How SeaWorld Orlando is preparing for Epic Universe opening
SeaWorld Orlando is strategically preparing for the 2025 opening of Epic Universe across town, as detailed by park executives.
Updated Feb. 26, 2025; original version published Nov. 7, 2024.
Marc Swanson, CEO of United Parks & Resorts — the parent company of SeaWorld and Busch Gardens theme parks — addressed the looming 2025 grand opening of Epic Universe during United’s quarterly earnings calls on Nov. 7, 2024 and Feb. 26, 2025.
November 2024: Epic Universe is ‘good for the market,’ SeaWorld will still ‘need to execute on our plans,’ exec says
During a Q&A segment of the Nov. 7 earnings call, an investor asked about SeaWorld Orlando’s plan for “going up against that new competition,” referring to Epic Universe.
Universal Epic Universe — an entirely new theme park, complete with attractions dedicated to mega-franchises like Nintendo and “Harry Potter” — will open May 22, 2025 at Universal Orlando in Florida.
“We’re aware that there’s a new park coming to Orlando next year,” Swanson said. He continued, “We welcome more people to town. I’m sure there’s gonna be days when Epic [Universe] is doing very well and is crowded … We’re gonna feel that a little bit” in terms of potentially lower attendance at SeaWorld Orlando.
Still, the executive shared SeaWorld’s corporate viewpoint on new parks opening is mostly positive: “That’s going to be good for the market. … It will bring more people to the Orlando area.” At the same time, though, SeaWorld Orlando can’t sit idly on the sidelines and hope more guests will flock to its gates just because Epic Universe is open. “We need to execute on our plans to drive more people to our parks.”
From the standpoint of United / SeaWorld, the park is prepared for Epic Universe in four key ways:
1.) ‘A differentiated product’
“We have a differentiated product,” the Swanson said, emphasizing how the upcoming flying theater ride at SeaWorld Orlando will be “SeaWorld-centric” with “animal components” that set it apart from neighboring parks. He called it the unnamed ride “unique to an experience you get at SeaWorld.”
Photo courtesy of United Parks & Resorts
2.) ‘A value proposition’
“We have a value proposition that we feel really good about, especially with our season passes and our multi-day tickets,” Swanson explained.
Though he didn’t specifically mention it in comparison to SeaWorld Orlando, neither of those ticket options is available for Epic Universe at the time of this writing (though Universal has promised they will be in the future).
3.) ‘Easier to access’
“Our parks in general are much easier to access for people,” the United Parks CEO continued. “It’s a more enjoyable experience coming to our parks. I would argue it’s a more relaxed experience.”
Photo by Matt Roseboom
Swanson didn’t specifically mention Disney by name in this respect, but SeaWorld’s neighbor Walt Disney World has introduced a series of multi-step rules and procedures for visiting since the rebrand of FastPasses to Lightning Lanes in 2021. These processes often require careful planning, and the policies have continually changed.
4.) A guest-favorite park ready for more international travelers
The executive said SeaWorld Orlando expects “more international attendance next year, which seems reasonable with Epic [Universe] opening.”
Photo courtesy of United Parks & Resorts
Swanson said Discovery Cove is particularly enjoyed by international guests. The all-inclusive, boutique park adjacent to SeaWorld focuses on intimate animal encounters rather than large-scale rides and shows. As more visitors make their way to Orlando for Epic Universe, Discovery Cove’s history as an international favorite could give it an edge over neighboring parks (even over SeaWorld itself) as these guests consider what else they’d like to do during their Orlando vacation.
‘We can grow when there’s competition’
As has been the case many times before in the city’s five-decade history with theme parks, competition begets competition, and the opening of Epic Universe isn’t SeaWorld Orlando’s first rodeo.
“You think about all the parks that have come online since we opened in the early 1970s,” Swanson noted. He continued, “We’ve already demonstrated we can grow when there’s competition in this market.”
Indeed, though Magic Kingdom already existed when SeaWorld Orlando opened in 1973, since then Walt Disney World has added three theme parks and two water parks. Meanwhile, Universal Orlando opened in 1990 and today operates two theme parks and a water park, plus the upcoming Epic Universe. That’s not to mention the incendiary attractions and tourist-focused experiences that now populate every corner of the Orlando area.
February 2025: SeaWorld a ‘better value’ than Universal, exec says
During the Feb. 26, 2025 earnings call, United executives reiterated some of their previous sentiments regarding Epic Universe, as well as elaborated on those points with more depth.
To that end, the call’s accompanying visual presentation included a slide with the following:
Orlando Update: We’ve Gotten a Lot of Questions about Epic Universe
- We are excited about the opening of Epic Universe — our new neighbor.
- We expect Epic Universe to be a great park and a great addition to the Orlando market.
- We expect the opening of the park to lead to strong visitation to the Orlando market.
- We welcome high-quality, significant investments in the Orlando market from our peers, which e believe benefits everyone in the market. (As a reminder, Orlando is the most-visited city in the U.S. with ~75 million visitors each year, which has almost doubled from ~40 million visitors 25 years ago.)
- We, as others, have been preparing for the opening of Epic for quite some time and we feel very confident in our ability to capture incremental demand with our high quality and highly differentiated offerings in the market.
- We are also very excited about our all-new, revolutionary arctic immersive flying experience that are debuting this year and that you will hear more about over the coming weeks, as well as other new and exciting elements we will be announcing shortly in our Orlando park.
During the Q&A portion of the call, an executive addressed an investor’s question about the impact of Epic Universe on SeaWorld by saying:
We are a differentiated product than a Universal park. We are a better value. We have a good value proposition. Those, among lots of other things, give us confidence that we can continue to participate in the market growth.
Epic Universe opens May 22, 2025; SeaWorld Orlando has not announced an opening date for its 2025 flying theater ride. The latter park’s most recent investments have been two back-to-back coasters: Pipeline in 2023 and Penguin Trek in 2024.
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