Walt Disney World fans have been anxiously awaiting an “answer” to the grand opening of Epic Universe on May 22, 2025 or over the Memorial Day weekend summer kickoff. We now have at least a partial response, as WDW President Jeff Vahle has congratulated Universal Orlando on the “big win” of opening the new park.
Vahle posted an image on Instagram featuring a stylized graphic of Florida with a sunshine backdrop and shared the following sentiment: “It takes great passion and dedication to bring new projects to life. Best of luck to the Universal Orlando team with the opening of Epic Universe! Another big win for tourism in Florida.”
As we’ll discuss below, the message continues a rich tradition of classy congratulatory messages among the competitors. This comes as Universal Orlando launches of its third theme park in Central Florida, which officially opened to the public on Thursday, May 22, 2025 after a gala event for VIPs and select media last night. It also occurs on the precipice of “Cool Kid Summer” at Walt Disney World starting on May 27, which I doubt anyone who isn’t deep in the Disney blogosphere has even heard of.
Vahle isn’t the only one who congratulated Universal Orlando on the herculean achievement and celebrated the successful opening and its impact on the Sunshine State. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was in attendance during the grand gala event to launch Epic Universe the night before its public opening.
DeSantis shared an on-the-ground video from Epic Universe on social media praising the “long-awaited new theme park in Central Florida.” He called the park “pretty amazing” saying that kids would really enjoy Epic Universe and that he’d “recommend you definitely check it out.” DeSantis praised the lands of Epic Universe, and the creative teams for executing their great vision very well.
The governor also touted the positive economic impact of Epic Universe, explaining that the project was announced back in 2019, and that “billions and billions” that were spent on construction to bring the park to life. That it would be a “huge impact economically for Florida, but more importantly than that, it’s going to give a lot of memories to kids.” DeSantis closed out this message by saying congratulations to Universal Orlando on the grand opening of Epic Universe.
As you’re no doubt aware, DeSantis and Disney had a very public battle involving litigation and heated rhetoric over the course of multiple years. This was finally resolved last year, with the parties settling the lawsuits, shuffling up leadership on the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, and agreeing to new multi-billion dollar investments in Florida.
Before anyone claims that the governor’s presence at Epic Universe was about “sticking it to Disney” one more time–it wasn’t. The sides have made up and DeSantis has boasted about the billions of dollars in planned investments at Walt Disney World. I’d fully expect him to be in attendance for a major opening at Walt Disney World on par with Epic Universe…so probably not the kickoff to “Cool Kid Summer,” as that’s a bit below his pay grade.
As noted in the opening, Jeff Vahle’s congratulatory message partially answers the question of what Walt Disney World will do as an immediate response to Epic Universe. With that said, what else will Disney do? Is there another big announcement in the pipeline?
When we first covered this topic in How Will Walt Disney World “Answer” Epic Universe’s Opening?, we discussed a variety of rumored possibilities and dismissed all of them out of hand. We concluded that the most likely outcomes were debuting summer offerings (now known as “Cool Kid Summer”) shortly before or after Epic Universe officially opened. As for substantive news, our view is that they’d make no attempt to steal the spotlight.
One of the things we’ve been stressing for years is that Walt Disney World would not announce a 5th gate as an answer to Epic Universe. Not on May 22 or any time this decade. It’s so far-fetched that we didn’t even entertain the idea, and have quickly shot in down in all posts like this. (Here’s Why a 5th Theme Park Will NOT Be Built at Walt Disney World in the Next Decade.)
Ironically enough, the Walt Disney Company arguably did prepare its answer to Epic Universe in the form of a new theme park. Just not at Walt Disney World or even in the United States. It’s not going to be perceived as such for anyone reading this and obviously is not competition in the conventional sense of the term, but Disneyland Abu Dhabi offered a very indirect “answer” to Epic Universe for Wall Street earlier this month.
To be clear, that news is basically just an (indirect!) answer for investors and analysts salivating at the prospects of more theme parks, as they’ve finally come to realize they’re a stable and profitable business. Literally no fans are debating between a visit to Epic Universe this year or next, or to Disneyland Abu Dhabi when it opens in the mid-2030s.
So what else is Walt Disney World’s more direct answer to Epic Universe in the month of May 2025?
