Universal Studio’s Islands of Adventure park, officially opening in Orlando in May, represents more than the chance to test whether Sir Isaac Newton had a sense of humor. The park is Universal’s $2.7 billion gamble that it can attract older thrill-seeking kids, as well as compete with the Goliath down the road, Disney World. Last year Disney sold more than 41 million tickets to its parks, while Universal Studios Florida sold only 9 million. Taking on the Magic Kingdom is daunting, especially in the unique subculture of Floridian vacation destinations, where every marketing guru must first figure out how to persuade tourists to pay lots of money to stand in line for hours in marinating humidity. But Edgar Bronfman Jr., the 42-year-old CEO of Universal’s parent company, Seagram, says: “I think we now have a product that’s better than theirs.”
Islands of Adventure is made up of five themed areas surrounding a lake. Universal says it’s aiming primarily at the kids aged 10 to 15 who are ignored by or indifferent to Disney’s warm-and-fuzzy attractions; to anybody over 9, Mickey Mouse means dork. A one-day pass will cost $42 a day; same as Disney, and package prices are also comparable. Hotel and tickets for three days for a nuclear four (two kids, two adults) will run about $1,000–not including souvenirs. One of the biggest deficiencies of the old Universal park was its lack of hotel facilities and nighttime entertainment. It was neither destination nor resort. Islands of Adventure includes a $600 million deluxe hotel opening in September–some $450 rooms come with butlers–and a City Walk of restaurants and nightclubs. (The old and new parks, plus City Walk, are now referred to as Universal Escape.) You will be thankful for the largest parking garage in the world, 22,000 spaces, which will obviate the necessity on busy days at Disney World of having to park in Georgia and take the convenient tram departing every five minutes.
No longer, the theory goes, will so many adult guests return to Disney at the end of the day to spend all that cash that gives Mickey’s facilities a richer profit margin than Universal. But Universal’s business plan is still dicey. It was one thing for Universal, then a subsidiary of MCA, to take on Disney World back in 1990. The theory was that tourists who came to the swamplands for two or three days could be persuaded to spend one more at a competing movie-inspired theme park just 10 miles down the road.
The M.B.A.s call it “pirate marketing,” and the technique worked. Disney played the same game by building its MGM Studios and Animal Park. The average stay in central Florida has become five days. Since the length of a vacation isn’t going to get much longer, Universal is now betting that with Islands of Adventure it can lure away some Disney customers. The risk is that it won’t work–or that the new park will simply cannibalize revenue from the old Universal park, which is still operating nearby. (Making matters worse, overall theme-park attendance was flat in 1998, according to the trade publication Amusement Business.) For their part, the Disney suits decline to comment on Universal Escape. They’re figuring that any new visitors will still make the mandatory stop at the House That Mouse Built. And just to be sure, Disney is adding the Rock ‘N RollerCoaster this summer; it’ll give the same kind of middle-ear experience as Universal’s Hulk.
Islands of Adventure feels different from other parks in one striking way: the scale here is life-size, not miniaturized. The whole place seems more authentic–window frames in the “old” grand bazaar have actual rust on them. And Islands of Adventure feels more intimate, too. Once you’re inside, there are no massive thoroughfares–just ambling little roads that keep each attraction hidden from the others. One main road leads to a lagoon and to waiting water taxis that whisk visitors to the island of their choice. Despite the emphasis on older kids, two of the islands cater to younger sensibilities. Seuss Landing features a tame ride through the house trashed by the Cat in the Hat and a One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish attraction that squirts kids with water. The Seuss restaurant, of course, serves green eggs and ham, which reflects whimsy rather than food handling. Toon Lagoon is an amalgam of characters like Popeye, Hagar the Horrible, and Rocky and Bullwinkle.
But apart from this gentler fare, the new park is really about dips and flips, “gee’s” and Gs. At Marvel Super Hero Island, location of the Hulk coaster, there’s also Dr. Doom’s Fearfall, which shoots you up 200 feet in the sky and then drops you back down in three terrifying plunges. On the Lost Continent, twin roller coasters of the Dueling Dragon seem to be on a collision course, veering off at the last second and passing by each other at 60 mph. Most spectacular, at Jurassic Park, is a faithful re-creation of the place that made Michael Crichton and Steven Spielberg very happy men, complete with a riverboat ride that escapes the clutches of T-Rex only by dropping 85 feet into total darkness. The Jurassic attractions bear the personal seal of Steven Spielberg, who has good reason to take interest in the new park. In return for the right to use his movies as the basis for Universal attractions, Spielberg gets 2 percent of gross revenues from all Universal theme parks. If the new one has an annual take like the old one–$450 million last year–that means $9 million in extra spending money. Now that’s scary.
