How Disney Can Combat Epic Universe: The Battle of the Theme Parks from the perspective of someone who has visited both.

 How Disney Can Combat Epic Universe: The Battle of the Theme Parks from the perspective of someone who has visited both.

Hello Readers,

Today I wish to discuss strategies by which Disney can Combat Universal’s Epic Universe Park.As many of you know from my previous article, Epic Universe, in some ways is lacking in terms of logistics and Story, something that as we all know by now Disney Excels in. while Universal does greater in terms of execution, and creation, Disney most certainly has them beat in terms of logistics, and Story. This has brought me to express my concepts on how Disney can and will continue to fight against Universal, with their falsely reported “Disney Killer” opening in May.

Keep Everything Clean and Maintained

One of the myths of the Theme Park, a Myth having to do with the Cleanliness of the park and the maintenance is the first subject I wish to discuss. As many of you know, I studied Transmedia Storytelling, the study of turning Franchises into Theme Park Lands, be it from books, video games, films, and other forms of media, but my focus was always on the development of lands, History and Theory, by means of scholarly writing and journalism, not by means of physical development or art.

When I visited Epic Universe, I discussed how All of the rides one after the other went down, across the Park. and how the cues were being destroyed by younger guests, who were becoming restless in the lines that were hours long for enjoyment of 2 minutes. 

In order to compete, Disney will need to implement, ways to keep their rides maintained, to prevent the press from reporting the disrepair, such as what we have heard about human feces in the guardians of the galaxy cue, the state of Tom Sawyer Island in my previous article, or Small Worlds Boats covered in scum. Disney needs to boost, Walts greatest tennant of the Theme Park. 

As few of you may know Walt Disney first told his wife Lillian about his concept for an Amusement Enterprise, which later became the Disney Theme Parks in Disneyland and Walt Disney World, and when he told her, she stated that he hated theme parks because of how dirty and broken the parks were thinking of Coney Island(one of the few Amusement parks that existed at the time). This where Walt replied that his park wouldn’t be like those, his park wouldn’t be like Coney Island, instead it would be clean. 

This is one of the founding principles in the parks that has long since been lost and Disney has much more to do with whats the next big thing. Disney needs to return to its basic principles first and foremost to rebuild themselves as the Standard of the Theme Park, when comparing to this park, to Epic Universe. 

As mentioned in previous articles Epic, has alot of issues, with younger guests becoming restless in line, and stupider inconsiderate guests, doing the human things that ruin theme parks. As mentioned i found dozens of broken ropes in the cue lines park wide. I found children to be climbing on the walls of the Yoshi cue and messages urging guests to stop climbing on the walls and sitting in the cues, echoed throughout the lines as we waited patiently to get onto the attractions.

Disney does better logistically at maintaining the cues for their attractions, and further, keeping guests of all ages hyper focused on what is ahead, getting guest on and off rides with ease, while maintaining a cleaner environment with higher standards. It is for this reason, that Disney, can firstly and foremostly make a comeback against Universal, by keeping everything maintained and its delays and maintenance to a minimum.

Logistics of Lands: How Universal isn’t friendly to Handi-cappable people, or Out of Shape American’s

Disney has another opportunity, with Logistics of the Park. Disney is very good at making parks easily accessible for all ages, where Universal well they focus on a specific demographic. Super Nintendo Land is one of the best lands in the Universal Epic Universe, but it has a flaw. It was designed originally for Japanese Guests, and the Japanese culture likes to stay active within their parks. Therefore, a lot of the attractions in the land, and the land itself require able bodies, athletics and abilities to complete. 

We experienced the Power Up bands first hand and while they are interactive, a lot of the activities having to do with these bands are real life mario party games, that require speed, energy and quick movement which many modern Americans struggle with. Not to mention, the entrance to Super Nintendo Land takes guest up an Escalator, and then guests need to use stairs to get down into the land which is multileveled. While there are Elevators in these lands, they are normally in obscure places and take guests out of the way of the experiences, something that Disney happens to benefit from.

With non-able bodied guests, Disney attractions always have elevators in locations that are easily accessible and not out of the way for the guests in the party that are monitored for the most part by Cast Members.  Super Nintendo Land, which was designed with the Japanese culture of staying active in mind, will tire out young children, and end a families day early in the park. 

It is for that Reason, that I believe Disney can benefit from creating attractions for the lazier American Consumer, that are still as immersive. Creating immersive activities for Galaxy’s Edge, Villains Land, StoryBook Circus, and The Latin America’s Land, could end up being a major draw especially if kept at low amounts of ability needed to participate. 