My gut is that there’s radio silence from Walt Disney World through Memorial Day, with absolutely nothing done to attempt to steal the spotlight from Epic Universe. First and foremost, because it won’t be effective. One thing we’ve stressed for years–long before Disney spoke publicly about Epic Universe–is that the only thing that can truly “answer” a new theme park is…another new theme park. And since we knew Walt Disney World has no intentions to build a 5th gate, we can surmise that their best strategy might be staying quiet over the weekend.
Any news announced in the next few days will be buried under coverage of Universal Orlando’s third theme park. It would also just make Disney look petty. About the only exception to this that I can think of is if Walt Disney World has negative news and it wants to “take out the trash” May 22-23, 2025. So perhaps this is the holiday weekend that we finally get a closing date for the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island? Now that would not surprise me in the least, and the timing is about right.
Looking forward, I’d target May 27, 2025 for more moderately-sized news from Walt Disney World.
We already know that both Villains Unfairly Ever After and Little Mermaid A Musical Adventure, two stage shows at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, debut on that date. Additionally, “Cool Kid Summer” kicks off then, which means new meet & greets and so forth. Nothing earth-shattering.
However, we still do not have a debut date for Disney Starlight Night Parade, which was supposed to be the anchor of the summer season at Walt Disney World. It’s our understanding that there have been multiple internal delays to this project, and Disney is throwing all possible resources at this parade to have it ready ASAP. Rest assured, Disney isn’t sitting on its hands with this–rather, it’s an all hands on deck situation.
Accordingly, if it’s possible to have an opening date for Starlight by May 27, I would expect an announcement on that date. This will only happen if the entertainment team is confident it can hit that date. Starlight sounds like it’s going to be a race against the clock, so we may not get a date until the absolute last minute. But if ever there were a strategic time to announce Starlight’s opening date, it would be May 27, 2025. On balance, I’d say it’s probably 60/40 that we get a date on Tuesday (or maybe Wednesday morning).
Two other opening date wildcards are Test Track 3.0 at EPCOT and the Pirates of the Caribbean Tavern at Magic Kingdom. It’s possible we get dates for all three, with Walt Disney World trying to create a new marketing campaign to weave the trio together.
Honestly, I’m skeptical of that happening. At least, for Test Track. My gut says that project is going to take longer. I have zero inside info–I’m just going off what Disney has publicly released–but I’m skeptical that reimagined ride will open during this summer tourist season. I think it’ll be after Labor Day, and still believe October 1, 2025 is the odds-on favorite.
Turning back to the titular topic, I want to conclude by sharing the rich history of this collegiality among the “rival” theme parks. This is most notable with Knott’s Berry Farm (above) and Disneyland trading congratulatory newspaper ads in the Los Angeles Times and Orange County Register for decades.
The most recent digital instance of this that I could track down came from a couple of years back when former Disneyland President and current Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro shared this on Instagram: “Congratulations to my friend Jon Storbeck and the entire team at Knott’s Berry Farm for their 100th Anniversary! I was very touched to be invited to the preview party for your celebration last night! It was great to see you!”
There’s likewise precedent for the same with Universal. There are plenty of instances of executives and Imagineers attending grand openings–from the recent Super Nintendo World in Hollywood to Eisner at Islands of Adventure. Since many people within the two “competitors” have worked for both, and have Annual Passes for the parks where they don’t currently work.
Speaking of which, we have heard from several Imagineers who attended Epic Universe previews and came away very impressed with Universal Orlando’s new park. Obviously, you should not expect any public comments about this from management or creatives, but Epic Universe is already serving as inspiration for Disney’s teams working on new projects.
Here’s hoping that translates to budgetary “inspiration” in addition to creative inspiration. I’m not sure whether Bob Iger or Josh D’Amaro have visited Epic Universe–I suspect not given the tense relationship between Iger and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts. But I know of multiple Imagineers and TDO leaders who have attended, and it’s safe to say that dozens have visited Epic Universe over the last couple months. But I digress.
Ultimately, it’s good to see Walt Disney World showing graciousness by congratulating Universal on Epic Universe, underscoring the belief that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” Disney had no cards they could play that would steal Universal’s thunder, but this at least make them part of the conversation in a positive way.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
How do you think Walt Disney World will “answer” the opening of Epic Universe over Memorial Day weekend? Or is “they won’t” the most likely possibility in your mind? Is it also the best move? Expect Starlight and other late summer offerings to have their opening dates announced on May 27, 2025? Think Disney has cause for concern, or do you generally agree that a rising tide lifts all boats? Any other thoughts or commentary to add? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!