I don't think Disney is worried, but they should be. Their primary competitor is in an aggressive growth phase, while they've plateaued. Universal isn't just reinvesting more of their park profits back into their parks, but getting outside capital from their parent company. Disney World is doing the opposite with large amounts of its profit being redistributed to weaker parts of the company like Disney +. However, Disney is distracted by other issues as their company is at its most turbulent its been since Eisner saved the company in the 80s. So theme parks, being the one constantly profitable part of the company, is having less attention given at the moment as it isn't on fire like everything else.
The attendance growth chart is the most relevant evidence. Disney has limited park capacity and made no effort to change this. Universal Epic has to exceed Magic Kingdom’s 18 million yearly attendance. This shouldn’t be hard to achieve.
Yea the stats are interesting, but its also important to not disney has intentionally lowered attendance…. So can they turn that back on and get them back? Time will tell. Hope you enjoyed the content!
If Disney turns the crowds loose, you will see wait times skyrocket. Guest frustration will create one and done visits. People spending 5k will not return to Disney, they go over to Universal and spend 3k. People will also stop seeing value in Genie+ because the wait times will still be long. Reservations that are hard to get will become impossible. Disney MUST keep crowd levels manageable until they increase capacity.
@@LChatmanFL What are they waiting for? They know adding ride capacity will allow them to sell more tickets. They intentionally keep their park attendance low. You’re willing to keep making excuses for them.
@@finned958 Building more rides will increase operational costs like maintenance and staffing which is why Disney is reluctant to build new attractions and would rather retheme existing attractions and advertise them like they are new. Disney also doesn't care about attendance as much as profit. Higher attendance means more staffing requirements and Disney doesn't want to pay for even more staff, so they would rather increase prices while keeping attendance lower to have a lower amount of guests spend more money.
@@Lil_Angry_Bitch Disney’s theme parks are limited in capacity. That’s why Magic Kingdom and Disneyland often has to stop selling tickets and reservations. They are intentionally limiting attendance. Their secondary parks are limited because NOT ENOUGH ATTRACTIONS. People just don’t want to pay for a half baked park like Animal Kingdom or DHS. Disney will lose their place as a top theme park operator because customer service isn’t what they want to do anymore. That’s fine by me.
The thing thats most interesting to me is that there are so many rumors going on of things happening at Universal even AFTER Epic. Studios and islands still are set to get pokemon and zelda. As well as studios rumored to get the fast and furious drifting coaster. Meanwhile Disney essentially has nothing in the pipeline. There was the villians land and coco but even then, they’re neglecting literally 3 other parks which need more new attractions especially AK and HS
Very informative video Eddy, and I'm digging the new setup! I agree with you that Disney will always have a stake in the theme park industry, but it may not be at the top. With Universal creating parks in Orlando, Texas and the UK, plus other new parks being created (American Heartland in OK), and current theme parks adapting and evolving (Busch Gardens VA), people are going to see that there are viable options to Disney.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say Epic Universe will kill Disney, they’re still really popular with kids & have a very dedicated fanbase, but I definitely think they are underestimating just how competitive it’s about to become. When Epic opens Universal will be big enough to need a few days to properly enjoy, which I think will force a lot more families to start picking sides. Even if people do 3 days at each rather than 4 or 5 days at Disney plus 1 or 2 at Universal that’s still hurting Disney quite a bit if you think about it. Throw in the Texas park and Universal’s other recent attempts to try to win over the little tykes (DreamWorks Land, SNW) and I think Disney could lose some serious dollars if they don’t step up their game, or at least stop with the nickel & diming.
You mentioned the kiddos and that is spot on. The kid piece is what they need to be worried about. The generation growing up now does not have that nostalgic tie that their parents and grandparents do. These kids care more about Fortnite, Roblox, Pokemon, Mario etc, than the Country Bears or Daisy or even Woody and Buzz. The 1st Toy Story was 1995. That was 30yrs ago!!! I am just saying that if kids start telling their parents they want to do Mario Kart, the parents are going to cave. And then of course the next generation will be even further removed. I just showed my 11 yr old son a TH-cam of the Mario Kart ride and he almost lost his mine. He literally said. "You can actually drive the car!?" And I said yes. He then asked ... "Are we going when it opens up?"
