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- [00:00]
David Brown
Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of Business wars ad free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app. It's spring 1991, and inside Universal Studios Florida. Jay Stein University Universal's hard charging theme park Jeep climbs into a DeLorean car a year earlier, the opening of Universal Studios was a disaster. Attractions broke down or it never started working. Guests were furious, refund lines wound through the park, and executives even had to be rescued by rowboat from a malfunctioning Jaws ride. Universal is still cleaning up the message. It's an illegal fight with a company behind two of its troubled rides, and the expensive work of rebuilding Jaws has begun. But repairs alone won't change the public narrative. Stine needs something that can truly deliver on Universal's promise to put visitors inside the movies. The answer, he hopes, is in front of him. Back to the Future, a ride based on the hit time travel movie that made Michael J. Fox a star in and turned the DeLorean into a fantasy object. Today, Stein is testing it out. If the ride works, it could be a step towards undoing the damage from opening day. If it doesn't, the park will stay a punchline even longer. Initially, Stein's team considered turning back to the future into a roller coaster, something to rival Disney's Space Mountain. But coasters are too fast and familiar to become a true narrative experience, so instead the designers have mounted DeLorean ride vehicles on motion bases facing a domed IMAX screen. With the outside world hidden from view. Each of the 12 cars, which are concealed from one another, will rise, fall and tilt beneath the 70 foot dome, while wind, smoke, water and film combine to make riders feel like they're flying through time. Stein settles into his seat and the lights drop. Doc Brown appears on the screen in a specially recorded film, and Stein watches antagonist Biff steal a time machine. The DeLorean jolts forward and suddenly Stein is falling through Hill Valley, through the Ice Age, through volcanic rock and into the future that Universal's theme park always promised. The ride lasts for about four minutes, but it feels as futuristic as the technology on screen. Stein steps out of the machine, laughing, a little dizzy but overwhelmingly convinced it cost $60 million to build. But Back to the Future gives Universal's park something it's been credibility. When the ride officially opens on May 2, 1991, it feels like a big win. Technologically ambitious, story, driven and crucially, working. Even Disney chairman and CEO Michael Eisner is impressed. He reportedly refers to it privately as the world's best attraction. Universal has final built something that can compete with Disney on technology and spectacle. But one great ride is not a kingdom killer. If Universal truly wants to take on Disney, it needs more than a fleet of deloreans. It needs worlds. With the Venture X Business Card from Capital One, you earn unlimited double miles on every purchase. Plus big purchasing power means you can spend more and earn more. The Capital One Venture x business card what's in your wallet terms apply. See capitalone.com for details.
- [04:06]
Raza Jaffrey
I'm Raza Jaffrey and in the new season of the Spy who We go back in time to meet Benedict Arnold, the spy who betrayed the American Revolution. As America fights for freedom from Britain, Arnold emerges as one of the rebels greatest generals. But when his loyalty is pushed to the limit, he turns spy and devises a plot to shatter the rebellion and make George Washington a prisoner. Follow the Spy who Now Wherever you listen to podcasts, you can also listen to the full season of the Spy who Betrayed the American Revolution early and ad free on Audible.
