Rumors of competition between Universal Studios and The Walt Disney Company are largely overstated. During calendar 2018, three times as many theme park tourists visited Disney compared to Universal. But one park seems more proactive than the other.
During the first week of August in 2019, Universal unveiled a theme park that all but called out Disney. Even its name is self-aggrandizing. The place is called Universal’s Epic Universe, and one of Universal’s most accomplished executives joked that universes are bigger than worlds. We’ve reached a turning point where Universal is refusing to live in Disney’s shadow any longer. Let’s examine how we reached this point and what happens next.
A lack of forward progress at Walt Disney World
Image: Disney1998’s Earth Day holds special significance for Disney fans and employees alike. On that day, the fourth gate at Walt Disney World opened to the public, proving that Disney was capable of seemingly anything. They built a zoo and a theme park in the same space!
At the time, Universal Studios Florida seemed like a bug splashing into Disney’s windshield. It was hardly a threat, and the gap between the two parks would only grow more pronounced as Disney built new parks.
Two concepts were heavily rumored, and virtually everyone that followed the company expected one of them to become the fifth gate in a matter of years. More than two decades later, we’re still awaiting the next Disney theme park. We don’t have a Villains park or a Disney classics park or even a Beastly Kingdom.
First rule of Disney: Blame Eisner
Image: DisneyWhat happened? This subject is nuanced and in some ways antithetical. By now, everyone knows about the unfortunate history of Beastly Kingdom. It’s one of two great shames stemming from Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Then-CEO Michael Eisner planned a theme park that would include live animals with mythical creatures of yore. Once construction began, he changed his tune due to the costs of the entire project. He pushed back some of the priciest projects into a planned phase two, an expansion.
Sadly, Beastly Kingdom fell victim to these budget cuts. We got DinoLand U.S.A. instead, which is a bit like asking for a pony as a present, only to unwrap a cheap plastic horse figurine instead.
Image: DisneyThe loss of Beastly Kingdom wasn’t even the worst development. Early maps for Animal Kingdom showed a planned fifth gate in the area. We’re still awaiting that gate. It’s the worst park map snafu since Haunted Mansion appeared on Disneyland maps more than a decade before it actually opened.
The truth about theme parks is that they’re hugely expensive. Let’s use a couple of points as a comparison. Pandora – The World of Avatar cost $500 million to construct. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge has a rumored budget of $1 billion. And those are just themed lands. Shanghai Disneyland came with a price tag of $5.5 billion.
The hidden cost of a new theme park
Image: DisneyThen, there are the other factors involving opportunity cost. Whichever theme Disney would have chosen for the fifth park would have come at the expense of the others. To have a Beastly Kingdom, we’d cede the Villains park and vice versa. Analysis paralysis happens to high-profile Disney executives, too.
Opportunity cost also comes in a second form. Let’s say that Disney had spent $5 billion on a new Walt Disney World park. What would the fallout have been? The company might not have had the money for a splashy purchase like, say, Star Wars…or Pixar…or Marvel.
Image: DisneyTry to imagine Disney without any of those properties. It’s impossible, right? Those revenue streams are critical to Disney’s bottom line. Rather than investing in a large-scale project, current CEO Robert Iger and his team have plussed several parks, using that money to save Disney California Adventure and purchase Disneyland Paris outright.
As a Walt Disney World fan, you covet that fifth themed land. If you were Iger, you’d think of the situation from a big-picture perspective. I struggle to argue with his track record as the head of Disney. To the contrary, I think he’s in the discussion for best CEO in the world. Plus, if Disney theme parks existed in a vacuum, the updates to existing parks would satisfy most consumers. But it doesn’t…
Younger Sibling Syndrome
Image: UniversalUniversal Studios Florida opened in 1990, but we can fast forward to the year when it became relevant. I’m not exaggerating when I say that The Wizarding World of Harry Potter changed everything when it opened at Islands of Adventure in 2010. Park attendance more than doubled from 2009 to 2018.
