Credit: DisneyFor years, Walt Disney World set the standard that nearly every major theme park operator wanted to chase.
Disney built attractions that changed expectations, introduced technology that competitors eventually adopted, and regularly found itself sitting near the top when the industry handed out its biggest awards.
But Orlando’s theme park landscape looks very different in 2026.
Universal Orlando Resort has a brand-new theme park in Epic Universe, and two of its biggest attractions just accomplished something Disney rarely had to deal with in the past: they beat Disney for the second year in a row.
The results of the 2026 Golden Ticket Awards have essentially delivered a declaration about where the industry stands right now. Universal owns the top two spots in the Best Dark Ride category, while Disney has fallen to third.
For Disney World, that puts even more pressure on the massive projects already underway.
Universal Orlando Takes the Top Two Spots Again
The Golden Ticket Awards once again named Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment the world’s Best Dark Ride.
Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry finished directly behind it in second place.
Both attractions are located at Epic Universe, meaning Universal Orlando now controls the top two positions in one of the industry’s most important attraction categories.
More importantly, this isn’t a one-year surprise.
Monsters Unchained also finished first in 2025, while Battle at the Ministry took second. The attractions repeated those exact positions in 2026.
Disney World still made the list.
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disney’s Hollywood Studios finished third. Danse Macabre at Efteling came in fourth, while Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure at Shanghai Disneyland finished fifth.
That’s hardly a bad showing for Disney.
But the bigger story becomes clear when looking at what happened before Epic Universe entered the picture.
Disney’s Former Champion Has Been Knocked Down
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance wasn’t simply another highly rated Disney attraction.
For several years, it was essentially the attraction to beat.
Rise of the Resistance won Best Dark Ride in four of the five years it was eligible before Epic Universe opened. Its only defeat during that stretch came against Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure at Shanghai Disneyland.
Then Epic Universe arrived.
Rise of the Resistance fell to third place in 2025.
Now, it has finished third again in 2026.
Even more notable, Disney doesn’t have another attraction anywhere in the top five beyond Rise of the Resistance and Shanghai Disneyland’s Pirates attraction.
That’s a dramatic shift from where the company stood only a few years ago.
Universal hasn’t simply caught Disney with one attraction. It currently has two rides sitting ahead of Disney’s former category champion.
And both show how aggressively Universal has invested in the next generation of themed entertainment.
Epic Universe Changed the Orlando Competition
Monsters Unchained takes guests beneath Frankenstein Manor inside Dark Universe, combining elaborate physical environments with a huge collection of Audio-Animatronic monsters.
Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry takes a somewhat different approach. The attraction mixes detailed sets, high-resolution screens and Audio-Animatronics while sending guests through the Ministry of Magic in pursuit of Dolores Umbridge.
The attraction also features Audio-Animatronic Death Eaters and an Erumpent during the ride.
Those two experiences demonstrate the problem Disney now faces.
Disney World doesn’t suddenly have bad attractions because Universal built better ones. Rise of the Resistance remains one of the resort’s most ambitious rides.
But Disney can no longer rely on attractions from the previous decade to maintain its position at the top.
Epic Universe officially opened in May 2025, giving Universal Orlando an entirely new collection of attractions built with modern technology and current guest expectations in mind.
The 2026 awards suggest that investment is paying off.
Epic Universe also finished third in the Best Park category, placing it behind Europa-Park and Dollywood. For a park still relatively early in its life, that result gives Disney another reason to watch what is happening down the road.
And that’s where Disney’s response becomes especially important.
Walt Disney World Is Being Forced To Change
Disney isn’t standing still.
In fact, Walt Disney World is currently moving through one of its biggest periods of redevelopment in years.
Animal Kingdom will introduce Tropical Americas in 2027, bringing major new experiences based on Encanto (2021) and Indiana Jones.
Those attractions could give Disney an opportunity to answer Universal much sooner than some guests realize.
Antonio’s Fiesta de Encanto and Indiana Jones and the Myth of the Jade Serpent are both expected to become major additions when Tropical Americas opens.
But the bigger response may eventually come from Magic Kingdom.
Disney has already announced an enormous Villains-themed expansion for the park. That project represents exactly the type of investment Disney may need as Universal continues raising expectations in Orlando.
Among the planned attractions is a Magic Mirror dark ride.
That ride suddenly carries even more weight.
Disney isn’t just building another attraction for Magic Kingdom. It’s developing something that could eventually be judged directly against Monsters Unchained and Battle at the Ministry.
If Universal continues controlling the Best Dark Ride category over the next several years, the Magic Mirror attraction could become Disney’s clearest opportunity to reclaim the top spot.
Disney Can’t Ignore Universal’s Momentum Anymore
Competition between Disney World and Universal Orlando isn’t new.
What’s different is the scale.
Universal now operates three major theme parks in Orlando, with Epic Universe serving as its newest weapon. The resort isn’t simply adding another roller coaster or expanding an existing land. It built an entirely new park filled with attractions designed to compete with Disney’s strongest experiences.
The Golden Ticket results offer one way of measuring how successful that strategy has become.
In 2025, Universal became the first operator to knock Rise of the Resistance out of the top spot since the Disney attraction began dominating the category, outside of its previous loss to Shanghai Disneyland.
A year later, Universal did it again.
That second victory matters more because it makes the first result much harder to dismiss as excitement surrounding a new park.
Monsters Unchained remains No. 1.
Battle at the Ministry remains No. 2.
Rise of the Resistance remains No. 3.
The order didn’t change.
The Next Phase of the Orlando Theme Park War Has Already Started
Disney World doesn’t need to panic, but it does need to evolve.
Fortunately for Disney fans, that process is already happening.
Tropical Americas will bring a major transformation to Animal Kingdom. Magic Kingdom has enormous expansion plans ahead, including Villains Land.
Universal’s success only raises the expectations for those projects.
For decades, Disney frequently created the attractions everyone else chased. The 2026 Golden Ticket Awards show that Universal is capable of reversing that relationship.
Epic Universe now owns the industry’s top two dark rides for the second consecutive year. Disney’s former champion sits behind both of them.
That creates a fascinating situation in Orlando.
Universal has made its move.
Now Disney’s upcoming attractions have to answer it.