- [04:40]
David Brown
From Audible Originals, I'm David Brown and this is Business War. On the Last Episode Universal, the movie studio behind ET And Back to the Future, went to war with Disney over the most valuable piece of real estate and family entertainment, Orlando, Florida. But its movie studio theme park plans quickly ran into trouble. The project's costs spiraled out of control. Disney neutralized Universal's competitive advantage by opening its own movie studio tour experience. And then on opening day, Universal's park was hit with closed rides and mechanical breakdowns. But Universal isn't backing down with Back to the Future. It's proven it can build something that competes with Disney on special. Now it needs to turn that ride into something bigger, a destination families will choose over Disney, not after it. That means new parks, new characters, and eventually a fight for the most valuable intellectual property in the world. But can Universal assemble a kingdom before Disney locks the door? This is episode two, the park that Lived. It's the early 1990s, and Disney as a company transformed. When Michael Eisner took charge, he was drifting, surviving on its theme park revenue, putting out movie flops and trading on a name built decades earlier. But now Disney is back. Its most recent wave of animated movies is capturing a new generation of fans. Blockbusters like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and the Little Mermaid have each earned hundreds of millions at the box office. And these films aren't just lifting up Disney's movie division. They're also powering up its theme parks. The movies and their iconic characters are being turned into parades, stage shows, character breakfasts hotel packages, plush toys, soundtrack sales, home videos and theme park attractions. Under Eisner, Disney is relearning Walt's old trick. A story doesn't end when the credits roll. That's the machine Universal Studios Florida is up against. It recovered from its disastrous opening with the help of the Back to the Future ride. And by 1991, the park is drawing more than 7 million visitors a year. But it's still a minor league attraction. Next, Disney World, which runs three Florida parks, Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Disney MGM Studios and attracts tens of millions of visitors a year. More importantly, Disney controls what happens around those visits. The hotels, restaurants, transportation, shopping, multi day tickets. A carefully engineered vacation ecosystem designed to keep families on Disney property from breakfast, lunch until bedtime. Universal has a park, but Disney offers the entire vacation. Hold that thought. You recognize what this really is, right? It's the iPhone. The walled garden. A way to keep customers spending within your ecosystem. And it's not just Apple and Disney. Many of the world's most successful businesses do this too. These companies don't just attract customers, they contain them. But it only works as long as those customers are happy with that arrangement. And it's a lot harder to pull off than just a regular theme park. Disney has another secret weapon. The power couple at the top of the company. Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner supplies the ideas and urgency, while company president and Chief Operating officer Frank Wells supplies the ballast. Wells is easy to miss because Eisner is the one with the Hollywood aura and reputation whose name is most closely associated with this crucial era in Disney's history. But inside Disney, Wells is just as essential. He's the guy who can do what few others can. Tell Eisner. No slow him down or turn one of his impulses into an executable plan. He's also the court of appeal inside the company. If executives are bruised by Eisner's demands, they go to Wells. If a deal is stuck, Wells closes it. If Eisner's pushing too fast, Wells knows when to apply the brakes without killing the momentum. The result is an astonishing double ag. In their first decade together at Disney, annual revenues rise from around 1.5 billion to 8. 8.5 billion. The company's stock price increases by roughly 1,500% as theme park and resort revenues triple. This is what makes Disney so dangerous. Eisner has the vision, but more importantly, he has someone beside him who can execute that vision. And that makes Disney seem almost unbeatable. Universal knows it can't break Disney's grip with one park. So it starts planning a second internally codenamed Project X. This is the idea Jay Stein first pushed his team to imagine after Universal Studios Florida's disastrous debut. Stein believes Project X will turn Universal from a one day side trip into a true alternative destination for vacationers. But the challenge is enormous. Universal has to answer Disney's deeper characters and worlds that many children recognize even before they can read. Universal may be louder, faster and more thrilling than Disney, but if Project X is going to draw families away from Disney World, it has to offer more than sharks and explosions. It needs characters who parents trust and who children want to meet. The early vision begins to evolve into Cartoon World, a park built from character realms that could challenge Disney without imitating it. The pitch is brasher and more kinetic than its rival. Disney has fantasy kingdoms and frontier towns. Cartoon World will provide comic chaos, chase scenes, pratfalls and speed the feeling of a Saturday morning TV show breaking loose around you. The goal is to wrap Universal's theme park thrills around characters families already know. But Universal's most famous faces thrill older kids and adults. To truly compete with Disney and attract families