Credit: Inside the MagicWalt Disney World Resort is in store for major upgrades.
Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios all have special and unique attractions that set them apart. Whether Disney World Guests are looking for thrill rides, classic attractions, or iconic entertainment offerings, there’s so much for them to enjoy while visiting “The Most Magical Place on Earth.”
Many popular Disney intellectual properties (IPs) have been turned into Disney Park attractions. Just a few of those examples over the course of the last decade include Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Frozen Ever After, TRON Lightcycle / Run, and of course, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.
When Cosmic Rewind opened in EPCOT back in May of 2022, it became the first attraction from Marvel Studios to make it into Walt Disney World Resort. The reason? Comcast (the owner of Universal Orlando Resort) has strong control over what characters can be used in theme parks east of the Mississippi River.
Universal Orlando Resort has its own Marvel Super Hero Island, which has been a part of Universal’s Islands of Adventure since the theme park opened back in 1999. The land includes plenty of fun attractions and characters, like Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Captain America, Doctor Doom, and many others. This means Disney cannot have these characters in its theme park.
Unless it somehow struck a deal with Comcast to score the theme park rights.
On Disney’s annual shareholder’s call, CEO Bob Iger met with numerous shareholders and answered many questions. One, of course, was about Marvel’s future in Walt Disney World Resort. Iger was asked about potentially scoring a deal for the rights to Marvel characters as part of an agreement with Comcast over Hulu.
The CEO made his position very clear.
“We certainly would love to do more with Marvel in our Parks, but we will leave it at that,” Iger said.
There have been rumors, especially over the last couple of years, that Disney was working to secure some kind of deal to use its Marvel characters at Walt Disney World Resort. Of course, that hasn’t come to fruition as of yet.
Some insiders have speculated that Disney could extend Universal’s rights to use of The Simpsons (reportedly set to expire in 2028) in exchange for Marvel, but that doesn’t seem like a fair trade. Others have noted that Comcast may be in a position to purchase Warner Bros. and the DC Universe in a few years and, potentially, buy out the theme park rights from Six Flags. This would seem to make sense from both parties’ perspectives, but we wouldn’t expect Universal Orlando to give up those rights quickly, at least not without massive compensation, especially to its competition.
Iger and Disney have made their position clear. They want to get the rights to Marvel in their Parks, but an agreement with Universal seems to be far from close right now.
Inside the Magic will keep you updated on all things related to Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort, and much more.