While some guests will argue that this is a nit-picky concept, I for one might consider using super nintendo land in the future as a gym, as I received a good adrenaline/Cardio workout playing the games there. 

Virtual Cues and making Genie Free. 

As mentioned in my previous article, Universal’s Virtual Cue system is  terrible, Disney’s by comparison is a massive success, allowing guests to join the cues at 7:00 AM from home, as long as they have a valid park ticket and reservation. Universal really dropped the ball on their virtual Cue for Battle of the Ministry, especially given that the attraction has a cue that supposedly can keep guests in line for 7-9 hours, according to differing sources. How can Disney do better though?

My suggestion is to make the Disney Genie Service more like Universals TapuTapu system at Volcano bay, and free for all guests and to bring back the free fastpass, option for all guests in the park. While normally I am against the usage of phones and devices in the parks, Disney can excel and exceed universal by continuing to find ways to save guests money, that can be spent in other places. 

The average non-passholder family of four visiting disney will spend roughly between $100-$500 a day on food alone, and nearly half to if not the entirety of their food budget on Merchandise and Souvenirs. Meaning that in a single day, when 159,000 people attend their parks 15,900,000 to 79,500,000 are made a day off of food and beverage alone. If their higher ups weren’t so greedy, they can use the money from these items to make fast pass free once more, further increasing their value against Universal Express, which is a paid for service that gets guests onto every ride in their parks once or Universal Express unlimited which costs more but has unlimited ride throughs. 

Disney further should move forward, not backward with their logistical technologies to compete and defeat Epic Universe. 

Using Story for attractions:

Something Universal needs to consider is that their story telling department is crap, they need to bring in freshminds who understand their assignment and writing criteria, to compete with Disney. Disney’s Storytellers are superior to Universal’s, they craft well thought out drawn out stories for their attractions with a structure of a film, a beginning middle and an end, with no mysteries or abrupt endings. 

As mentioned in my previous article, Monsters Unchained despite being one of the most advanced and exciting rides in Universal Epic Universe, The Story is a hot mess, and either by budget constraints of need to cut the ride down for time sake, the Story feels like it ends to abruptly and leaves the guest wanting more from the attraction. 

Disney Rides leave the guest feeling satisfied after they ride it, not wanting more to the story that wasn’t fleshed out and Disney can use this to their advantage, as long as they tell stories that make sense to the guests and give it a beginning a middle an end and when the guest gets off the ride they aren’t left wanting more with a state of incomplete.

Villainsland, should be original stories if they want, and utilize new technology the most that they can, but the danger is of using many iconic characters is each requires equal time, each of them requires, a reason to be featured, and they shouldn’t hold back on the terror and scaryness of these characters and what they are capable of. Entertainment for Entertainments sake, is the point of a theme park ride, but when the theming is there but the ride itself lacks story, immersion is broken and the world itself begins to crumble. 

This is therefore a warning, to Disney. Do not fly too close to the sun, when it comes to storytelling, technology is only as amazing by the story that compliments it. Don’t make another Bayou Adventure mistake. Give us a story, that is familiar, that ends with us feeling complete or suffer the fate that I fear Monsters Unchained will eventually feel. 

The Family VS the Thrill Seeker

Disney’s final way to compete with Epic Universe is a continuation on creating attractions for the family for guests of all ages, not just the Thrill seeking few. Epic Universe is great, but I argue that it doesn’t aim for a younger Audience, and does in a very weird strange way. The Isle of Berk, is in all respects a Kids land, it is aimed toward the audience of children, but only has two attraction for small children, those being Fyre Drill a water ride where guests shoot water and the Show the Untrainable Dragon, aside from meet and greet characters. Aside from this in the park Yoshi’s Adventure is potentially also a good kid friendly attraction but not for all ages, and Cirque Arcanus, is a show, and the Carousel, giving families with small children very limited things to do in the park(Excluding the How to train your Dragon play area). This means out of the 16 attractions in the park 6/16 are for younger and smaller children(depending on height and age {i’d say age 5 at the minimum}the ratio changing on guests younger than 5.).

Disney on the other hand at each park has mastered this. Guests at each park have in excess of 4 rides and shows for their smaller children. At Magic Kingdom Disney has 41 of which 5/41 are not for small children,  Epcot has 42 attractions of which 4/42 attractions aren’t, 17 at Hollywood Studios which of 6/17 are not for small children , 46 at Animal Kingdom 3/46 attractions are not doable by small children. In terms of rides Magic Kingdom 5/24, Epcot 4/11 Hollywood Studios 6/9 and Animal Kingdom 3/8 are not doable by smaller children. 