with young children, Universal desperately needs to expand itself cast so it gets its checkbook out. In June 1991, Universal acquires the theme park rights to J. Ward characters including Rocky and Bullwinkle and Dudley Do Right. They're not Mickey Mouse or Cinderella. Families won't cross the country for them. But Ward's characters soften Universal's image. They feel safe enough for small children and familiar enough for parents. With rights secured, Stein and his team start imagining how Jay Ward's characters might live inside a theme park. For Dudley Do Right, they settle on a northwest mining camp where a giant sawmill will send riders down a log flume, ending with a 75 foot plunge into an exploding dynamite shack, drenching everyone on board. Other cartoon properties are being developed too. Popeye will have his own island, including an indoor dark ride featuring staged scenes with animatronic characters. Casper will have a child friendly haunted house. And Mr. Magoo's bumper cars will feature an enclosed bumper car ride through comic street scenes. But Universal can't just chase Disney. If it only builds attractions for young kids, it becomes a worse version of Disney. And it risks losing the older kids and teenagers who are already showing up. So at the same time, Universal is also chasing characters with more edge than Disney's wholesome heroes. One target is Warner Bros. Which controls both Looney Tunes and DC Comics. In Universal's plans, DC would anchor the park's superhero area Metropolis for Superman, Gotham for Batman, with rides and shows featuring the Joker, Lex Luthor, Catwoman and the rest of the Rogues gallery. Looney Tunes characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner would give Universal something closer to Disney's animated A Listers, but with more chaos and bite. Universal doesn't have a version of Mickey or Donald, so it tries to assemble a rival cast by licensing everyone else's. At this point, Cartoon World is still just a plan, but Universal strategy is coming into focus. The company's trying to build a genuine alternative to Disney World, featuring cartoons for children, superheroes for teenagers and a dusting of Hollywood glamour and magic for the entire family. While Universal assembles its cast, Disney is about to lose one of its stars. It's April 3, 1994, and after a round of golf at the Bel Air Country Club, Disney chairman Michael Eisner and his wife, Jane, arrive at their oldest son Breck's home for Easter dinner. It's the kind of protected family time Eisner rarely has the opportunity to enjoy. But five minutes into dinner, the phone rings. His son Breck answers. Hello? Yes, he's here. Breck looks towards his father. Dad, it's Lucille Martin Eisner pauses. Lucille is his secretary, and she knows not to interrupt his family dinners. For her to call today, something must be very wrong. Eisner leaves the table and takes the call. Y', all. Lucille Eisner's family watches as his face falls on the line. His secretary reveals the unthinkable. Frank Wells, his right hand man and co engineer in Disney's revival, is dead. He was returning from a ski trip in Nevada when the helicopter he was in crashed. Eisner solemnly replaces the receiver. He feels numb. Frank Wells wasn't just Disney's president and chief operating officer. He was Eisner's balance, the one executive who could tell Eisner no and whom Eisner would actually listen to. His death doesn't just shake Disney. It leaves Eisner without a counterweight. And more troubles loom for the grieving eisner. The early 1990s recession has put pressure on the broader vacation business. Domestically, Disney's parks remain dominant, but attendance has flattened overseas. Its Euro Disney park in Paris has become a bruising and expensive lesson in overconfidence. The company spent too much, overestimated demand, and then opened in a downturn. Disney's live action films are lagging, too. Disney is still vastly stronger than Universal, but it is no longer defying gravity. And with Wells gone, Eisner will have to face what's coming alone.
- [17:50]
Audrey Geisel
As Americans, we're constantly grappling with a fundamental question. Do we settle for the world as it is, or do we strive to create the world as it should be? Our answers tend to ebb and flow through the decades, but once, just after a war that nearly tore us apart, we came as close as we've come to answering it. And it's a story worth a closer look. I'm Michelle Obama, and I'm proud to announce Higher Ground's new podcast, the Unfinished Promise. Guided by bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell and featuring my husband, Barack Obama, this limited series uncovers the untold stories of Reconstruction, what they mean for us today, and how our past can shape the future we choose to build. The Unfinished Promise is available now on Audible or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [18:49]
Raza Jaffrey
I'm Raza Jaffrey and In the new season of the Spy who They open the file on Benedict Arnold, the Spy who Betrayed the American Revolution America is fighting to free itself from the British Empire, and one of its foremost generals is Benedict Arnold. He's a smuggler turned battlefield hero and admired for his aggressive tactics. But when a war wound, a new wife, debts and politics test his loyalty to the mags, he turns spy and devises a plot to shatter the revolution and help Britain capture rebel commander in chief General George Washington. And that plot would make him the most infamous traitor in U.S. history. Follow the Spy who Now Wherever you listen to podcasts, you can also listen to the full season of the Spy who Betrayed the American Revolution early and ad free on Audible.
