In a Wall Street Journal article this morning, WSJ examines what many theme park fans have been talking about for some time now: Epic Universe’s impact on Walt Disney World. Here at BlogMickey.com, we’re dipping our toes in covering Universal due to the unavoidable nature of a new theme park in Central Florida. As an aside, I’ve been a Universal Annual Passholder for some time now and enjoy the parks from a mostly non-blogging perspective (for now). If you’d like to see more Universal coverage from us (beyond Epic Universe), just let me know in the comments below or on social media.

The closest the WSJ article comes to making a definitive statement on the impact of Universal’s third theme park is actually an analysis from MoffetNathenson that says that Universal Orlando Resort could see a bump in attendance at its parks by more than 8 million visitors, while Walt Disney World sees a decline of 1 million guests over the same time period (2025-26). That’s quite the prediction, and Disney World will very likely roll out some guest services and entertainment in 2025 to try entice visits and keep some of the tourists on site, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet.

While we’re all looking for Disney’s “answer” to Epic Universe, a Disney spokesperson told the WSJ that “Epic [Universe] is Universal playing catch-up on a decade of nonstop development at Walt Disney World”. In short, it’s not Disney that needs to answer to Epic Universe, but rather Epic Universe is Universal’s answer to Disney World. The statement largely echoes comments made by Disney CEO Bob Iger during the recent Annual Meeting of Shareholders where Iger said that Disney has been aware of Universal’s plans for Epic Universe for “more than a decade” and has been steadily building attractions during that time.

Of course, Universal Orlando hasn’t been sitting on their hands during that time, but Disney’s expansion has been very impressive over the past decade. Since 2014, here’s a list of the major attractions and experiences that Disney World and Universal have opened:

While the list skews toward Disney World (perhaps because there’s stuff we’ve missed from Universal Orlando as our blind spot), a lot of guests have had the opportunity to experience a lot of the list for both resorts in the past few years. The question then becomes: what have you done for me lately?

There’s no doubt that Epic Universe will have a massive impact on Central Florida and it will make a compelling argument for the tourist’s dollar, it remains to be seen just how the average tourist might adjust their trip to visit the hot, new theme park just 10 minutes away from Walt Disney World.

Looking further into the future, Disney World just might be on the precipice of another decade of growth after Epic Universe opens. Hopefully, we’ll learn more about Disney’s plans to turbocharge the parks at the 2024 D23 Expo.

For more on Epic Universe, check out our article below tracking the latest announcements!

Universal Epic Universe Overview (Details, Info & Concept Art)

Here’s a quick guide and overview for the upcoming Universal Epic Universe theme park – set to open in 2025 in Orlando, FL

blogmickey.com

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!