Epic Universe is the theme park opening in 2025 at Universal Orlando. It looks amazing and is sure to be hugely popular thanks to lands based on Nintendo, Harry Potter, How to Train Your Dragon, and Monsters. Unsurprisingly, this has caused many fans to wonder how Walt Disney World will compete with that new third gate. This post attempts to answer the titular question, with realistic possibilities as to what WDW will do.
Let’s start with what Walt Disney World will not do. Many fans want an equivalent “answer” to Epic Universe, and the only thing that can really compete with a new theme park is a new theme park. That absolutely will not happen. Certainly not in 2025 and almost certainly not by 2035. (Here’s Why a 5th Theme Park Will NOT Be Built at Walt Disney World in the Next Decade.)
On a smaller scale, we can also rule out new lands or rides. That ship has sailed–there isn’t enough time. The only thing even officially announced on that front is Tropical Americas at Animal Kingdom, which is a mix of reimaginings and expansion. In all likelihood, Tropical Americas is the next major project on the horizon (outside of ride reimaginings) and it’ll start in late 2024 and be done in 2026 or 2027.
Officially, Disney won’t have any official answer to Epic Universe. CEO Bob Iger claims that Epic Universe is actually Universal’s answer to Disney, playing catch-up on a decade of nonstop development at Walt Disney World and that the company doesn’t have anxiety about Universal’s third theme park.
That’s posturing. Disney won’t acknowledge the project as a threat or Universal as a bona fide competitor. Disney has likely concluded that the only way to “win” is to not play the game–to fall back on the “rising tide lifts all boats” mantra that they used back when the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened and Walt Disney World had no immediate answer to that.
Honestly, sitting out this round of the theme park wars and conceding the spotlight for 2025 might be the best hand that Disney can play. Disney fans don’t want to hear this, but nothing Disney can do will top Epic Universe or steal Universal’s thunder, so why even try going tit for tat?
Hence Iger’s answer. Beyond that…what else is he going to say? That behind closed doors, Disney’s c-suite is deeply concerned about Universal gaining marketshare, losing attendance and–more importantly–hotel occupancy? That the company sat on its hands for too long due to streaming and other issues, and it’s too late for an adequate response? I’m sure that would play really well with Wall Street! Of course Iger is not going to be honest; don’t be naive.
That brings us to the good news. Unofficially, Walt Disney World will do something as an attempt at counterprogramming to Epic Universe. Obviously not on the same scale–it cannot conceivably be a new theme park, land, or even ride in 2025. But there are nevertheless things that could be done to peel days–or even hotel stays–away from Universal when visitors come to Orlando for Epic Universe.
This is the list of realistic smaller scale ways that Walt Disney World can be competitive in 2025 even if they’re not on the same level as Epic Universe…
Drones – I refuse to believe Disney Dreams That Soar is the end game for drone displays at Walt Disney World. There’s no way that the company spent all of that money developing nighttime entertainment for a show at Disney Springs. It’s just too good to be the final culmination of drone shows at Walt Disney World. It’s gotta be proof of concept–a test of the technology for something bigger and better in 2025. C’mon, does anyone really think Disney would purposefully located its best new summer entertainment outside of a park in a place that’s free to see?!
I know the concerns and counterpoints. That drone shows require large staging areas and Disney Springs has a suitable area. That the legal department has liability concerns about drones flying over guest areas. Neither of these are insurmountable obstacles. The guest response to Disney Dreams That Soar has been so resoundingly positive and crowds are colossal. That has to have executives salivating, knowing the kind of shot in the arm that a drone display could give Animal Kingdom.
There are several reasons for Walt Disney World finally getting a drone show, but in a nutshell, attendance is significantly lower at Animal Kingdom than any other park at Walt Disney World. The park is in urgent need for additions, and there’s a good chance that the other parks start cannibalizing Animal Kingdom attendance until that happens. If Epic Universe is going to “steal” park days from Walt Disney World, the first place people will cut is Animal Kingdom.
This is precisely why Tropical Americas was officially announced for Animal Kingdom. That’ll give DAK a shot in the arm, and help revitalize the flailing park. In the meantime, Animal Kingdom needs something to draw guests to the park–and keep them there in afternoons and evenings.
