From the time that Universal Destinations & Experiences announced that it was building a brand new theme park at Universal Orpando Resort, the theme park world has waited to see what would happen. As details surfaced regarding the new park, officially named Epic Universe, it was clear that Universal was putting together a new land meant to push the limits of what technology could do.
Considering that Epic Universe would be more than a quarter century newer than the newest park at Walt Disney World, fans began to wonder if Epic’s scope and scale might be so impressive and so appealing that it would draw guests to Universal who might otherwise have visited Disney. Could Epic Universe kill Disney World?
I have been to Epic Universe. I have seen the lands, experienced all the attractions it has to offer, and am here to tell you that Disney World is going to be just fine for the foreseeable future. Not because Epic Universe isn’t an incredible place, because it absolutely is. But it speaks to the what any theme park, especially Disney World, should be aiming at for the future.
No, Epic Universe Isn’t Going To Kill Disney World
It’s clear that Universal Destinations & Experiences is looking to grow its global footprint in the themed entertainment space. Counting Epic Universe, the company has four projects in various stages of development, including the recently official Universal UK looking to open in 2031. By opening a European park and building another one in Florida, Universal is looking to slice off some of Disney’s market share. But the company is also doing things outside Disney's playbook, like building Universal Horror Unleashed in Las Vegas and the Universal Kids Resort in Texas.
None of these additions are going to “kill” Disney outright. It's the 900-pound gorilla of the theme park world, and it’s going to take a lot more than just a shiny new theme park to change that. Disney has more, and it has a history, and it has generations of fans. Universal can get there, but it will take decades.
What’s more, history has shown us that brand new theme parks in Florida tend to benefit tourism as a whole. Even if a lot of people make a trip to Orlando over the next several months specifically to visit Epic Universe, it’s a safe bet more than a few of them will swing by Disney World, too, at least for a while.
The only way that Disney World gets “killed” in the theme park space is if Disney kills itself. It can do this by not innovating, by simply sitting back and doing nothing because it believes it can’t lose. It absolutely can, and after visiting Epic Universe, there are a few things I think the park does really well that Disney Parks need to take notice of.
Audio-Animatronic Technology Adds Something Screens Can’t
If you hang out with theme park nerds a lot (I’m sorry), you’re likely to hear them extol the virtues of animated characters over the use of screens to create a story. Ever since Walt Disney made Abraham Lincoln stand and speak, there has been a love for the technology he called audio animatronic. And while I think there are some absolutely valuable and real uses for screens, both Monsters Unleashed: The Frankenstein Experiment and Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry show just how well animatronics can improve the story.
Monsters Unleashed is an especially good example, as two of the best animated characters I’ve ever seen can be found in the pre-show before the ride even starts. Dr. Frankenstein is incredibly emotive and physical, and Frankenstein’s Monster actually walks!
It’s impossible to watch the pre-show and not remember the version of the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind pre-show that at one time was supposed to include animatronics of Rocket and Groot. While the show we got is still fine, it’s missing the energy that Monsters, Unleashed has because of its animatronics.
Live Entertainment Is Still King
One of the reasons that theme park fans love animatronics over screens is that they feel more real, and thus, the experience is more immersive. Of course, there’s another way to make things even more real than that, with actual human beings.
It feels like live entertainment is waning at Disney Parks. At Disneyland Resort specifically, we’ve seen Avengers Campus bleed live performances with one set of characters after another slowly disappearing. The Hyperion Theater at Disney California Adventure has been vacant since the criminally brief run of Rogers: The Musical. The Fantasyland Theater has become home to additional character meet-ups rather than staged performances.
By comparison, two of the absolute best things happening at Epic Universe aren’t rides, they’re shows. The Untrainable Dragon, inspired by How To Train Your Dragon and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter’s Le Cirque Arcanus are both shows I would recommend you not miss. Between the human performances, puppeteering, and animated characters, the shows are just incredible.
Live entertainment is more expensive because it costs money to pay the people on an ongoing basis. But this is money well spent. No technology can replace the energy of live performance.
Short-Term Savings Mean Long-Term Struggles
According to reports, Universal spent $7 billion to build Epic Universe. In comparison, Disney California Adventure, the last park built by Disney, cost (adjusted for inflation) about $1 billion to build. Even if you add in the cost of the 2007 update, because even Disney realized they had cheaped out on the place, we’re only looking at a total of a little over $2.5 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars.
The phrase “spared no expense” comes to mind with Epic Universe, and based on what I saw, it appears to be accurate. A lot was clearly spent here, and I love the end result of it. What’s important here isn’t the absolute dollar amount but that Universal spent the money that was needed to make the park everything it could be.
Disney California Adventure is a prime example, but it’s far from the only one, of Disney looking for ways to save money, but also lowering the quality of the final product as a result. From the attractions removed from Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to the E-Ticket that is only just now being built at Avengers Campus, to the previously mentioned removed of animatronics from Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, it’s become far too common for Disney to ultimately under deliver on its attractions to make the bottom line look nicer to investors.
Unfortunately, the savings often result in effects on Rise of Resistance that fail to function properly for years or in announced attractions getting canceled outright. While sometimes financial constraints do lead to creative breakthroughs, it’s more likely that it will just lead to a lesser result.
It’s worth spending the money up front because it will come back eventually. Quality construction up front means less spent on maintenance later. The more cutting edge a ride is now, the longer it will be until it feels dated and needs to be updated or replaced.
Competition is a good thing. Epic Universe isn’t perfect, but it does a lot right and it does a few things incredibly well. It’s clear that Universal Creative paid attention to what Disney was doing right when designing Epic Universe, and tried to outdo them in at least a few ways. Now Disney can do the same.
With Disney planning to spend $60 billion over the next decade on all its parks, including the massive DisneylandForward project, there will be plenty of chances to create something great. When it comes time to design the next big thing, I hope Disney remembers what Epic Universe had to teach them.
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