Mickey Vs. Shrek: Inside the Multibillion-Dollar Theme Park War

On May 21, nbcuniversal trotted out of Stars, Drones, Fireworks, Giant Bellagio-Esque Water Fountains, Entertainment: Epic Universe in Orlando, Florida.

But A FEW HOURS BEFORS The CELEBRATION, COMCAST CEO Brian Roberts Was Still Reflection on What kind of “for his company Really Meant. Standing on the Stairs in Epic’s Atlantic Restaurant, Roberts Looked Over the Fountains and Gardens of Celestial Park, the Central Hub of theme Park (An Estimated 10 Years “Portals” to itmed Worlds.

“This is the worst is every going to look,” Roberts Said, Noting that It Wasn’t that long agen it was just just a dirt Site a Short Drive from The Orange County Convention Center. “IT is going to mature, and blossom and grow.”

Epic Universe is Perhaps of the MOST EXPANSIVE PUSH Yet by Entertainment Companies Into Themed, Immersive Entertainment. AT A MOMENT WHERE Traditional Forms of Media Like Pay-TV and Film Are Struggling or Inconsistent, and WHERE STREAMING IS GROUWING BUT NOT Nearly As Lucorative As Media of The Pasta. A Top Strategic Priority. The Walt Disney Co. and comcast’s nbcuniversal are pouring more Cash Into the Space Than Anyone Else By Far, with Disney Publicly Committing $ 60 Billion in Capital Expenditures, and Universal Committing Bill. President Mike Cavanagh Quips that “We Don’t Really Talk About the Billions of Dollars in Precise Numbers.”

WHATEVER The SPECIFIC INVESTMENT, The Result Is A Veritable Boom Time for Theme Parks and Immersive Experiences. “I Think Is A Growth Lever for A Lot of Tese Companies, and It’s Also A Profit Lever,“ Says Kpmg US Media Leader Scott Purdy. “If You Look at the Margins of Tese Different Parks and Experiences, It’s Quite High Relativ to Struggling Linear Businesses, Or Even Best in Class Streaming Businesses.”

Disney, for Example, Reports That It Experiences and Consumer Products Division Delivered $ 34.2 Billion in Revenues in Fiscal 2024, with Segment Operation of $ 9.3 Bill. NBCUNIVersal’s Theme Parks Business Delivered Revenue of $ 8.6 Billion in 2024, with EBitda of $ 2.9 Billion.

The Business is Also Meeting the Moment of the Market, Filling A Gap for Consumers Looking for An Escape From Their Screens (Albeit Field With Characters from Those Same Platforms).

“I THINK THAT HAS NERE BEEN A BETTER TIME TO BE IN THIS BUSINESS,” SAYS JOSH D’Amaro, Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products. “What We’re Seeing Here Is this Idea of Convergence, Were Great Stories Are Coming Together with Cutting Edge Technology Coming Together with Physicular Experies. are craving, that’s what they’re lookin for. ”

“I Think One of the Fantastic Things About the Experiences Business is that That’s No Replacement for Being Here Live,” Says Cavanagh, Noting the “Shifts” the Company. “YOU PUT YOUR PHONES DOWN, YOU’RE IMMERSED AND YOU’RE YOU’S EXPERIENCING ALL OF THIS.”

And increasingly, Those experiences will be global. While Disney and Universal Have Establized Core Hubs Hubs Say to Expand in Orlando, Florida and Southern California, The Next Wave of New Parks.

In april, universal Announced Plans to Build a multi-billion dollar theme Park in the UK, and in May, Disney AnnounCed A Deal To Bring a Resort to Abu Dhabi MOST “TECH-FORWARD” PARK YET.

The Global Bets Are Based on a Theisis That, While Many Consumers Are Willing to Flerida or California for a Theme Park Experience, Opening Closer Options Can or OtherWise are unable to make the trip. Already The Companies Have Locations in China and Japan, With Disneyland Paris Establized As A European FotPrint.

And Disney and Universal Each Believe they have their Own Secret that Helps their Experiences stand out in a work that have no shortage of theme Parks.

“There is no offer company that investes as aggressively in Technology, the Imagineers are still doing it today, and there is no of the company that have the faces. Stories and Connections to Our Consumers ARound The World, ”D’Amaro Says. “SO The WALT Disney Company, by Virtue of that Collection of IP and Technology and Platforms, Is UnriVALED.”