Disney therefore has better offerings for families while Universal has better offerings for Adults and Teens. This means that Disney still has the ability to make a comeback for the newer and starved for excitement babies, toddlers and child demographic, which many families will and should consider before booking to travel to Epic. 

The only thing that can compete with this is the Universal Kids park opening in Texas, but in terms of Florida Theme Parks Universal has a long way to go to meet the family demographic that Disney Does.

Of course one can argue that character meet and greets aren’t tallied into this but this still doesn’t help Universal’s case as Disney still has an overwhelming amount of meet and greets as well as character dining opportunities, that Epic Universe still doesn’t have. 

Wands and non-native English speakers. Why I keep getting mistaken for a Team Member

I have already mentioned the Handicapable issue but this one is far more stressful.  One thing I have noticed that many people don’t talk about is the rules of purchasing a wand in a Universal Park. I have had to assist over a dozen Universal guests who don’t speak English primarily on how to use their wand. I have been approached by Germans, Spanish speaking individuals and even those who are from the east(India, Middle Eastern) peoples who visit their parks, and can’t figure out why their wand doesn’t work. First off if Disney were to have done this each window would have a Cast-member available for instruction, while Universal has maybe one for a variety of windows in a single area. 

Wands are confusing for most people as they don’t understand that they don’t just wave it and expect things to happen, that they must draw the shape small and precisely aiming for a particular place in the direction of the marker on the floor. This is confusing to most parents aswell who do speak english natively, but the new series of wands are more confusing to older parents with younger kids, who don’t know how to use Apps. 

Given that this isn’t a comparison of Epic VS Disney, but a general issue I have at Universal but not at Disney is being mistaken by non-native english speakers for being a team member. Yes, I dress nicer than most guests, normally in a collared shirt, and my lanyard containing my Universal Pass in it, but i can be in shorts and not in costume like the rest of the team members, and I get tapped on the shoulder and annoyed by these tourists who wish to know information, and I help if i am in the mood too, but I can’t help the irrational nature of guests. 

Just last weekend prior to my visit I went to Universal Studios, and was approached by a woman who asked me if I spoke spanish, as the kind of person I am I told her “Un Poco” a little bit as I do speak spanish, but she just assumed I worked there despite having on my waist bag, and back pack, and hat, and lanyard, all signs of a person who isn’t a team member in universal, but another guests. This woman was so confused she looked at me and asked, where the attraction was, and thought that Diagon Alley was the attraction and that people just walk around the area as the attraction. This interaction would have never happened at Disney, I am never mistaken for a manager, or Cast member there, due to their costumes, but it continued. I went to the potion stand in Diagon alley and was in the process of buying potions when this woman approached me again and asked how the wand worked. “It was at this point, I explained kindly, that I don’t work at Universal, which caused the team member at the potion stand to grimace and chuckle a bit, but I also kindly instructed her on how her wand worked, a subject that the team member wanted no part in. 

Which brings me to my final reason Disney will always compete with Universal.  95% of Disney Cast-Members are not only helpful, and are usually able to easily talk to guests, and 100% of Cast members are recognizable in their roles. As for Universal Team-Members, 50% want no part in helping guests or take notice when a guest is struggling, and expecting for something to happen. Many of them keep to their task, and don’t want to be recognized, which causes issue where me in my green collared shirt, matching Death Eater Lanyard and hat, waist bag and backpack get confused for a team-member constantly, but because I know this happens there I always try to help dependent on my mood, and this is an issue Universal will need to work on in order for them to Compete with Disney. 

At Epic Universe we approached the Concierge/Guest experience booth twice when our Virtual cue wasn’t working. The first woman we spoke to was bitter and “bitchy” . She already upset someone else who was complaining. She stated “we can’t help you. You just gotta keep refreshing and hope it works” as her solution “there is nothing I can do about  it” she barked at us. The second one we spoke to was kind, friendly and listened to us typing out our complaint and finding ways to help my girlfriend and I, even if it wasn’t in Epic on that day. She went above and beyond unlike the first girl who basically just barked at me and this is the difference between team-members and cast members. It's a 1:1 ratio of good and bad at Universal, where it's a 99:1 ratio of getting a good interaction from a Disney Cast-member. 

Conclusion 

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with me that Epic isn’t the Disney Killer they claim it is? Have you experienced Epic or had an interaction like this at Disney or Universal? Leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts.