Universal to double Orlando resort size

By MIKE SCHNEIDER

Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla.

Universal Orlando officials said last week that the resort is doubling in size with plans for an “epic” fourth theme park, but they offered almost no information on when the new park will open, what it will hold or how much they are spending.

The secretive nature of the new park is “because of competitive pressure,” Universal Parks & Resorts CEO Tom Williams said at a news conference with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his boss, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts.

“You are aware of the competitive nature of this Orlando marketplace,” Williams said. “We’re all battling for the time of visiting guests to come to our location and to share details of what we have in mind with the competition is something we have no interest in doing.”

The announcement is the latest salvo in the war for dominance between Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando in America’s theme park capital.

Despite the lack of details, officials with the theme park resort promised the new park would be epic. To that end, they’re calling the new park Universal’s Epic Universe.

“Last I heard, a universe is bigger than a world,” said Williams, making a dig at Disney World.

The new park will be located on a 750-acre site separated by a few miles from the current Universal Orlando property that is home to the Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure parks, as well as the Volcano Bay water park.