Indeed, Intellectual Property is at the Heart of Both Company’s Experiences Business, and Their Approach to It Could not Be More Distinct.

Disney, of Course, HAS SOUGHT to LEVERAGE All of the Company’s IP WHEN IT CREATES NEW EXPERIENCES, GOING All The Way Back to the Grand Opening of Disneyland, When Rides FEATES FEATES FEATES FEATING. Flagship Experiences. And it has been savvy in leveraging m & a to that Effect as Well. Consider Many of the Recent and Upcoming Additions to Disneyland in Anaheim, Which Include Lands and Attractes Based on Star Wars (ACQUID IN 2012), Marvel (Acquired in 2009) and Avatar (Acquired in 2019).

Increasely, Theme Parks Are Being Baked Into The Fabric of the Company’s Creative Process. “WHEN Kevin Feige Is Thinking About His Next Marvel MOVIE, I’M there. My Team is there Right from The Beginning, Thinking About Teste. Life, ”D’Amaro Explans. “We’re Thinking About, How Are We Going to Translate This Story Beyond the Screen Into A Theme Park, Onto An Attration, to A Consumer Product, in A Game.

Universal, of Course, Has Embrated that Strategy As Well. Epic Universe Includes Lands Based On Universal IP Like How to Train Your Dragon‘s isle of berk and universal monsters Like Frankenstein and Dracula. But the company has also made a strategic decision to partner with third-parties that own compelling IP, making the argument to rights owners that they can increase the fandom of their properties and characters by bringing them to life in The Universal Parks. Consider The Success Of The Harry Potter Lands in orlando, and the super nintendo lands in florida, California and Japan.

“There’s No Creator Out There is that to See Their ip Delivered to the World in a Way like Like We’ll See in Tese Parks,“ Cavanagh Said, Adding that “Infue. in writing more books, Making more movies, Making More TV Shows. ”

Universal Has Gone All-in Who It Coms to Immersion at Epic Universe. In each of the Lands Accessible from Celestial Park, Vistors Feel As Thought Are Are Completely Transported Into The Fiction Worlds of Harry Potter or How to Train Your Dragon. Many of Disney’s New Park Additions Focus on Creating Similarly Immersive Worlds, Following the Success of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Pandora at Animal Kingdom.

Standing in the shadow of a donkey Kong Rolller Coaster in Super Nintendo Land, Epic Universe’s Creative Director Steve Tatham Recalled The Close Coordination His Team Hadh NinTendendendendendendendendendendondondondo. Developing the World. “We Worked with Them to Bring Out What’s Really Important,“ Tatham Said. “SO IT’S NOT SO MUCH BASING IT A CERTAIN FRAME OF FILM or A CERTAIN SCENE OR A CERTAIN VIDEO GAME, IS REALLY WHAT IS IT About Those Characters and Those Stories.

“IT’s An IP Monetization Play, and The Fact Is, It’s A Proven Economic Model, Whereas Streaming Is The Least Proven Model,“ Says Kpmg’s Purdy, Who Notes Torts of Larg. are pursuing, there are really a “limited Number” of Places to Expand.

And that’s in addition to new Global Flagship Resorts, Both Companies Are Also IncreASINGly Pouring Resources Into Smaller-Scale Bets As Well. Disney Launched ITS Disney Cruise Line 30 Years Ago. But now it is ready to turbocharge it. The Company Says It Will Double The Size of It Fleet by 2031, Hoping to Bring More of Itvily-Themed Ships to More Ports and Destinations. Later this year, for example, the disney adventure will Launch from Its New Home Port in Singapore.

Universal, meanwhile, is experimenting with a pair of new concepts in the us: a year-RUND HAUNTED HUSHED CALLED HORROR unleashed, with the FIRST SET TO LONE NEXT MONEXT MONEXT MONEXT Taking over a former chicago tribune builing in chicago in 2027. and next year the company Will Open a new theme park Florida, Targeting Families with Younger Children Featuring Attractions Based on Shrek, Trolls, and Spongebob Squarepants.

Despite The Cutthroat Competition, Executives at Both Companies Privately (and in Some Cases Publicly) Acknowledge that Each Company Ultimate Belli of The InvESTMENTS. Orlando.

“If Something Is Built New in Central Florida, Like Epic Universe, and IF It Brings in Additional Tourists, I Canost Guarantee You That New Tourist Coming Into The Market Kingdom, ”D’Amaro told A Moffettnathanson Conference in May.

