Does Disney Consider Universal Studios a Threat?
The recent 2021 attendance report reinforced an argument that a Comcast executive made earlier this year.
The insider suggested that Universal Studios has gained traction and siphoned market share from Disney’s theme park empire.
This fact raises a logical question. Does Disney consider Universal Studios a threat?
What Just Happened with Universal and Disney?
For the first time ever, two of the three most popular theme parks in the world belong to Universal Studios.
That statement comes with a metric ton of asterisks, but it’s factually accurate.
During calendar 2021, the Themed Entertainment Association (T.E.A.) tracked Magic Kingdom with roughly 12.7 million guests.
The numbers for Disneyland Park, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT were significantly lower.
These four parks ranged from 7.2 to 8.6 million guests, and you can understand why.
Throughout 2021, Disney theme parks faced COVID-19-related restrictions. Management didn’t operate the parks at full capacity for this reason.
Disneyland effectively missed one-third of 2021 since it didn’t reopen until April 30th. So, all this data makes perfect sense.
However, Disney’s “excuses” play into Comcast’s hand as the owner of Universal Studios.
In 2021, Universal Studios Florida and Universal’s Islands of Adventure claimed attendance of roughly 9 million guests each.
Notably, Islands of Adventure outperformed its older, more storied sibling by a bit. For that reason, it’s the second most trafficked theme park in the world right now.
Obviously, we know the explanation for how this happened. Many parts of the world didn’t even allow their theme parks to operate during long stretches of 2021.
A great example occurred in China, where Disney’s two theme parks closed, reopened, and then closed again more than once.
Asia approached the pandemic more cautiously, which impacted attendance numbers. Historically, Universal Studios Japan and Tokyo Disneyland’s parks have done better.
In 2021, the Universal parks in Florida surpassed all three due to the fact that they remained open every day last year.
That may not sound like much, but the recent events of Hurricane Ian demonstrated how much a couple of days off can impact a park’s overall attendance and financials.
The Universal Argument
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts gets paid a lot of money to paint his organization in the rosiest colors.
If you asked Roberts about his company’s current debt load of $175 billion, he’d find a way to make the crippling debt sound like a good thing. That’s his job.
For this reason, we shouldn’t necessarily take most of what he says at face value. But a recent comment did stand out as potentially significant.
While praising the overall performance of Universal Studios theme parks, Roberts suggested that they’re “gaining (market) share.”
What does this mean? Imagine a pizza with 20 slices. Disney used to get 12 slices, while Universal fought to get two or three.
Based on 2021 and 2022 behavior to date, Disney is only getting 11 slices, while Universal is working on its fourth piece.
That’s a sloppy analogy, and the math doesn’t quite work. It gets the point across, though.
For the first time since the opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Universal has attained clear momentum against Disney.
The idea of Universal’s two Orlando theme parks earning more tourists than three of the four parks at Walt Disney World is kinda shocking.
After all, Walt Disney World works as a kind of self-sustaining city of theme parks. Guests who visit one should also check out the other three.
For whatever reason – and it’s likely Disney’s recent Park Pass system – guests didn’t do that as much in 2021.
This change in behavior cracked the door for Universal to earn more customers.
Should that concern Disney? On its own, I would say no. However, there’s another factor in play.
The X-Factor in Orlando
Disney recently dropped out of the Brightline project connecting high-speed rail across Florida.
Early plans called for a Brightline station near Disney Springs. However, Disney killed that project after something odd happened.
Universal Studios officials successfully negotiated for a station near a park that hasn’t even opened yet.
In three years, Universal’s Epic Universe will open to the public. At that time, a Brightline station near the Orlando Convention Center should be operational.
Disney had ended its Magical Express service due to the unreliable nature of Mears Transportation Group, the company that handled the service.
Brightline should have been Disney’s long-term replacement for Magical Express.
Now, presuming that Brightline cannot work out a new deal with Disney, that won’t happen, which inconveniences Disney and its guests.
Meanwhile, the Brightline station near the Orlando Convention Center will reside two or three miles from Epic Universe.
Since this announcement, Disney has iced Brightline, which means that the game may not be over. That’s mere speculation, though.
Currently, we can draw but one conclusion. A high-stakes political negotiation has happened behind the scenes in Central Florida.
Universal won. Disney lost.
Does Disney View Universal a Threat?
If Disney didn’t view Universal as a threat before the start of the year, park officials should now.
Frankly, Universal has gotten chippy since the pandemic’s start. Comcast, as a corporation, is known for its shady, treacherous behavior, and I’m not even saying that in a bad way.
Few major conglomerates gain their station without acting savagely along the way.
Early in the pandemic, Universal surprised Disney by breaking agreements about announced reopening dates and pandemic procedures.
Local Universal officials promised Disney that they’d announce updates jointly.
Comcast executives outside Florida broke those promises and leaked whenever doing so benefited Universal Studios.
We witnessed the same behavior last month with Hurricane Ian. Disney expected all theme parks to confirm closures at a certain time.
Universal broke the silence 45 minutes early. It’s just their standard operating procedure at this point to take any competitive advantage they can, ethics be damned.
So, if you worked for Disney, would YOU view a company like that as a threat? Of course, you would.
Now, you may not view them as a viable threat, somebody who could legitimately usurp your position as a de facto monopoly in the theme park industry.
However, you’d keep a wary eye cast in their direction because you recognize they’ll do anything necessary to get ahead.
That’s the current awkward situation in Orlando. The two companies that drive tourism in the area are no longer friendly and demonstrating professional courtesy.
Stay tuned to see whether this cold war takes a turn for the Elsa.