With Universal's latest move, is it time for Disney to make a play for a park in the United Kingdom?
Right now, theme park fans are buzzing about the coming opening of Universal's Epic Universe. The early word is that this new Orlando park is going to be a smash from the start, bringing brand new worlds to life based on Nintendo, How to Train Your Dragon, the Universal Monsters and more.
Disney is still planning a lot of additions to Disney World and taking a "long view" on how to combat Universal. However, Universal has now thrown down a larger gauntlet with a new park for England!
Set to open in 2031, this new park located in Bedford has some initial artwork, although not much more details on what it will contain. There are roller coasters and the like and it'd be a no-brainer if there's a Harry Potter land for England.
This is a big step for Universal with more of a foothold in Europe. If there's one thing we know about Disney, they tend to respond to these things, so the question is if there can be some sort of Disney park in the UK, and if so, what could it be?
Disney and Europe
Michael Eisner was never known for his humility. So it says a lot that the man has been upfront in the last few years on the mistakes Disney made with Euro Disney in 1992.
Many argue the location in France was off from the start as Spain would have offered warmer temperatures (walking around a park in the snow isn't fun). Eisner also admitted he didn't understand that Europeans have different vacation patterns than Americans, and that caused errors.
As a result, Euro Disney opened with far too many resorts, and far too much Disney influence. Those mistakes meant it took years for the future Disneyland Paris to break even or make a profit. The ill-fated Disney Studios Park made it worse.
The latter is being transformed into World of Adventure and more additions to Disneyland Paris have made it a great vacation destination. That includes visitors from the UK with train access via the Chunnel.
So, the idea that Disney should put another park right across the "pond" between Europe and England seems a bit off. At least California and Florida have a few thousand more miles between them than Paris and London.
But with Universal stepping it up, Disney may consider the possibility of a park right in the UK and the idea of what it could be.
What could a Disney United Kingdom park be like?
Let's do a little "blue sky" imagining of what a Disney park in the UK could be like. First, it wouldn't be that huge due to space issues and not as much property to latch onto as in the U.S. or Asia. There might be room for some expansion, yet likely an area about the size of Disneyland rather than Orlando.
Disney would likely look to the local audience for properties pertaining to the UK. The most obvious would be Mary Poppins as they can finally bring that "teacups" style ride planned for EPCOT to life here. There's also a possible dark ride based on the animated section of the movie.
Offbeat could be an area themed to Brave, which is set in Scotland. A ride based on it could work and a meet and greet with Merida.
A very obvious area is Fantasyland, which is far more themed to UK stuff, like Peter Pan, Mr. Toad (Imagineers can really go wild with an updated version), and Alice in Wonderland. There could also be an area based on the Sword in the Stone set to the Arthurian legends. And heck, why not bring in the highly underrated The Great Mouse Detective for Sherlock Holmes?
If we want to get more upbeat, something based on 101 Dalmatians/Cruella might be fodder for a dark ride of Cruella chasing the puppies. Plus, a Haunted Mansion themed for England's moody manors would be a delight.
What else could Disney do in the UK?
If Disney doesn't want to undermine Disneyland Paris with a full UK park, some sort of presence in the country still might work. Perhaps something that's a throwback to the old EPCOT pavilions mixed with Disney Quest could work.
It could be an indoor park that mixes the above properties in a shorter experience, perhaps one dark ride but more of VR stuff and recreations of some London street areas/properties. The Mary Poppins ride could be a great showcase for this spot as well as a big stage of various musical acts.
London alone has a lot of areas to work in some large dome performance space or just on the outskirts of the city. It could be a wonderful single-day destination for the local guests, still get Disney a presence and because it's smaller, the budget wouldn't be breaking the company too much.
This is all speculation for now, and Disney has so much on its plate that a new park in another country is likely not on the calendar. Yet Disney is always set to counter Universal at any turn so the idea they leave the UK to their rivals is hard to believe and some sort of Disney presence in that country seems inevitable.