The Theme Park Wars Begin This Week
This is the week. After several years of delayed promises, a new competitor finally joins the fight.
Ready, Player Two. You have your work cut off for you, as Player One dominates the battlefield.
Photo: Universal
Folks, the Theme Park Wars begin this week, and it’s not going as expected thus far.
Let’s discuss an odd moment in the history of Central Florida tourism.
Disney Announces Character Greetings Because…
Cool Kid Summer maps
As I mentioned in MickeyBlog News, Disney just announced several new character greetings, some of which are part of Cool Kid Summer.
While the splashy marketing slogan serves a purpose, I strongly suspect Disney would have added these amenities anyway.
Photo: Disney
Also, I don’t expect any of them to be permanent. Well, a couple may be, but their purpose is decidedly temporary.
Memorial Day arrives on Monday, May 26th. With it, we unofficially start the summer theme park season.
This one will be one of the wildest ever in Central Florida for any number of reasons. Let’s focus on the main one.
Universal Epic Universe will open to the public on May 22nd, and I’ve already said great things about it.
Photo: Universal
I liaised with someone who can always brag that they were among the first non-employees to set foot in the park.
This individual provided me with a detailed description of everything at the park, and they made it sound so great that I almost booked a flight that day.
Photo: Universal
Alas, the story has taken a bit of a turn since then, which frankly hasn’t surprised me.
I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I know all too well how the cycle works.
Photo: Universal
Fans obsessively hype something, sight unseen. Then, when the attraction debuts, people hold unreasonable expectations and feel disappointed.
We’re witnessing this now as everyone learns math and mechanical engineering.
The Trouble with Tech
Photo: Universal
Epic Universe will open with somewhere around 11-13 attractions, depending on how you count them.
What people are quickly realizing/remembering is that Universal hasn’t had the best recent track record with new rides.
I’m looking at you, Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon and Fast & Furious: Supercharged. And we’re getting reports like this:
That’s my favorite Universal Studios influencer, Rix Flix, providing a list of reasons why tourists may want to wait until 2026 to visit.
Few people will listen to him because everyone wants to visit during the first year, but that’s someone who is in the business of Universal park visits.
He has done something impressive here in providing a brutally honest yet accurate evaluation of Disney’s newest competitor…and some of it is grim.
Photo: Universal
Epic Universe faces uptime issues with several of its attractions. It’s something I discussed last year about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
When a theme park designer builds a state-of-the-art attraction, it has more pieces that can break down.
Photo: Universal
Mechanical Engineering states that any moving part can and will break at some point.
So, when you have more moving parts, the odds increase exponentially of the entire machine tearing down.
Photo: Universal
This seems like a good time to mention that Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, the most advanced ride at Epic Universe, prematurely ended its sneak previews.
Park officials needed to reconfigure the attraction to improve its stability. Notably, it has since reopened, but it’s been touch-and-go thus far.
It’s Probably Fine, But…
Even when Battle at the Ministry has been available, its lines have been *ahem* lengthy. Here’s IGN describing the problem.
At times, the latest Harry Potter ride has employed a virtual queue, and that’s the expectation for when the park opens.
Universal
Park officials have remained noncommittal thus far, though. The official site has indicated that Universal could use virtual queues, not that it will.
That’s a polite way of saying that the company has contingencies in place, depending on how significant the attendance is and how well the rides work.
Universal
At various points during sneak previews, Epic Universe experienced so many shutdowns that only ONE attraction was available.
You can imagine what the line was like for that one, but the explanation is easily understandable. All this stuff is new.
While Universal officials have tested it exhaustively, the sneak previews have worked as a de facto beta test.
Universal faces a second problem, one I’ve warned you about for a while now.
Central Florida weather has grown more mercurial than ever. Loki himself couldn’t behave as unpredictably as this.
Remember how Disney just announced that Disneyland Abu Dhabi would be an entirely indoor water park?
I stated last week that this project would help the American parks, and the indoor aspect was an essential reason why.
Well, Epic Universe is learning the hard way that outdoor attractions are no longer the smart play.
Photo: Universal
As Rix Flix demonstrates in his video, when it rains, the park is paralyzed as several attractions automatically shut down.
So, while the early reviews for the attractions and experiences at Epic Universe are glowing, Murphy’s Law could take effect at times, too.
Disney’s Low-Tech Counter
As Universal puts the final touches on the most modern theme park on the planet, Disney’s summer campaign will take an entirely different approach.
That’s the Cool Kid Summer campaign I mentioned, which will highlight some of the beloved characters from various Disney brands.
Photo: Disney
Disney has promised that Stitch will appear at a dance party in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom.
Anyone who has spent any time at Magic Kingdom knows that Stitch shows up as often as anyone not named Buzz Lightyear.
Photo: Disney
They’re the anchor players at Tomorrowland these days. Still, the Lilo & Stitch remake is about to elevate Stitch to an even higher level.
Therefore, whatever lines you may have seen in the past for a Stitch character greeting will seem trivial compared to the ones this summer.
Phineas & Ferb Meet-and-Greet at H20 Glow Nights at Disney’s
Similarly, Phineas & Ferb are about to make their big comeback, with the series returning to Disney Channel and Disney+.
In fact, you can watch classic episodes of Phineas & Ferb for free on YouTube right now. Even though we have Disney+, we’ve still been watching this:
Guests at EPCOT can meet the brothers as one of the Cool Kid Summer amenities.
Phineas & Ferb Meet-and-Greet at H20 Glow Nights at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon
As Epic Universe attempts to sway tourists to Universal Studios, Disney will lean heavily on its branding to keep guests at the parks.
Truthfully, Epic Universe barely factors into this equation anyway. Park officials are adopting this strategy for other reasons.
Disney
With crowds high during the summer, Disney will add enough character greetings to lure guests from the attraction line queues.
In the process, the attractions for various attractions should remain manageable.
Disney
Don’t get me wrong. They’ll still be higher than usual, but they won’t swell to unreasonable lengths.
Subtle tactics like this one keep the park experience consistent throughout the year.
Is Disney Even Fighting?
What I find fascinating about Cool Kid Summer is that it maintains Disney’s recent philosophy of theme park guest behavior.
As I’ve mentioned several times, the old Disney playbook pushed guests to keep moving throughout their visit.
Under the new system, as exemplified at the front of EPCOT and Mickey’s Toontown at Disneyland Park, everyone is encouraged to stay and play.
At Magic Kingdom and EPCOT, Disney will go so far as to provide crafting supplies for kids, allowing them to just sit and play for a while.
Photo: Disney
The Disney of just a decade ago never would have willingly encouraged guests to stay in one place like that.
To a larger point, as Epic Universe tries to lure guests with its most immersive, Disney-like rides ever, your favorite company goes the other way.
Photo: Disney
Disney’s theme parks during Cool Kid Summer sound a lot like the onboard activities on Disney Cruise Line.
So, Disney appears to believe that the fundamental nature of tourism is evolving, making high-tech attractions less of a priority.
That’s an unexpected twist during the opening week of the Theme Park Wars.
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Feature Photo: Disney/Universal
