Look, if you want to be a fan of Disney's theme parks and no one else's, that's fine. Same for fans of Universal, Six Flags, or any other chain. Love what you love. But here's the thing: Being a fan of a theme park isn't like being a fan of a sports team. Rooting for one park doesn't mean that you have to root against all others. Arts and entertainment aren't zero-sum games like sporting events are. A win for one does not necessarily mean a loss for another.
Sure, it does seem to work out that way sometimes. Take a look at how Universal's success in Orlando this decade has come at the expense of SeaWorld's attendance. But if you really do the math, you can see that Universal's attendance has gone up more in the past decade than SeaWorld's has gone down. Universal's success in Orlando has helped attract more people to the market. The supply of theme park fans is not limited the way that, say, NFL wins are.
The Colts moved to Indianapolis when I was in high school there, and I've rooted for them ever since. I can't imagine rooting for another team in the Colts' division, and every loss the New England Patriots suffer brings joy to my heart. (Atlanta, I feel your pain.) My wife grew up a Denver Broncos fan, and we had Broncos season tickets when we lived in Denver. When Peyton Manning signed with the Broncos, I joined many Colts fans in rooting for Denver... but only when they weren't playing Indy and when a Denver win wouldn't hurt the Colts' playoff chances. My wife, on the other hand, couldn't care less about the Colts, and the only team other than the Broncos she will cheer for is whichever team is playing the Raiders this week.
If you wanted to root for multiple teams, there's no way to avoid a situation where you end up rooting against yourself. Only one team is going to win the championship at the end of the season. Rooting for multiple teams to increase your chances of supporting the eventual champ is the way of the weasel. No one respects that.
But with theme parks? Loving what Universal did with Harry Potter in no way diminishes my love for Epcot's Impressions de France. Being blown away by the sensation of flying on Disney's Flight of Passage doesn't prevent me from adoring a ride on Volcano Bay's Krakatau Aqua Coaster. A win for Universal does not mean a loss for Disney, or vice versa. Competition, such as it is, in the theme park industry doesn't work the way that it does in the NFL.
If anything, a win by one theme park makes being a fan of another park even easier. Disney fans: Do you love Pandora? Are you looking forward to an even more amazing Star Wars land? Then you ought to be thanking Universal for what it did with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, instead of smack-talking it.
Disney never licenses Avatar for Disney's Animal Kingdom without Universal's attendance and revenue spiking after the first Potter land opened. And Disney's board of directors probably would have gone ahead with significantly less ambitious plans for Star Wars land without Universal's Diagon Alley raising the standard for what a theme park land could be.
This goes both ways. Disney's Blizzard Beach and SeaWorld's Aquatica raised the standard for water parks in Orlando, eventually leading Universal to abandon Wet 'n Wild to build Volcano Bay. When someone gets a win in this business, everyone else wants to match it... or top it. That's great for fans of all theme parks.
The Walt Disney Company has promoted Disney as a lifestyle brand to its fans, with its theme parks providing the most intense point of contact between the brand and its loyal fans. Lifestyle brands are designed to symbolize or express an element of their fans' personality, effectively becoming part of their identity. So it becomes natural for fans to see something that reflects badly upon their beloved brand as reflecting badly upon them, personally. That's why many fans stand ready to defend their brand against any real or perceived attack.
Again, if you feel that strongly about supporting a brand... great! I love to see people finding joy in their lives, especially from theme parks. All I ask is that Disney fans consider this... that a success in another company's theme parks is not a threat to Disney, deserving of attack. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter does not hurt Disney. Justice League Battle for Metropolis does not hurt Disney. Volcano Bay does not hurt Disney. Surging attendance at Universal theme parks does not hurt Disney.
It, eventually, helps Disney. Because so long as Disney's management chooses to remain competitive in the theme park business, escalations from Universal, Six Flags, and others will spur Disney to invest and innovate even more in its parks, giving fans more to love. (And if Disney were to choose not to step up when others do, then your beef would be — and should be — with that Disney management, not with the company's competitors. Just set the Wayback Machine for 1999.)
Spending a few days at Universal Orlando to enjoy the attractions there doesn't make you any less of a Disney fan. It just makes you another person on vacation who's looking for a good time. And as Universal begins to take steps to promote itself as a lifestyle brand, the flip side holds, too. Universal fans shouldn't rule out taking a trip down I-4 to enjoy some time at Disney, either.
This isn't the NFL. It's more like Broadway, classical music, movies, or reading. Theme parks are entertainment — and at their best, a form of performing art. Sure, they're businesses, and they would love to drain every last dollar from your wallet so that you have nothing left to spend elsewhere. But, ultimately, they know that's not going to happen. The more realistic path forward is to expand the market for themed entertainment, by getting more people excited to get off their sofas and out on the road or in the air to visit a park.
So if some other company is doing that, don't attack it. Go check out what they're doing, instead. Open your mind and heart, and give it a chance. If you end up not liking it, fine. Of all the rides I've been on around the world, I've yet to go on one that someone, somewhere, didn't hate. Nothing's perfect.
But if you do discover you like something new at another park... hey, who doesn't want more enjoyment in their lives? Theme parks aren't sport teams. Disney fans can be Universal fans, too.