I worked for Disney Attractions for 9 years during the Eisner era. I can tell you that indeed their attitude was that no one could top them. I can not tell you everything that I know in this comment but people that I talk to in person are surprised by what I tell them. Very simply do not buy into the Disney lies and not everything that glitters is gold. For example; why are there so many Former Disney Imagineers? Check into the team that is behind Epic Universe. You guess it, Former Disney Imagineers. 2 + 2 = 4.
We'll have a better idea of if/when Disney responds at D23. It wouldn't be surprising if they announced the Americas officially for 2026 or 2027 and the Frontierland expansion for 2027 or 2028. Most of the new lands took 3 to 4 years in the 2010s from announcement and Americas should be easier than those (retheme of 2 rides, restaurants, play area, and development of a new ride).
They're reinvesting in the Country Bear Jamboree. I don't think they are necessarily looking to retheme the land too much. Biggest changes would probably be a retheme of Pecos Bill and maybe a new ride or two and a restaurant further down the Rivers of America@@Eddytainment
@@KyleClericyea they do have some project that will remain, but rumor has it, theres a retheme of a portion of the land to match the new splash mountain 🤷♂️
Who wouldn't like to see Disney translate the Aliens and Predator IP's they have into a rated R horror theme park attraction? Time to think outside the box Disney and I think fans would flock to see this!
I agree, it would be a Huge shift from the normal business model but they did make a rated R Deadpool movie and they own those R rated franchise properties, so, what better way to combat Dark Universe but go big with what they already have? I know I'd go that's for sure! :)
even if Disney wants to do something about the competition, they sorely lack the funds to do so after the costly mistake of Disney+ and the acquisition of Fox
Disney has over expanded in other areas and bought too many other things, like 20th Centry Fox for about 80 Billion dollars ( much of it in loans).They keep making sequel after sequel. And of course turning every classic full length animated feature into a live action. They have promised big things for the theme parks, but continually start cutting back on the actual plans after showing the Concept Art. Many of their best Imagineers were so frustrated, that they went to work for Universal where their imaginative ideas are supported. And of course they put in more stores and restaurants then good rides . Food and souvenirs are overprice and the qualiity of both was much better in the 1960s and the 1970s.
Disney lost their edge. That happens so much when people or companies have years and years of being on top and having success and then they get comfortable. I liken it to what happened in Rocky 3.
My opinion is that it's some combination of all of them. You have to keep in mind that there are a lot of people involved in making Disney work. Each person will have their reasons for wanting to do things a certain way, and they likely came to the same conclusion, even if they took different paths to justify that conclusion. The conclusion was to do what they thought was the safest thing, and do/say nothing publicly. That's just how corporations often like to do things. It doesn't always work out that way, but it's what they like.
I agree with your general sentiments, but where are you getting your attendance numbers? My spreadsheet shows severely different numbers. WDW 2009: 47.5 UO 2009: 9.9 WDW 2019: 58.8 UO 2019: 21.3
These are the numbers we were able to source from multiple online websites which we averaged out and it was a compilation of all the parks under the respective banners in Orlando. Possibly off, but overall tells a similar story regardless. The growth from universal is much more significant. How did you compile your data? Possibly a source i can use in the future…. Thank you 🙏 for the comment :) hope you enjoyed!
A more interesting argument is if universal great Britain gets built because Disneyland Paris is basically the only park in Europe that gets IP based rides. But if the UK gets a universal park you know Disneyland Paris will probably loose some guests
Disney takes 3>5 years to build one ground up attraction/land. Even if they announce something massive this year, it’ll still be so far off. Also, why do you think Universal don’t run their own hotels like Disney. They clearly have the money, so surprised they outsource them to 3rd parties.
@@Eddytainment yep just like they own Simpsons and half of islands of adventure (marvel) universal is paying Disney a lot for marvel and they can’t update that area
@@brian8928they got the right to Marvel for a bargain, they are definitely getting the better end of the deal and disney cant use marvel in Orlando…. They can update but they would need Disneys approval along the way so they just choose not to. Its more work than its work and that land already does well.
Disney won't hurt when Epic opens, but universal and Islands of adventure park will becuase, people wont choose to skip Disney over Epic but they will defenetly skip Islands and Universal park, and only visit Epic and Disney. Also, why announce anything now when Epic hasn't opened yet, let them have their buszz for a few years them have a mew park/land / attraction opened at Disney and ve again the new thing.
