Who Are Disney’s Allies and Enemies in 2025?
A new year means a full reboot as everyone tries to hold onto their annual resolutions for at least a month.
I mean, if you’ve already broken your New Year’s resolution by February 1st, what are you even doing?
For Disney, the start of 2025 ostensibly means a clean slate, but we all know it doesn’t work that way.
For whatever reason, plenty of people and businesses are harboring a grudge against Disney, the kindest brand of all.
I don’t know what that says about the haters, but many of them exist.
Thankfully, the number has shrunk since the start of 2024. Once a team starts winning, people hop on the bandwagon.


Photo: Playbuzz.com
And Disney has definitely won plenty over the past 12 months.
Can the hot streak continue, or will outside interference occur?
Here are Disney’s allies and enemies in 2025.
Enemy: Universal Studios


Photo: Universal
For decades now, Universal Studios has suffered from younger sibling syndrome.
Those of us with older siblings often feel inferior to our elders and try to compete against them as much as possible.


Photo: Universal
Typically, the older sibling carries the attitude of, “Aren’t you cute?” during all the attempts. It’s condescending but justified.
And that’s definitely how Disney acts with Universal Studios, its alleged competitor in the theme park industry.


Universal Studios Japan
While Universal Studios doesn’t like to admit it, few tourists would travel to Orlando just for Universal Studios.
Instead, they usually choose to vacation at Disney and then spend a couple of days at the other park(s) in the area.


Photo: Universal
In 2025, Universal Studios hopes and expects to change that pattern thanks to the introduction of Universal Epic Universe.
This new theme park is the most Disney attempt yet by one of Disney’s competitors.


Image Credit: Universal Orlando
Universal has leaned heavily into theming an entire park based on beloved brands like Nintendo, How to Train Your Dragon, and Harry Potter.
The goal for Universal is to attract more tourists away from Disney, which makes the new park an existential threat.


Disney vs Epic Universe
Disney has flatly stated Epic Universe wouldn’t change anything, but hot takes like that sometimes grow ice cold. Stay tuned!
Ally: The Cruise Industry


Universal
The unforgiving truth here is that Universal Studios has been playing catch-up in Orlando since the park opened in 1990.
Disney had such a massive competitive advantage that Universal is unlikely to overtake its adversary over the next quarter-century.
So, while Universal pushes forward with its headline-grabbing new theme park, Disney has moved on to the next thing.
You won’t find a Universal Studios cruise ship yet, although I’m confident there’s a plan in place on a cloud drive somewhere.


Photo: Disney
Meanwhile, Disney Cruise Line has already cornered the market on themed cruise ship entertainment.
This disparity will grow more pronounced in the coming months and years as Disney expands its empire.


DCL
Later this year, Disney will introduce its first cruise ship based in Asia, the Disney Adventure.
Later, the Oriental Land Company will add one specifically for the ever-hungry Japanese market of Disney fans.


DCL
By 2031, Disney Cruise Line will consist of 13 ships in the fleet, allowing Disney to corner a market its primary competitor hasn’t even entered yet.
Enemy: Comcast


Photo:nbcuniversal
As the corporate owner of Universal Studios and NBCUniversal, Comcast lies squarely in opposition to Disney.
However, Comcast and Disney weren’t exactly buddy/buddy before 2011, the year Comcast acquired NBCUniversal.


Photo: Deadline
So, the two companies disliked one another for ages.
Then, they became direct competitors in the theme park industry nearly 15 years ago.


Comcast
Let’s just say that the bad blood is real, and it keeps spilling into surprising areas.
To wit, NBC and Disney once worked together on the Hulu initiative, which was quite daring at the time.


Photo: Yahoo Finance
Three of the four major broadcast networks joined together to stream their content on Hulu the day after the broadcast.
Streaming was still brand new at the time, and this joint venture demonstrated the spirit of unity.


Photo: Deadline
Then, after Comcast got involved a few years later as NBC’s owner, that spirit turned vengeful.
Now, Comcast and Disney are locked into endless arbitration over the value of Hulu, with Comcast swearing Disney shorted it billions.
You’ll see Michigan and Ohio State fans hugging at halftime of their rivalry game before Comcast and Disney become friendly.
Ally: National Association of Theatre Owners
During the pandemic, this video went viral:
That’s a humorous representation of what the theater industry thought about Disney at the time.


Getty
During the pandemic, Disney officials abandoned the theater window in favor of streaming.
This decision made sense because, well, theaters weren’t open at the time.


thinkmonsters.com
Many of the ones that were operational had demonstrated defiance toward public safety.
So, Disney leaned heavily into its available business model, the suddenly thriving streaming service, Disney+.


Photo: Samsung
In the years that followed, the theater industry wasn’t exactly gleeful when Disney films bombed, but they did find it a bit karmic.
By 2024, the entire business model was in shambles, causing theater owners to declare bygones with Disney.


Movie Theater
Then, Disney promptly had a year for the ages by releasing the top three titles of 2024, each of which earned $1 billion.
Let’s just say that theater owners are now BFFs with Disney again, and that shouldn’t change in 2025.


Photo: El Capitan
Disney has set up a killer lineup of new releases.
Enemy: Engagement Farmers


Anadolu/GettyImages
Look, we’ve known about the cottage industry of anti-Disney posts since Google ascended a quarter-century ago.
This isn’t newsworthy in any way. If I write a Things I Love about Disney piece, it’ll get a fraction of the traffic of Things I Hate about Disney.


Photo: Pexel.com
Why is that? I dunno. Human nature is fascinating. The statement is objectively correct, though.
Without naming names, I can point out some sites that shamelessly write clickbait headlines about everything Disney does.


Photo: Disney clip art
One of the reasons I’m proud to be at MickeyBlog is that you can check our front page and see who we are and what we stand for.
We’re about positivity and fair criticism, not shameless negativity to farm engagement.


Photo: Forbes
Alas, there’s a LOT more money in farming engagement, which explains why hundreds of YouTube and TikTok channels exist.
People you don’t know can pay for very nice houses and cars by trashing Disney repeatedly.


Walt Disney Company
When Disney fights back, the company faces the unfair criticism that it should be above taking the bait. It’s an unwinnable war.
Fortunately, Disney has its own soldiers fighting on its side…
Ally: Loyal Fans


Photo: Disney
I mentioned you all in last year’s column, and here I go again.
The reality is that Disney shares a communal bond with its fan base to a degree no other media company can match.


Photo: Netflix
People watch Netflix or go to DreamWorks movies, but we looooove Disney. It’s a lifestyle rather than a business to us.
As always, Disney will rely on its devout fans to remain loyal when a new theme park opens and when engagement farms blatantly lie.
You’re the best line of defense protecting Disney from all the barbarians at the gate.
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