Disney World’s Troubles: Former Imagineers Concerned About Universal’s Rise

Way back in 2019, long before anyone knew what COVID-19 was, Universal Studios Orlando announced that it would be bringing a third gate to its theme park. Many Disney fans hoped that the announcement of Epic Universe would prompt something new coming to Walt Disney World.

Related: ENOUGH! Disney Fans Want Fewer Announcements About Park Expansion and More Action

But outside of some updated attractions and am overhaul of DinoLand U.S.A at Animal Kingdom, Disney World has not announced concrete plans for a fifth gate. Universal Orlando has announced that Epic Universe will open ahead of schedule in the summer of 2025.

This trend of Disney World falling behind Universal Orlando has not gone unnoticed by former Disney Imagineers Ryan Harmon and Joe Lanzisero, who collectively have over 80 years of experience in theme park and attraction design.

Ryan Harmon was the youngest Disney Imagineer to work on the development of Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Joe Lanzisero was a Disney Imagineer for 35 years and worked on Mickey’s Toontown in the Magic Kingdom and Mystic Manor. Together, they formed Zeitgeist Design and Production.

Related: Former Imagineer Says Disney Parks ‘No Longer Democratic,’ Ruins the Experience

The pair sat down with Orlando Weekly to discuss the future of the theme park industry, but eventually, the talk returned to the Big Two in Orlando. The two partners at Zeitgeist Design believe that guests’ demand for new attractions and innovation has put Disney far behind Universal.

Ryan Harmon said:

I’ve been in this business 36 years — worked for Universal, Warner Brothers, Disney and pretty much everybody — and I have never seen something of this magnitude and scale. It’s truly mind-blowing. … A lot of us designers lament Universal’s attractions in recent decades that were basically all a movie screen or a TV screen with us in front of it, which I hate. They’ve actually made an effort to make this a more old-fashioned, physical, tactile theme park, and I’m super excited to go see what they do. Because as much as we love everything Disney stands for and does, I’m really afraid that Universal is starting to edge them out in terms of innovation and creating new paradigms, and I hope that inspires Disney to come back at it with a vengeance. It’s good for both companies, and it’s especially good for us as guests, to have these companies compete.

With guests only having so much time and money to spend in Orlando, people will have to decide where to spend their tourism dollars, and demand will be hiring for something new. And with Epic Universe already in production and nearly complete, people are likelier to head there than to Disney.

Joe Lanzisero said:

I think it’s going to be tricky. With so many choices in Orlando, there’s a lot of noise in the marketplace. I think it’s going to be an amazing park; the scale of it, the kinds of things that they’re trying to do. They’re creating these very immersive story worlds that you’re going to get lost in — which is, I think, great — and they’re doing them at a massive scale.

So, with Universal having built projects and Disney only having news and blue sky projects, the war for Orlando seems to have shifted in Universal’s direction. Or at least that’s what the team at Zeitgeist Design appears to think.

What do you think Disney will do next to counter Epic Universe? Let us know in the comments.

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