If you’re a theme park fan, you know that Universal Orlando’s NEW theme park, Epic Universe, is the biggest news these days.
Epic Universe
The theme park has been highly anticipated since it was announced in 2019, and many fans are even canceling or shortening their Disney World trips to visit Epic Universe in its first year of operation. With Universal adding a new option on the scene, people are starting to push for a new park from Disney World as well. But as a theme park expert (it’s my job to visit and write about the Central Florida theme parks and their brands), I do NOT want Disney World to introduce a fifth gate right now — for some very important reasons.
Let’s start things by acknowledging the differences between Disney World and Universal Orlando. Disney World is already home to four theme parks, two water parks, Disney Springs, and dozens of hotels. Before Epic Universe (and its new hotels), Universal Orlando was home to two parks, one water park, CityWalk, and eight hotels.
Universal Studios Florida
As someone who looks at financial reports for these two companies as part of my job, Universal is not as close in competition with Disney as you might think. Looking at the theme park segment revenues for the last three months of 2024 (which is fiscal Q4 for Universal and fiscal Q1 for Disney), Universal came in at $2.37 billion (including domestic and international parks), while Disney rolled in a whopping $8.078 billion (including domestic and international parks). Yep, Disney’s theme parks made TRIPLE what Universal’s did during the same time period.
Magic Kingdom
So when fans assume that the opening of Epic Universe is going to absolutely demolish Disney as a company and wreck them financially…that’s just not true. Universal still has a long way to go to catch up, even if we break things down into domestic park numbers. However, Epic Universe will likely help Universal close that gap somewhat.
Portal Entrance to Super Nintendo World
From a data standpoint, Disney doesn’t really need to build a fifth gate to “keep up” with Universal — they’re already ahead financially and just in sheer park numbers (4 theme parks vs. Universal’s now 3) and park attendance. But what about from a fandom standpoint?
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
Over the past few years, Disney World has been focusing on building new lands and reimagining existing experiences, as well as adding hotel capacity. Those things just aren’t quite as glitzy or glamorous to fans as an entirely brand-new theme park like Epic Universe, and therefore, people rank them as “less important” in their minds. But here’s the thing, Disney World NEEDS to do the smaller expansions before they could ever think about adding a fifth gate.
Pandora
Most people treat Disney World as an all-in type of vacation. Many stay on property and don’t leave for the duration of their trip, so the resort needs the capacity in the hotels to house a large portion of the people visiting the parks. And in reverse, they need the park capacity to house all the people staying at the hotels. That’s a big priority these days.
Island Tower
As Disney World builds new lands into the parks — from Galaxy’s Edge to Villains Land — they’re adding capacity to each park. Have you ever felt cramped in Magic Kingdom? Well, adding a multi-acre land with new attractions and shops will definitely help disperse people! It may draw in additional guests, sure, but those crowds will be offset by more square footage and offerings overall.
Villains Land Concept Art ©Disney
If Disney World were to build a fifth theme park without first expanding its current parks, it would likely draw in SO many people that the current parks would struggle with capacity. Anyone who’s ever been to a Disney World park on a full-capacity day (like New Year’s Eve or the 50th Anniversary) knows just how miserable that can be. So, if they added a fifth park instead of the expansions, you could probably expect more of those jam-packed full days during your vacation.
WOW!
Could Disney theoretically build a fifth park in Florida down the line? Yes, they could. However, they first need to complete the current expansions planned, and they may even need more hotel rooms to house those extra people that the park would draw. With so many new lands and attractions on the horizon, it’s likely that many of Disney’s resources are occupied at the moment. It takes a LOT to expand the parks and work on a dozen different projects at once.
©Disney
So honestly, I’m glad they haven’t announced a fifth park yet. I may be able to hope for that expansion in my lifetime, but first, I want to get more space in the current parks. Additions like Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land have helped with the crowd flow of Hollywood Studios, so just think what Villains Land and the Frontierland expansion will do for Magic Kingdom. Those changes are necessary before we invite thousands more people to come visit Disney World.
@Disney
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“If you’re a theme park fan, you know that Universal Orlando’s NEW theme park, Epic Universe, is the biggest news these days.”
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I haven’t been to Universal in 25 years, and have no plans to change that.
The desire for a 5th park is to deal with lines, nothing more.
I think you are underestimating just how huge it is that US now has 3 full parks. With 2 parks, very few if any families are going to Orlando for a week vacation and only going to US. With 3 parks? There will be families who only go to US for their week vacation to Orlando. I predict a lot more people will skip Disney. The 3rd park is HUGE for US. They are now a vacation destination. And I think Disney knows this. They will announce a 4th park within a year. May not start it within a year…but it is inevitable.
Thanks for the business view of the WDW Parks. And I love the stat about Disney’s financials. Now I can throw that stat at a friend who keeps saying to me that Universal is King.
Agreed. I’d be surprised if Disney announced a 5th gate within the next 10 years especially during what has become uncertain economic times and skyrocketing construction costs. There are plenty of areas in existing parks to improve. I don’t think people realize the infrastructure requirements for a another park just to get to the point of anything going vertical. There isn’t the amount of available ground that many think there is considering that a lot of acres are unfit to build on while a percentage of the overall property cannot be built on.
Here is where I disagree. I think that a new park in Florida is EXACTLY what Disney needs. Disney as a franchise has become so diverse that it cannot encompass everything it has to offer with the space it has now without loosing other things that made/make it great. Case in point, Rivers of America/Tom Sawyer Island and Cars. I like Cars, I think it’s a great group of movies that lends itself well to possible attractions. But I would rather see it done properly without loosing one of the great original areas of the park. Something’s got to give. If we are to assume that Disney will continue to make new movies(seems like lately they can only come up with redoing old content) then we can assume that someday there will no longer be room for Cinderella’s Castle either.