I think you have a point about universal and islands when epic opens, but i think they are aware and preparing in the background not to take attention from epic…. Im hoping for the rumored zelda area to replace lost continent as a huge project that will balance out the traffic to islands and uni….yea and disney like I mentioned may be silent on purpose…. We shall see. Thanks for the comment and hope you enjoyed the video
Not really only Universal Studios Ilands of Adventure has a lot of good rides and solid coasters and less families are able to afford they are the park for friends and adults Disney needs to get cheap or start putting high quality attractions and universal need to get rid of a few screen rides at universal studios
I can see a couple of things happening: Universal (if rumors are true) will add Pokémon at Uni, and Zelda at Islands. Prices will be reasonable, if say Epic is too much they still have the other 2 parks as options. Or Universal can even do bundle deals, buy Epic 1 day and get 2 days for Uni and Islands free or something. But I think the 2 parks will be fine if they're adding new stuff to balance all 3 parks in the future. Plus, I bet HHN will still be at Uni.
I don't think Disney is worried, but they should be.
Their primary competitor is in an aggressive growth phase, while they've plateaued. Universal isn't just reinvesting more of their park profits back into their parks, but getting outside capital from their parent company. Disney World is doing the opposite with large amounts of its profit being redistributed to weaker parts of the company like Disney +.
However, Disney is distracted by other issues as their company is at its most turbulent its been since Eisner saved the company in the 80s. So theme parks, being the one constantly profitable part of the company, is having less attention given at the moment as it isn't on fire like everything else.
All great points
The attendance growth chart is the most relevant evidence. Disney has limited park capacity and made no effort to change this. Universal Epic has to exceed Magic Kingdom’s 18 million yearly attendance. This shouldn’t be hard to achieve.
Yea the stats are interesting, but its also important to not disney has intentionally lowered attendance…. So can they turn that back on and get them back? Time will tell. Hope you enjoyed the content!
If Disney turns the crowds loose, you will see wait times skyrocket. Guest frustration will create one and done visits. People spending 5k will not return to Disney, they go over to Universal and spend 3k. People will also stop seeing value in Genie+ because the wait times will still be long. Reservations that are hard to get will become impossible. Disney MUST keep crowd levels manageable until they increase capacity.
@@LChatmanFL What are they waiting for? They know adding ride capacity will allow them to sell more tickets. They intentionally keep their park attendance low. You’re willing to keep making excuses for them.
@@finned958 Building more rides will increase operational costs like maintenance and staffing which is why Disney is reluctant to build new attractions and would rather retheme existing attractions and advertise them like they are new. Disney also doesn't care about attendance as much as profit. Higher attendance means more staffing requirements and Disney doesn't want to pay for even more staff, so they would rather increase prices while keeping attendance lower to have a lower amount of guests spend more money.
@@Lil_Angry_Bitch Disney’s theme parks are limited in capacity. That’s why Magic Kingdom and Disneyland often has to stop selling tickets and reservations. They are intentionally limiting attendance. Their secondary parks are limited because NOT ENOUGH ATTRACTIONS. People just don’t want to pay for a half baked park like Animal Kingdom or DHS. Disney will lose their place as a top theme park operator because customer service isn’t what they want to do anymore. That’s fine by me.
The thing thats most interesting to me is that there are so many rumors going on of things happening at Universal even AFTER Epic. Studios and islands still are set to get pokemon and zelda. As well as studios rumored to get the fast and furious drifting coaster. Meanwhile Disney essentially has nothing in the pipeline. There was the villians land and coco but even then, they’re neglecting literally 3 other parks which need more new attractions especially AK and HS
Yup AK has so much potential and HS is a mess, it needs help.
I LOVE the light behind you! That’s 🔥
Thank you! Testing the setup out in different ways.
I Absolutely can't wait for Epic Universe!!! It will Definitely change the Game!👍🏼👏🏾🙌🏿✈🕺🏽🕺🏽😊💚🐲
Me either, this is way bigger than most are aware of.
Very informative video Eddy, and I'm digging the new setup! I agree with you that Disney will always have a stake in the theme park industry, but it may not be at the top. With Universal creating parks in Orlando, Texas and the UK, plus other new parks being created (American Heartland in OK), and current theme parks adapting and evolving (Busch Gardens VA), people are going to see that there are viable options to Disney.
