At today’s MoffettNathanson conference, Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro was asked about Universal Epic Universe and the impact it may have on Walt Disney World. D’Amaro said that he was happy to receive the question, and especially happy to be asked about Epic Universe following Disney’s recent Q2 earnings report. D’Amaro approached the question from two angles, first talking about how Disney has built out its Walt Disney World theme parks in the past decade, and then talking about forward-looking bookings. Here’s what he had to say.
Walt Disney World Experiences Fortification
D’Amaro started by saying that Disney is always on the offensive, not on the defensive. He pointed to expansions and updates at the theme parks such as TRON Lightcycle Run at Magic Kingdom, Pandora – The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and the recent EPCOT overhaul – calling out Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind as one of the top-rated attractions that Disney has worldwide.
D’Amaro said that all of this expansion, and the projects that are currently underway, create a fortification of its theme parks that will bring guests back for years to come. D’Amaro said that if something new is built, such as Epic Universe, and it brings more people to Central Florida, Disney believes that they will not visit without visiting the latest and greatest at Walt Disney World as well.
Indeed, Disney executives have spoken in the past on how a significant number of guests visiting the Walt Disney World theme parks haven’t visited since Pandora – The World of Avatar was built. When you step back for a minute and consider that a significant majority of visitors to Walt Disney World are not Annual Passholders, and not even annual visitors, Disney’s slate of attractions added to the parks in the past 5-10 years starts to look very impressive and even enticing to guests who may have been brought to Central Florida for Epic Universe.
Bookings Are Strong for Rest of Year
The second way that D’Amaro approached the question was by referencing numbers discussed during the recent 2025 Q2 earnings report. In the recent earnings call, Disney CFO Hugh Johnston said that bookings are up at Walt Disney World, year-over-year. In Q3, bookings are up 4% and Q4 bookings are up 7%.
D’Amaro points to those year-over-year improvements in bookings and says that the strong numbers show that Disney’s strategy with Walt Disney World is working. D’Amaro says that Disney isn’t seeing any cannibalization at play with Epic Universe coming online later this month.
In terms of our thoughts on Epic Universe, I think it’s clear that it will have little impact on Walt Disney World in the short term. That wasn’t always clear. Epic Universe seemed poised to own the summer, but with odd ticketing rollouts and a possible soft summer ahead, I don’t think that Epic Universe is necessarily going to come out of the gate strong. Of course, a single Summer will not make or break a theme park, and it will be very interesting to see where Epic Universe settles into a Central Florida vacation experience for guests.
For our comprehensive review of Universal Epic Universe, check out our article below!
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