- [20:07]
David Brown
It's three months later, July 1994, and Eisner is sitting down to dinner at the annual Sun Valley Media Summit in Idaho. Since its founding in 1983, this retreat has become the invite only summer camp for America's media moguls, a private gathering where executives and financiers mingle, listen to panels, and take one another's measure. The setting is all mountain air, lawn chairs, fleece vests and high level deal making disguised as small talk. Eisner feels at home here, but he also knows everyone's watching him, trying to divine whether Disney can maintain its comeback without Frank Wells. The good news? Disney stock price is riding high, thanks to its animation division. The Lion King just opened and it's already a phenomenon, and the company's Florida theme park empire remains dominant despite Universal's attempts to muscle in on the territory. But Eisner doesn't feel light. Wells was the man who could turn his restless energy into order. Without him, Disney is still powerful, but the load has shifted. And more of that weight now sits on Eisner's shoulders. You know, there's a hidden cost to being the person everything runs through. From the outside, of course, it looks like strength, but inside the system, it creates fragility. When too much depends on one person, Small problems don't stay small for long. The best run companies have leaders who distribute the load before it becomes a liability. And here, well, here it's about to take a mighty toll, not just on Eisner, but the entire company. As the dinner continues, Eisner feels a pain spread from his arms. Not wanting to make a scene in front of the other media moguls, he tries to ignore it. But on the walk back to his room with his wife, Jane, he slows down. Hey, let's stop for frozen yogurt. It sounds casual, but really, Eisner needs an excuse to stop walking and wait for the pain to pass. Later that night, as he lays in bed, the pain intensifies. Finally, he wakes. Jane. Something's wrong. A local doctor examines Eisner and offers a reassuring explanation. It's probably something he ate. The doctor adds that his own family loves Disney. They just saw the Lion King. Even here, in the middle of a medical scare, Eisner cannot escape the company. Disney is everywhere. Back in Los Angeles, Eisner visits Cedars Sinai Hospital for a stress test. He steps onto the treadmill. The belt starts moving. A few minutes pass, then both of his arms begin to ache. The doctors stop the test, and a few minutes later, an angiogram gives them the answer. More than 95% of a key branch of Eisner's left coronary artery is blocked. The surgeon recommends immediate bypass surgery. Eisner tries to negotiate, asking for a second opinion. But there's no deal to make here. The doctors rush him into surgery. For a decade, Eisner has pushed Disney forward through sheer force. More movies, more television, more characters, more parks, more hotel rooms, more ways to turn stories into money. But now, without Welles beside him, the strain of holding the kingdom together is becoming visible in his own body. And as the man at the center of Disney's machine goes under the knife, Universal is ready to make another run at breaking Disney's stranglehold on Orlando. Universal's second Florida park still exists, mostly in drawings, models, and rights agreements. The creative vision is sharpening, but there's still a gap. It has superheroes for teenagers, cartoons for grade schoolers, but it doesn't have anything for the youngest kids, the ones Disney already captures with princesses and talking animals. So Universal sets its sights on one of the most iconic names in children's literature. Dr. Seuss. Theodore Geisel's books have sold in the hundreds of millions, but his stories represent more than sales. The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, Horton Hears a who, how the Grinch Stole Christmas. These are books children memorize before they can read, books that parents perform in funny voices, books that inform a worldview through mischief and kindness. But to secure the rights, Universal must do more than write a check. It has to prove it can be trusted with the Seuss name. So it turns to Phil Hetema, one of the creative designers behind the popular Back to the Future ride. Hetema isn't a corporate deal maker, but he understands story. His job isn't to simply decorate rides with characters. It's to make those characters feel as though they've always belonged in the attraction around them. And Universal hopes he's got what it takes to win over Dr. Seuss widow Audrey Geisel. As president of both Dr. Seuss Enterprises and the Dr. Seuss Foundation, Geisel has long resisted commercialization of her husband's work, even in the years before his death in 1991. Even Steven Spielberg has been unable to move her. Hetimer is going to try anyway. It's 1994, and in New York, Hetima and the Universal team are waiting to make their case to Geisel. On the table between them are drawings and models, crooked Seussian buildings, impossible curves, colors that don't quite belong in nature, and trees like Truffula Tufts. The team spent a year developing the work on spec, with no guarantee of a deal. Hettima knows the risk. If Geisel sees a theme park trying to cash in on her husband's work, the meeting is over. If she sees that they too, care deeply about these worlds, they may just may have a chance. She studies the designs.
- [26:59]
Audrey Geisel
You understand I've said no to this kind of thing before.
- [27:05]
David Brown
Herma shifts in his seat. Yes, we do.
- [27:09]
Audrey Geisel
Many times, in fact.
- [27:12]
David Brown
That's why we didn't want to come to you with a contract. We wanted to come to you with a vision. She looks down at the designs again. It is a Susian world, but it doesn't feel overly commercial. This isn't an off the shelf carnival ride with a cat in the hat sign bolted over the entrance. At least not in the drawings. Gisel looks up at Hetema again.
- [27:38]
Audrey Geisel
People always say they love my husband's work. Then they try to slap it on lunchboxes.
- [27:45]
David Brown
I want to assure you we don't want to put the characters on top of something else. We want to build from them.
- [27:52]
Audrey Geisel
And can you?
- [27:54]
David Brown
Nods. Absolutely. Geisel sits in skeptical silence. We understand that the story always comes first. Geisel turns another page and feels unexpectedly reassured. A child could walk through this place and feel as though the books had unfolded around them.
- [28:19]
Audrey Geisel
Well, I must have approval over everything you do.
- [28:25]
David Brown
Another silence. For most theme park companies, this would be a deal breaker. Approval over everything means delays, arguments, revisions and additional costs. It means surrendering control. But Universal doesn't have Disney's in house library of beloved characters, and it would take decades to build anything like it. If Universal wants Dr. Seuss, it has to meet Geisel on her terms. It's a price Universal is willing to pay. Her smiles. Yes, that's okay. You'll get to approve everything. Geisel sits back and smiles. For Universal, this is the price of entry. But it's more than worth the cost. Dr. Seuss is a promise to parents that Universal can be gentle without being bland, literary without being dull, childlike without being childish. The rights cost millions. The approval process will be demanding. But Universal has gained something more valuable than just another children's book property. It has learned how to win over a fiercely protective creator's estate by promising fidelity, relinquishing control and building the world properly. That lesson will soon prove invaluable as it continues to challenge Disney's theme park dominance. It's May 28, 1999. Almost a decade has passed since Universal theme park chief Jay Stein sketched his vision for a second gate. And now, finally, Project X is ready. It opens to the public as Islands of Adventure. The old Cartoon World label is gone because the vision has expanded beyond animation into something more ambitious a chain of immersive worlds built around a central lagoon. Seuss Landing for young children, a superhero island for comic book spectacle, Jurassic park for blockbuster adventure, Toon Lagoon for cartoon chaos, the Lost Continent for old fashioned fantasy and port of Entry, a fantastical harbor town that serves as the park's gateway. The park is diverse, impressive, and filled with characters that families recognize. It is a triumph of both imagination and tactical IP acquisition. But a few miles away, Disney has already raised the bar. The previous year it opened Animal Kingdom, giving Walt Disney World a fourth major park and making Universal's climb even steeper. Still, Islands of Adventure is proof that Universal isn't backing down. Its new park speaks Disney's language, and not just in rides. Now there are hotels, along with CityWalk, a shopping, dining and nightlife district designed to keep guests on property even after the rides close. Universal has copied one of Disney's most important tricks. Don't just lure guests through the gates, keep them there. In its first year, Islands of adventure draws roughly 3.4 million visitors. Combined, Universal's two Florida parks pull in more than 11 million people, up from 8.9 million in 1998. It's an improvement, but Disney is still far ahead across its four Florida parks. Disney World draws more than 42 million visitors that same year. The attendance gap is stark enough. The spending gap may be even more impactful. Every extra day a family spends at Disney World means another hotel night, another set of meals, another round of merchandise, another reason not to leave the property. Disney, for all its internal drama, is still operating at another altitude altogether. Then the external shocks arrive. After the September 11th terrorist attacks, Florida tourism falls hard, weakening Universal's momentum. Inside the parks division, the picture is bleak. Despite its promising attendance figures, Universal Orlando lost more than $50 million in 2003, all while carrying more than $1 billion of debt. Attendance at the Hollywood studio tour in Los Angeles is down as well. Here's the brutal truth. Quality alone doesn't close a gap like the one between Universal and Disney. Disney has spent decades