I’m not ready to say that Universal is actual competition for Disney. That’s a complicated discussion in that they’re both top-three companies in an industry that’s a de facto oligopoly. But the least trafficked theme park at Walt Disney World outperforms the best one at Universal Orlando Resort. In fact, both Universal gates added together don’t match the annual attendance at Magic Kingdom.
A reasonable statement is that Universal’s feuding with Disney, but Disney doesn’t reciprocate. Universal just isn’t enough of a threat for that. Anyone on the Universal side of that statement would bristle, just like a younger sibling is always most competitive with their older sibling. Universal wants to surpass Disney in any way that they can, and they’ve found a clever one…
The forward progress of Universal
Image: UniversalI’m keeping this discussion focused on Orlando because that’s where most of the skirmishes between the two companies occur. From day one, Universal was a bit chippy in the way that they built a theme park in Disney’s backyard. Yes, they’d done the same thing in Hollywood all the way back in 1964, but that situation was never combative like in Central Florida.
Universal has continued biting the ankles of Disney whenever possible in Orlando. Only a year after Animal Kingdom arrived, Islands of Adventure opened. Since then, Universal has also added Volcano Bay, which they call their third park. You and I know better, but the strategy here is brilliant.
By emphasizing that Volcano Bay is the third gate, Universal can (correctly) claim that they’ve built two significant expansions since Disney’s last gate opened. Epic Universe would become the third, which sounds so much worse for some reason.
The math gets funny here, but Universal’s argument places Disney on the defensive. The moment that Epic Universe opens, the younger sibling will argue that it’s opened four parks since 1990 as opposed to Disney’s one. It’s disingenuous in one way. When Universal counts Volcano Bay, Disney should get credit for Blizzard Beach, which opened in 1995. But that’s a quibble.
The pressures of an Epic Universe
Image: UniversalOverall, the situation in Orlando is decidedly in Universal’s favor, at least from the perspective of progress. While Disney’s dominant in terms of attendance, their neighbors triggered an arms race with Harry Potter Land. Pandora and Star Wars Land are undeniably direct responses to the genius of that place.
With Epic Universe, Universal now can show that they’re working on the theme park of the future, something that was once Disney’s particular skill. While Universal hasn’t announced any themed lands or intellectual properties (IPs) at their upcoming park yet, speculation has centered on several brands.
Image: UniversalThe belief is that the previously announced Nintendo Land will have a presence here, along with Japan, Singapore, and Hollywood. So, it’s far from exclusive. But a series of attractions based on classic Universal monsters would be unique.
Universal already has a King Kong ride, but these would be along the lines of Dracula, the Wolfman, and Frankenstein’s Monster. The other exciting aspect of this themed land is that it would at least somewhat approach the premise of the Disney Villains park that we never got.
Disney could lose the innovation battle
Image: DisneyThe other two sections that people expect are based on How to Train Your Dragon and Fantastic Beasts. And these two lands hint at Disney’s other problem. The company’s bought some time on the “where’s the fifth park?” discussion with technologically advanced lands like Pandora and Batuu.
Universal has watched these places open and knows where the bar is. They’ll have a couple of years to reset that bar at an even higher level. Whereas Disney was handicapped by existing infrastructure, Universal’s building an entirely new campus that will have advanced technology from the get-go.
This battle is the one that Disney can’t win. Until they add a new theme park, Epic Universe will stand apart as the most impressive theme park in Orlando. If it does, the one thing happens that Disney officials despise most. Universal will sneak vacation money out of guests who would usually head to Walt Disney World, just as happened with the Wizarding World in 2010.
Even though Disney dominates in attendance, the construction of Epic Universe places the company in an odd position. It’s no longer the unquestioned best of Orlando, at least until Disney adds that long-anticipated fifth gate. Universal’s just placed Disney on the defensive, and a response is needed. Otherwise, the younger sibling is going to become the cool kid in the family.
