Kong 360/3D experience at Universal Studios Hollywood. New Line Cinema, which produces the Lord of the Rings films, has worked with the Universal theme parks on Halloween Horror Nights attractions, and now is a subsidiary of Warner Bros., which is quite pleased with how Universal handled that other little film franchise it runs: Harry Potter.

The only connections missing are the blessings of Tolkien family, and of course, the little matter of money.