On June 18, 1812, the United States declared war on Great Britain. It was the beginning of the War of 1812 – the second conflict between the two nations, and one that sought to end leftover tensions from the Revolutionary War.
Exactly 198 years later to the day, Universal Orlando opened The Wizarding World of Harry Potter to the public.
There has long been competition between Universal Orlando and Walt Disney World, but it’s never truly been a fair fight. Disney has always had a massive corporation backing them, willing to provide resources and energy to stay high atop the Florida theme park scene. Universal, on the other hand, has changed owners almost a half-dozen times in its history, never fully grasping a clear creative or strategic vision.
But when Universal announced the development of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, everything changed on a dime. That project was a declaration of war against Walt Disney World, and we’re still only in the midst of the opening shots. But soon – very soon, in fact – we’ll be in the middle of the biggest theme park duel since the early 1990s.
And here are a few reasons why:
1. The Rebounding Economy
Disney Dollar
What killed the Disney Decade? There are a lot of answers to that question, but if you want to boil it down as simply as possible, you could say this: the post-9/11 economy killed the Disney Decade.
Tourism slumped across the country as the economy took hit after hit – never fully recovering to 1990s-level prosperity. The result was less capital expenditures within the Disney Parks, instead focusing on building things like Value resorts and infrastructure.
Abroad, the Walt Disney Company was still focused on empowering the fledgling Euro Disney Resort (now Disneyland Paris), which had operated at a loss from 1992-1995. By 2001, the Resort finally began a turnaround, and with newfound stability, Disney was looking to maintain order.
Thankfully, the economy is now as healthy as it’s been in years, tourism is rebounding, and the Florida parks are posting record profits and attendance. Corporations are spending money too, which means that finding attraction sponsors is more doable than ever, which makes expansion and construction more palatable for Disney.
Meanwhile, Universal has finally found an owner as ambitious as its designers, with Comcast showing no shyness with regard to multi-million dollar expansion budgets. The money is freely flowing into Orlando, and where there’s money, there’s development.
Fuelled by their deep pockets and armed with some of the most brilliant artistic minds in the industry, the two companies have both the capital and the creativity to push their resorts to the next level.
And, in doing so, create …
2. Strong competition
One of the key factors that kicked off the Disney Decade was, undoubtedly, the birth of Universal Studios Florida.
Then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner heard about Universal’s plans for an East Coast park and set about beating Universal to the punch. Due to Walt Disney World’s unilateral control over its land, it was able to complete construction on its own movie-themed park a year before Universal. From there, progress begot progress and Walt Disney World built up into what it is today – adding dozens of hotels, a reimagined shopping district, a water park, and another theme park.
Universal responded to that development by opening a second theme park of its own, Universal’s Islands of Adventure, which featured incredibly intricate theming and one of the most advanced attractions in the world, The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man.
Now, here we are a decade later, and the song remains the same. Universal launched The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and Disney answered back with New Fantasyland. Universal opted to expand the Wizarding World to include Diagon Alley, and Disney answered back with ambitious plans for an Avatar-themed land at Animal Kingdom.
Ultimately, because Comcast’s return on investment for the Wizarding World has been so high, they’re more than happy to keep channeling money into the Orlando property, and as more money finds its way to Universal, Disney will feel the need to react – whether they admit it or not.
And so, the cycle continues — Universal opening a headline-grabbing attraction and Disney responding in time with their own carefully planed creation.
Thankfully, they’re positioned well to do this dance over and over again, thanks to the…
3. Intellectual Property boom
Image: Disney
Quick: What’s the highest grossing film of all time? Anyone? That’s right – it’s James Cameron’s Avatar, which Disney has announced plans to bring to Animal Kingdom in the form of a themed land. The Avengers is third on that list, and Disney currently owns Marvel. Frozen, a film created and distributed entirely by Disney, is fifth. Adjusting for inflation, Star Wars: A New Hope comes in at third all-time as well – thankfully for Disney, since it bought Lucasfilm just last year.
Of course, Universal’s not out of the fight either – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 is fourth all-time. Even Transformers and Jurassic Park, both with a strong presence at Universal Orlando, made the top 15 as well.
The point is that there’s a ton of intellectual property out there. The Walt Disney Company may not have been building tons and tons of theme park rides over the past 10 years (not in America, at least), but what they have been doing is amassing property that can be used to create those theme park rides.
On the other hand, Universal’s agreement with J.K. Rowling to quickly bring Harry Potter to their parks was a stroke of genius. While Disney has long been successful at creating attractions untied to existing IP (Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, etc), those attractions don’t have the same immediate resonance as something tied to a beloved franchise.
And we’re about to see the ultimate test of that theory, as all signs point to a massive announcement from Disney about the future of Star Wars in its parks. And, naturally, Universal has already begun surveying guests about its next big media acquisition.
The future of theme parks is, according to these two companies, in leveraging existing properties into themed experiences. Thankfully, there’s so much intellectual property out there, Disney and Universal will have an awful lot to fight over for years to come.
Of course, once you have the property, you still have to develop it. Thankfully, there’s tons and tons of …
4. New technology
MagicBandsDisney’s new RFID wristbands are pushing the envelope for theme park technology.
The last Orlando theme park boom came at the dawn of the internet era. When Islands of Adventure opened in 1999, Google was less than one year old, Mark Zuckerberg was 15, and the iPod was still two years away from launch.
Obviously, some things have changed since then, but the Orlando parks have remained much the same.
Not for long.
Let’s look just at My Disney Experience and Fastpass +, because those programs are going to completely revolutionize themed attractions. Seriously.
One of the rumors we’ve heard is that, eventually, Disney’s MagicBands will be able to be scanned by character attendants in order to create a more personalized experience for the guests. For example, a young child meeting Cinderella for the first time might be surprised when the princess calls her by her first name and asks about her pet dog.
But let your imagination run with that idea, and it’s impossible not to see it showing up elsewhere. Imagine an updated end to Spaceship Earth based on actual information about you gleaned from your MagicBand. Or imagine an attraction that seats all guests individually, and uses MagicBands to keep those individual seats grouped together by family. That’s just scratching the surface of what these things can do.
Meanwhile, look at what Universal has uncovered for its two Harry Potter attractions: one is a moving robot arm that truly created a thrilling dark ride of the future, and the other is a roller-coaster hybrid completely redefining an entire ride genre.
There’s so much information available, and so many creative people involved, that the next generation of attractions will be able to do amazing things and make them feel just as personal and intimate as these parks have made them for years.
And so, when thinking about where we are, it’s hard not to feel optimistic about the future of the Orlando theme parks. We’re living in a time of unparalleled technological progress, filled with iconoclastic artists, aggressive businesspeople and a growing economy. Ultimately, what these companies are doing is fighting over you – the consumer. And when businesses go to war with one another, the winner is always us, for what we get in return is great value, creativity, and innovation.
And, hopefully, a Star Wars theme park.