building habits, expectations and emotional ties. Universal isn't just competing on features. It's competing against memory and tradition. And that's hard to dislodge. To win, you don't just need to be good. You need to change the reason people choose you in the first place. Islands of Adventure has taught Universal a brutal lesson. Great rides don't beat Disney. Even immersive lands don't beat Disney. At least not by themselves. If Universal wants to get out from Mickey Mouse's shadow, it needs to change its tactics again. It needs a piece of intellectual property so beloved, so complete and so culturally dominant that families will finally choose Universal first. And there's probably only one property on earth that fits that description.
- [34:50]
Dan Tabursky
Hey, Dan Tabursky here. I'm a podcast host, a journalist, and now with my newest project, the author of my own manifesto. Well, it's a manifesto about manifestos, my search for inspiration in a world that feels more infuriating, more out of its freaking mind with each passing hour. Manifestos are a call to action, an artful scream. They capture our anger, and they try to do something with it. This is my attempt to take the manifesto back from mass shooters and nihilists and return it to its rightful place with the warriors, the visionaries, the regular folks with just the right amount of creatures.
- [35:24]
Raza Jaffrey
Crazy.
- [35:25]
Dan Tabursky
I compare notes with radicals, secessionists, Internet trolls out for a laugh, and punk singers screaming their guts out, all trying to turn their anger into the world they want to see. Listen to Manifesto wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes of Manifesto early and ad free right now, join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. Are they the most Important Men in American History? I am Tom Holland and I am Dominic Sambrook, and we are the hosts of the Rest Is History. And we've just released a series on four of the Founding Fathers. One of them is Benjamin Franklin, the elder statesman of the Revolution, and another is Thomas Jefferson, the man who loved liberty but who also kept slaves and slept with one of them. And we're looking at George Washington at Valley Forge and the famous duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. So here the full series and the Rest Is History.
- [36:33]
David Brown
It is June 2003, and Harry Potter Mania is reaching a new pitch. The fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is about to arrive in bookstores, and the release is being treated like a military operation. Boxes holding the books are sealed, staff warned not to open them early, fans prepare to queue through the night, and local TV crews are outside bookstores filming the countdown. It's not just readers who want to get their hands on Potter. Inside Universal's Parks division, a small group is paying very close attention. The books are selling in the hundreds of millions. The films are global box office events. Children are dressing in robes and round glasses to collect a book they've been waiting years to read. This isn't just fandom, it's devotion, and for Universal, the opportunity is obvious. Potter isn't just a story, it's a collection of vivid places that already live in children's imaginations. Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, the Hogwarts Express, forbidden corridors with moving portraits and secret shops hidden behind crooked walls. This is exactly what Islands of Adventure has been missing. It has good rides, even great rides. But Potter offers something else entirely. A complete emotional geography, a world that is beloved by children and adults at the same time. It's one of the few intellectual properties on Earth powerful enough to make families plan an Orlando trip around Universal instead of Disney. There's a difference between a hit franchise and a world. Worlds hold people with places, rituals, shared references, things people return to again and again. That's what Universal wants Here, not just popularity, but gravity, the kind that pulls people in and keeps them coming back. But just as Universal spots its opportunity, the ground shifts beneath it. In May 2004, its theme parks changed corporate hands again. General Electric, which already owns NBC, buys a controlling stake and folds it into a new company, NBCUniversal. GE is the fourth owner of Universal Parks in 13 years. And when the park's executives meet their new bosses, NBC Universal chief Bob Wright pointedly asks whether they think they're running a non profit. Cuts follow quickly. Universal created the in house design team. Universal's answer to Disney's imagineering is gutted from around 100 people to fewer than 40 major rides in development are shelved. And yet, even as the budget axe falls, Universal doesn't abandon the Potter pursuit. If anything, the desperation sharpens its focus. Universal begins pursuing theme park rights