5. Jurassic Park

Steven Speilberg convinced Universal to option the rights to Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park novel even before the book was finished. Similarly, Universal Studios Hollywood began construction on the Lost Legend: Jurassic Park - The Ride before Spielberg’s movie had even premiered. Both turned out to be very, very good moves. Jurassic Park premiered in 1993, quickly becoming the highest grossing film of all time. Crichton’s tale of a bio-engineered boutique theme park of living dinosaurs going terribly wrong was brought to life on-screen with groundbreaking animatronics and cutting edge CGI.

The notion of adding an entire land themed to Jurassic Park to Universal’s in-development second gate is part of what transformed the park from the “Cartoon World” it had been drafted as into the “Islands of Adventure” we know today. In fact, Jurassic Park was meant to be the keystone of the park, positioning its iconic Discovery Center as the “weenie” viewed across the lagoon from Port of Entry. (Interestingly, it was also the only Universal IP in the park.) 

“In-universe,” the Jurassic Park land was meant to resemble the park seen on screen, but to also show what could’ve been there just off screen. The Jurassic Park River Adventure makes sense as a raft ride through herbivore habitats that the "real" Jurassic Park would've had; Camp Jurassic probably is the kind of play area that would’ve been built around the island’s amber mines; even the Discovery Center and the short-lived Triceratops Encounter was meant to “build-out” the world of Jurassic Park, giving guests a peek at the park’s “real” veterinary practices, hatcheries, and living animals.

At this point, Jurassic Park is among the highest-grossing media franchises of all time, and certainly has reached that most golden of markers for theme parks: it’s “timeless.” But even still, the new Jurassic World trilogy (launched in 2015 and concluding in 2022) saw dinosaurs explode back into pop culture, while also assuring Universal would keep hold of the topic in the zeitgeist. The new Jurassic World VelociCoaster may muddle the timeline of Universal’s land (and, for us purists, mess with the park’s  “literary, timeless” ethos) but it’s also one of the greatest roller coasters on Earth, period. So Universal should be very glad that Jurassic Park is theirs, and Disney fans – who basically beg Disney to level their dino-themed land entirely – should be jealous. 

6. Water Taxis & Walking Paths

It was 1999 when Islands of Adventure officially completed Universal’s growth spurt into a multi-park “Resort.” Given that Disneyland wouldn’t undergo the same kind of process till 2001 (and soon after for Disney Resorts in Tokyo and Paris), Universal was truly making up the formula as they went. Given that, it’s pretty incredible how much they got right… so much so that Universal’s formula is certainly the de facto one for compact, urban, multi-park resorts that followed in the New Millennium: parking on the periphery; arriving guests funneled into a retail, dining, and nightlife area; two theme parks set next to one another; hotels around the perimeter, each connected to the core by internal transportation and walking paths… 

Forget the “Disney Bubble.” Anyone who’s stayed on-site at Universal will tell you the ease that comes with such an “insulated” experience. Guests converge on CityWalk each morning by moving sidewalks, garden paths, and water taxis. Guests flow between parks (via walkway and Hogwarts Express). They swing by CityWalk for lunch, or catch a boat back to the room for a nap. At night, guests flow out of the parks and disperse back to hotels, walking paths, and nightclubs, all in the “Universal Bubble.” You can catch people jogging along waterways, meandering for pleasure, and criss-crossing between destinations. 

Today – in an era when walkable, environmental downtowns are all the rage – it’s easy to see Universal’s insulated, automobile-free, entirely-walkable campus as a much more modern, thoughtful, accessible, and future-friendly model than the sprawling Walt Disney World with its randomly-scattered parks, hotels, and retail areas served by highways, Monorails, skyways, blacktop parking lots, and a rumbling, fuming army of buses. (It’s hard to explain to first-timers, for example, that you couldn’t walk from the Animal Kingdom Lodge to Disney’s Animal Kingdom even if you wanted to.) Given the chance to build Disney World from scratch, might it look a little more like the multi-park resorts of the 21st century? You’ve got to wonder… 

7. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Here’s the one you’ve been waiting for. When it comes to Universal attractions that should make Disney fans jealous, most would agree that there’s nothing quite as envy-inducing as the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Announced in 2007, Universal’s licensing of the Harry Potter franchise for their theme parks was a massive coup right out the gate. But what made the Wizarding World project such a groundbreaking one in the history of themed entertainment is simple: it was the first “Living Land,” bringing to life a place plucked from the screen.

