If you can find time to pause your 12,758th replay of the song “We Know the Way” (is it just me, or is the Moana soundtrack the most catchy thing ever?!), you only need a cursory glance at the Internet–or if you are lucky enough to live in Central Florida, to drive down Interstate-4–to realize that Disney is not alone at the top of the theme park food chain any longer. SeaWorld may be struggling – the legacy of the attack film Blackfish – but Universal is thriving. More than thriving, in fact. Universal is aggressively expanding, and startlingly, it’s turning into a worthy alternative to Walt Disney World as a vacation destination as a self-contained ecosystem. Not too many years ago this would have been unthinkable, but we’re there now.

Taking the 50,000 foot view always seems like a good starting point. Disney was famously first on the scene in Florida, with its first park opening in 1971, in what was assuredly just “cow-town” territory in those days. The second player in the area, perhaps surprisingly to today’s visitors, was not Universal but SeaWorld. They had opened a park in San Diego in the mid-60s, so they were looking to expand, and Disney’s move to Florida seemed like a great thing to emulate. SeaWorld Orlando opened in 1973. Compared to these two, Universal is very much a late-comer; it didn’t arrive until 1990.

Universal vs. Disney

But the story isn’t that straight-forward. Universal announced its intention to build a Florida expansion (they already had a Hollywood park) in the early 1980s, but the project hit snags in the mid-1980s, partly due to the involvement of Steven Spielberg, a major backer and owner. The timing should raise the eyebrows of Disney aficionados, as this is exactly when Michael Eisner burst onto the scene. He joined Disney in 1984 and instantly put things on a new track in animation. That’s fine for the films, but what about theme parks? In some ways it looks like he moved slowly, with the first obvious forays coming in 1986 (Captain EO, with Francis Ford Coppola’s cooperation) and 1987 (Star Tours, with George Lucas’s cooperation), but in reality he put some wheels into motion in Florida that didn’t see the light of day until 1989.

You can’t build a theme park overnight, of course. The fact that Disney-MGM Studios (as DHS was then known) opened in 1989 means that planning started years earlier, likely right when Eisner arrived. He would have known that Universal intended to expand to Florida even when he joined in 1984, and the smart money links his competitive nature to the decision to create a Disney studios park of its own. I’ve previously labeled this type of thinking “reactionary” (basically: creating a Disney version of the other stuff in the area you might otherwise be interested in, so that you stay on property with Disney and only spend money with Disney. We see this also with Kennedy Space Center [Mission Space] and Busch Gardens Tampa [Disney’s Animal Kingdom]).

As seen in 2004, Express Pass used to be free (included).
As seen in 2004, Express Pass used to be free (included).

By rushing things, Eisner got his park open first, and Universal looked “reactionary” as a result (irony alert!) Universal Studios Orlando has always looked, from the outset, like a “wannabe” park in comparison to Disney. The attention paid to detail, to placemaking, and to Immersion Toward Interesting Illusion, has always been lagging at Universal, especially when compared to Disney’s parks.

That unequal comparison was sorely challenged in 1999, when Islands of Adventure opened as a sister park to Universal Studios Orlando. IOA was fantastic in many regards. It “got” placemaking and immersion in a way Universal Studios did not. Many watchers, myself included, felt that it was perhaps the first truly Disney-level park to be opened by one of Mickey’s competitors.

This dino would visibly exhale.
This dino would visibly exhale.

In the first year or two, I think, the park underperformed. I chalk this up mostly to a misguided and ultimately confusing national advertising campaign. If you heard about “Universal Studios Escape!” would that have intuitively told you they opened a second park in Orlando? Yeah, it didn’t work on the rest of the population, either. Thankfully they finally retired the name.

Shortly after this came a seemingly unrelated footnote in corporate history. Out of nowhere, the cable giant Comcast made a surprise (and unsolicited) bid for Disney, threatening it might become a hostile takeover if the Disney board didn’t like the price they were offered for stock. They valued Disney at $26/share, or about $54 billion for the entire company. Disney rebuffed the offer, and eventually Comcast pulled out.

The CEO of Comcast, Brian Roberts, wasn’t the player I had my eye on at the time. It was Comcast senior exec Steve Burke, a former Disney executive once involved with the creation of the Disney Stores and who later headed up Disneyland Paris (a pretty big jump). After leaving Disney, Comcast pursued NBC-Universal, which gave them the Universal Studios parks. When that deal finalized in 2011, I speculated that Burke might turn Universal into a true Disney competitor. I was surprised this week to look back at those speculations–almost all of them came true. (Technically parts of the deal weren’t done until 2013).

