Universal Orlando Resort Celebrates Grand Opening of Much-Anticipated Fourth Theme Park, Universal Epic Universe

Fireworks during the opening of Epic Universe in Orlando Florida, May 21, 2025 (Gerardo Mora/Getty Images)

Epic Universe is Comcast’s big bet to challenge Disney’s theme park dominance

Disney’s parks are its profit engine. Universal wants a piece.

5/23/25 8:37AM

The streaming wars have been the battleground of choice for America’s largest entertainment companies over the last few years. Now, Comcast is taking the fight to Disney in a more physical way.

Yesterday, Universal opened Epic Universe, the Comcast-owned company’s largest theme park investment ever and its biggest development since launching the Wizarding World of Harry Potter 15 years ago. Reportedly costing some $7 billion, the 750-acre site has five “worlds,” incorporating characters and places from beloved franchises like Nintendo, “How to Train Your Dragon,” and more.

**You have to spend this much to build this ride**

But Comcast’s not the only company doubling down on thrills — Disney, too, has announced a royalty agreement for the development of a new enormous park in Abu Dhabi in recent weeks, adding to its own ongoing decade-long $60 billion investment into its parks division.

Disney and Comcast are betting that visitors will continue to splurge hundreds of dollars on park tickets (and maybe even $35 on a single popcorn bucket). Indeed, even as recession fears grow, the theme park business has been highly profitable, with Disney’s experiences division, which includes sales from its parks, resorts, and merch, bringing in 59% of the House of Mouse’s total profit last year with ~$9 billion.

Disney's profits are led by its experiences segment — Sherwood News

Parks and resorts are also less volatile than the fast-changing television, film, and streaming segments, and are “not at all exposed to the shift in time on screens from one venue to another,” per Comcast President Mike Cavanagh.

But Comcast may have a tough time catching Disney — the iconic entertainment giant had 8 of the top 10 of the world’s most-visited theme parks in 2023, according to a report by the Themed Entertainment Association.

Max Knoblauch10/24/25

Premium seats help push airlines higher following third-quarter results

Shares of American Airlines are climbing toward the carrier’s best trading day since August 12, when ultra-budget rival Spirit issued its initial warning about its ability to survive. American’s shares are up more than 7% on Friday afternoon.

Investors’ optimism comes a day after American posted a better-than-expected full-year earnings forecast. In a call with investors, American said that it’s ramping up its premium cabin offerings.

“Our ability to grow capacity in premium markets will be further supported as we take delivery of new aircraft and reconfigure our existing fleet. These efforts will allow us to grow our premium seats at nearly two times the rate of main cabin seats,” CEO Robert Isom said. American CFO Devin May said that nose-to-tail retrofits of certain wide-body jets will bump the number of premium seats available on those planes by 25%.

Extra legroom has been a boon for major carriers, particularly this quarter. Delta Air Lines said its premium product revenue grew 9% in Q3, compared to a 4% drop in economy seat revenue. Similarly, United Airlines said its premium revenue grew 6%, outpacing economy. Shares of both airlines were up more than 3% on Friday.

Carriers with less exposure to first- and business-class tickets like Southwest Airlines and JetBlue didn’t see the same amount of momentum on the day.