A drone show at Animal Kingdom would solve a lot of problems. It could be the ace up Disney’s sleeve that gives them majorly marketable entertainment for 2025 that also doesn’t require costly (in Disney’s eyes) performers. Although they’re becoming increasingly common, drone shows still have a certain wow-factor not found in fireworks or fountain shows on a lagoon. A Walt Disney World drone show could be the secret sauce to somehow competing with Universal for eyeballs in 2025–the kind of thing that resonates on social media almost as much as Mario.
Summer Celebration – My hope is that Walt Disney World pulls out the whole Summer Nightastic playbook to “compete” with Epic Universe. Make it a summer of spectaculars, with a variety of new and returning entertainment. For those unfamiliar with Summer Nightastic, it was a special event held in Summer 2010 and was, essentially, Walt Disney World’s “answer” to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
During Summer Nightastic, Main Street Electrical Parade came to Magic Kingdom from DCA; Magic, Music & Mayhem fireworks returned to the skies over Cinderella Castle; minor entertainment was added; rides received enhancements. It was a really fun event, and although it didn’t even come close to stealing Universal’s thunder, it gave Walt Disney World a marketable draw that attracted tourists. It was as much a “success” as possibly could’ve been expected given the circumstances.
By the time Summer 2025 rolls around, Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary will be a distant memory–the heart of it over for a few years. Disney100 never really was all that much of a celebration at Walt Disney World. Point being, just the right amount of time will have passed for another large-scale event without fans and casual guests getting “celebration fatigue.”
This approach would make complete sense, as entertainment and celebrations are the tried and true response to attendance woes, stopgaps between new large-scale additions, or counterprogramming to new offerings at Universal. All three of those scenarios will apply in 2025, so a twist on Summer Nightastic just makes sense. Here’s hoping that Walt Disney World aims bigger than just a Summer Nightastic–maybe that mixed with Year of a Million Dreams 2.0?!
Other Entertainment – Speaking of additional entertainment, here’s a list of what’s still missing from Walt Disney World:
- Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular
- Once Upon a Time
- Rivers of Light
- Citizens of Hollywood
- Jedi Training Academy
- Voyage of the Little Mermaid (returns in late 2024)
- Citizens of Main Street
- Main Street Trolley Show
- Pandora Rangers & Drummers
At least half of that stuff is never coming back, probably more. But bringing back some of it could help round out the marketing for 2025. Or Walt Disney World could introduce new projections shows, cavalcades, character appearances, etc.
Even though Festival of Fantasy is now a decade old, it still feels too new (and beloved) for Walt Disney World to replace outright. A couple of new units from recent films could give it renewed life, though. A brand-new daytime parade at DHS could also be a welcome addition that rounds out the entertainment slate there. Bringing back Jedi Training Academy feels like low-hanging fruit and an obvious win with parents.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Soft Reboot – Imagineering has released a number of little teases that seem to suggest they have a big picture plan to do a soft reboot and relaunch of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. There are a number of reasons for this, from Galactic Starcruiser closing to the strengths of Avengers Campus being evident to R&D tests in the parks.
Speaking of Starcruiser, there have been more and more rumblings revolving around a future dinner show. All of the recent chatter we’ve heard suggests that Walt Disney World is actively exploring ideas for a Star Wars dinner show (and maybe more). Again, this would be something that was originally intended for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland. The space was set aside for it.
With the benefit of zero inside knowledge, our bet is a dinner show held inside Starcruiser that ‘departs’ from Galaxy’s Edge is launched at some point at Walt Disney World. Should that go well, we’d expect construction to begin on a proper venue inside Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge for a dinner show to open in 2025 or 2026 at both Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
It’s not difficult to envision a soft reboot of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to launch the land to exciting new time periods and places–breaking the sacred timeline (but tastefully!) and using the setting of the land as a jumping off point for new adventures. (We’ve advocated for this for a while–see Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Needs to Break the Rules for my take on all of that.)
A soft reboot of the Star Wars land would be an opportunity to introduce beloved characters, use the catwalks in the land for mini-shows, and make the land more lived-in thanks to droids and additional performers. All of this would breathe new life into the land, and offer renewed marketing potential. Heck, they could take things a step further and give the Star Wars land a new subtitle, replacing “Galaxy’s Edge.”