Having tasted theme park life, Burke wanted to be like Eisner. He had the vision and the corporate backing. And, we can now say, he’s had the chance to finally make it happen as the head of the theme parks. Burke has not sat still, and it’s not your imagination. The two Universal parks have been adding experiences like crazy:

  • 2010 – Wizarding World of Harry Potter / Hogsmeade
  • 2012 – Despicable Me simulator
  • 2013 – Transformers motion-base simulator
  • 2014 – Diagon Alley and Gringott’s
  • 2016 – Skull Island: Reign of Kong, Hulk re-built
  • Coming Soon: Fast & Furious: Supercharged
  • Coming Soon: Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2017.
  • Coming Soon: Nintendo land
The view from the ride vehicle of King Kong: Skull Island
The view from the ride vehicle of King Kong: Skull Island

It’s not just the torrid pace of expansions. It’s the QUALITY of them. The Harry Potter lands are not just Disney-quality. In many ways, they exceed Disney level of attention to detail…maybe especially true if we say the “modern” level of attention to detail. Let’s be real: it’s enormously expensive to make intricate rock work (or brick work), but almost everything Universal has done lately has been on par with the Mouse.

I will confess to being disappointed by the attraction experience in King Kong, but the queue is first rate, and the atmosphere is first rate too. There’s just a little bit of anticlimax going on with the nature of the attraction. I guess on balance I enjoyed the ride until the very last scene.

And Universal isn’t done. Volcano Bay is shaping up to be massively detailed and immersive in the way Typhoon Lagoon is, and will be an entirely different beast from Wet & Wild, Universal’s current (and about to close) water park across the street. Once it does close, by the way, I wonder what we’ll see over there. Another hotel, I would guess. Universal still far lags Disney on the number of on-site hotel rooms. But they are getting closer every day. They now have five resorts! Each is, by the way, highly detailed to its chosen theme.

volcano bay 2016-11-24-9054

And then there’s the purchase over by the convention center from 2015. An incredible 475 contiguous acres now belong to Universal–that’s enough to hold two small theme parks and a smattering of hotels, or one giant park plus hotels (and maybe even leaving some room for boutique things that might be micro-parks). I don’t think we’ll see a monorail connecting the two mega-Universal resorts, but constant bus service might be a real possibility.

If that happens, we’ll be looking at two almost-equals in Central Florida. Disney would have four parks and two water parks; Universal could have three (or four?) parks and one highly themed water park. This would have been inconceivable even 20 years ago–the land looked fully bought out already, yet here we are with something that might actually rival Disney. I don’t think Universal can close the gap on hotels–Disney just has too much acreage to ever match–but they can get there on the parks.

The usual response to this kind of competition is to note that the ultimate winner is the consumer, as competition brings new investment and overall enhanced experiences. That’s certainly true.

pandora 2016-01-18-1704

But Disney isn’t known as the 800-pound gorilla in the industry for nothing. Star Wars is coming, as is Avatar (along with certain-to-be-blockbuster movies ongoing from both Intellectual Properties). And, to give a glimpse at the hard sell in the next section, Disney is also not standing still, adding a ton of stuff at a rapid clip.

Oh, and that Disney stock? Since 2004 it’s tripled, so Disney is now valued at more than $150 billion. Disney (and its new CEO Bob Iger) haven’t let the moss grow, snapping up Marvel and Pixar and Lucasfilm. They’ve got the IP now, though they have yet to fully exploit them in the parks.

We may see Disney and Universal locked in a deathmatch here in Florida for some time yet. I, for one, am loving every second. What are your observations on the Universal vs. Disney competition and what it means for your family vacations?

Unofficial Walt Disney World ‘Earbook 2016

Since 2010, I have published an annual book on Amazon called the ‘Earbook (the obvious pun being “yearbook”). It’s a collection of sorted photo essays, with enough text and description to make the book useful decades from now. We use high school yearbooks as mini time capsules, and my photo essay book each year is meant in the same spirit.

The 2016 version is ready for purchase! It’s 98 full-color pages and $14.99 – perfect for a stocking stuffer. It’s even got a handy index at the back to look up rides, show, and experiences even if you pick up the book years into the future.

In 2016, here are the experiences that joined us:

  • Frozen Ever After
  • Soarin’ Over the World
  • Disney Springs (with many dozens of shops and restaurants)
  • Toy Story Mania’s third track
  • Tiffins and Nomad Lounge
  • Red Carpet Dreams
  • Jungle Book Alive
  • Ample Hills Creamery
  • DVC Lounge
  • Shanghai Disneyland Preview
  • Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire
  • Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular
  • AbracadaBar – Muppets Present…
  • Starbright Holidays
  • PizzeRizzo
  • Jingle Bell Jingle BAM!

And here are the things removed in 2016, remembered in this book as photo essays:

  • Lights, Motors, Action
  • Soarin’
  • Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure
  • Streets of America
  • Disney Dollars
  • StormStruck
  • Sum of all Thrills
  • Writer’s Stop
  • Stitch’s Great Escape
  • Shark Reef
  • Hall of Fame

Here are several sample pages:

earbook1 earbook2 earbook3 earbook4 earbook5 earbook6 earbook7 earbook8 earbook9

If you’re interested in older versions of the ‘Earbook, CLICK HERE for details.

Kevin Yee
Kevin Yee is an author and blogger writing about travel, tourism, and theme parks in Central Florida. He is a founding member of MiceAge and has written numerous books about Disney parks (see http://bit.ly/kevinyee).