Thank you! Still working out the kinks and playing with the new setup. Disney needs to wake up, but i think they will soon, but will it be to late 😳
I wouldn’t go so far as to say Epic Universe will kill Disney, they’re still really popular with kids & have a very dedicated fanbase, but I definitely think they are underestimating just how competitive it’s about to become. When Epic opens Universal will be big enough to need a few days to properly enjoy, which I think will force a lot more families to start picking sides. Even if people do 3 days at each rather than 4 or 5 days at Disney plus 1 or 2 at Universal that’s still hurting Disney quite a bit if you think about it. Throw in the Texas park and Universal’s other recent attempts to try to win over the little tykes (DreamWorks Land, SNW) and I think Disney could lose some serious dollars if they don’t step up their game, or at least stop with the nickel & diming.
Great points! Disney isn’t going anywhere soon, but their are some major changes that warrant their attention
You mentioned the kiddos and that is spot on. The kid piece is what they need to be worried about. The generation growing up now does not have that nostalgic tie that their parents and grandparents do. These kids care more about Fortnite, Roblox, Pokemon, Mario etc, than the Country Bears or Daisy or even Woody and Buzz. The 1st Toy Story was 1995. That was 30yrs ago!!! I am just saying that if kids start telling their parents they want to do Mario Kart, the parents are going to cave. And then of course the next generation will be even further removed. I just showed my 11 yr old son a TH-cam of the Mario Kart ride and he almost lost his mine. He literally said. "You can actually drive the car!?" And I said yes. He then asked ... "Are we going when it opens up?"
@@LChatmanFL yup and that park in texas is aimed at the younger crowd, capturing that nastalgia and investing in the future
@@Eddytainment I wonder where the next kid park goes? Maybe be GA?
I worked for Disney Attractions for 9 years during the Eisner era. I can tell you that indeed their attitude was that no one could top them. I can not tell you everything that I know in this comment but people that I talk to in person are surprised by what I tell them. Very simply do not buy into the Disney lies and not everything that glitters is gold. For example; why are there so many Former Disney Imagineers? Check into the team that is behind Epic Universe. You guess it, Former Disney Imagineers. 2 + 2 = 4.
I dont think it much of a secret any more that Disney isn’t as magical behind the scenes…. Its unfortunate, because they are great parks.
We'll have a better idea of if/when Disney responds at D23. It wouldn't be surprising if they announced the Americas officially for 2026 or 2027 and the Frontierland expansion for 2027 or 2028. Most of the new lands took 3 to 4 years in the 2010s from announcement and Americas should be easier than those (retheme of 2 rides, restaurants, play area, and development of a new ride).
That retheme of frontier land, I hope is a no go, i love that area.
They're reinvesting in the Country Bear Jamboree. I don't think they are necessarily looking to retheme the land too much. Biggest changes would probably be a retheme of Pecos Bill and maybe a new ride or two and a restaurant further down the Rivers of America@@Eddytainment
@@KyleClericyea they do have some project that will remain, but rumor has it, theres a retheme of a portion of the land to match the new splash mountain 🤷♂️
Who wouldn't like to see Disney translate the Aliens and Predator IP's they have into a rated R horror theme park attraction? Time to think outside the box Disney and I think fans would flock to see this!
I dont thin you are wrong, but the likelihood they divert from the family friendly image is slim.
I agree, it would be a Huge shift from the normal business model but they did make a rated R Deadpool movie and they own those R rated franchise properties, so, what better way to combat Dark Universe but go big with what they already have? I know I'd go that's for sure! :)
even if Disney wants to do something about the competition, they sorely lack the funds to do so after the costly mistake of Disney+ and the acquisition of Fox
Big factors in the equation
Disney has over expanded in other areas and bought too many other things, like 20th Centry Fox for about 80 Billion dollars ( much of it in loans).They keep making sequel after sequel. And of course turning every classic full length animated feature into a live action. They have promised big things for the theme parks, but continually start cutting back on the actual plans after showing the Concept Art. Many of their best Imagineers were so frustrated, that they went to work for Universal where their imaginative ideas are supported. And of course they put in more stores and restaurants then good rides . Food and souvenirs are overprice and the qualiity of both was much better in the 1960s and the 1970s.
Yea its a interesting road ahead
Disney lost their edge. That happens so much when people or companies have years and years of being on top and having success and then they get comfortable. I liken it to what happened in Rocky 3.