Return of Disney’s Magical Express – This is a longshot and I don’t want to give a false sense of hope. It’s unlikely that Disney’s Magical Express is ever coming back. However, if ever there was a time to bring back the airport transportation that gave Walt Disney World a quasi-captive audience and helped increase occupancy, it’s when the competitor across town is opening a new theme park and has a glut of hotel inventory awaiting the occasion.
Since the decision to end Disney’s Magical Express was made, we’ve been saying it makes no sense even from a business perspective–that there must be more to the story. This is because, unlike other on-site guest perks, the “free” service was incredibly valuable to Walt Disney World. It made tourists a captive audience who were less likely to go and spend money elsewhere.
Long ago, Walt Disney World determined that the increase in average per guest spending with Disney’s Magical Express plus the perceived convenience and goodwill obtained from offering the service outweighs the average per guest cost of offering the service. It’s possible that calculus changed during the era of pent-up demand, especially as rideshare services became more common and easier to burst the Disney bubble, so to speak.
But the opening of Epic Universe might be occasion for revisiting the decision. We’ve also been saying for a while that the biggest threat Universal poses to Disney comes via hotel occupancy numbers. If Epic Universe can peel away even ~10% of on-site guests from Walt Disney World, that’s a big problem.
Disney’s Magical Express could help address that, while also keeping some guests entirely on-site. The bubble isn’t as strong as it once was and there’s literally no way to prevent WDW guests from taking day trips to Universal, but there are ways to keep them staying on-site at Walt Disney World. Perks is one of them, and there’s no better perk than DME! (This is probably one of the big reasons for Lightning Lane Multi Pass replacing Genie, given the significant on-site advantage the new service will offer.)
Cinderella Castle Dream Lights – You’ve probably heard this one before, but I’ll never pass up the opportunity to sing the praises of the Cinderella Castle Dream Lights. Those icicle lights were one of our favorite things about Christmas at Walt Disney World for the decade-plus prior to them being cancelled in 2020. We spent many a late night on Main Street, simply gazing down at those resplendent lights, savoring the scene. I lost count of how many times we did this over the years–probably over 100.
No projections can match the more than 200,000 tiny white lights that illuminate Cinderella Castle and transform it into a veritable ice palace. The Dream Lights would stop you in your tracks, with the resplendent physical display being an absolute jaw-dropper. Words, photos, and video absolutely cannot do it justice. Whatever praise you’ve heard about the Dream Lights, it’s true. All of it.
Dream Lights returning wouldn’t help Walt Disney World compete with Universal during the summer, obviously, but fans would–without a doubt–book trips for Christmas to see them again, helping prop up the last two months of the calendar year. I refuse to believe that the awful Frozen projections are truly the long-term plan for decking Cinderella Castle out for Christmas.
Test Track 3.0 – This one is a sure thing given that Test Track 2.0 already closed last month to make way for Test Track 3.0. If I had to guess, this project is more involved than the last ride reimagining and will essentially reboot the attraction with all new show scenes and more. It’ll still use the same ride system and track layout.
The marketability of Test Track 3.0 depends largely on General Motors, the budget and parameters they’ve given Imagineering. Thrill rides can have a lot of drawing power, even reimagined ones. So this needs to rise to that level, and not simply be a light aesthetic refresh along with bringing back “It’s Fun to Be Free” to throw old school EPCOT Center fans a bone. There needs to be more there there. If the budget, timeline, scale and scope are all large/long enough, there could be Test Track 3.0 billboards and ads when it debuts–my guess is sometime in Spring 2025.
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster – Recently reopened after its second multi-month refurbishment in as many years, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster was not reimagined…during this closure. There’s nothing to say these two closures weren’t laying the groundwork for a reimagining, and doing necessary work to the ride system to extend the roller coaster’s life.
We’ve covered all of this before, but I cannot imagine Aerosmith still being attached to this ride in 5 years. The time for the reimagining is now (2025), before the big, brand-new capex investments. Again, thrill rides are marketable, so if this is reimagined into a Marvel ride, it could be huge with minimal investment (relatively speaking) and a tight turnaround time. My money is on this being the big “new” ride for 2025.
