A couple issues. First, talking about Star Tours and the Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland does not really prove anything. Both of these parks were built when Disneyland was the only Disney park in California, so they didn't particularly have a choice on where to build them. They wanted thrill rides, they had good ideas, and they made them fit. That does not mean they necessarily belong where they are. Moving to Disney World, since there are 4 parks, with one park devoted entirely to entertainment, certainly any attraction featuring a non-Disney movie belongs there (just like the Indiana Jones Adventure belongs more in Hollywood Pictures Backlot at California Adventure than in Adventureland--but it opened in 1995, so that wasn't an option). However, Harry is not going to MGM because there is already a new E-Ride going to MGM, the Indiana Jones Adventure, and they are not building two E-Rides in one park at one time.
Sleeping Beauty Castle was not built without a movie. It was built a bit before the movie came out, and final animation changes in the film caused some changes in the now-closed walkthrough tour, but the Castle was meant as a preview for Sleeping Beauty, the movie (which, unfortunately, didn't do all that astonishingly in the theatres). It was a gutsy move to build the Castle before the movie came out, but Walt was gutsy. The movie was, however, already in production when Disneyland opened. And that doesn't matter anyway--it wasn't a non-Disney story anyway. It is fine to build attractions in the Magic Kingdom that aren't based on a movie that another company released. Something like Space Mountain was a new concept, not based on a movie, and it works. Even as Grizz said, basing a ride on the Harry Potter books would be fine (Disney didn't write the fairy tales, of course, they adapted them with their own Disney Magic), as long as it had that Disney twist, but by showing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on ABC, we know that we would not see such a ride. Any ride would be based on the movie, and that simply does not belong. One overheard conversation is hardly enough to prove that a ride is coming. WDI makes countless ride concepts, and 99% of them never reach fruition. Furthermore, we already know this area will sit for a couple years as a meet 'n' greet, so let's think about this. They finish clearing the area by late this year, and it opens as a meet 'n' greet. If we wait another two years to begin construction of any ride, that is early 2007, at the earliest, breaking ground (the same year Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is released), then we assume two years of construction, at least (probably more), and any new ride opens in 2009. That is FAR too long to wait to build such a ride. The final book will be out, everyone will know the ending to the series, and the 7th movie will be close to its 2010 release, the buzz will be leaving very quickly--they would get maybe two years of popularity and then it would start fizzing away. Any series consisting of 7 movies in 10 years will grow VERY tiresome by 2010, and while I like the Harry Potter movies a lot, they simply are not as timeless as a lot of the Disney movies-turned-rides. I'm sure some of you disagree, but it seems to me that if Disney were ever going to build a Harry Potter ride, it would already be under construction. The overabundance of Disney characters on the 20K site the past few years and the rumors of a meet 'n' greet after demolition has completed should serves as the best predictor of what will follow in this site: more kid-friendly Disney characters, not Lord Voldemort, Death Eaters, and Dementors.