through Warner Bros. The studio behind the Harry Potter films and the company handling much of the franchise's licensing. But Warner is only one gatekeeper. Author J.K. rowling also holds approval power. And everyone knows that no deal will happen unless she agrees to it first. Universal isn't the only company circling Hogwarts either. Disney sees the same opportunity. Potter is the ultimate prize in the theme park war, and it could shift the balance of power in Orlando. For Universal, it's a chance to transform its fortunes. For Disney, it's a chance to end Universal's ambitions once and for all. In October 2006, Universal executives hear the news they've been dreading. Reports begin to circulate that J.K. rowling has been negotiating with Disney, perhaps even signing a letter of intent for Disney to begin developing a Harry Potter theme park project. The details are disputed, but the implication is devastating. Universal may have missed its chance. The rumored Disney concept is small compared with what Universal had envisioned. But even a modest Potter presence inside Disney World could spell disaster. Then internal politics at Disney give Universal an opening. By the mid 2000s, Disney is tearing itself apart the balance that once held the company together. Michael Eisner's restless ambition, checked by Frank Wells steady hand, has been gone for a decade now, and the cracks have spread. Roy E. Disney, Walt's nephew, launches a public revolt against Eisner, then resigns from the board. Disney shareholders are angry. The board is fractured and Eisner's energies are now being consumed by lawsuits, internal squabbles and simply holding on. In September 2005, after two decades in the role, Eisner steps down. His replacement, Bob Iger, inherits a company badly in need of repair. IGER is a very different executive from Eisner. He's smoother, calmer, less theatrical. A former ABC television executive who spent years inside Disney learning how to manage powerful personalities without turning every disagreement into open warfare. Where Eisner often led by force of will, Iger's gift is that he tempers his ambition with diplomacy. And his first priority isn't Harry Potter. It's Pixar. For Disney, that choice makes strategic sense. Since Toy Story premiered almost a decade ago, Pixar has become the creative engine Disney animation cannot afford to lose. But the two companies distribution deal is about to expire. And under Eisner, the relationship soured so badly that Pixar is ready to walk away. Iger's first move is to repair this rift. So in January 2006, Disney buys the company for more than $7 billion. It's the right deal, maybe the essential deal to secure Disney's future in animation. But it also means Disney's attention, capital and negotiating bandwidth are elsewhere. Rowling and Warner Brothers demands are also putting Disney off. They want approval over everything. But Disney is used to total control inside its own parks. It doesn't want to cede creative authority on its own properties. Universal's parks are weaker financially. Less stable, less dominant, less obviously safe. But that weakness may also make the company more flexible. Disney has the kingdom, but Universal may be willing to hand over the keys. And that choice just might make all the difference. It's January 2007 outside the Caledonian Hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland. Winter hangs heavy. Low clouds, wet pavements, and a chill that feels a world away from Orlando. The hotel is a grand old railway palace built in red sandstone, with Edinburgh Castle visible from its windows. Inside, the atmosphere feels old and storied. Heavy carpets, high ceilings, attentive staff whispering through corridors as they go about their business. Universal's executives have crossed an ocean to be here. They've brought drawings, promises, and the future of their Orlando resort. Rowling shakes their hands politely. She spent years watching people try to turn her books into products. And she knows the dangers of handing a beloved world to a corporation. How the edges can get sanded down. How the vitality of the original inspiration can get lost in translation. A disappointing theme park could be worse. It could flatten the world entirely. Universal's job today is to show her that her creation will be safest in their hands. The obvious problem is Disney. If Harry Potter belongs anywhere in theme parks, surely it belongs with a company already synonymous with castles and fairytales. So Universal doesn't just pitch a ride it pitches a world Hogsmeade, with snow on the rooftops even in the Florida heat. Hogwarts Castle rising above the village not as a painted backdrop, but as a real towering destination. Ollivander's where the wand chooses the wizard. The promise is total immersion. Fans won't visit a Potter themed area. They will step inside the books. Rowling listens, then asks the most important question of the day.