The Taylor Swift Card – Disney spent a reported $75 million to acquire the exclusive streaming rights to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. I’m no math whiz, but that sounds like a lot of money to me. And you know what? It was probably worth every penny for the new Disney+ subs it added.
As for what this could be–your guess is as good as mine. The last time the world had this big of a pop star, Disney brought in George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola and made Captain EO with him and a bunch of space Muppet kinda critters. So yeah, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster might seem like the obvious choice for a Taylor Swift attraction, but there are way weirder options.
Oh, and George Lucas seems to have plenty of free time and Francis Ford Coppola is gonna need some money once Megalopolis bombs, so maybe we can get Captain ShE-O out of this. Might I humbly suggest that, instead of a 3D movie (that’s so played out), they stick with a RnRC reimagining and do something weird with it?! Fans have been clamoring for a Muppet takeover of RnRC…so how about space Muppets plus Taylor Swift plus a roller coaster plus abundant weirdness. Taylor Swift with Rizzo the Rat, Hooter and Fuzzball as her sidekicks is Disney’s winning lottery ticket.
Joking aside, there are few more obvious reimaginings than a straightforward Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster: Taylor’s Version. Love or hate her, there’s no denying Taylor Swift’s popularity–she transcends pop stardom at a level probably not seen since Michael Jackson. This is one attraction overlay that would bring an entirely new audience to Walt Disney World and would have bigger drawing power than a Black Panther (or other Marvel) redo of RnRC. This reimagining alone could be a legitimate answer to Epic Universe in terms of drawing power, which is sorta depressing…but also accurate.
Night Parade – Main Street Electrical Parade has been the McRib of Disney Live Entertainment–the “break glass in case of emergency” entertainment when attendance urgently needed a boost. You know the situation is dire when there’s a last-minute announcement of MSEP returning and Disney is scrambling.
For the last decade or so, Walt Disney World has held out on breaking that glass. I think 2025 is finally the year when they’ll have no other option. I also think that wheeling out the ancient Main Street Electrical Parade (could it even survive another trip from California?!) isn’t going to cut it. And that Walt Disney World leadership knows this.
That leaves a couple of actual possibilities: importing Paint the Night from California or getting a brand-new night parade, finally fulfilling fan desires for SpectroMagic 2.0. There have already been rumblings about the latter and it seems to make sense–but I’ll believe it when I see it. I’ve been burned too many times by the rumor mill, even via credible sources claiming a night parade at Walt Disney World was a “done deal.”
Like Mulder, I want to believe. I also think it makes complete sense for a brand-new night parade to finally debut at Walt Disney World in 2025. Given how much they’ve resisted in the past decade, the announcement of a new night parade is the surest sign that Disney leadership actually is worried about Epic Universe, irrespective of what they say.
2024 D23 Expo – The upcoming D23 event is make or break. This will be the event where we find out whether Disney CEO Bob Iger and Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro are actually serious about the $60 billion of investment in theme parks ($17 billion of which is supposedly earmarked for Walt Disney World), or if it’s all empty promises.
Regardless, none of that is coming to fruition until 2027 or later. It won’t actually be an “answer” to Epic Universe, even if it does reassure fans. My additional hope and expectation is that the 2024 D23 Expo is well-rounded, with near-term singles and doubles in addition to swinging for the fences with the new rides and lands (but still no new parks) in the long-term. I am optimistic that we will get really-for-real news, and a lot of it, and not just blue sky bluster. But I’m also prepared to be wrong.
Some of those singles and doubles could be additional ride reimaginings or plussings of existing attractions. Anything from our list of Top 10 Ride Reimaginings Needed at Walt Disney World would be a good option, although I doubt that some of those could realistically be accomplished within the next year. They’ll probably need to do lesser enhancements, along the lines of inserting Hatbox Ghost into Haunted Mansion (but good ones this time, please).
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
How do you think Walt Disney World will (unofficially) respond to Epic Universe? Play the tried and true ‘entertainment celebration’ card? Even more ride reimaginings? Or is “do nothing at all” becoming a more distinct possibility in your mind? Think Disney has cause for concern, or do you generally agree that a rising tide lifts all boats? Think growing the market for Central Florida theme parks is an ‘everyone-wins’ best case scenario? Any other thoughts or commentary to add? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