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You can be both a fan of Disney and Universal
It's like asking one to choose six flags and cedar fair not either or.
Or expecting people to choose between hershey park and dollywood but not both.
Absolutely ridiculous and absurd to expect people to choose one or the other but not both!
Disney has the bigger fanboy base. Universal has the adolescent/young adult fanboys that influence buying in their market more. But Universal's market must be fed constantly. Like a good theme park ride, conflict sells.
As for DvU, most of us TPI regulars have been ready with equal parts praise and criticism for both brands for years. We're quick to love them when they do something right (Hogwarts, Cars Land, Gringotts, Pandora) and blast them when they struggle (Fastpass+, New Fantasyland, broken Yeti, Fallon, Tapu Tapu, upcharging guests $55 to ride a train). We're a critical bunch, yeah, but that's only because we care.
On the other hand, I am a little miffed that SeaWorld keeps getting blasted, especially since they are the only Orlando based park still building big boy roller coasters. We need to rally around this beleaguered brand, not pile on.
Over the next 40-50 years, Florida's population will grow by roughly 50%; the entire Southeast Coast (up to Virginia/Maryland) will see similar gains.
If you put all of that into context (along with foreign visitors now making Orlando the #1 tourist city in America, even above New York City), it means that there will certainly be a large enough tourist base to support all of the theme parks/attractions in Orlando, whether Disney, Universal, SeaWorld, or others.
Now that Universal has a corporate parent willing to spend to at least attempt to take a larger share of the future market that will exist over the next few decades, this is a great time to be a theme park fan.
@James Rao; I think SeaWorld will eventually be fine, but most likely it will need help through a merger/sale to a corporation/conglomerate willing to give it the financial power to get past debt issues.
As for the numbers, this day was eventually going to come. There are only so many people with so much money in the world that can visit a Disney park. Sooner or later, the increase was going to stop. Sure Disney slipped, but it still is head and shoulders above the next resort's (Universal) numbers.
Robert wrote a very interesting business piece a few months ago with what is Seaworld's problem. The issue at hand is that Universal went all in with new lands and became the "second choice" for the Disney fans that want to take a break from a day at Disney. That is where the meat of the story is!
In the end, Harry Potter, Avatar, New Fantasyland, Star Wars Land,etc are made by the exact same people (Imagineers/creative)
Who in the world would want to go to a park where the castle is named after a viral growth on a pig's butt? C'mon, Disney is magical! Universal is just meh! Disney represents the American dream while Universal is the dream you have when you eat the bean burrito with extra chilis right before going to bed. No comparison whatsoever!
Jeez! It looks like the whole lot of you got brain damage from too many rides on the Incredible Hulk coaster!
I saw/read several blog sites that promoted the numbers as fact without any qualifier as to data collection. I even saw/read several blog sites that clearly stated in their post the numbers are factual without offering factual data.
TEA/AECOM, the organization that released the estimates, itself highlighted the numbers as, at best, a guesstimate.
And, the numbers were not a Disney vs Universal contest. Again, they were just a guesstimate.
Oh, and TwoBits, Universal's profits are rising, too. They're BOTH winning.
I'm now reading at other sites that Guardians Mission Breakout isn't art in comparison to Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Even when it's in your face, there's the constant denial of new ground being broken for even I didn't predict the success of Guardians of the Galaxy.
The only real fear is SeaWorld for they seemed to misjudge their new submarine attraction and the Orca Encounter show. Oh well.
Meanwhile, thank you again Robert for always being a level-headed theme park writer. You're very right. I liked your sports comparison and how that competition isn't the same within the entertainment industry.
So if you're into being forced to pay more money to try and get on the rides you really want, and then have the parks close at 6 PM Universal is for you.
Regarding your comment about why Seaworld Orlando still keeps getting blasted.
Orlando is not about the big boy roller coasters unfortunately, roller coasters are primarily the domain of Six Flags and Cedar Fair.
Orlando about immersive escapes from reality, high quality dark rides, fireworks, parades, character interactions and of course the resort experience, all areas which Seaworld is severely lacking.
That's true Yeowser, but the closest Six Flags or Cedar Fair to Orlando is in Atlanta, GA. Between SW and BGT, the chain has 7 or 8 of the 10 best roller coasters in Florida. Sea World Parks needs to highlight that and start really targeting that audience. They need to realize that with the marginalization of Shamu, they cannot compete directly with Universal and Disney, and instead need to go hard after thrill seekers. They have the hardware to do it.
This is THEME park insider, not amusement park insider. If you want unthemed and uninteresting "big boy" coasters, this isn't the place to lobby for them.
I have my theme park criticisms, but would take any theme park head and shoulders above any dumb old amusement park ride.
SW's three "big boy" coasters blow the pants off anything at WDW, especially DHS's lamely themed Rock 'n Rollercoaster and its black light highway signage. I think you need to ride It's A Small World a few dozen more times to re-calibrate your perception of reality DBCooper. Meanwhile, I'll go ride what is STILL the only trackless dark ride in Florida that transports me to a very convincing replica of a continent nearly 10,000 miles away.
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