- [46:49]
Audrey Geisel
And who approves what goes in?
- [46:52]
David Brown
Universal's executive doesn't hesitate. You do. Rowling studies the executive's faces. She's heard these kinds of assurances before over everything, everything that touches the world. This is something Disney cannot promise as easily. But that's not all Universal is relying on today. It's come with one more card to play. Seuss Landing. Years earlier, Audrey Geisel had been just as wary of letting Dr. Seuss into a theme park. Universal won her over by promising control and then actually delivering building an attraction that obeyed the logic of Geisel's drawings rather than the rules of theme park efficiency. Seuss Landing is proof that Universal can honor an author's universe. This matters because what Rowling is really being asked to believe is that Universal won't exploit Harry Potter, it will respect it. The meeting in Edinburgh does not end with cheers. Nobody walks out certain they've won. But Universal's executives leave hopeful. Rowling seemed impressed by the plans they've shown her and reassured by the fact that the company has successfully collaborated with an exacting author's estate before. Still, the company is strategically exposed. It's promised a lot creative control, authenticity, a land built from the inside out. But it knows this is their best shot at a property that could transform its theme park's future over the next four months. The deal comes together on May 31, 2007. Universal and Warner Bros. Make it official. In an online promotional video hosted by Universal Theme Parks creative executive Scott Trowbridge, the company sets out its plans. I'm very excited to tell you, folks. First, that we are adding a new dimension to the world of Harry Potter and bringing it to life in an entirely new way. We are creating the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal's Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando. The financial terms are not disclosed, but the scale of the commitment is clear. This will not be a single ride or a branded overlay. It will be a 20 acre land carved from part of the Lost Continent. With Hogwarts, Hogsmeade and the promise of an experience faithful to the books and films. Analysts estimate the build will cost around $265 million. Disney has Pixar, but Universal has Potter, and the balance of power is about to shift. For 17 years, Universal has been the underdog, almost an afterthought for families drawn to Orlando by Disney. But now Universal finally has a world people will cross the country to visit. Disney has the Kingdom, but Universal has the spell that might break it open. Follow Business wars on the Audible app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes of Business wars ad free by joining Audible from Audible Originals. This is Episode two of Universal versus Disney, the Battle for Orlando or Business Wars. A quick note about the recreations you've been hearing. In most cases, we can't know exactly what was said. Those scenes are dramatizations, but they're based on research. The rivalry behind Disney and Universal is just one chapter in Michael Eisner's turbulent reign. And for the full inside story, check out the audiobook version of Disney War, available now on Audible. We also recommend Universal vs Disney by Sam Greenwood and Wizarding Worlds by William Sylvester. I'm your host, David Brown. Simon Parkin of Yellowant wrote this story. Voice acting by Chloe Elmore. Our senior producers are Jenny Blume and Emily Frost. Our producer is Tristan Donovan of Yellow Ant. Karen Lowe is our producer emeritus. Our managing producer is Desi Blaylock. Research by Marina Watson Fact checking by Stephanie Power Sound designed by Kyle Randall, Executive producer for Audible Jenny Lauer Beckman, head of Creative Development at Audible Kate Navin, head of Audible Originals North America Marshall Louie Chief Content Officer Rachel Gyazza Copyright 2026 by Audible Originals, LLC Sound Recording Copyright 2026 by Audible Original. Sam.