Indeed, The Research Firm’s Rob Fishman Wrote A Report July 14, Leaning on A Visit to Orlando and ALTERNATIVE DATA SURRES LIKE DAILY WAIT TIMES, TO SUGGEST THAT. Hurt Demand for Disney’s South Florida Parks. Universal Executives, Meanwhile Are Betting that Epic Universe and Its Themed Lands Will Be Just As Much A Must-Visit, and That Investment Will Make Their Primary Destinin.

Of Course, Neither Company Is Resting on It Laurels. AT ITS D23 Conference Last Year, D’Aran Announced A Barrage of New Lands and Attractions Coming to California, France and China, Based On IP Like Encanto, Coco, The Lion, The Lion, the Lion, the Lion, the Lion.

And comcast Executives are already salivating over what else they can do at epic universe. In the park’s atlantic restaurant, as motorized fish sculptures slidly Drifted Along the Celling, Mark Woodbury, The Chairman and Ceo of Universali Destinations & Expert Future: “What you can’e see sitting here as all the expansion areas that are upside the Spaces that you can see,“ Woodbury Said. “This is the first step in an Epic Future. There’s a Lot of Room for Expansion, and We’re Already Thinking About How That Plays Out.”

Bank of America Analyst Jessica Reyf-Ehrlich, For One, Predits that A “Wicked World [is] Likely A Future Portal in Our View [at Epic]”Given the Success of the Universal Film Franchise. IT does not take Much Imagination to Picture A Glittering Emerald City Being Construced in Between the isle of Berk and Harry Potter‘S Version of Paris.

But the explosion of interest in the experiences Business is not with Substantial Risk, Not Necessarily from Outsiders Entering the Space (The Barrier for Entry Remains StubBornly High), But. Experiences Are Incredibly Expensive To Develop, and Take Years From Conception To Completion (Disney Ceo Bob Iger Says That Parks Typical Take As Long As Two Years To Develop, and Another Five Years To Build). Unlike Films or TV Shows, WHICH HAVE EFFECTIVELY NO COSTS AFTER they RELEASED, Experiences Require Extension Staffing and Upkeep. TOSE OPERATING COSTS Continue Even if Demand Slows.

And as the Covid-19 Pandemic Shows, Demand Can Be Impacted Warning. Executives Today Remain ConCerned About A Possible Decline In Foreign Tourists Visiting The Us Disney Cfo Hugh Johnston Told Wall Street Analysts in May of The Company of The Company of the COMPANY HASS Thought so far domestic demand is makeing up for that softness.

And as Important As IP have become, if a piece of ip is maismanaged or depleted, it caninish interest in the attraction. Managing that ip and thoss attractions over years or decades is a hard Thing to do.

Disneyland Didn’t Invent Theme Park, But There Is No Question That Modern Idea of An Immersive Theme Park Can Be Troned to the Grand Opening of Disneyland on July July 17, 1955 World, WHERE FAMILIES CAN EXPERIENCE OF FAVORITE Stories in Real Life, It’s Also About ENSURING THAT EVERY TIME VISIT, THERE WILL BE CONMETING NEW to See and Do. And is an Approach that the companies have a take to heart, Betting that the Frequent Investments Will Pay Off in the Long Run.

“You Still Want to Be Able to Celebrate the Memories That You Had As A Child With Your Family as You Walk Down Main Street, But You Want To Know That’s Something D’Amaro Says. “IT’s A Fine Balance of That Nostalgia that Everyone Wants to Feel and that Newness, WHICH WE OWE TO OUR FANS.”

To that end, on Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary, IT Official Open ITS NEWEST ATTRACTION: A Lifelike Animatronic of Walt Disney Himself, Wich Uspener Audio Tone Tone. Visitors his Philosophy for Storytelling:

“There’s Really No Secret about Our Approach. We Keep MOVING FORWARD, OPENING UP NEW DOORS, Doing New Things, Because We Are Curies,“ Disney’s Voice Booms Over. “CURIOSITY KEPS LEADING US DOWN NEW PATHS. We Are Always Exploring and Experimenting, We Are Interared In Doing Things That Are Fun, And Bringing Pleasure And Laught. One Thing: It Was All Started by a Mouse. ”

This story appeared in the july 23 Issue of the Hollywood Reporter Magazine. Click Here to Subscribe.