Disney Gives Up Without a Fight
In 1990 Universal Studios Orlando opened up. The idea was to use it as a combination of movie studio and theme park attraction. Michael Eisner immediately set about making MGM/Disney Studios in Walt Disney World. Both were a failure. at least as far as the movie studio thing went, it turned out to be a wildly impractical idea, there weren’t that many people from Hollywood who were willing to work in Orlando. It’s hot enough in LA, why add muggy and mosquitos to that?
It did make Universal Studios another “stop if you have the time for it” attraction in Orlando like Sea World or Church Street Station. Disney was not notably worried.
In 2004, J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers signed a letter of intent with Disney to build a Harry Potter-themed attraction in Fantasyland in Walt Disney World. However, this eventually fell apart due to allegedly JK Rowling’s demands and Warner’s requirements being too stringent.
I’m not Bob Iger’s champion by any manner or means but in this case, this business decision was arguably the correct one. The newly installed CEO was on very shaky grounds indeed, his primary focus of effort needed to be the Pixar acquisition, and that was going to cost Disney $7 billion. Also, California Adventure was giving Disney a bad name due to its cheapness, and the Six Flags Over Anneheim jokes were proving irresistible. Its refurbishment would be at least another billion. While Harry Potter was the biggest IP around it was not a Disney IP and I strongly suspect that JK Rowling had made it crystal clear to Bob that it never would be.
It’s kind of like the cancelation of Star Trek, everyone says NBC was stupid to do it but the fact was renewing it was not financially feasible. Disney could not give Rowling everything she wanted.
What would have been, at best, a questionable decision for Disney was on the other hand a no-brainer for Universal. The Wizarding World was a game changer for Univeral Studios or rather Universal Orlando as it was now called. What had been a side-trip-if-time-permits, was now the main event for younger parkgoers. The “Daddy can we please, please, please go to…” crowd had a new destination.
It seems to have been a game-changer for Disney as well. They still claimed they were the industry leader yet more and more, Disney Parks began to follow Universal’s lead and did so to its detriment. Disney Parks’ attractions always had their own unique story to tell. Like the Black Widow Bride in The Haunted Mansion or the Society of Explorers and Adventurers on the Jungle Cruise.
Universal Orlando was built from the ground up to be using IPs in all of its attractions because it did indeed start life as a working studio that did theme park stuff on the side.
In 2019, Disney Parks started shoehorning in IP into all the attractions wherever possible in the parks. The old hands at Imagineering that objected were offered retirement packages. The closest thing to appropriate is the Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind ride at EPCOT. The conceit is that along with the rest of the nations represented in World Showcase the planet Xandar has opened a pavilion. That kind of worked.
Throwing a clone of the Ratatouille ride from Disneyland Paris in the France pavilion breaks the point and purpose of World Showcase. Reskinning Maelstrom in the Norway pavilion into a Frozen flume ride also feels cheap. The Tron LightCycle ride was a direct clone of a ride that had been sized for Chinese people, not Americans.
Worse the sightlines hadn’t been checked. You could actually see behind the facades. You have the same thing with the Skyliner. Unthinkable in Eisner’s day, and a stoning offense in Walt’s.
All of these little things add up to a big thing. Disney Park’s standards have slipped and they have no way to stop them from slipping.
And now Universal is about to step out in front of Disney with Epic Universe.
Epic Universe is standing the Disney model on its head. All Disney parks are built around a central hub attraction, at the Magic Kingdom it’s Princess Castle, at EPCOT is the Sphere, at Animal Kingdom it’s the Tree of Life. However, Epic Universe is going to be built around a central walkway with entrance “portals” to its various universes.
Universal is keeping a tight lid on Wizarding World; Ministry of Magic. However, they have finally released promotional footage for Dark Universe, based on the legendary Universal monster movies. It has the kind of backstory that Disney Parks can’t provide anymore; Dark Universe is a place where there is an eternal war is being fought between Henry Frankenstien’s Great-great-great-granddaughter Victoria Frankenstien and Count Dracula. The prize is all the rest of the Universal monsters. The werewolf animatronic sets a new industry standard.
Disney World has been selling the public on the idea of Disney World rather than anything in the Park itself for a while now. It is selling itself on what it was because it can’t sell itself on what it is.
The Universal UCT members have biographies that are no surprise at all. They pretty much all started at Disney Imagineering. When this park opens next year, Disney World will begin it’s inevitable slide into second place.
