The doorway portal to the Epic Universe theme park in Orlando, Florida, US, on Saturday, April 5, 2025.
Thomas Simonetti | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures
ORLANDO, Florida — With the grand opening of Epic Universe on Thursday, Comcast is positioning its Common Studios Orlando Resort as a vacation spot, not a pit cease.
For years, Common’s Florida-based resort has performed second fiddle to rival Disney. Whereas it boasted three theme parks — Common Studios Florida, Common Islands of Journey and water park Volcano Bay — and a handful of motels, it wasn’t seen as a vacation spot.
“This fourth gate changes everything,” stated Karen Irwin, president of Common Orlando Resort. “It not only cements us as more than a full-week destination vacation, but it also adds three hotels to the resort.”
Epic Universe opens at a time of financial uncertainty within the U.S., as President Donald Trump has instituted a variety of ever-changing tariffs which have stoked fears a couple of international commerce warfare, despatched the inventory market by itself roller-coaster trip and has threatened to tip the American economic system right into a recession.
The U.S. has already seen a stoop in air journey, notably from worldwide vacationers. Whereas these company are small subset of general guests to central Florida, they typically spend an extended time period staying at motels and visiting theme parks and spend more cash on meals and merchandise.
“When there’s consumer uncertainty, the parks tend to feel it,” Jason Armstrong, chief monetary officer at Comcast, stated throughout a MoffettNathanson convention final week. “They tend to snap back really quickly, but they do tend to feel that.”
Company trip Stardust Racers, a brand new dueling curler coaster trip in Celestial Park throughout a preview day for Common Epic Universe on April 5, 2025. Orlando, Florida’s first new theme park in a era is about to open to the general public on Could 22. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune Information Service by way of Getty Pictures)
Patrick Connolly | Orlando Sentinel | Getty Pictures
“On parks, whether it’s current attendance trends or bookings — which, bookings aren’t a perfect window, but they are the window you have — there’s nothing that’s showing up in the bookings trends so far that would indicate any pressure,” he added. “That’s true in Orlando. It’s true internationally.”
Those that are most budget-conscious might have already been priced out of the theme park market, Craig Moffett, co-founder and senior analyst at MoffettNathanson, informed CNBC.
“There was a time when visiting a theme park was a mass-market vacation,” he stated. “It’s arguably too expensive for that to be the case anymore. The tickets alone can run a family a thousand dollars or more for a multiday visit, and that’s before hotels and meals. Perhaps that’s why we’re not seeing as much economic sensitivity as we might have expected.”
Despite these financial headwinds, Epic Universe is predicted to attract in tens of millions of holiday makers, bolster theme park income for Common, in addition to Disney simply down the freeway, and produce billions of {dollars} to the native economic system.
It is also the beginning of a brand new period of theme park growth for Common.
Creating an epic universe
It took practically a decade for Comcast to convey Epic Universe to life. From shopping for up land its earlier administration had offered off, to Covid-related development delays, this 750-acre growth is the primary new theme park to open in Orlando in 25 years.
Epic Universe, first introduced in 2019, represents the biggest single funding Comcast has ever made in its theme parks enterprise and in Florida general, CEO Brian Roberts stated on the time. That determine is rumored to be round $7 billion, although the precise quantity is unclear.
The park options 5 themed worlds: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, Tremendous Nintendo World, Methods to Prepare Your Dragon – Isle of Berk, Celestial Park and Darkish Universe.
Comcast’s funding in Epic Universe is a part of a wider push to develop its theme park and experiences enterprise. The corporate already has plans to open a year-round Hollywood Horror Nights themed expertise in Las Vegas later this yr, a kid-friendly park in Frisco, Texas, in 2026, and a U.Okay.-based park in 2031.
“Comcast is leaning into the theme park segment for a simple reason: It’s working,” Moffett stated. “Growth is good and returns on investment are attractive, and the theme parks pay all kinds of strategic dividends by deepening customers’ relationships with their favorite Universal characters.”
