In 1986, Universal announced plans to build a movie-themed amusement park/film studio in Orlando. Long the domain of Walt Disney World, Universal sought to not only grow the tourism market in Central Florida, but to go after some of Disney’s enormous and undisputed market share.
Disney’s response was incredible: within months, they too announced plans to build a park themed around movies – their first new park since 1982’s Epcot – and theirs would also aim to bring in real film and TV productions.
Amazingly, despite starting their project months after Universal, Disney was able to open Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios) a year before Universal Studios Orlando could open their gates. Using the considerable powers afforded to them through their governmental body, the Reedy Creek Improvement District, Disney was able to cut through any red tape and build as quickly as the laws of physics allowed.
Fast forward 20 or so years, and my, how things have changed.
In the time it has taken for Disney to construct their new parking garage at Downtown Disney (soon to be Disney Springs), Universal was able to announce, construct, and open the technologically advanced Transformers: The Ride-3D attraction at their Universal Studios park. That’s right – an enormously complex attraction took less time from page to stage than something as simple as a parking garage.
Why? Well, the answer is actually pretty simple: complacency.
Disney’s been at the top of the Central Florida tourism game for decades. Even with increased competition locally, they are still the preeminent brand in the area. Universal’s aggressive expansion in recent years has certainly started to change things, but it would take something much more dramatic to make Disney shake off its decades-long slumber.
And that is a shame. For, here’s the thing: While Disney has always been and very well may always be the king of Central Florida, there is a lot they can learn from the upstart neighbors next door.
For instance:
1. Build quickly and stay nimble
For whatever reason, Disney has taken to working in long construction cycles for their biggest attractions. The New Fantasyland expansion took roughly five years from conception to conclusion, and the World of Avatar has been in development ever since the film’s release in 2009. Universal, on the other hand, has taken to an aggressive schedule, building attractions as quickly as they can in order to reduce the time between announcement and opening day.
In building quickly, Universal has been able to capitalize on pop-culture trends much more effectively. One needn’t look much further than Disney’s attempts to integrate the blockbuster film Frozen into their parks. While the company wasn’t expecting the film to be the smash success that it was, its release back in late 2013 gave the company more than enough time to quickly add the newly-beloved characters and stories to the parks. Instead, the company’s steadfast refusal to move at haste resulted in the somewhat-thrown together “Frozen Summer Fun” event, as well as the opening of the new Frozen-themed attraction at Epcot sometime after 2016.
Disney has the infrastructure to build their attractions quickly – they’ve demonstrated it before – and in being slow to open these new experiences, they fail to capture the excitement while it is still fresh in guests’ minds.
And, in the case of the aforementioned parking structure, it causes unnecessary headaches for everyone.
2. Give the people what they want, not what you think they want
Universal bet big on The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and that bet paid off just as hugely. It’s not a surprise, certainly: Harry Potter has one of the most wide-reaching and passionate fan bases of any entertainment property.
One of the reasons for its great success is that Universal capitalized on something people clearly wanted. They gave millions of guests the opportunity to explore Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Some guests have been waiting their whole lives to experience that feeling, and Universal recognized that passion and delivered on its promise.
The lesson here, for Disney, is to listen, rather than speak.
Yes, Avatar made a lot of money at the box office, but that doesn’t mean it has the same passionate level of support as something like Harry Potter. In building an entire themed area dedicated to the film, Disney seems to be missing the point – people didn’t want to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter because they saw it in a movie, they wanted to visit because it’s something that’s captured their imagination for years and years. Avatar was a fad, I think it’s fair to say that now, and in constructing a world dedicated to it, Disney is telling guests what they should want, rather than listening to what they actually want.
Even with the Star Wars expansion at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Disney has said that any new attractions will be themed after the new films, rather than the classics. They’re choosing to neglect something beloved by millions for generations, and in its stead, build what amounts to advertising for the new slate of films.
That’s not to say that the World of Avatar or Star Wars Land will be substandard – I’m actually expecting them both to be wonderful – but they’re illustrative of a problem that Disney has in recognizing what their guests actually want, rather than telling them what they should want.
3. Don’t be afraid to replace good attractions with great ones
Universal’s Jaws attraction was absolutely a wonderful attraction. It perfectly balanced humor and thrills and took guests inside one of the most memorable summer films ever made. That film, Jaws, is still as culturally relevant as it was when it was released, and Universal’s choice to remove the attraction was somewhat controversial.
But, while Jaws was good, the Diagon Alley expansion of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is something else entirely.
It’s a big risk removing a solid attraction, and Universal showed great fearlessness in doing so. Clearly, they were confident they could deliver on the Diagon Alley experience, and that confidence was not misplaced.
Disney, on the other hand, is often reticent to remove some of their older attractions.
Now, there are good reasons for this – Disney’s fan base is also significantly more rabid and passionate than Universal’s, and removing any attraction causes a minor uproar among generations of parkgoers. That’s totally understandable. But that doesn’t mean Disney should let older, staid attractions operate when that space could be better used by other experiences.
Disney’s has had great success with this in the past – removing Food Rocks in favor of Soarin’, or The Legend of the Lion King in favor of Mickey’s Philharmagic. They simply need to do more of it, and be more fearless in attempting it.
While I may personally disagree with removing Maelstrom at Epcot (mostly for larger thematic/aesthetic reasons), Disney is showing more of a willingness to change things, which is a start.
4. Swing for the fences
Universal doesn’t care. Build a new hotel? Sure. Open a massive new attraction? Definitely. Build yet another new attraction while another is being opened? Go right ahead. They’ve been expanding so aggressively and so quickly that they clearly see an opportunity to take some of Disney’s market share, and they are seizing that opportunity.
Disney hasn’t taken a swing like that in over 15 years.
To be fair, Disney is such a large entity that small/medium changes are really all they need to stay successful, and they’re already operating on such a large scale, that a swing for the fences would have to be pretty big.
Still, thus far, they haven’t really done it. New Fantasyland is nice, but frankly, it was a much-needed expansion that arrived about 10 years later than it should have. The rumored development of Disney’s Hollywood Studios has the potential to be a big hit, but it’s still unclear if Disney will be able to deliver an overhaul quite up to the level that park needs.
Disney has mostly maxed out on hotel accommodations, and barring a big change, won’t need to construct another resort in the near future.
And so, that leaves one obvious choice for Disney if they really wanted to lean back and let it rip: the fabled fifth park.
Disney, however, is comfortable at the moment. Universal is there, but not threatening. They can continue on their schedule and, likely, will be just fine.
But stay tuned – at some point, Universal will wake the sleeping giant, and when they do, be sure to stand clear of the doors.
