Begun, the theme park wars have. Or, at least, it feels more real today after Universal Orlando has revealed and confirmed details for the upcoming Epic Universe theme park. The park, which will feature themed lands such as a Harry Potter land, a Universal Monsters land, a Nintendo land, and more, will open in 2025.

Today’s announcement feels like the culmination of an article that we wrote three years ago titled “Universal Bets, Disney Balks on Future of Theme Parks“. In that article, we talked about how bullish Universal Orlando was in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Disney seemingly turned inward, laying off tens of thousands of Cast Members, slashing capital expenditure investments in the parks, and turning to Disney+. As we reflect back on that article and the years since, it honestly doesn’t feel like much has changed.

As Universal Orlando prepares to open the first major theme park in Orlando in decades, Disney has nothing concrete on the books for its theme parks beyond the opening of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure sometime this year. Disney Experiences (previously Disney Parks, Experiences and Products) Chairman Josh D’Amaro has stood on stage in front of thousands of Disney fans for two years in a row, promising an exciting future, but not committing to it. Following the 2022 D23 Expo, we had to ask ourselves “Will D’Amaro Deliver?“. At the 2023 Destination D23 event a year later, the only thing of substance that D’Amaro delivered was a reworked piece of concept art for the eventual DinoLand USA reimagining that swapped Moana for Encanto and Zootopia for Indiana Jones.

Looking forward, here’s Disney’s current lineup of projects through 2026 as announced in November 2023. The only projects confirmed for 2025 and beyond are two cruise ships (and a lot of dreaming).

To us, this is a not-so-subtle signal that Universal Orlando is absolutely making a move on the Orlando tourist dollar. We’ve talked about it before, but the average tourist isn’t spending three weeks in Orlando. Without access to confidential data, we’d guess that the average vacation to Orlando is somewhere between 4-7 days, not counting international guests who typically stay for weeks at a time. When Woodbury says that Universal Orlando wants to provide a week-long vacation experience, he is saying that he thinks that Epic Universe will allow Universal to take guests away from Disney completely. Of course, that’s not going to happen on a massive scale, but it will likely happen on a large enough scale for Disney World to feel it.

Looking into the crystal ball, there is nothing at EPCOT that will cause attendance to dramatically rise, and attendance at Disney’s Animal Kingdom will continue to suffer until Disney can implement multiple expansions or reimaginings in addition to trying to create something compelling in terms of nighttime entertainment or draws.

The question then becomes, will Epic Universe cannibalize existing attendance at the other two Universal theme parks, or will it take from Disney? We could see a little of both. Clearly, Disney isn’t concerned about Epic Universe right now or else they’d have something more than Blue Sky concepts in the works. At the pace that Disney builds, they would’ve needed to start construction already to have something ready for the 2025-26 timeframe. Instead, Disney has committed to $60 billion worth of domestic theme park spending, with most of that being spent closer to 2030 and opening who knows when.

Here’s maybe a crazy question to consider: does Disney World even want more guests? Disney executives have communicated time and again that per-guest spending continues to increase, even if attendance doesn’t. With Disney World committed to holding onto the Disney Park Pass system for Annual Passholders, and operating a defacto Park Pass system through the use of ticket sale limits for other guests, perhaps Disney is solely focused on per-capita spending and not raw attendance numbers. Maybe Disney World would prefer fewer guests at higher spending levels that result in a net add on the financials at the end of the day.

At an even higher level, Disney is still very much in a fight with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and has already pulled the plug on a project that would have actually changed the landscape of Walt Disney World and its ability to compete in Florida – the relocation of the Parks Division to Lake Nona. When all is said and done, the cancelation of that Parks headquarters will likely be the biggest impact that the Governor will have on Disney’s Florida businesses. There is currently no end in sight for Disney in the battle with the former Presidential hopeful and his hand-selected Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board of Directors that shape the direction of the local government that oversees the Walt Disney World property. In short, Disney might not want to invest in an uncertain environment.

Overall, Epic Universe is an exciting addition to the Central Florida tourism landscape, and it will be a huge draw for years to come for tourists visiting the area. With something new and shiny just a few minutes up the road from Disney World, and with nothing of substance in the works for the theme parks beyond 2024, it will be interesting to see if guests take a few years off from a Disney World vacation to try out something a bit more…epic.

As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!