Comcast's (CMCSA +0.25%) Universal Studios might seem to be taking a gap year in the theme-park arms race in Central Florida, but it has bigger plans in the works across the country.
Universal announced on Wednesday that it will build a small theme park in Texas geared to young families. It's also not forgetting about teens and adults: It plans a year-round haunt attraction in Las Vegas.
If you can't wait that long, keep heading westward. There's definitely near-term buzz percolating for its original movie-themed park in California. Super Nintendo World -- in partnership with Japanese gaming giant Nintendo (NTDOY +3.21%) -- will open next month inside Universal Studios Hollywood. Then we get to 2025, when the highly anticipated Epic Universe theme park will open just outside of the Universal Orlando resort in Florida.
Comcast once tried to buy Walt Disney (DIS +3.85%). Now it's settling for coming hard for its rival's kneecaps.
Image source: Universal Studios.
You must be this tall to ride
In the eyes of theme park enthusiasts, Universal Orlando is taking it easy in terms of new attractions coming on line in 2023. Disney World announced earlier this week that its Tron Lightcycle/Run coaster will open at the Magic Kingdom on April 4.
Situated between Universal Orlando and Disney World, SeaWorld Entertainment (SEAS +2.80%) has Pipeline -- billed as the world's first "surf coaster" -- debuting at SeaWorld Orlando in the spring. Disney World and SeaWorld Orlando introduced new scream machines last year, too.
Universal Orlando has now gone 19 months without a major new addition. It has shuttered or is about to close several attractions to make way for future experiences. Its only major ride premiering this year will be the Minions-themed Villain-Con Minion Blast, where guests will reportedly be armed with interactive blasters as they step onto a slow-moving conveyor mechanism. Is Comcast really bringing a moving walkway to a coaster fight?
The lull won't last long. Epic Universe will have plenty of roller coasters in richly themed areas based on popular franchises. Comcast hasn't offered up concrete details beyond saying that a larger Super Nintendo World is coming to Epic Universe, but construction and speculation are happening in plain sight.
There is no timeline for the family park in Frisco, Texas. The concept artwork suggests that it will be based on its DreamWorks and Illumination animation studio properties. It will take time to build out. The year-round horror-themed experience opening in the Area 51 entertainment district in Las Vegas will likely open sooner, but no date has been announced.
The family-friendly park in North Texas and the Vegas haunt attraction find Comcast stepping out of its defined markets to offer regional attractions. It's something that Disney has failed to do in the past.
Its DisneyQuest concept faltered before it got around to opening a third location. On a smaller scale, the media giant has shuttered most Disney Stores across the country. Will Comcast succeed where Disney has failed?
Your move, Mickey
Shifting to a different question, will Disney follow suit with either regional location-based entertainment experiences or taking Epic Universe head-on with a new park in Florida?
One of my five 2023 predictions for Disney two weeks ago was that it will announce a fifth themed Disney World park. The company has recently said that it's perfectly fine with the current capacity of its attractions, but it's going to need some more ammo after 2025 to avoid losing market share to its Epic neighbor. Help might be on the way.
Theme-park strategy specialist TouringPlans is reporting that a Wednesday planning meeting for Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District discussed the possibility of two minor parks and one major park for the massive Disney World resort. We can't get our hopes up just yet. Florida legislators voted to dissolve the power of Disney's own regulatory agency last year, so this could be the leading theme park operator firming up its approvals for long-term plans before it hands over the keys to the local taxpayers.
However, after a wild week of announcements out of Disney on Tuesday and Comcast's Universal on Wednesday, maybe there are some more fireworks to set off. There's never a dull moment in the world of travel and tourism stocks, but this week has been particularly bananas.