At least as the story goes, Disney actually tried to secure the theme park rights to Potter, but relented when the series’ creator requested “outrageous” caveats, like requiring all in-land merchandise to be “in-universe” (think: robes, quills, ink, and wands; not Harry Potter LEGO sets and video games) and the exclusion of the outside world (no “Disney Parks” plastic bags, no Coca-Cola, and no character meet-and-greets). So imagine Disney executives’ faces when Universal agreed to do it. 

The first “half” of the Wizarding World opened in 2010, when the snow-capped Scottish village of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts Castle looming over it – a perfect fit for the literary, fantasy-oriented Islands of Adventure. That’s probably the moment when Disney realized they made a mistake, as guests queued for hours not to get onto rides, but to spend money. Overnight, the industry changed. People didn’t just want to “Ride the Movies”; they wanted to eat where their favorite characters ate; to shop where they shopped; to live in the story!

2014’s addition of a whole second “half” – Diagon Alley, perfectly tuned to the cityscapes of Universal Studios – and its connecting Hogwarts Express only made the Wizarding World all that much more jaw-dropping. Some even consider Diagon Alley the best immersive "Living Land" out there.

So of course, the race to own and acquire IPs worthy of becoming “Living Lands” was on. One-two-skip-a-few and we end up with Cars Land, New Fantasyland, Pandora, Toy Story Land, Place de Remy, Arendelle, Avengers Campus, and, of course, Galaxy’s Edge. Each has seen incredible environments (not to mention, “in-universe” souvenirs and snacks) come to Disney Parks around the globe… but arguably, none have the same “spark” that the Wizarding World does…

None have recreated a world seen-on-screen with such precision; none have brought to life a physical place guests have longed to see for themselves; and maybe more to the point, none have found a true counterpart to… 

8. Butterbeer

Have you really made the bucket list trek to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter if you didn’t have a Butterbeer? Mentioned throughout the Harry Potter book and film series as the go-to elixir for Hogwarts students, Butterbeer is a butterscotch-flavored cream soda drink served at the Three Broomsticks and at various Butterbeer Carts around the village. Initially, it was sold only “cold” (as a fizzy soda) or “frozen” (like a slush), both with a whipped marshmallow topping (tailor-made for social-media-friendly foam mustaches.) 

With the introduction of Diagon Alley, a seasonal “hot” Butterbeer (think: hot chocolate, but butterscotch) joined the menu… as did Butterbeer ice cream, Butterbeer fudge, and Butterbeer potted cream. Basically, if it’s sweet and you can eat it, Universal has probably devised a Butterbeer-flavored version of it to serve in the Wizarding World. That’s really no surprise. Though people may fall head-over-heels to purchase $60 wands at Ollivanders, there’s no doubt that low-overhead Butterbeer is the runaway retail star of the Wizarding World. At least according to Universal legend, the $260 million cost to build Hogsmeade was recouped by Butterbeer sales alone in six months. 

So of course, Disney has desperately sought an equivalent; not just an IP people want to inhabit, but one with a signature, must-have drink that’ll go viral. Disney really, really wants a Butterbeer of its own. Both Cars Land and New Fantasyland debuted a frozen apple slush with passion fruit mango foam (called “Red’s Apple Freeze” and “LeFou’s Brew” respectively); Pandora has the limeade, apple, and dessert pear Night Blossom with passion fruit boba bubbles; Avengers Campus has Pingo Doce (an inside-joke, lemon-lime-vanilla soda seen in the Hulk movie, dispensed via Coke Freestyle machine). It goes without saying that all are delicious, but none are as essential as Butterbeer.

Without a doubt the closest Disney’s come to cracking the Butterbeer code has to be Blue Milk – a beverage briefly seen on screen in the original 1977 Star Wars and thus elevated into fan service appearances across the Star Wars universe. An entire Milk Stand (serving Blue and Green varieties) opened with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in 2019. Weirdly, though, rather than creating something delicious, agreeable, and refreshing, Disney’s culinary team deliberately wanted the taste to defy expectations. The result is a whole lot of people who fork over $8 for a cup of the non-dairy, slightly-fruity drink, take a selfie holding it, take one sip, grimace, and throw it in a trash can. Arguably, that gives DIsney both the cash they want and the conversation they crave… but it’s still no Butterbeer.