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Credit: Universal (left), Disney (right)Universal Orlando Resort is making major headway in its competition against Walt Disney World Resort.
Universal Orlando Resort is home to many thrilling and epic attractions that have taken the world by storm over the last few years. You can experience Hogsmeade, which includes Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Hagrid’s Magical Creature Motorbike Adventure, and The Flight of the Hippogriff, as well as Jurassic Park River Adventure, the all-new Jurassic World: Velocicoaster, Skull Island: Reign of Kong, The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk Coaster and much more at Universal’s Islands of Adventure.
Then, right next door, attractions like Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem, The Simpson’s Ride, E.T. Adventure Ride, Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringott’s, MEN IN BLACK: Alien Attack, Hollywood Rip Ride RockIt, and much more all wait at Universal Studios Florida.
But, perhaps the most major Universal Parks News relates to Epic Universe— the largest Universal Park in the world— that is currently under construction and is set to be finished by 2025.
Universal Studios Hollywood is set to open its Super Nintendo World in 2023 and, not long after that, Super Nintendo World will open in Epic Universe in Orlando.
With all the talk surrounding Epic Universe and the exciting future ahead for Universal Parks, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said he believes Universal’s theme parks are “gaining market share” on Disney.
“We’re then going to open [Nintendo] in Orlando in an entire new park, huge scale, called Epic Universe, kind of the size of Universal now, a whole another park, hotels, restaurants in 2025 – ’26 period, massive construction going on now. We’re investing in this business all over the world, and we’re playing offense,” Roberts said.
Roberts shared that the customer satisfaction for Universal “has never been better.”
“Clearly, there’s one other company, Disney, that has a fabulous parks business,” Roberts said. “We’re gaining share. The ingenuity and the service and the customer satisfaction, it has never been better. And so again, we’ve looked for signs of a slowdown, and I’m sure there will be moments. But right now, it’s allowing NBC to make these other investments not just in Epic Universe and in Nintendo but also in Peacock and elsewhere so that we’re not taking money from one pot to put it in another. This is very much transforming the company with its own balance sheet.”
For Q2, Comcast’s overall revenue rose 5.1% to $30.0 billion compared with $28.5 billion in the year-earlier period. NBCUniversal provided a boost to topline growth, as revenue jumped 18.7% to $9.45 billion.
What do you think about the impending competition between Universal and Disney?