The Disney Company, and specifically its parks, has transcended traditional consumer relationships to become a true lifestyle brand and a cultural cornerstone for families around the world. This seems especially true when factoring in the symbiotic relationship between the parks and Disney’s library of animated films, which are often introduced to children at an early age.

It has become almost a rite of passage for the American family to take a childhood trip to a Disney park, and this legacy has seemed nearly unattainable for other entertainment companies to catch up to. However, due to significant executive management missteps, both the film and parks divisions of the Disney company have endured a period of relative creative stagnation for several years, all the while Universal’s future, especially its parks, has never looked brighter. By breaking down some of the key factors that have allowed Disney to hold its unique position of brand loyalty for so long, Universal can take conscious steps to overtake them and carve out a space of their own.

Universal’s Current Strategy

Some of Universal’s recent moves may seem unusual from an outside perspective, but it’s actually quite clear within the context of the greater theme park industry. Two new developments were announced by Universal outside of the established theme park hubs of Los Angeles and Orlando. These include a year-round Halloween Horror Nights venue in Las Vegas called Universal Horror Unleashed and a smaller, kid-focused theme park development in Texas called Universal Kids Resort. But why make such significant investments outside of the established theme parks?

As mentioned above, the Disney company has allowed their reputation of quality to slip somewhat in recent years, a pattern which Universal likely identified. With a unique opportunity to take action and really attack Disney’s market share, Universal went full steam ahead with projects like the Velocicoaster, Super Nintendo World, Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift, and of course Epic Universe. However, there are two advantages Disney still holds over any other company: legacy brand loyalty and a strong market for young children. And that’s exactly what these new Universal projects are meant to address.

Both Horror Unleashed and the Kids Resort are meant to cut Disney off at the pass in a way, to provide a teaser for the more robust experiences that exist in either Hollywood or Orlando. By setting up the Kids Resort, a new generation of audiences may establish that strong brand loyalty with Universal rather than Disney, a feat which had previously seemed impossible. With Horror Unleashed, a new demographic who might have never considered attending an event like Halloween Horror Nights can be exposed to it and possibly attend the next season.

Most importantly, Epic Universe is clearly intended to not only showcase this new era of theme park excellence and innovation by Universal, but to establish the Orlando resort as a multi-day destination to rival Walt Disney World. In order to truly keep up this momentum, Universal could also take these next steps.

Behind the Curtain

As a theme park fan growing up, I attended several of Disney’s Destination D events with my dad. These are not the same as the large D23 conventions which take place in Anaheim, but instead are modestly-sized conferences which consist mostly of updates for park projects already in development, small reveals for upcoming films including interviews with the creative teams, and panels for Imagineers of the past and present to break down the history and process of how various park projects came to be.

These panels were fascinating, and over those years I was able to hear directly from figures like Marty Sklar, Tony Baxter, Joe Rohde, Bob Gurr, Alice Davis, and more. The recognizable artistry of each of these creatives both deepens fans’ sense of appreciation for the final product and cultivates a sense of proximity to the company as a whole.

Walt Disney understood this, bringing guests behind the curtain of parks development through the Wonderful World of Color series and other television spots. Universal has taken small steps towards this in recent years, specifically with the in-depth announcements for Epic Universe, but there is still room to do even more.

Additionally, I think there is enough demand for Universal’s own version of a D23 fan convention mainly focused on the parks. This would be a great opportunity to break down details in the parks, establish audience relationships with members of the creative team, and make announcements for new projects coming to the resort with even more fanfare. If it was held during the summer, it could even be a great event to announce the upcoming slate of Halloween Horror Nights houses for that year.

Original IP

The Universal theme parks have always been based on primarily existing properties, following the early tagline of “ride the movies.” However, certain lands at Islands of Adventure and Epic Universe show that this doesn’t have to be the case.

Intellectual property is a necessary asset for theme park development, but it’s not usually what makes a park stand out. For example, attractions at Disneyland like Rise of the Resistance, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Star Tours, or Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters may be great, but they’re not what gives the park its identity. It’s attractions like the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain, the Jungle Cruise, Thunder Mountain, and more that give a deeper sense of charm and become iconic, not just popular in ridership.

A specific focus on crafting those kinds of attractions would go a long way to helping to further Universal’s progress in the theme park industry. Several of the original lands of Disneyland were based on popular film genres at the time like westerns, the True Life Adventure series and other adventure movies, and science fiction, so there is no reason why Universal couldn’t do the same while maintaining the central themes of film appreciation. Mobster movies, horror, spy thrillers, westerns, high fantasy, and more have further potential for theme park storytelling that could be utilized through original concepts by Universal.

Creating Timeless Classics

This final point is by far the most significant departure from Universal’s current business practice, but I believe it could be key to cementing this level of multi-generational brand loyalty.

The landscape of animation is in a complicated place at the moment, but a currently underserved facet of the medium is traditional 2D animation. Before Michael Eisner took the reins as the new CEO of the Disney company, the animation studio was in the worst spot creatively it had ever been. By following the playbook established by Walt of optimizing traditional folk and fairy tales, though now also infusing structural frameworks of musical theatre with songs by Broadway composers, Eisner was able to usher in the Disney Renaissance.

The films of this era are some of the most iconic and popular in the studio’s library, and there is a currently untapped market for these kinds of films in such a 3D-dominated, irony-steeped world of family animation. Universal could move to fill that void of sincere and timeless stories of fairy tales or myths, creating new, artful classics which children would grow up watching. Though this is a similar style to some of Dreamworks’ first films, to truly set this direction apart it could be useful to produce them through a new animation studio under the Universal umbrella. Once established, these properties could be included in the parks, providing an alternative to the market of families with young children which Disney has historically controlled.

By laying the groundwork for creating timeless and classic childhood films, giving fans a peek behind the scenes to establish familiarity with the artists building the parks, and focusing on developing original attractions for the resorts, Universal could be on the path to achieving the same level of consumer brand loyalty as Disney.