In the theme park world, there are companies that tower above the rest of the competition. If you asked average people to name theme parks, most wouldn’t be able to name one that isn’t from Disney or Universal. With both companies having their flagship resorts in Orlando, Florida, it’s impossible not to see things as a competition; one that Disney tends to win, though Universal Orlando is arguably superior in some ways.
Generally speaking, I don’t go in much for the “Disney v Universal” battle. It’s been suggested that with Universal Orlando opening Epic Universe next year, Disney World is going to be in trouble because there’s no response, in the form of a major attraction opening to compete with it. Universal could steal attendance Disney won't get back. I have largely dismissed this idea. Disney World is still the vacation kingdom and Universal still has catching up to do. Having said that, Universal may be closer to catching up than anybody realizes, so maybe Disney should be worried after all.
Disney Parks Are Going To Be Fine In The Short Term
To be clear, I still don’t buy into the idea that Epic Universe is going to be some sort of death knell in the powerhouse that is Disney World. There is simply no place in the world like the swamp that Walt Disney transformed into an oasis. Even after Epic Universe gives Universal almost as many theme parks as Disney in Florida, Disney will still be Disney.
In the short term, both Disney and Universal are going to be fine. Epic Universe will absolutely increase attendance at Universal Orlando Resort, but there’s a good chance that those tourists coming to check out Universal’s new park will stay for a few days and visit Disney World too. There’s every possibility that both companies will have a record record-setting 2025 when it comes to attendance, revenue and profit, all those things that businesses love.
Universal Destinations And Experiences Are Offering A Wider Selection Of Themed Entertainment
However, Universal is clearly thinking long-term. Epic Universe is just one piece of what Universal Destinations and Experiences has planned. The same year that Epic Universe opens in Florida, Universal Horror Unleased will open in Las Vegas.
That will be followed in the not-too-distant future by Universal Kids Resort, a family-oriented theme park resort in Texas, and more than likely (though not guaranteed quite yet) a new theme park in Europe, a first for the Universal brand.
Universal isn’t just building new traditional theme parks. It is doing that, and Epic Universe, simply by being more than a quarter century younger than Disney’s newest U.S. park, is guaranteed to be the most technologically impressive park in the world. But what Universal is also doing is expanding its footprint in both a geographic and a themed entertainment perspective.
New locations like Universal Horror Unleashed, a permanently settled version of Universal’s insanely popular Halloween Horror Nights, as well as its new LEGOland-style family resort, are very clearly not for everybody. If jumpscares make you legitimately uncomfortable, then Horror Unleashed isn’t going to be a place to go. If you don’t have young kids, then Universal Kids Resort is unlikely to have much to offer you.
But by the same token, Universal Orlando Resort isn’t necessarily a place for all audiences. If you only visit Universal Parks during Halloween Horror Nights, then Horror Unleashed has the potential to make you a more regular guest. If your kids aren’t quite big enough to get enough out of Universal Orlando’s not inexpensive ticket price because they can’t ride the epic roller coasters, then Kids Resort will be the place to go.
Universal is planning to do more with the concept of themed entertainment in the future than Disney is. Though to be fair, Disney has tried.
Disney World’s Attempt To Expand The Concepts Of Themed Entertainment Flopped
Disney Experiences did try to expand the concept of what themed entertainment was. Unfortunately for the company, and probably all of us, it didn’t work.
Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser was a revolution in the concept of themed entertainment. While I never had the chance to have the full multi-day experience before Starcruiser closed down for good, I did get a chance to preview Galactic Starcruiser, and what I saw was incredible. The creativity, design and immersion of the experience were unlike anything I had ever seen before in a theme park.
Unfortunately, as had been expected, the market for Galactic Starcruiser was limited. The experience was expensive, and while there are probably more than enough Star Wars fans to keep something like that running for decades, the number of those fans with that kind of money was not.
By comparison, Universal Orlando Resort also opened its own unique themed entertainment experience not that long ago. Universal’s Great Movie Escape answers the question, what if your local escape room had an unlimited budget? The answer is a lot of fun, actually. And while it’s unclear how successful the Great Movie Escape has been in an absolute sense, it’s still open, whereas Galactic Starcruiser is closed, which tells you all you need to know.
Galactic Starcruiser was great but it also failed. The reasons for that failure have been and will continue to be debated. However, since all entertainment companies are forever destined to learn the wrong lessons from both success and failure, it’s unlikely Disney will be trying anything like it anytime soon, which is unfortunate because it’s exactly what Disney should be doing if it wants to be in a strong position down the road.
Disney Parks Need To Grow, Not Just Expand
Disney Experiences is investing in its parks. Disney has promised to spend $60 billion over the next decade on its parks, and that’s not nothing. At the last D23, we saw where a lot of that money is going to be spent. Disney World is planning new lands at three of its four parks, including a new Villains land at Magic Kingdom, a Tropical Americas area at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and a Monsters Inc land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
At the same time, Disneyland Resort is in the early stages of DisneylandForward, a massive expansion that promises to expand both parks significantly and add who knows what else in the way of hotels, dining, shopping, and if we’re really lucky, a third theme park.
Making the parks better is good, and making the parks different is better. They could be different by existing in new places or by offering more specialized experiences. I'll always wonder if Galactic Starcruiser would have been more successful if it had existed anywhere in the world other than Disney World.
I fully expect Universal Horror Unleashed to be built in more places if it's successful in Las Vegas. It's the perfect way to build a Universal "park" almost anywhere. Galactic Starcruiser could have been that for Disney.
10 years from now Disney Parks will be bigger and better than ever. That’s all but guaranteed. But 10 years from now, Universal Parks will also be bigger, they will also be better, but they’ll also be more. There will be more places to go and more experiences to have.
Disney Parks may still be the best place in the world to get the traditional theme park experience that we know and love, even decades from now. But if Universal is able to offer types of experiences that Disney can’t, or simply doesn’t, they have the potential to draw a lot more consumers to their locations.
Nothing that Universal is going to do is ever going to "destroy" Disney. At the end of the day, however, people only have finite resources when it comes to leisure spending. If Universal becomes the place where more people can do more with that money, then a lot of that money isn't going to be spent at Disney. It could take years, even decades for such a shift to really take hold, but if Disney doesn't pay attention, by the time the damage is done, recovery will only be more difficult.
