Theme Park Wars: New DreamWorks Themed Play Area is Latest Step in Universal’s Battle Against Disney

Watch out Disney, Universal is coming for your crown with both barrels loaded!

Hot on the heels of several high-profile moves and successful new attraction debuts – like highly acclaimed roller coasters and epic new theme parks – there comes yet another exciting announcement from Orlando’s movie picture theme park: the addition of a DreamWorks play area.

DreamWorks Land – Coming Soon!

DreamWorks Land will soon replace the long-outdated Woody Woodpecker KidZone at Universal Studios Florida and feature some of DreamWorks’ most popular characters such as Shrek and Donkey, a troup of trolls, and Po and several of his friends from Kung Fu Panda.

As of writing, details on the new land are rather sparse, but rumors are rampant as excited fans and theme park enthusiasts study aerial maps and make hopeful predictions. Universal Orlando is currently targeting summer 2024 for the DreamWorks Land debut with the promise of a world class immersive story telling experience.

Head to Head with the “House of Mouse”

This appears to be Universal’s latest step in carefully positioning their company to take on the “House of Mouse,” specifically on the (highly lucrative) family-friendly front of the theme park battleground. As Universal continues to expand and update their parks, they also increase their overall market share – directly at Disney’s expense.

In recent years, Universal has turned their attention more and more towards families with smaller children, a valuable segment of the market, as this demographic is known to spend freely on typical family-style vacations. Of course, this segment of the overall theme park business has long been dominated by the Walt Disney Company. With theme park properties such as Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Orlando (nevermind the international parks!), they’ve far outpaced any competition with relative ease.

But times may be-a-changing and competition quickly increasing, if Universal has their way.

For instance, the all new Minions Villain-con attraction at Universal Studios Florida is not just a single attraction, but rather the center piece of an all new mini-themed-land based on the wildly popular DreamWorks franchise. Futhermore, the company also garnered rave reviews at their Universal Hollywood park for another new family-style attraction based on the Secret Life of Pets franchise. And finally, the opening of Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood earlier this year has been a smashing success, with kids and their parents becoming gleefully immersed in the nostalgic world of Super Mario and friends.

The new strategy already appears to be paying big dividends for the company as well, as Comcast-Universal surprised many at their recent third quarter earning call with the news of an increase of over 20 % Y.O.Y. in worldwide revenue from their theme parks and experiences division for the third quarter of 2023. The future seems brighter than ever as Epic Universe is set to open sometime in 2025, featuring even more family favorites from the likes of Nintendo and DreamWorks.

Epic New Theme Parks

In addition to the highly anticipated Orlando-based Epic Universe park opening in 2025, earlier this year, the company announced plans to build an all new multi-billion dollar family friendly DreamWorks-centric theme park near Frisco Texas, with construction projected to start in 2024 and the park opening in 2026. This new, as-yet-to-be-named park is implementing a LEGOLAND type strategy, providing a medium-sized, high quality experience geared toward smaller children (ages 3 to 11) and their parents. By providing this fun experience for families in mid-America, Universal will also be creating brand loyalty at an early age; in turn, this can help drive the upcoming generation to its larger parks in California and Florida as they grow older.

As for the new Epic Universe Park in Orlando, it will also be getting its own shiny new Super Nintendo World. However, the Orlando version will be even larger than its California counterpart, featuring two additional attractions: an adorable Yoshi people mover attraction and a Donkey Kong-themed family coaster. Epic Universe will also feature a second, fully immersive land based on the popular DreamWorks franchise How to Train Your Dragon, as well as an impressive looking state of the art carousel attraction near the centeral hub of the new park.

There are also talks of another section of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter being built here, likely based upon the latest Fantastic Beasts films, perhaps replicating the Ministry of Magic. The fourth land of Epic Universe is said to be a “Classic Monsters” area, paying homage to old favorites like Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman.

One thing is for certain: when it comes to family-based recreation and entertainment, Universal feels they have identified an opening in the marketplace, and they are betting big on getting a larger piece of the pie. Whether this is because of their own recent successes at the box office or because of the competition’s recent struggles there, Princess Peach appears to have a target on Cinderella’s back, and it’s going to be one heck of a cat fight for us all to watch in the coming years.

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Are you excited for Universal’s new DreamWorks Land and Epic Universe park? Do you think Epic Universe stands a chance at becoming more popular than the Magic Kingdom? We’d love to hear your thoughts and predictions in the comments below! (But please, no cat fights!)

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