I am an avid theme park visitor and a professional theme park writer. I’m sometimes asked how I can go to places like Disney World so often, and the biggest reason is that almost every time I go, there’s something new.
When Walt Disney opened Disneyland, he said the park would never be finished, and that it would always be changing and evolving. That has been the strategy for basically every theme park and amusement park since then, as they all know they need to always have something new to persuade guests to come back. But in recent months, Universal Destinations and Experiences has taken things a step further by creating three, and possibly more, entirely new themed entertainment locations. This has all happened while Disney World, the flagship theme park resort in the world, is nebulously planning some major new additions… someday.
Universal Orlando Resort is in the midst of a massive new expansion with the construction of Epic Universe, the resort’s third theme park. On top of that, Universal Kids Park is currently under construction in Texas, and Universal’s Horror Unleased is slated for Las Vegas. This week, Universal also confirmed it is exploring the idea of building a theme park in the U.K. That’s a pretty aggressive level of expansion.
One might expect that competitor Disney would respond to all this in some way and announce its own brand new aggressive projects, but for the most part, that hasn’t happened. Disney World has announced a plan to redesign a land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, as well as add a new land at Magic Kingdom, but both of these projects are still in the “blue sky” phase, with no construction being done and no idea when it will begin, never mind end. A major expansion is also being planned at Disneyland, but there’s no timetable for that either.
If you look at social media, you’ll see a lot of people pointing out that for everything Universal is doing, Disney seems to be acting like it doesn’t need to do anything. Honestly, that opinion may be somewhat accurate, as I’m not sure Disney World does need to do anything, or at least not yet.
Epic Universe Is Unlikely To Hurt Walt Disney World
There is a general feeling that when Epic Universe opens in 2025, it’s going to draw a lot of tourists and that it will hurt attendance at neighboring theme parks, like Walt Disney World. It’s not a crazy notion; people only have limited funds to spend and every dollar they spend at Epic Universe is one they can’t spend elsewhere. The thing is recent history doesn’t bear that out.
When Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened in 1998, a year that saw global theme park attendance fall overall, attendance at Universal Studios Florida was essentially flat year-over-year. The parks that did see attendance drops were the other three Disney World ones. Similarly, a year later, when Universal’s Islands of Adventure opened its gates, the park that saw the greatest attendance decline was Universal Studios Florida. The Walt Disney World parks saw much smaller declines in comparison, and far smaller than they had the year before.
While we might see slight declines in Walt Disney World attendance when Epic Universe opens, there’s no guarantee the resort will even make less money. Any drop in attendance could be balanced by the guests who are in the parks spending more, as often happens when attendance dips. And if guests are going to travel to Orlando to visit the brand-new theme park, they might also take the opportunity to visit some of the other resorts in the area.
Disney Is Still Disney, And Disney World Is The King
At the end of the day, Disney is still Disney. It is the global king of the theme park world. People take once-in-a-lifetime vacations at Walt Disney World that they save for years to be able to afford. What’s more, this is very much the guest that Disney World wants and that the resort caters to, and they’re not going away.
Those guests who travel to Disney World more often might consider a Universal-focused trip to see Epic Universe one year, but they’re just as likely to hop over to visit Disney World for a bit on the same trip. Even a brand-new theme park can be significantly explored in a couple of days. After that, guests who are spending any more time in the area can go anywhere.
Disney World fans may be frustrated looking at the future, but the present has provided a lot of new attractions at Disney World. In the last few years, we've gotten a total redesign of half of Epcot, including Guardians of the Galaxy and Mona attractions. A new Tron roller coast has opened, and there will be the previously mentioned Tiana's Bayou Adventure. Those will only be "old" to Disney World annual pass holders who visit the parks frequently. Those who don't go as often, which is the majority of the people, will still see them all as new and want to experience them.
Disney World Does Need To Get Moving On These New Projects
Having said all this, Walt Disney Imagineering does need to shift into high gear and get things moving on the planned new additions to the domestic theme parks. Disney World’s biggest new addition in 2024 will be the redesign of Splash Mountain into the Tiana’s Bayou Adventure attraction. Nothing significant is currently announced for 2025.
It’s unlikely either the new Tropical Americas land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom or the Beyond Thunder Mountain land (whatever it ends up being) would even be done by the summer of 2025 if things started now, but the longer they wait, the longer it will be until they are ready for the public. If the gap between Epic Universe opening and Disney World adding anything new is too significant, you could see guests drift over to where the “new” stuff is. Once those guests are in the habit of visiting Universal first, it will be harder for Disney to get them back.
I love theme parks, so I’m always excited to see anything new from any park, big or small. Having said that, it is certainly the big stuff, E-ticket attractions, new lands and new parks that get people excited. Disney World has so much, and if you’ve never been there, it’s still new to you. Disney World has built a level of goodwill with most vacationers that it will take time for that to erode. It’s not going to happen overnight, but it could still eventually happen.