Let’s hope this level of competition wakes the giant back up…. I don’t think the recognized the level of the opposition.
My opinion is that it's some combination of all of them. You have to keep in mind that there are a lot of people involved in making Disney work. Each person will have their reasons for wanting to do things a certain way, and they likely came to the same conclusion, even if they took different paths to justify that conclusion. The conclusion was to do what they thought was the safest thing, and do/say nothing publicly. That's just how corporations often like to do things. It doesn't always work out that way, but it's what they like.
Yea we will see how this all plays out, but its definitely interesting.
I agree with your general sentiments, but where are you getting your attendance numbers? My spreadsheet shows severely different numbers.
WDW 2009: 47.5
UO 2009: 9.9
WDW 2019: 58.8
UO 2019: 21.3
These are the numbers we were able to source from multiple online websites which we averaged out and it was a compilation of all the parks under the respective banners in Orlando. Possibly off, but overall tells a similar story regardless. The growth from universal is much more significant. How did you compile your data? Possibly a source i can use in the future…. Thank you 🙏 for the comment :) hope you enjoyed!
I used the TEA numbers. @@Eddytainment
UO has had my vote for quite a few years now lol!!
Same here, i love Disney but Uni is the better experience and they keep giving back
A more interesting argument is if universal great Britain gets built because Disneyland Paris is basically the only park in Europe that gets IP based rides. But if the UK gets a universal park you know Disneyland Paris will probably loose some guests
Thats a good point as well, but the major players in the game are all located in Orlando
Yes, Disney is very worried
Im sure they are scrambling behind the scenes
I do believe that Mario is going to be a game changer for Universal!
That donkey kong coaster looks amazing as well
@@Eddytainment Yes it does!
Good video
Glad you enjoyed it :)
Disney takes 3>5 years to build one ground up attraction/land.
Even if they announce something massive this year, it’ll still be so far off.
Also, why do you think Universal don’t run their own hotels like Disney.
They clearly have the money, so surprised they outsource them to 3rd parties.
Yea the uni loews hotel partnership is genius, just works.
What a cool title you gave this video
Thank you!
Disney is paying for all the future projects Universal is gonna do, thanks to the price they have to pay for the last third of Hulu
Yea that hulu purchase made no sense….. filled universals pockets and they invested in streaming which has already failed them before lol
😂😂Disney ain’t worried about Universal all they need to do is buy the Nintendo company and BOOM they own half of epic 😂
Lol that would definitely be a disney move, don’t innovate just buy the innovators 😂😂😂
@@Eddytainment yep just like they own Simpsons and half of islands of adventure (marvel) universal is paying Disney a lot for marvel and they can’t update that area
@@brian8928they got the right to Marvel for a bargain, they are definitely getting the better end of the deal and disney cant use marvel in Orlando…. They can update but they would need Disneys approval along the way so they just choose not to. Its more work than its work and that land already does well.
Disney won't hurt when Epic opens, but universal and Islands of adventure park will becuase, people wont choose to skip Disney over Epic but they will defenetly skip Islands and Universal park, and only visit Epic and Disney.
Also, why announce anything now when Epic hasn't opened yet, let them have their buszz for a few years them have a mew park/land / attraction opened at Disney and ve again the new thing.
I think you have a point about universal and islands when epic opens, but i think they are aware and preparing in the background not to take attention from epic…. Im hoping for the rumored zelda area to replace lost continent as a huge project that will balance out the traffic to islands and uni….yea and disney like I mentioned may be silent on purpose…. We shall see. Thanks for the comment and hope you enjoyed the video
Not really only Universal Studios Ilands of Adventure has a lot of good rides and solid coasters and less families are able to afford they are the park for friends and adults Disney needs to get cheap or start putting high quality attractions and universal need to get rid of a few screen rides at universal studios
@@angelogiusti5283 good take
I can see a couple of things happening: Universal (if rumors are true) will add Pokémon at Uni, and Zelda at Islands. Prices will be reasonable, if say Epic is too much they still have the other 2 parks as options. Or Universal can even do bundle deals, buy Epic 1 day and get 2 days for Uni and Islands free or something. But I think the 2 parks will be fine if they're adding new stuff to balance all 3 parks in the future. Plus, I bet HHN will still be at Uni.
@@therealventures valid and those bundle deals are a likelihood for uni future