Whereas theme parks are a smaller income driver than Comcast’s media division, the division is worthwhile and has important potential for progress. In 2024, theme parks accounted for rather less than 20% of Comcast’s general income, however about 44% of its adjusted earnings earlier than curiosity, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
For comparability, Disney’s experiences division, which incorporates parks, represented 37% of the corporate’s income in fiscal 2024, smaller than its leisure enterprise, however accounted for practically 60% of its web revenue.
Common’s theme park funding and growth come as Disney has pledged to spend $60 billion over a decade to enhance, innovate and increase its amusement places. New developments, whether or not they be parks, lands or rides, spark wholesome competitors between the businesses to create extra compelling and progressive points of interest to lure in company.
How To Prepare Your Dragon Isle of Berk is a family-friendly viking paradise stuffed with immersive moments based mostly on the DreamWorks animated film franchise. (Adrian Ruhi/Miami Herald/Tribune Information Service by way of Getty Pictures)
Adrian Ruhi | Miami Herald | Getty Pictures
“This is the first new theme park in Orlando in a quarter century, and those 25 years have seen breathtaking technological advances,” Moffett stated. “For that reason alone, it’s a big deal.”
The corporate has obtained 161 patents for its improvements at Epic Universe, together with new animated results, trip designs and robotics. Throughout the brand new park, there are trackless trip techniques, augmented actuality and high-resolution projections. In whole, the Common Locations and Expertise division holds 3,300 patents globally.
Main improvements could be seen in rides like Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment within the Darkish Universe portal and Harry Potter and the Battle on the Ministry on the latest Wizarding World land that transports company from Nineteen Twenties Paris to the Nineties British Ministry of Magic.
It is usually obvious in new leisure reveals like “The Untrainable Dragon” with the Methods to Prepare Your Dragon – Isle of Berk portal, the place an animatronic Toothless, with a wingspan of practically 27 ft, soars over the viewers.
Only the start
A statue of Luna, the Roman goddess of the moon, overlooking the Celestial Park space, on the Epic Universe theme park in Orlando, Florida, US, on Saturday, April 5, 2025.
Thomas Simonetti | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures
“This is a truly momentous occasion for us, and just a significant milestone in that continuum of our development,” stated Mark Woodbury, CEO of Common Locations and Experiences. “The future is super bright. … There’s a lot of room for expansion. We’re already thinking about how that plays out. New attractions coming, new intellectual property coming, all part of our philosophy to grow our business by expanding our existing footprint.”
Woodbury famous that there’s loads of area on the Epic Universe campus to convey different worlds into the fold.
The corporate has loads of mental properties to faucet into, together with present theme park manufacturers like Jurassic Park and Minions in addition to untapped franchises like “Wicked.”
The place Common executives additionally see power is with its accomplice manufacturers. Throughout its home and worldwide theme parks, the corporate has dropped at life lands and points of interest based mostly on mental property from different studios like Harry Potter, Nintendo and Transformers.
“There’s no creator out there that wouldn’t like to see their their IP delivered to the world in a way like you see in these parks,” stated Mike Cavanagh, president of Comcast. “It actually enhances the IP for further use of the creator.”
The Darkmoor Village within the Darkish Universe space, on the Epic Universe theme park in Orlando, Florida, US, on Saturday, April 5, 2025.
Thomas Simonetti | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures
Common’s theme park expansions additionally broaden its enchantment to extra age segments with the Methods to Prepare Your Dragon and Tremendous Nintendo worlds.
“In the past, Disney really had the under 10-years-old segment more or less to themselves,” Moffett stated. “Universal catered to tweens. The new Epic Universe park brings whole worlds to life for younger children.”
Extra parks, extra merchandise, extra meals choices and extra company to cater to open up extra alternatives for Common to generate income, not simply in Florida, however globally. The corporate has chosen franchise IP that’s not solely beloved, however evergreen, Comcast executives stated. It has additionally up to date characters and tales, like its basic monsters, for a contemporary age.
“We’ve soft opened for a while, and that gives you a lens into sort of what people are going to do in the parks,” Armstrong stated. “And exit surveys have been great. The reviews of it have been terrific.”
Disclosure: Comcast is the guardian firm of NBCUniversal and CNBC.
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