An Analysis of the Competition between Universal and Disney

Abstract

One of the strangest feuds on the internet is the battle between Universal and Disney loyalists. Based on scale, it’s a lot like fans of the Hartford Yard Goats hating the New York Yankees, but the Goats have shown a lot of promise in recent years. They hired a wizard back in 2010 and have risen fast after that. Think of them as a team full of top prospects with plenty of potential. Universal’s problem is that they didn’t get their start until 1990. They’re effectively an expansion team compared to Disney, who founded the theme park industry in 1955. To my mind, Universal has done a tremendous job in catching up over the past decade. In 2009, they had only 23.7 million guests. By 2017, that number had more than doubled to 49.5 million. Disney’s still tripled them with 150 million annual park visits, though.